Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - P. Diddy's Mom and Kids Back Him Amid Sex Trafficking Case

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

As Sean "Diddy" Combs wages the legal fight of his life in federal court in New York, his mother, Janice Combs, and six older children have made a show of support for him. Janice Combs attended a status conference for her son last week along with his 3 oldest sons and daughters. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy details what happened in the courtroom between Combs and his family where cameras were not allowed in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/CrimeFixHost:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Elizabeth Millner   https://x.com/_emillnerCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Ladies, any message you want to send your father? Any message to your father? How's your father doing? Have you guys spoken to your father? Sean Combs' children are standing by him along with his mother Janice as he prepares for the fight of his life in a federal courtroom in New York. I'll tell you who's who in the Combs family and what one of law and crimes reporters saw in the courtroom

at Combs' latest court appearance where cameras were not allowed. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Before Sean Diddy Combs' arrest on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, he frequently posted photos of himself and his children on social media. He has seven children, the oldest, 33-year-old Quincy Brown, the youngest, one-year-old Love Sean Combs. When Combs appeared in court for a status conference last week, the six oldest Combs children were there to support their father. Ladies, any message you want to send your father? Any message to your father? How's your father doing? Have you guys spoken to your father? Quincy! Quincy! Have you spoken to your father? Take care of those girls, Quincy! support their father. Also there to support her son was Sean Combs' mother, Janice Combs.

Janice Combs walked into court to support her son, and she did not respond to questions from reporters. She was there to support her son, who she raised beginning in Harlem, and she later moved to Mount Vernon, New York, to give him and his sisters a better life. That court appearance came days after Janice Combs issued a lengthy statement saying she was devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations being made against her son. She likened what was happening to him to a public lynching. The statement read in part, I am not here to portray my son as perfect because he is not. He has made mistakes in his past as we all have.

My son may not have been entirely truthful about certain things, such as denying he has ever gotten violent with an ex-girlfriend when the hotel's surveillance showed otherwise. Now let's jump ahead in that statement. It continues, not being entirely straightforward about one issue does not mean my son is guilty of the repulsive allegations and the grave charges leveled against him. Janice Combs is referring to the video of her son beating Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016 after denying the allegations Cassie made in her civil lawsuit last November. Combs settled that suit within a day. That lawsuit was how the public

and likely federal prosecutors learned about the so-called freak-offs, the days-long sex events that included Ventura having sex with male sex workers. As alleged, Combs used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers, some of whom he transported or caused to be transported over state lines. Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances, which he called freak-offs, and he often electronically recorded them. The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB, which Combs

distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant. Ventura said in her civil suit that she was forced to take part in the freak-offs and fed drugs to keep her engaged in them. While Combs' lawyers have maintained that any sex was consensual, and Combs' lawyers have said in court documents they have text messages to prove it. His resolve is the same. He believes he's innocent. I believe he's innocent and we're going to fight this case with all of our might until we don't have to fight any longer but back

to sean combs's mom janice that statement that i read to you janice combs according to tmz decided to release that statement after she visited her son with his twin daughters delilah and jesse who combs shared with his ex, the late Kim Porter. TMZ reports the twins and Janice Combs visited Sean Combs at the MDC and were able to spend time with him more than a week ago and that it was an emotional visit. Apparently, that visit was so significant that it prompted Janice Combs to release that statement in support of her son. Then during the Combs court appearance last week, his family showed up to support him. And apparently they got to visit with him briefly

after the hearing. Now, cameras are not allowed inside federal court. It's unfortunate, but it's just the way it's been. And it's the way it's always been. Unfortunately, it will be great if that would change, but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon. So what exactly was it like being in the courtroom with Sean Combs and his family? I want to bring in Elizabeth Milner. She's a reporter here at Law and Crime. She was actually in the courtroom watching every little bit of this unfold. So Elizabeth, Sean Combs' family is making a statement. They are showing up for him and they are showing up in a big way. So let's start, first of all, with his mother, Janice. Tell me what you saw at the courthouse, both outside and inside, once she got in there

and was kind of maybe interacting a little bit with her son. Yeah, Anjanette, when I first saw Janice outside of the courthouse, she had a big fur coat on. She had sunglasses and she kind of just walked right into the courthouse she had a big fur coat on she had sunglasses and she kind of just walked right into the courthouse she didn't say anything to the media as people kind of pressed her as far as like her support for her son she walked in I kind of saw a little peek of her going through security everything seemed fine and normal even when I got inside the courthouse there I saw her kind of talking to Diddy's attorneys I I saw her talking to some of

the old media because you have to remember that the Combs family and specifically Diddy as well as Janice, they kind of had a huge stature here in New York City. I mean, they're from Harlem. They're from New York City. Again, Diddy was given those keys to the city just last year before it was taken away this year. But they kind of had a staple and kind of a little bit of a reign here in New York City. So it wasn't unfamiliar to see her kind of speaking to media, kind of saying hello and waving to Diddy's attorneys. But she kind of also kept to herself a little bit, only speaking to the person who was right beside her. And so then when she saw her son, again, there was that kind of glance and joy I saw from both sides. Again, just showing that she does support her son and she doesn't kind of really care what the allegations are that he faces.

But she just wants people to know she is in support of her son. The stories I cover each day here on Crime Fix show you just how scary the world can be. And one of the scariest things that can happen is if you ever get hurt. But it's important to realize if you're ever seriously hurt in an accident, your case could be worth millions. And that's where our sponsor, Morgan & Morgan, comes in. The firm has an army of more than a thousand lawyers who will fight for what you deserve, and they have the track record to prove it. In the past few months, Morgan & Morgan has won verdicts like $12 million in Florida, $26 million in Philly, and $6.8 million in New York.

All of these were considerably higher than the highest insurance company offer. And even if your case isn't worth seven figures, why not start a claim and get the money you deserve? Seeing if you have a case can be done in eight clicks or less, and you don't have to leave your couch to start one also there is absolutely no fee you only pay morgan and morgan if you win so if you're injured you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com slash crime fix i remember seeing you say last week that when he walked in he he did smile um You know, how did he appear when he's looking at his mother and his

children? Did it appear to you like a confident smile? Is he is he trying to reassure his mother and his children? I mean, his children have to be fearful of what's going to happen to their father. So how did you kind of view that? Yeah, I was surprised because it kind of went quiet as soon as he walked in. And so you would think Diddy, who by all accounts had all the wealth possibly in the world, would be defeated after spending three weeks inside a federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York. I was expecting kind of a shallow of the person that we always see on the photographs on videos even on instagram but as soon as he walked inside that courtroom i saw him look directly where his mother is sitting

where his children were sitting because they were all sitting on the same row in the gallery there on the left side and he just lit up kind of like a candle as soon as he saw them he appeared very joyous very smiley which to me i kind I kind of, quite frankly, was a little surprised by that, mainly because, again, I thought, you know, him spending so long by his account in a federal detention center that he would appear defeated or anything like that. And that wasn't even the case. I will say, though, that he did look a little bit slimmer than what we had saw in those

videos prior to his arrest. He did look a lot slimmerimmer than what we had saw in those videos prior to his arrest. He did look a lot slimmer than I was kind of expecting. He just kind of walked in, not shackled, wearing a khaki jumpsuit. And again, his eyes just kind of lit up. He gave the biggest smile to the world to his kids and to Janice Combs, his mother there. And even when we were all kind of leaving the courthouse, I kind of stayed a little bit behind, just kind of see the reaction between him and his family. And again, after being not denied bail, but knowing that he wasn't going to go home with him, he just blew a bunch of kisses, said, I love you. And kind of a very reassuring way to his children that he is OK.

And again, I was just kind of not expecting that, given the fact that he had been in prison for three weeks at that time. Let's talk a little bit about, well, first of all, I think it's interesting you bring up that he's slimmer because his lawyer said the food is really the biggest adjustment. Because, you know, obviously this is not going to be something anybody is used to being behind bars. But also, I mean, this is Sean Combs. This is somebody who's lived in the lap of luxury for decades now. And he's going from that to being behind bars and dealing with the MDC. Even the judge asked about how Combs was doing in the MDC, which I thought was really interesting that he did that. But let's go back to the family part of this. Was there any interaction that you witnessed from the children specifically that stood out to

you because six of the seven children were there obviously the baby uh love was not there you're not going to bring a baby to court but the older six children were all there they walked in holding hands i mean they're they're making a statement that they are there to support their father was there anything specifically that stood out to you? I think during that entire court appearance that Diddy had, that they weren't really kind of getting into the nitty gritty as far as just the allegations that he had faced. So really what I was seeing was just his entire family

kind of paying attention, trying to watch what was going on, taking peeks and glimpses of their father as he sat at the defense table there. Now, when I was sitting in the courthouse, I will say I was on the back side of the right part of the gallery. So I was kind of looking at the family in between a bunch of heads, but Diddy during that entire court appearance was keeping very stone straight. He said, good afternoon to the judge. He was just very kind of focused on this case. And it seemed like his kids were focused on him. And I will say his 18 year old daughter chance appeared to be teary eyed, especially kind of towards the end of the court hearing. And I don't know what it was that kind of may have brought her

to tears, but it seemed that she did get a wee bit teary eyed there. Maybe because again, her dad is just under different circumstances that we've seen him in over the past few decades. So again, like even though he wasn't shackled, it was kind of a stark difference from when we do see Diddy, which is on the outside, which is in these lavish clothes or at least expensive clothes that we can say now to a jumpsuit that all detainees have to wear when they're in the federal detention center there at MDC. And so I did see that she did appear a little teary-eyed, but as far as the other children, it seems that as they were laser focused again on their dad, kind of what was going on, again, that issue of bail wasn't really brought up,

but just knowing that their father wasn't going to be returning home with them, I think that was partially, excuse me, the reason why there might have been a little bit of emotions there. Because also you have to remember is during the first two court appearances, it was just the sons that were there. Janice wasn't there. Delilah and Jesse weren't there. And Chance wasn't there. And again, we know that his one-year-old daughter, Love, hasn't appeared at the courthouse for the other hearings as well, too. But for seeing the girls there, I don't know if that reassurance that Diddy was giving to them was also that reassurance to show, hey, to my daughters, just know that I am OK. You don't have to worry about me. Again, that smiley appearance that he had had, I think, was kind of a reassurance for them more so than the sons, because, you know,

again, the sons are a lot older than the daughters. So I think that is kind of what stood out to me watching them inside that courthouse. And the daughters had traveled, actually, you know, they have to come a long way. They traveled from California to support their dad. And there had been a report on TMZ.com that they had actually visited their dad in jail before this court appearance. Also, Janice Combs did, too. And TMZ was reporting, Elizabeth, that Janice Combs, after that visit at the MDC, decided to kind of break her silence, if you will, and release that statement showing support for her son. So that visit sounds like it was really important to the family. So did you get any sense that, was there any sense of that?

Did you get a feeling there between mom and son that, you know, was there any connection there that you saw as far as that went and the twins and the older daughter Chance. Yeah, I mean, you have to also remember that Diddy's family is the only people, for the most part, who has kind of come out and say, we support Diddy throughout all of this. I mean, what else do we kind of expect from his own family, right? Is that they are going to be showing unwavering support. And so kind of going back to the fact that Chance, Delilah, Jesse, and Janice Combs were not there for the first two court hearings, that I kind of think that this was their message to the world to say, hey, while our father does face these horrific and egregious charges,

that we are showing up in support. We are letting him know and to the media and to the world that we are there for them. We do support him and we don't want him again because you have to remember Delilah and Jesse are a lot or they're still minors, they're still younger and Chance just turned 18. So I think for them to kind of come out all in this wavering support, because you also have to remember they were kind of sitting and I wrote a note about this as well to kind of how the lineup was. It was Janice, then it was Justin, then it was Chance. It was the twins, Delilah and Jesse. Then it was Quincy. Then it was Christian Combs, who is also known by King. So I think having the girls kind of in the vicinity where Diddy was sitting to kind of give off those reassurances that he is going to be OK,

despite the charges that he faces, despite him being in jail, that it kind of was showing everyone in the courtroom there because when they entered the courtroom, I think a lot of us in the media were kind of like, are the daughters going to come to the hearing today? And I was inside the court hearing or excuse me, inside the courthouse by the time that they had walked in. So, and again, we're in a federal courthouse as well too. So they don't have phones in there. And so I had no idea whether or not the girls were going to be showing up. I had already known Janice was there because I was outside by the time she had come inside. But I think a lot of us were kind of on the edge of our seats wanting to know where the daughter is going to make an appearance at the courthouse.

And they did. And I think that alone was just them signaling to the entire world. We support our dad despite whatever he faces, despite the allegations he faces. So let's look more closely at Sean Combs' sons. All three attended this hearing in support of their father. Quincy Brown is the oldest. His mother was Combs' ex, Kim Porter. Combs actually adopted Quincy. Next is Justin. He's 30 and was Combs' son with his high school sweetheart, Misa Hilton. And Christian King Combs was Combs' biological son with Porter. Christian and Justin Combs were actually at his home in California last March when it was raided.

Misa Hilton had posted video of Justin and Christian being confronted by Homeland Security agents during the raid and was critical of how they were treated, calling it overzealous and overtly militarized force used against her sons. The three men attended the first hearing and, of course, were back for the status conference. For Diddy's sons, I pretty much saw that they were keeping kind of a laser focus on what was going on because they were also there for the first two court hearings and they had kind of always shown that they are in support of their father despite everything that he has faced over the past year I should say kind of even dating back to the lawsuit but for the most part there wasn't anything that stood out to me while they were inside the courthouse they kind of just kept a laser focus on their dad but I also think they were there to

kind of reassure Diddy's daughters that everything is going to be okay this isn't as such a scary scene as maybe the media was making it out to be for them because you know the twins are um they're still minors Chance just turned 18 so they are still very young whereas Justin Christian and Quincy are in their like mid to late 20s ish a little bit so I think they were there mainly in support of the sisters and even Janice as well, too, to kind of make sure that, you know, they are a tight-knit, united family

despite anything that is going on with their father. Well, you know, these kids, you know, this is their father, and they're going to support him. And, you know, it's very sad for them. You don't pick who your parents are. And Sean Combs is maintaining he didn't commit a crime here. I think it's important people still remember that. And it's very sad for them, you know, for anybody who's going through this with their

parents being accused of a crime. Elizabeth, thank you so much for joining me and for your insight. I appreciate it. Thanks, Anjanette. I appreciate you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me.

I'll see you back here next time.