Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy's Ex-Producer Accusing Him of Rape Reacts to Sex Trafficking Case

Starting point is 00:00:00 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

Starting point is 00:00:35 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. Rodney Jones, one of the people who has sued Sean Combs, is now using the rapper's new indictment as a way to keep his lawsuit alive. We're going to break down this latest legal filing and what you need to know right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, so let's talk about Rodney Little Rod Jones. This is the former producer who had worked with Sean Diddy Combs on the Love album, who then sued him for a variety of claims, including sexual assault, harassment, sex trafficking. He also sued other corporate entities and

Starting point is 00:01:24 individuals who he says facilitated or contributed to this abuse. that he says he endured at the hands of Combs, that they are liable too. The main idea is that all the defendants are part of this illegal criminal enterprise in violation of RICO or racketeering laws, making money by forcing and threatening people like Jones to transport drugs and guns, to solicit minors and sex workers, to make music without properly paying them, that the corporate defendants and other affiliated companies should have been monitoring or warning or supervising what Combs and his associates were allegedly doing, but instead, these defendants just wanted to enrich themselves, financially, sexually. And we have talked about Jones, even more recently,

Starting point is 00:02:10 in light of the criminal charges that Combs now faces. And remember, Combs is currently charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by forced fraud or coercion, transportation to engage in prostitution, namely that he operated a criminal organization that engaged in a variety of crimes, forced labor, kidnapping, sex trafficking, bribery that he engaged in a campaign of abusing women, forcing people into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual episodes with sex workers known as freak-offs, that he used force, fraud, or coercion to have a victim engage in commercial sex acts, that he transported people to engage in commercial sex acts. So very, very serious federal charges. I mean, Sean Combs could face potentially up to life in prison if he's convicted

Starting point is 00:02:58 here. And given the similarities of the allegations put forward by prosecutors and the allegations by Rodney Jones, we have talked previously about whether or not he is cooperating with the government. Are they using his allegations to build up their case? It's a fair question to ask. Now, as for Combs, he's currently locked up in the Metropolitan Detention Center. He was denied bail twice, even though he is appealing that. And prosecutors are continuing their investigation, perhaps collecting more evidence, perhaps speaking with more witnesses. But now I want to talk about Rodney Jones, because in light of this indictment and in light

Starting point is 00:03:35 of Combs' arrest, let's focus on Rodney Jones and what he just did. So Rodney Jones, through his attorney Tyrone Blackburn, just submitted a very interesting filing in this case. It's called Opposition to Combs' defendants' motion to dismiss and request to take judicial notice. Now, you see, the various defendants in this lawsuit, Combs' love records, Combs' Global Enterprises, Christina Corum, they all tried to get Jones' lawsuit dismissed on various grounds. But Jones is saying, no, no, no, no, no, no. This lawsuit has to go forward, and he brings up Combs' indictment.

Starting point is 00:04:13 So I'm going to go through all of this for you. Look, the first thing I got a call out, I have to, is this unique language that Tyrone Blackburn uses in his filing. Now, Tyrone Blackburn is somebody we've talked about before. He has consistently used very pointed language in his filings. Let's say strong language. And Blackburn is a controversial figure. He was even referred to the New York grievance committee by a federal judge for the manner in which he brings lawsuits. That's a whole separate question.

Starting point is 00:04:45 We talked about that previously, but he's an interesting guy. And the idea here is he uses unique language. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before in pleadings. For example, when explaining why the defendant's motion to dismiss should be denied, Blackburn writes, quote, the court needs only to Google, and it would be abundantly clear that Sean Combs has zero credibility. And to quote United States President Joe Biden, he has. has the morals of an alicat. Now, President Biden wasn't referring to Sean Combs with that quote,

Starting point is 00:05:19 but clearly it's something Tyrone Blackburn wanted to use. And he continues. Sean Combs is a criminally indicted, racketeering, sex trafficking, illegal prostitution facilitating, accused drugs and guns dealer, accused Mexican cartel drug runner, accused murderer, and confirmed woman-beater. What about this footnote?

Starting point is 00:05:41 quote, this writer will not entertain the personal attacks directed at me by counsel for the defendants. It is clear they are obsessed with me and although initially flattering, their obsession has become creepy. That is certainly an interesting response to arguments put forward by lawyers and defendants, but let's put that to the side. Blackburn in this filing brings up other topics too, like other lawsuits that were filed against Combs, that he allegedly manipulated, notorious BIG's contract with bad boy, that Combs threatened the owner of bad boy entertainment to sign over 25% of the company to Combs' mother. And also, he brings up this, quote, Sean Combs recklessly caused the death of several people in 1991 at City College

Starting point is 00:06:30 and then callously structured his investments in a way to hide his assets from the families of the victims. Now, this was in reference to a stampede that occurred at a a charity baseball game sponsored by Combs that resulted in the deaths of nine people. But he's bringing up a lot of issues in past events of Combs life and allegations that are not even related to Jones claims per se. So again, interesting he's doing this. But I guess it kind of shows you how personal these attacks on Combs are. Again, very unique way to structure of filing. Talking lawsuits, by the way, how could I not bring up a powerhouse in the litigation industry? Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, our sponsor, our proud

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Starting point is 00:07:51 your couch. Also, their fee is absolutely free unless you win. They're only getting paid if you get paid. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC Sidebar, can click the link in the description and pin in the comments. Okay, but now going to the main substance of his argument here. So Jones, through Blackburn, argues that the court should take something called judicial notice of Combs' federal indictment. Now, judicial notice is when the court says that a certain fact is undisputed. We're taking it as

Starting point is 00:08:25 true. You don't even have to show evidence it's true, that we can say without a doubt that this fact is accurate. There's no debate. debate on it, that we can back this up with sources that can't be questioned. So, for instance, if we say Albany is the capital of New York, or the Supreme Court is the highest court in the land, or that Florida is in the eastern time zone, that would be examples of judicially noted fact. Now, Blackburn says that pleadings and public filings, essentially court documents, are those kinds of sources or documents that are not subject to reasonable dispute. They can't really be questioned. And therefore, the court should take judicial notice of the federal indictment

Starting point is 00:09:06 against Sean Combs, as well as a number of the other complaints that were filed against Combs by several of his accusers. Basically, he's saying, look, these documents exist, they are real, it is a fact that they were filed, and so forth. And essentially, this would allow Blackburn, Jones, to argue at trial that it is, without a doubt, Combs was indicted. Now, to be clear, this is not saying that Combs is guilty, but we are taking it as true that Combs was indicted, that he was formally charged with crimes, but the court is not expressing an opinion one way or another or whether Combs is innocent or guilty. But having said that, there seems to be another reason that Jones wants this to happen,

Starting point is 00:09:50 because what is he arguing? Let's compare what we're saying versus the indictment. So in this filing, he writes, quote, upon reviewing the four, 14-page federal RICO indictment of Sean Combs, the court will notice that the indictment closely mimics Plaintiff Jones' second amended complaint. In the press conference announcing the indictment of Mr. Combs, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, shared that the SDNY has over 50 witnesses, has secured hours of video evidence, flight data, as well as other corroborating evidence

Starting point is 00:10:24 to fully support the federal RICO and TVPA charges. TVPA is Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which are identical to the claims raised by Plaintiff Jones in his second amended complaint. Although Mr. Williams did not name the businesses that comprise the Combs Enterprise, which is nearly the exact name Plaintiff Jones used in the second amended complaint,

Starting point is 00:10:48 the Combs RICO Enterprise, or the members of the RICO Enterprise, plaintiff is very confident that Love Records, Combs Global Enterprises, Christina Corum, Frankie Santella, Brandon Paul, Justin Combs, and Moy-Bahn will be identified as members of the enterprise. Blackburn continues, there are others such as Mr. Combs' accountant who wired money to Mr. Jones, the travel agent who booked the flights for the sex workers to travel both nationally and internationally, and the attorney who has worked as Mr. Combs' bixer for over 30 years, and who has aided and abetted him in covering up and executing many of his crimes. In an effort not to impede Mr. Combs' criminal prosecution,

Starting point is 00:11:29 plaintiff has opted not to name these individuals in this opposition to the motion to dismiss. So Blackburn basically is saying who those unnamed co-conspirators or members of this criminal enterprise are, the ones that prosecutors won't name. But the bigger picture here, it seems, is that Jones, Blackburn, are arguing that given this indictment, it makes their claims so much strong. given the similarities. And that's important for them, because remember, they are saying this lawsuit should move forward, that it shouldn't be dismissed as the defendant's claim. And let's talk about that, because under the federal rules, a complaint, a lawsuit, can be

Starting point is 00:12:12 dismissed if the plaintiff fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Meaning if you take all of the facts, all of the allegations as asserted by Rodney Jones as true, there is nothing to sue for. There is no. cause of action. There is no claim under the law that this case has to be dismissed. I'll give you an example. If I sue my friend because he said the sky is yellow and that insulted me, even assuming my friend actually said that, there's no viable claim here. There is nothing against the law. There's nothing I can sue him for. So first here, Jones argues that he hasn't failed to state of RICO or racketeering claim. He argues that a grand

Starting point is 00:12:53 jury indictment created a presumption of probable cause that a crime was committed and argues, quote, it goes without saying that after the indictment of Sean Combs, the bombastic blowviations and the defendant's motion to dismiss did not age well. Goes on to stay, quote, here as evidence by U.S. Attorney Williams Press Conference and the grand jury indictment in Exhibit 1, defendant Sean Combs and the Combs' RICO Enterprise are presumed guilty of being a RICO criminal organization. And then Jones, or Blackburn, argues that each one of the Combs' defendants' arguments fail. First, in response to the defendant's claims that Jones hasn't properly alleged the existence of a racketeering enterprise because they have been shown that there's a hierarchy

Starting point is 00:13:39 or that there's an organization or what the activities are, Jones argues, quote, this is absurd and says that Sean Combs was the head of the organization. Christina Corum was the chief of staff. Brendan Paul was the drug runner, that even Justin Combs, Combs' son, would be the person to recruit women, that Love Records was a sex trafficking money laundering operation. Also, in response to the defendant's argument that this RICO claim has to fail because Jones hasn't properly alleged the underlying illegal activities of this criminal enterprise, this racketeering enterprise like mail fraud or wire fraud. Jones says, look, we actually have been pretty specific. about how this scheme worked, but if you don't think we were specific enough, we'll provide those details.

Starting point is 00:14:27 Quote, we will also provide the identity of the travel agent who booked all of the flights and rented all of the chartered planes that Mr. Combs and the members of the Combs RICO Enterprise used to traffic prostitutes, victims of sexual trafficking, drugs, and unmarked guns, both nationally and internationally. We will also provide the name of the charter company that knowingly had Mr. Combs' name on multiple flight manifest, traveling to and from national and international destinations all on the same day and often all the same time while Mr. Combs was sitting in his house in Miami. Maybe Mr. Combs will provide a sworn declaration under penalty of perjury attesting to what and or who was on those planes. Yeah, that's quite a statement. He goes on to say we will also provide detailed information,

Starting point is 00:15:13 dates, times, places when Mr. Combs and the members of his RICO Enterprise used TSA to transport cocaine, 2C, ketamine, and other illegal drugs, both nationally and internationally. Okay, so that's quite an allegation. That's quite a claim. And if true, again, makes you wonder if Rodney Jones has been cooperating with federal authorities to provide them all of these alleged details. Now, moving forward, Jones then turns to this claim about the TVPA, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, because he's suing under that as well. And Jones responds to the attacks from the Combs defendants that this TVPA claim has to fail because it is implausible, it is outlandish, while Jones says their claims are not delusional or irrational

Starting point is 00:16:03 to the point that they have to be dismissed. And he cites a United States Supreme Court case that held, quote, a complaint may not be dismissed simply because the court finds the plaintiff's allegations unlikely. And in response to Combs' defendants' arguments that Jones wasn't forced into sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion as is necessary under this claim. Jones says, that's not true. Jones says he was present for Combs and his associates displaying firearms. He was present at a shooting. He saw assaults by Combs.

Starting point is 00:16:37 He saw Combs use power and his influence and threats. And that, by the way, is similar to the charge that Combs is facing in his criminal indictment, sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. Now, Jones also responds to Combs' argument that the sex trafficking claim needs to fail because there's no commercial sex acts, which is a necessary component of that claim. Jones argues that promises of career advancement or other compensation connected to these sex acts is enough. That's sufficient and says that that's what happened here between him and Combs.

Starting point is 00:17:12 He was promised things and forced to do things in exchange. And there are more points with that sex trafficking claim, but I want to move on for a second. I want to focus on his next defense because Jones says, you know what? Despite what the defense says, I am a victim of sexual assault, that this claim shouldn't be dismissed as the defendants want. Blackburn writes, quote, the plaintiff plausibly pleads a claim for sexual assault. If the defendants would like plaintiff to draw a diagram, plaintiff would happily oblige. Plaintiff did not go into graphic detail as to the extent of Sean Combe's sexual assault, but it is evident from the multiple civil lawsuits and the 14-page indictment,

Starting point is 00:17:49 the kind of sexually deviant monster Sean Combs is. If the court believes that plaintiff must re-plead his sexual assault claim, plaintiff respectfully requests leave to amend. Plaintiff will provide additional detail and cite the relevant state penal statutes relating to the disturbing actions Sean Combs visited upon plaintiff. All right, so I also want to call out a couple of other points that are made by Jones in this filing. So Jones talks about the Cuba Gooding Jr. incident, where he claims that the actor abused him one night on Combs' yacht.

Starting point is 00:18:24 And he is suing Combs saying that he is liable for what happened based on a premises liability claim. That is, that it happened on Combs' yacht, therefore he's responsible because you have to keep those on your property safe from harm. Well, Jones says that unlike the defendant's argument, this was foreseeable. It was foreseeable that this could happen to him. Blackburn writes, quote, as it pertains to Cuba Gooding Jr., three months prior to sexually assaulting plaintiff, he had pled guilty to forcibly touching in New York State Court.

Starting point is 00:18:57 To say that it was unforeseeable is laughable at best and downright ridiculous at worst. Cuba Gooding Jr. is an Oscar winning actor who has fallen from grace. His conviction was international news. Sean Combs knew or should have known that he had an issue keeping his hands to himself. from there Blackburn also defends other claims asserted by Rodney Jones in his complaint like breach of contract and emotional distress. But I want to highlight one final point of this filing. Because Jones says that if something is missing from his complaint, allow him to fix it. Allow him to amend his complaint to provide more facts, more evidence, causes of action. Don't

Starting point is 00:19:39 dismiss this case. So we shall see what the court decides here. But again, interesting response in light of the new developments that are facing Sean Combs. Look, we knew that the criminal indictment might affect the civil cases in some way. Now we're getting a sense of how it's at least affecting this lawsuit. That's all we have for you 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.

Starting point is 00:20:11 Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

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Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy's Ex-Producer Accusing Him of Rape Reacts to Sex Trafficking Case

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