Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Top 5 Diddy Trafficking Case Updates as Accuser's Lawyer Says Charges 'Coming Soon'

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Sean "Diddy" Combs has hired a new lawyer with connections to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. Combs has been under investigation for alleged sex trafficking since March after his homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided. Combs has denied the allegations of sex trafficking through his lawyers. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the five recent developments involving Sean Combs with a lawyer, Ariel Mitchell-Kidd, who represents one of Combs' accusers, and former federal prosecutor Bradford Cohen in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests:Bradford Cohen  https://www.instagram.com/lawroninAriel Mitchell-Kidd https://www.instagram.com/arielesq305/ CRIME 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/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee 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. We are all looking forward not only to our day in court with our civil lawsuits, but also the criminal justice system working on our behalf. A grand jury is reportedly hearing testimony involving Sean Diddy Combs following a raid on his homes in March, and he has a new lawyer. Those are just a couple of the top five updates on the rap mogul who's come under fire for allegations of sex trafficking for months. A lawyer for one of Combs' accusers

is here to tell us about when she thinks Combs could be indicted. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. We've been telling you for months about Sean Diddy Combs and the allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking made against him by a number of women, some going back decades. NBC News reported in early July that Combs' legal team had been notified a week earlier that he was the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation. The report cited two unnamed sources. We knew that Sean Combs was under suspicion for sex trafficking due to agents with the Department of Homeland Security raiding his homes in Miami and California in March. Those raids were preceded by a number of civil lawsuits being filed against Combs, the first one coming from his ex, Cassie Ventura. Combs and Ventura had dated for years. She filed the lawsuit in

November of 2023, and Combs remarkably settled it the next day. At that time, Combs denied the allegations that he forced Ventura to engage in sex acts with other people for his own gratification and that he physically assaulted her for years. But then, in May, a horrifying video of Combs chasing Ventura down a hotel hallway wearing only a towel became public. CNN published the video and it was seen around the world. Combs is seen throwing Ventura to the ground and kicking her. He could no longer deny that he had physically abused her. Combs issued an apology two days later on Instagram. It's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life. Sometimes you got to do that.

I was f***ed up. I mean, I hit rock bottom, but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I'm disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it I'm disgusted now. I went in and I sought out professional help. I had to go into therapy, I had to go into rehab. Had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry. But I'm committed to be a better man each and every day.

I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry. Then came Ventura's statement on Instagram a couple of days later. The singer wrote, Thank you for all of the love and support from my family, friends, strangers, and those I have yet to meet. The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now.

But this is only the beginning. Domestic violence is the issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past. Now back to the grand jury proceedings. The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York isn't commenting on whether the grand jury is meeting, and that's pretty standard. News of the grand jury hearing testimony came on the same day that adult film actress Adria English filed a suit accusing Combs of participating in a RICO enterprise, sexual assault and sex

trafficking. English accused Combs of forcing her to engage in prostitution and sex work at his white parties when she worked for him between 2006 and 2009. I want to take a second to tell you about a great app I've been using that gives you cash back on things like gas and food. It's called Upside. It's not a confusing rewards or points system. Upside gives you real money back that can go straight into your bank account. When I pump gas or order takeout, I always check Upside for the best deals. Why not get cash back when you fill up your tank? Here's how it works. Download

Upside and look at the offers. When you find one, claim it and then pay with your debit or credit card. I've actually used Upside to get cash back on gas. I got five bucks back on a tank of gas and you can't beat that. Upside works at many popular stores. To find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description or scan the QR code on your screen and use the promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. I want to bring in Ariel Mitchell-Kidd. She represents Adria English. Ariel, talk to me a little bit about the allegations that your client is making and why she decided to file this civil suit now? So in the lawsuit, we pretty much spell out the details of the sex trafficking my client faced at the hands of Mr. Combs at his white parties. So she was essentially sought after due to her relationship with her

boyfriend who was interviewing, or I should say auditioning with Mr. Combs for his Sean John campaign. That's essentially how things came about. And initially, she was just approached to be a go-go dancer. It was all very above board initially. And then eventually, with more time, it turned into being sex traffic. She was sex trafficked in New York, in the Hamptons, and then in Miami. And these were all during Mr. Combs' white parties that he was throwing. So we essentially outlined the details of that sex trafficking in her lawsuit.

And the reason she came forward now, as you know, a lot of people used to be terrified of Mr. Combs. He's blackballed several people, including my client and her then boyfriend, Mr. Gallo, from the industry. So as we all know, they are straight with numbers. So once Ms. Ventura came forward, my client had been looking for an attorney for some time prior to finding me to also file a lawsuit because she had been a victim as well. He has denied these allegations. He's denied all of them. But there's been some reporting by NBC News. They've been able to confirm through sources that the grand jury in the Southern District of New York is indeed meeting and hearing testimony from witnesses. Has your client testified in front of the grand jury?

She has not, to my understanding. They already had what they needed, and if they needed her, we would be contacted in the future. But as of this time, we were just, as you know, and as you just eloquently put it, we are case number 11 in the long line of lawsuits and kind of came in at the very end. So we are expecting justice from the grand jury, just like all the other victims. Okay. When you say you're expecting

justice from the grand jury, what do you mean by that? Because obviously there's been the report that the grand jury has been meeting. You've obviously been in touch with federal prosecutors. So did they reach out to you or did you reach out to them? How did that unfold? Well, as usual, they do the reaching out. We don't do any reaching out to the federal prosecutors. And they have their case and have a really good case with all the other victims who have come forward for the past year now prior to my client coming out with her story. So what do we expect in terms of justice? We expect the grand jury to come back and decide that there is enough

to indict and that there will be a criminal indictment and that Mr. Combs will eventually face the criminal court for his crimes. When do you expect that to happen? Because, you know, we've had, as you know, the deluge, you said your client's number 11, the deluge of civil suits. He settled the Cassie Ventura suit in quick fashion. I mean, within less than 24 hours, it was pretty stunning how quickly that happened. She had been with him for years. She was his partner.

She was his girlfriend. But these other cases are a little different because they are coming from people who are just in his orbit, so to speak. So when do you when do you expect any movement there? Well, I've always said soon what is soon for the government. It depends. I can't imagine more than a couple of months. Now, we talk about Mrs. Ventura and her case. And I think the misconception with Mrs. Ventura's case is that people believe Mr. Combs settled that case and he did not. The companies he worked for and the insurance policies

that those companies had, those are the individuals that settled the case, not Mr. Combs directly himself. And my client, she was actually featured in the Vibe magazine, which was a little closely related than some of the other cases. A lot of the other cases, like you said, were more in his orbit, people who were just around. But we all know Mr. Diddy's white parties. They were highly publicized. They were the it parties to go to. And she was actually featured in the Vibe magazine in terms of civil justice, we are going through the civil process.

And to my understanding, it's because there's the criminal aspect at play. civil lawsuits and settling civil lawsuits when there may be something criminal afoot, it could look like possible bribery or witness tampering. So just like my client and the other individuals who have come forward with their lawsuits, we are all looking forward not only to our day in court with our civil lawsuits, but also the criminal justice system working on our behalf. You mentioned earlier that people have been afraid of him for years, obviously, with people filing these civil lawsuits, and they have to work their way through the courts, of course. Do you think that fear is gone now? Do you feel that people just really are not afraid of him at all? Because, I mean, we are showing some videos during this

show that show him boarding his plane I mean I've seen pictures on TMZ where he's whitewater rafting out in like out West in Montana or Wyoming or something like that I mean it doesn't seem like he's overly concerned well if I was somebody like Mr Combs who had done what I did, I would want to, A, be trying to get as much of my bucket list out of the way before the hammer comes down. That's how I interpret. Not that he's unbothered. But just like you said, even though we've seen the video of him beating Mrs. Ventura, he's denied these allegations. And I think that's because he lives in a delusional fantasy land. And he's been able to get away with this for so long.

Mr. Combs has been at this for over 30 years. And there's a long line of victims in his wake. So I think he's just been so used to getting away with these things and not facing any type of retribution for his actions, that on the one hand, he probably is just immune to feeling like he's above penalty or punishment. And then on the other hand, I think he is a little worried and that's why he's out gallivanting because he knows his freedom is limited. Ariel Mitchell-Kidd, thank you so much. Thank you. In response to Adria English's lawsuit, Combs's lawyer jonathan davis said no matter how many lawsuits are filed it won't change the fact that mr combs has never

sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone we live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason and without any proof fortunately a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth, and Mr. Combs is confident he will prevail against these and other baseless claims in court. Now, let's go back to the grand jury that's reportedly been impaneled. NBC News reported earlier this month that Combs' lawyers received a letter saying he was the subject of an investigation. He was not told he was a target, according to the outlet. And to deal with these legal issues out of the Southern District of New York, Combs has reportedly hired a new lawyer.

His name is Mark Agnifilo. He's a former federal prosecutor who represented Pharma Bro Martin Shrelly and NXIVM founder Keith Ranieri. Agnifilo told Business Insider, I think that the Southern District is appropriately taking its time and considering many different factors, but we are firmly convinced that he did not violate any federal laws and we hope we can work with prosecutors in reaching that conclusion. The website also reported that Agnifilo said Combs hadn't spoken with federal prosecutors and doesn't believe, quote, anything is imminent.

Another big Diddy development, he wiped his Instagram account clean back on June 22nd. Diddy had posted often, but that day in June, it was blank. Even the apology video for beating up Cassie was gone. Diddy's Instagram account would stay that way until July 6th, when he posted on his Instagram story. Shit. What up, yo? How you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No place like home. That video showed Combs boarding his jet, although we don't know where he was going and when he was getting on that plane. Was that video meant to show that Combs isn't worried about a possible indictment since it posted days after the news about the grand jury meeting broke? Possibly. If the video was recorded that same day, it shows Diddy doesn't have travel restrictions. The video did not show where Combs was going and you can't track his plane. Just try it. FlightAware shows that you cannot track Diddy's plane any longer. Combs has since posted again on Instagram wishing his daughter

a happy 18th birthday. And he also posted about a younger daughter. Sean Combs has also tried to sell his California mansion that the feds raided, but he's being pretty low key about it. The home in Holmby Hills is being sold off-market, and TMZ reports that he's asking a whopping $70 million for the property. That's a huge chunk of change, given the fact that he paid $40 million for it back in 2014. We got a look inside the mansion earlier this year, when Mesa Hilton posted security footage showing federal agents raiding the property. It's 17,000 square feet and has an underwater swimming grotto. We don't know if anyone has made an offer, but Diddy putting the property up for sale

at such a high price goes to show you he probably needs the cash. Combs has also lost a number of business opportunities. Bradford Cohen is a former federal prosecutor, and he has represented a lot of big names in court on criminal charges. So Bradford, first of all, your thoughts on Mark Agnifilo being hired to be Sean Combs' lawyer. He sounds pretty confident, but he's also represented people who've been prosecuted by the feds who ended up being sent to federal prison. Yeah, I mean, we all have there. You know, you can't win every case. He's had some very difficult cases. I know that he used to be a partner with Ben Brafman. So I know they did a lot of cases

together. And generally speaking, federal cases are very difficult to win. The last federal case I had that was in in Tampa, we got we obtained a not guilty, but it was very difficult to win. The last federal case I had that was in Tampa, we obtained a not guilty, but it was very difficult to get it. And it's not something that is easily obtained, especially high profile cases, and especially ones with so many witnesses and so much alleged evidence against you. So it's a very difficult thing. I always tell people federal prosecutions really need a team of lawyers, not just one. Obviously, you need a quarterback, but you really against you so it's a very difficult thing I always tell people federal prosecutions really need a team of lawyers not just one obviously you need a quarterback but you really need a team behind that quarterback that really knows how to get things done and organize all the evidence and

also present it in a way that's easy for a jury to swallow so Mark agnifilo is now the Diddy legal team quarterback. Let's, we're talking football metaphors here. So he's a big deal. I mean, so he's going to probably have some connections within the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney's Office. He's gonna be able to maybe have some connections there. He's a former federal prosecutor himself. So this could benefit sean

combs in some ways but but when it comes down you know when we get down to brass tacks he still may may face some really serious federal charges yeah i mean listen i always tell people a having an attorney that's familiar with the district or familiar with individuals within the district or other um U.S attorneys that work within the district is always a good thing it's not going to hurt you uh what I don't think is it doesn't throw you over the fence of a not guilty are you not getting charges generally speaking um you know who knows what happened with the Jeffrey Epstein stuff that's a whole whole other case. But I'm sure that helped that people knew different individuals that were involved in that case as well. So in this case, yes, I think he's familiar with individuals that have the case. I think he's familiar with the judge that may get this case eventually because he's been practicing so long in that district and his wife was a U.S

attorney a USA for the same district and was like very high up in the chain in the administration so if you have someone that's number two or three in the administration that just left the office it doesn't hurt do I think that it's a slam dunk win because of that? No, I don't think that happens. I think that it helps in terms of individuals knowing the lawyer, knowing what type of reputation that lawyer has. And if that lawyer says, hey, my client will be there at 10 o'clock on a Monday or 12 o'clock on a Tuesday, you can take that lawyer's word for that that individual will show up at that time. So it does benefit you on little things it may sway

small uh you know arguments here and there but it's not a slam dunk like he's not going to be charged i'm a firm believer in from what i've heard and from what i know i think he's going to be charged with some kind of crimes i don't know what crimes they are but just based on my experience and based on what i've seen so far i I believe there are going to be there's going to be some charges coming down very soon is my guess. What is very soon to you? I've always said by the end of the summer, you know, listen, I don you have a grand jury that's meeting, which is that that's what's rumored to be happening right now, it sounds like that grand jury has been being convened since the beginning of the summer. Generally speaking, when you have crimes like this, even big crimes, usually a grand jury wouldn't meet for more than 90 or 120 days. So if they started meeting at the beginning of the summer, just if you do some simple math, you would think it would be, you know, September, middle of September, the latest.

That's what I think. Again, they could be investigating other crimes that are so, you know, out there and they have to find witnesses for these things that it could be a little bit longer. But my guess is by the end of the summer, sometime in September, I think that they charge something. I don't know what that's going to be. NBC News reported that his legal team received a letter saying he was the subject of a criminal investigation, but not the target. So what's the difference and does it matter? So subjects are, well, an investigation is going on. It could be a larger investigation where it includes multitude of co-defendants and a lot of other individuals where they would say, hey, your guy is a subject, but we really want Bob Smith. Generally, that doesn't happen.

They usually throw out a subject letter when they're still investigating, but they're not positive they're going to charge. I think this is just kind of structuring. I don't think that they're throwing that out there to say like he's not going to be charged. But I think they're being very cautious because I think a lot of individuals that have something to do with the case also have something to do with the criminality of the case. So I think that any co-defendants that he may have, if he does eventually get charged, I believe they had a significant portion of the criminality that was going on, such as, you know, a Cassie or someone else that was dating him. There are going to be allegations, I believe, against those individuals.

And so they have to be very careful of the wording that they put instead of putting a target, which means, OK, your guy is the guy we're looking for. We're not looking any further. That's your main guy or that is one of the main guys. I think they're being very careful with that. They know how high profile it is. And I also think they know there's problems with the other individuals that are involved. And I think they would all be subjects, in my opinion, until they take the stand in front of a grand jury and we give them some sort of cooperation or something. I think they're all subjects at this point from the allegations that I know of, because there's individuals saying that

Cassie had something to do with this. And of course, Cassie is going to say, well, I was under the control of Sean Combs. That's what I imagine would happen. So being a subject and a target, is it a big deal? Yes and no. You never want to be you never want to get that target letter. But it doesn't necessarily mean that charges would be filed even if you're a target letter. It just means that you are the focus of their investigation as opposed to being one of the individuals that are being investigated

with a with a case Sean Combs is apparently trying to sell his big California mansion he paid 40 million for it in 2014. now he's trying to sell it for 70 million according to TMZ that's a big leap I think that signals that he knows he needs some cash I don't know what he's going to do with that cash but lawyers are expensive especially when you're dealing with something like this but he also has a lot of children so what's your thought about him asking this astronomical sum for this property I mean there's no way that this property increased in value by 30 million dollars within 10 years? I'm not a real estate guru, so I couldn't tell you if it increased in $30 million over three years.

I'm sure he did some improvements and things of that nature. I don't know what he would get for that property. Do I think that it's an unusual move that someone starts selling off property when they're being investigated? Not really. think that a an investigation brings upon a lot of stress a lot of pressure and the less things you have in your life that distract you from that stress and pressure are probably a good thing so you can see a lot of people that getting investigated that might want to sell off assets for a multitude of reasons maybe to pay the lawyers maybe to have less stress in their life where you know you have taxes and all these other expenses that are associated with the property a multitude of reasons, maybe to pay the lawyers, maybe to have less stress in their life where, you know, you have taxes and all these other expenses that are associated with the property that you just want to pare down and not have those kind of responsibilities. You know, he's got a

multitude of properties. I think that's one of several properties he owns. I think he owns property in New York and Florida as well. And, you know, another reason is California doesn't have homestead. Not that that would stop the government from seizing properties. But if they said, hey, that property had something to do with the criminality or something happened in that property and they try to seize it, at least this way you're liquid and you have the cash value of the home so they can't just seize the house. There's just so many things. It's hard to take a guess at why he would want to sell. We all do guess, you know,

that's what all this case has been about is us kind of guessing where it's going. But my best estimated guess is that when you get charged or you may get charged with a crime, you start to pare down and get liquid because there are expenses coming up. You don't want extra expenses going out, such as taxes and upkeep and things of that nature. So you start selling off assets that you may not use or you may not need. He is traveling around. He posted a video on Instagram

in early July of him boarding his plane. He's been seen whitewater rafting and a bunch of number, a bunch of places. I mean mean it seems like he's just living life going on as usual i mean he's just waiting i guess uh what does that signal to you i mean his is he kind of thumbing his nose at all of this we had ariel mitchell kid on earlier she represents one of his accusers and she said she just looks at it as him kind of knocking things off of his bucket list you know it, it just depends. I think that when you are being looked at for certain crimes, there's two ways to go about it. Remain completely radio silent. And then we would all be guessing, why is he so quiet? He must be expecting to be

charged. He might be expecting to be arrested any day now. And then the other way is just to go on and live your life the way that you were living your life before and it seemed like he was taking vacations every week and going to saint tropez and all these other things that he was always doing so those are the two different things so now that we see him kind of living his life the way that he was always living his life the guess is now well he's doing it because he's checking things off his bucket list he wants to get in as much adventure as he can before he can't go anywhere so it's kind of a it's kind of a a guess at why he's living his life as as you know normal i think he's trying to do everything that he was doing before put on a you know a brave face so that he's not like showing how scared he is of what's going on and i don't

know if he is scared but generally going on. And I don't know if he is scared, but generally when the feds come knocking on your door, it's a scary situation. Doesn't matter how tough you are. Doesn't matter if you're John Gotti or anybody else. When they come knocking on your door, that is not a comfortable situation, especially if they are, you know, searching your home and you have all these witnesses that are coming out against you and saying, making these accusations, that's never comfortable. So I think he's doing probably the best that he can given the situation. I don't read a lot into it. Like he's checking things off his bucket list before he gets arrested. I think it's interesting that he's now traveling as opposed to right after

his places were searched. My guess is the government said don't go anywhere you know for the next 30 days while we do this investigation and my and then i think that it slowed down a little bit because they didn't have the flood of information that they thought they were going to have and i think kind of now they're just putting to everything together where they're allowing him to travel but i haven't seen him do international travel yet i don't know if he has but they're allowing him to travel throughout the united states because I mean where is he going to go there's nowhere that someone wouldn't recognize who Sean Combs is so it's a difficult argument to make that no he can't go to California to go Whitewater rafting because we want to keep our eye on him believe me they're keeping an eye on him no matter where he goes no matter what he's

doing the federal government I say this all the time they have all the time in the world if someone goes somewhere and they will find you like that's just a matter of fact i've had cases that were 20 years old they end up finding the guy because he goes across the border with some fake passport people get comfortable when they run from the feds they think they got away with it but they never do bradford cohen thank you so much thanks for having me and that's it for this episode of crime fix i'm angie levy thanks so much for being with me i'll see you back here next time