Law&Crime Sidebar - 7 Major P. Diddy Updates as Defense Pushes for Quick Trial in Trafficking Case

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Sean “Diddy” Combs wants to go to trial sooner rather than later as he faces federal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. His defense team has requested a trial date in May of 2025, but the prosecution raised concerns about how much discovery they need to get through. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has the latest developments.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you took the Depo Shot and were later diagnosed with a brain tumor you may qualify for compensation. Visit https://www.Deposhotclaims.com/Sidebar to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY 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 Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. I'm not going to talk about anything that I haven't said in court or in the papers. These are all great questions, but I'm just not going to get into it. Can you speak about your concerns about the leak and the video? You're not spoken about that. I can. I I did. I did it in the court papers, and I'm just going to stick to the court paper. From a new trial date to allegations of government misconduct, to issue surrounding an accuser to a third attempt to get out of pretrial detention, we are breaking down some major recent

updates in Sean Diddy Combs case. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, Jesse Weber. Hey, guys, this is a law and crime legal alert. Recent studies have uncovered. a link between Depro Provera, aka the depot shot, and an increased risk of brain tumors. And now lawsuits are being filed against Pfizer, the manufacturer of Depro Provera, alleging that they failed to warn patients and doctors about this risk and instead rush the drug to market while downplaying the adverse event reports. So if you've been diagnosed with a brain tumor or experiencing symptoms like headaches, vision

problems, seizures, other neurological issues, you may qualify for compensation. And Wright and Schulte, one of our legal sponsors, is a national. firm helping those injured to ensure their claims are thoroughly presented. Visit depotclaims.com slash sidebar to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim. Look, I get it. It can be tough staying up to date on everything that is happening in the Sean Diddy Combs criminal case.

There is a lot. There is a lot that has been happening. So what we want to do for you is give you some of the top recent updates on the case so that you're caught up to speed. Now, before I even get into the updates, I have to set the. stage. The 54-year-old music mogul still locked up, still locked away in the Metropolitan Detention Center out in Brooklyn as he awaits trial on federal sex crimes charges, racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, essentially prosecutors

from the Southern District of New York allege that Combs used his business empire and resources and associates to lead a criminal enterprise that was engaged in illegal activity like arson, bribery, kidnapping, even the assault. assault and sex trafficking of women, and that this was going on for years. And more specifically, they allege that he brought in male sex workers for these events called freak-offs, these elaborate sexual performances that he forced, threatened or coerced people to be a part of, even drugging people, filming these sessions. That's what the allegations are.

And it's a complicated case, which brings me to the first update. when on earth is this trial actually going to happen? Well, at a status hearing last week, prosecutors, the defense attorneys, and the new judge overseeing this case, the Honorable Arun Subramarion, agreed to a trial date of May 5th, 2025. Now, obviously that can change. Now, obviously, that can change for a variety of reasons, but it seems to me that the defense has been pushing for this early trial date.

I mean, we were suggesting this trial wouldn't happen until the end of 2025, maybe even 2026. But the reason that it seems to me that Combs is wanting an early trial date is because he's locked up. He doesn't want to be there anymore. And even though he is appealing his bail, or his denial of bail, I should say, to a new court. And we're going to get into that in a minute. He and his team may be thinking, let's get him to trial as soon as possible with the hope that he's acquitted and he can go home and put it all behind him. We don't want him languishing behind bars for another year or two years as he waits to go to trial. But there are a few things with that.

You know what could change the trial date? You know what could delay it? If Combs is hit with new charges, if there is a superseding indictment, that's when prosecutors go back to the grand jury with new evidence in an effort to indict combs on additional charges. They may also upgrade charges. They may even replace a charge. And that means more discovery, more evidence, more material that needs to be shared, more motions, the timeline would shift. You won't see a May 5th, 2025 date if he's ultimately hit with more charges.

Very, very, very unlikely. And in a major update during that hearing, we found out that's not so far-fetched. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the court that the investigation is very much ongoing and that there is a possibility of a superseding indictment. And why would that happen? Well, it could be that through their investigation, analyzing the digital and physical evidence they collected, speaking with more witnesses,

including maybe new people who may have come forward, prosecutors may believe they have probable cause that Combs committed more crimes. And by the way, it's interesting during this hearing that prosecutors said their case, as it currently stands, will take them about three weeks. And the defense said their case will take them one week. First of all, if there's additional charges, that will change.

But the current case, taking three weeks, the defense saying they'll have one week, what that tells me is that the defense is going to mostly focus upon cross-examination of the government's witnesses, instead of really calling witnesses of their own. I mean, maybe the defense will call these alleged male sex workers to say that all of these freak-offs were consensual, that no one was pressured, no one was threatened, and no one was forced to do anything. And overall, that idea of this being all consensual seems to be what the defense's main theme will be.

Particularly if you believe that victim won in the indictment, who is not named, but a lot of us believe is Cassandra Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend who accused him in a separate lawsuit of physically, sexually, and psychologically abusing her. In this criminal indictment, prosecutors say he sex trafficked, Victim one through force, fraud, or coercion, meaning forced her to perform commercial sex acts. Now, it would seem to me that if she were the government star witness, Combs' defense attorneys would spend a lot of time cross-examining her, suggesting that everything was consensual, that she agreed to everything.

And by the way, going back to the timeline here, yes, the government says that their case would take three weeks to prosecute, but does that account for the time that the defense would cross-examine their witnesses? with the cross-examination of a Cassandra Ventura take? Would it take several hours? Would it take a day? By the way, his defense attorney has also suggested that Combs may take the stand. Would that be the majority of the week as well? What would the cross-examination of Sean Combs take? So even though we're saying it could be four weeks, I would imagine it would take a little bit longer.

By the way, going back to Cassandra Ventura, his defense team most certainly will cross-examine her, try to get her to say everything was consensual, that yes, she was his girlfriend. of course Combs flew her around. Of course he had sexual activity with her, but he didn't pay her. He didn't promise her anything to engage in sex acts, that she was a willing participant in these essentially orgies. So the estimate from both sides of how long their case will be is very interesting to say the least.

But of course, again, that could change if there are new charges. Now, there was another major update that happened, and it was also addressed in this hearing. The defense's argument that the government, engaged in misconduct. In a filing from last week, Combs' defense counsel blames the government, more specifically, the Department of Homeland Security, of leaking information and making inappropriate comments to the media,

and the defense is now asking for an evidentiary hearing to get to the bottom of all this. More specifically, they allege that the Department of Homeland Security agents leaked the infamous 2016 videotape of Combs, purportedly beating Cassandra Ventura in a hotel hallway, which was published by CNN in May of 2024. And remember, that was after the raids on his houses by Homeland Security before his arrest. They say they leaked it. So Combs' defense counsel in this filing wrote, quote,

The Available Evidence Makes a Prima Fasci showing that the government, primarily through DHS, has engaged in a seven-month campaign with three objects. One, preventing Mr. Combs from getting fair consideration by the grand jury. Two, preventing him from getting a fair trial, and three, strategically leaking confidential grand jury material and information, including the 2016 Intercontinental videotape, in order to prejudice the public and potential jurors against Mr. Combs. Pretty startling allegation there, but they continue. The government's scheme to undermine Mr. Combs' rights to a fair proceeding has several methods and means. First, there has been a steady stream of false and prejudicial statements made by DHS agents to various press outlets over the last. seven months. For example, Combs lawyers allege on March 27th, 2024, two days after the

searches of Mr. Combs' residences, an agent specifically identified as working for DHS made public statements to, among other media, the New York Post, that he believes there is a disturbing history of sex trafficking. We are responding to concrete, detailed, explicit allegations. This is not random. We didn't choose his name out of a hat. We had allegations that we're following up on. Second, Combs' lawyers write, the agents encouraged in a particularly brutal and public search of Mr. Combs' homes, during which they handcuffed Mr. Combs' innocent sons and then marched them before a news helicopter in the press. This was an apparent effort to convey that they had overwhelming evidence against Mr. Combs, justifying the public

and brutal treatment of even his children who were handcuffed and manhandled by federal agents armed with assault rifles. Third, government employees have repeatedly leaked grand jury information and materials to the press to raise public hostility against Mr. Combs in advance of trial. And when it came to the source behind the leak of the 2016 tape, Combs' lawyers wrote, an unrelated third party is not a likely source. If a person not in law enforcement were to leak the videotape to a news source, that person likely would have sold the tape rather than simply give it to CNN. So prosecutors, they responded to this by providing the court with a copy of an email that they had sent to Combs' lawyers on October 9th. And it reads, to be clear, to our

understanding, DHS did not have possession of the videotape prior to CNN's publication of it. Only the government has authority to obtain grand jury material and the video broadcast by CNN was not obtained through grand jury process. So very interesting there. Now at the hearing, prosecutor johnson said that all the defense is trying to do is exclude a damning piece of evidence seemingly referring to the 2016 videotape and that is something combs lawyers have asked for because if this evidence was improperly leaked by the government that there is an argument it should be suppressed that it shouldn't come into combs trial that would be a big win for him well judge subramanian reserved ruling on whether to order an evidentiary hearing to sort all of this out he said he wants to wait to review

each side's arguments, which are due by November 7th, and then he'll see if a hearing is warranted. Now, what the judge did do during this hearing, and this is going to have an impact, is impose a gag order. Now, this was something that the defense had asked the court to do as well. They wanted to stop the government from disclosing material to the media. The federal prosecutors at the hearing were like, okay, we'll agree to that, but the defense, they need to agree to the same, because they say the defense hasn't been so innocent in all this. They called out Combs' attorney Mark Agnefilo for doing an interview with TMZ right after Combs was arrested in September, we called the criminal case, quote, a takedown of a successful black man.

Prosecutor Johnson said this sounded like he was accusing the feds of engaging in a racist prosecution. Johnson said statements of this sort seriously risk a fair trial in this case, so Judge Suburbanian instructed Combs' team to propose an order that would govern public statements by both sides. And when reporters flocked around Agafilo after this hearing, he definitely wasn't as forthcoming as he'd been in the past. I'm not going to talk about anything that I haven't said in court or in the papers. These are all great questions, but I'm just not going to get into it. Can you speak about your concerns about the leak and the video? I did. I did it in the court papers, and I'm just going to stick to the court papers.

As you guys all know, I made a request today for what we were calling a gag order. And I'm I'm not going to walk out of court and do anything other than live up to that. Talk about his demeanor in jail and what it's been like there. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to answer any more questions. I want to help you guys out, but I'm not going to do it. I'm going to go back and speak to my colleagues. And then, you know, I'm going to be done.

Just tell us about the MDC and what it's like that. Can we see him be exposed anytime soon? Can we see him being moved anytime soon or? Okay, sir, what way are you headed today? Okay, yeah, let's go in this way. Now, there was something else. that happened during the course of this hearing that we have to address. The amount of discovery in this case. The prosecution indicated the vast amount of material for their forensic teams to

extract and review. And I'll give you an example. Prosecutor Johnson said this week that 96 devices were seized in those March raids on Combs' properties. Phones, laptops, hard drives, 51 of the devices were from the L.A. raid. 36 were from the Miami raid. And nine were taken from Sean Combs himself. In fact, eight of the devices in that Miami raid contain over 90 terabytes of information. Think about that. 90 terabytes. What do you have like two terabytes on your iCloud storage? Think about how much that is. And she indicated that extracting that data has been a process. The reporting indicates, though, that the prosecutors have been in constant contact with Combs' attorneys regarding this discovery. In fact, we learned

that the government made its first production of material over to the defense on October 7th, so this is ongoing. And what the defense received was search warrants, Combs, ICloud reports, Combs' iPhone activity, so that's going to be a lot to go through as well. And the prosecution expects to turn everything over to the defense by December 31st. Again, given the sheer amount of data, it is surprising that we expect the defense to be able to go through all of this and be able to mount a defense by May. by May 5th. Very, very ambitious, in my opinion. So to be clear, though, we don't know what all

of this evidence contains, but at the very least, as based on reporting and prior comments from the prosecutors, they appear to be in possession of videotapes of perhaps the freakoffs, perhaps other alleged criminal activity, but there's probably text messages and photos and a lot to go through as well. Also, while discovery is due by December 31st, I will also let you know that the motions in this case are due by February 17th, 2025, oppositions by March, replies by March 10th, and then trial on May 5th. Again, ambitious, assuming there are no snags, assuming there are no further issues, we'll see. Now, there is another update in this case that we have to talk about that wasn't addressed at that hearing. It's something that is happening in a different court. You see, Combs has appealed

his denial of bail to a higher court. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and remember, two different judges already denied him pre-trial release. They said given the gravity of the allegations, the weight of the evidence, the potential danger he is to society, the risk of flight, and moreover, allegations that he had been improperly contacting witnesses and alleged victims,

Combs should not be let out pending trial. Well, Combs' attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, filed a motion for pretrial release last week with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and Shapiro opened the motion by writing, quote, involve extreme and unusual circumstances, but none that typically foreclosed bail or warrant forcing Sean Combs to defend himself from a prison cell.

What is extreme and unusual about this case is that Mr. Combs was detained immediately after he was charged, even though he has been in the spotlight his entire life, with many of his purported antics and episodes being widely reported in the press and known to law enforcement authorities. Indeed, hardly a risk of flight. He is a 54-year-old father of seven, a U.S. citizen, and extraordinarily successful artist, businessman and philanthropist and one of the most recognizable people on earth. The sensationalism surrounding his arrest has distorted the bail analysis. Mr. Combs was not released pending trial, even though he offered to comply with the restrictive

conditions that would have prevented any conceivable risk of flight or danger. And remember, Combs had offered a $50 million bail package, putting up his Miami home and his mother's home is collateral, promised to stay in constant contact with authorities, only speak to certain people, would have visitor logs handed over to the court, only certain people who come to the house. He even proposed having a third-party security team monitor his house when he would be under home confinement. And in this motion, Combs denies the government accusations of obstruction. His attorneys concede, yes, he spoke with people about the civil lawsuits he was facing, but says he wasn't aware that the Southern District of New York was investigating him.

And once he realized he was being investigated, the appeal motion says he made sure not to continue contact with those people. The motion reads, although the government vaguely described contact with two grand jury witnesses, it proffered no evidence of any threats or intimidation. The government could only state there were 14 total contacts between Mr. Combs and one witness and another witness who was contacted multiple times. Defense counsel explained those contacts involved no obstruction or witness tampering. For example, one witness contacted Mr. Combs, not the other way around. She reached out to Mr. Combs and told him, I'm a grand jury witness. After Mr. Combs informed defense counsel, he was instructed not to contact the witness anymore and didn't.

Though Shapiro argues the prosecution didn't meet its burden to hold Combs until trial. They've raised a number of very compelling and interesting arguments. Not clear when the court will hear arguments on this or what a decision will be or when a decision will be handed down. But very, very interesting arguments put forward by Sean Combs' defense counsel. Now, I will say this. If Combs were to make bail, would he still want a May 2025 trial date? Would he not want to see this trial much later on? After all, he faces a significant risk and possibility of conviction and being sentenced to serious prison time, perhaps a minimum of 15 to 20 years behind bars if he's convicted. Why wouldn't he want to be on house arrest for as long as possible

and try to delay this trial as much as he can. Now, he could feel confident in his case. Maybe he wants to hold the prosecution's feet to the fire. Maybe he wants to get this trial over with as soon as possible. But all I'll say is, if he's granted bail and he is release pending trial, do not be surprised if he then tries to delay the trial date. I just put in that warning. Now, I will say this.

Mark Agnefilo did indicate that Combs is not trying to move from the MDC while he awaits the issue on bail. There was reporting that he was requesting to be transferred to a facility in New Jersey, but Agnefillo seemed to say that the MDC had been responsive, so it appears he is going to stay there as he fights this bail issue. And when we talk about major updates in the Sean Combs case, as we talk about potential new charges, I would be remiss if I didn't mention another major update in the Combs case. A Texas attorney named Tony Busby announced that his law firm plans to pursue legal action against the music mogul. And this would be on behalf of more than 100 victims, more than two dozen of those future plaintiffs say they were just kids when Combs allegedly assaulted them, including a nine-year-old. And attorney Busby says it's not just Combs caught up in the crosshairs. The wall of silence has now been broken and victims are coming forward.

Our team has had at this point, more than 3,285 individuals contact us with people claiming to have been victimized by Sean Combs. We now represent 120 individuals who intend to bring civil claims in civil court against Sean Diddy Combs, as well as claims against many other individuals and entities that we will name as defendants as we file these things. individual cases. I expect that through this process many powerful people will be exposed. Many dirty secrets will be revealed. We know what we are potentially up against. This is always the case in situations like this when a celebrity is involved. People can be downright mean and nasty. You be shocked at the length fans will go no matter the evidence to the contrary to defend celebrities they love. I mean there's a reason for this word fans.

They're fanatics. I've personally already been threatened multiple times on social media. And when I agreed to pursue this, I expected as much. This isn't my first rodeo. But victims who step forward to have their voices heard should not be subjected to that kind of conduct. They should not be targeted. And by the way, according to TMZ, Busby has already sent out demand letters to a bunch of celebrities in order to get them to settle before he files lawsuits against them.

those, he says, who were complicit or participated in this alleged abuse by Sean Combe. And he also claims that some high-profile people have already settled. Now, he says that he's going to first file lawsuits against corporate entities who facilitated the abuse and then file the lawsuits against the celebrity. So it's going to be a very interesting series of weeks ahead. But here's the thing, and I've said this from the beginning. Busby is the latest in a long line of accusations from other people who have sued Combs that claim he abused minors.

And yet, nothing in his criminal indictment, nothing in Sean Combs' criminal indictment, is about minors yet. Given this announcement, could we expect a potential superseding indictment to include such allegations regarding minors? Not only would that delay a trial date, but it would make Combs' defense much more complicated.

There was no consent defense when it comes to minors. And legal experts I've spoken to have indicated, by the way, that Combs may move to stay, meaning pause all of these potentially 120 lawsuits until the conclusion of the criminal case, which is something we have seen before. And finally, one more update for you on the civil front that may affect the criminal case. And this is with respect to Adria English's lawsuit against Sean Combs. This is the person who claims that she was sexually assaulted and trafficked by Sean Combs at his infamous white party. while her lawyers have withdrew from the case. And here's the thing. Her attorneys were Ariel Mitchell Kidd and Stephen A. Metcalf.

Ariel Mitchell Kidd, as you might remember, has been making the news recently, most famously telling News Nation that a sex tape of Sean Combs and an unnamed high-profile celebrity is currently being shopped around. Now, what happened here? Well, English's former attorneys cited a breakdown in the attorney-client relationship and irreconcilable differences. In fact, Mitchell Kidd told the New York Times on October 3rd that, quote, she never lost faith in English's actual case, just in her.

Mitchell Kidd said, her case is great. My issue was with her undermining my work and going behind my back doing things incongruent to advancing her case. But English seems to be celebrating that these attorneys are no longer on her case in a statement over the weekend. English wrote, I am happy with the decision to withdraw, and this has made it easier for her to secure new professional non-class, out chasing counsel. Wow. Now, she has indicated that she has until November 11th to find new lawyers or she will represent herself in this case. Now, we don't know if Adrienne English is a cooperating witness for the government's criminal case against Sean Combs or not, but when you see these headlines and you see accusations against attorneys who may be representing potential

witnesses for the government, it does make you wonder about the credibility of these witnesses, no? What will cross-examination be like if perhaps Adrian English, is a cooperating witness and is going to testify against Sean Combs. Will she continue to be a witness? Interesting to think about. How strong is the prosecution's case? This is what I think about. Anyway, I think this is a good summation of where we are currently the latest in Sean

Combs case. And as always, we will keep you updated on the very latest. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time.

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