Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy's Friend Ashton Kutcher Fears Subpoena in Sean Combs Investigation: Report

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

Despite being friends with Sean “P. Diddy” Combs for more than 20 years, actor Ashton Kutcher is keeping to himself following raids on two of Combs’ homes last week. The Southern District of New York is reportedly investigating a sex trafficking operation. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses how Kutcher could be pulled into the investigation with entertainment attorney and reporter Jonathan Handel.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Go to sheathunderwear.com/sidebar for twenty percent off your order!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript 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.

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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. Wow, okay, I've got a lot, I can't tell. So, um, I can't tell that one either. As Sean Diddy Combs faces further scrutiny from federal investigators and public, people seem to be distancing themselves from the music mogul. And that includes his long-time friend actor Ashton Coucher. He seems to be the latest celebrity to pull away, and how could he be drawn into a sex trafficking investigation? We're going to discuss it all with entertainment attorney and journalist Jonathan Handel. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse

Weber. So in the months since bombshell lawsuits were filed against Sean Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment and these suits like from his ex Cassandra Ventura and his former producer Rodney Jones. The rapper and entertainment mogul has been in the news, oh, I don't know, quite a lot to say the least. And there are a lot of people out there who may not want to be associated with him or get any of that negative publicity or maybe wrap themselves up in this criminal investigation. Why do I say that? Because there were these raids that happened on his properties, agents from Homeland Security last week, reportedly pursuant to an ongoing investigation into sex trafficking, rated two homes, one in Miami and one in L.A.

Now, going back to the lawsuits, which may have prompted this investigation, the lawsuits accused homes of multiple horrific crimes and acts, rape, sexual assault, physical and verbal abuse, blowing up someone's car, involvement in shootings, weapons and narcotics possession, engaging in prostitution, even spiking the drinks of minors. But for that federal criminal investigation, there has been no word yet on what Combs's connection exactly is to that case. And Combs has not been arrested. He has not been charged. What we do know is that agents conducted these raids in almost a military-like fashion. They were armed with guns. They carried boxes full of what we believe to be a lot of electronics out of the

home. And since the raids happened a little more than a week ago, Combs released a statement through his attorney, denying that he's done anything to warrant this, calling it a witch hunt. but there really hasn't been anyone outside of his family that has really voiced support for him, which I thought is such a curious aspect to this. And I've asked my guests about this as well. But now, a new name has come into the mix. Ashton Coucher, yes, the actor who's been friends with Combs for decades. In fact, Sean Evans of the channel First We Feast interviewed Coucher while they ate spicy wings on hot ones some years ago.

And he asked Coucher about how he met Sean Combs and about Combs's infamous parties. So, um, I can't tell that one either. I mean, like actually cycling through them. Our relationship was really bizarre. We became fast friends. And we used to just hang out, watch football together. And he came over and I was like, I'm going for a run. He was like, oh, I'll go for a run with you.

So he comes over to go for a run. About halfway through the run, he's like, yo, I'm running out of gas right now. But we had, like, paparazzi all around us at the time. He's like, you've got to slow down. But make it look like you're not slowing down. Because he had to look. I don't want to look like I'm not going to be able to finish this thing. And he was losing it.

So we finished out the run. And then he was so upset over the fact that he got skunked on this run. That year, he decided to run the New York Marathon. And so he just started immediately training for the New York Marathon. I like that. Bounds back. Well, he just can't lose. even when he's that close to humility

that it becomes a driver and so then he went out and ran the New York Marathon. Now, to be clear, Ashton Coucher has not spoken out about Diddy since the lawsuits were filed or since the raids happened. But let's talk about this. And who better to talk about this

than all of this Diddy controversy than with entertainment attorney and journalist Jonathan Handel. Jonathan, good to have you back here on Sidebar. It's good to be back with you, Jesse. So talk to me about what your reaction is to the Ashton Coocher component. And I mean, I just played you that bit from hot ones where, again, he kind of saying, oh, I can't tell you about that.

I can't tell you about this party. What's your reaction to it? Well, you know, this is, first of all, without prejudging the accusations, which are horrific, as you point out. But we also have to remember we're in the court of public opinion. The court of law is what ultimately decides these sorts of things. But that said, this is a radioactive situation that no one wants to be associated with. And Ashton, in particular, I think, will have a muscle memory of what happened when he came out in support of his former castmate on the 70s show, Danny Masterson, who was accused and then actually was convicted of sexual abuse and is serving up to, I think, 30 years in prison now for that. And during the sentencing phase, Coucher had written a letter in support, apparently, of his former castmate.

and that did not go down well with the public. Right. So to emphasize that when we talk about why we haven't heard from Ashton Kutcher, or maybe we won't hear from either him or his wife, Milakunis, they were shunned for their support of Danny Masters. And again, they start on that 70s show with him. He was convicted last year, raping two women, sentenced to 30 years in prison. And these letters of support after his conviction, you know, before he was sentenced, they said that Masterson had always, quote, treated people with decency, equality, generosity.

Coucher talked about him being a role model. Cunis talked about his excellent character, and, you know, there was serious backlash. The couple released an apology video, and Coucher and Cunas, they both had to resign from the anti-child sex abuse organization that Ashton Coucher had co-founded in 2019. He wrote, I have worked for 15 years to fight for people who are sexually exploited. Victims of sexual abuse have been historically silenced, and the character statement I submitted is yet another painful instance of questions. victims who are brave enough to share their experiences. So you believe that the backlash they recede over the Masterson situation is maybe why we're not hearing anything right now about Combs.

Well, I think it would clearly have an effect. I mean, we can't get inside their minds, of course, but the Daily Mail reporting that Coonis has told Ashton, this is based on one anonymous source apparently, that he is, you know, not to speak out, not to get involved. and it certainly wouldn't be any surprise if the experience I had several years ago with the Danny Masters in the situation would have an effect on that. It'd be surprising, but it didn't, frankly. Hey, I just want to say thank you so much for coming to us as we continue to break down the updates in the Diddy Saga. Look, it is our privilege to be able to do this for you.

And the truth is we're able to do this because we have some incredible partners who support us. And I just want to call out one right now, the sponsor of this episode, Sheath. I know. You're thinking underwear, really, Jesse, of all things. But listen, I can't emphasize this enough. This could be the most comfortable underwear on the market right now. It is, I think the best way to describe it is like a cloud. Because first of all, they aren't too loose. They aren't too tight. That's half the battle when you're dealing with underwear. They're that perfect, like, right in between fit. And it also has this stretchy fabric that's made out of a moisture wicking technology. So it's super soft, keeps everything cool, comfortable. You know what I mean?

We got summer right around the corner. We got those humid months. you got working out sweating sheath underwear is going to keep you feeling good they are also always improving their product because now sheath has brand new materials like bamboo and mesh that provide even more cooling comfort it's amazing so right now you can go to sheath underwear dot com slash sidebar for 20% off of your order that is sheath underwear dot com slash sidebar for 20% off of what is a truly comfortable pair of underwear hope you check it out talk to me about what you know of the Kutcher and Combs relationship. So my understanding is I think they met originally when Ashton Kutcher was going to prank Diddy on the show Punk. That didn't happen. Can you walk us through what you know of their dynamic, the relationship over the years? Well, it's, you know, this is really based on reporting. I don't have firsthand knowledge of it, of course, but, you know, that it's been a joking and sort of bro-like relationship, I think, is perhaps a way to characterize it, that they are buddies, they've been good friends,

they've been back and forth with each other. And, you know, it's sort of a typical, almost typical celebrity, young celebrity, bro type relationship is the way I'd characterize it. But, you know, we're seeing perhaps the limits of that in terms of not hearing anything from Cuchar, at least at this point. And, you know, probably not going to in terms of the situation that's evolved here. Yeah, and so they worked, they both worked on MTV together. Combs was on making the band, Coucher was on punk. Coucher had previously supported Combs at public events like the launch of the Unforgivable fragrance in 2007 in New York. He also attended Combs's infamous White Party back in 2009. He was actually posed, he posed with Combs and Demi Moore.

And then in 2010, when Time magazine named Ashton Coucher was one of the 100 most influential people that year, Combs offered the following quote, that Cucher is a sounding board for me like me. he's a mogul, a new media mogul, but we are yin and yang. I am in your face, but he is understated, cool, suave. Do you think, thinking about this, what seems to be a close relationship that I will tell you right now, I didn't even remember they were friends, but now it makes sense. I'm seeing all this. But thinking about their close relationship and then hearing comments, like on hot ones where he says, you know, I can't really talk about those parties, which is something I've

heard before about Diddy's parties, do you think that's something that investigators would be looking into and what would they be looking into about it? Well, they may well. You know, telling a television interviewer that you can't talk about something is a little different than telling a federal investigator, the same thing. And, you know, I think that in the context of the accusations that, you know, that have been made publicly, that HSI Homeland Security investigations and other federal investigators perhaps would be, you know, very interested to know what exactly it is about those parties that Coutcher felt he couldn't talk about. So, you know, that, that certainly in the context of the broad scope of these accusations, that it's not, you know,

simply, you know, one encounter or one, you know, sort of one off kind of thing, but the accusations that seem broader than that, you know, potentially, certainly potentially, would garner interest from investigators. You know, it's, it's, there is this dynamic and, and you alluded to it, terms of asking about the allegations and the civil suits, there is this dynamic where, you know, investigators, federal investigators, state investigators, in other cases do, you know, they read the newspapers, quote unquote. They do watch the media and they can't be, you know, when there's a level that's reached, you know, it can trigger an investigation. Yeah. And to be clear, he could be referring to something about the parties that's not necessarily illegal, maybe something

embarrassing, maybe something he didn't want to get out there, doesn't mean he knows about a crime. But having said that, the government, they could subpoena Ashton Coutcher to provide information, right? And that's something we have been wondering, you know, a big talking point is, well, why didn't, you know, that you have these federal agents that swarm these properties, sometimes a raid like that is in conjunction with an indictment and arrest. Here's not the case. I'm of the opinion. They're still in the evidence gathering phase. We don't, they have to process everything that was recovered from the homes. But I also was suspecting that they're issuing subpoena.

to a lot of people right now to get a better understanding of what that looks like and if that's the case and Ashton Coucher was issued a subpoena then no wonder he wouldn't be saying anything about Did he right now either, right? Well, that's right. And, you know,

let's underline the significance of those raids, okay? We have the Fourth Amendment that says that unreasonable searches and seizures are prohibited in this country. You, federal agents can't simply, legally, barge into someone's home without having persuaded a judge to issue a warrant.

to sign off on a warrant application. So, you know, that's, and it's not something that you, that you do early on in an investigation if you don't have enough support to, you know, to justify a warrant. Probable cause. Probable cause, yeah. Probable cause. That's exactly right. You need probable cause and you need, you know, in conjunction with that, it may be that you're afraid that evidence will be destroyed, but nonetheless, you can't simply say, well, I'm afraid evidence will be destroyed. Let me, you know, sign off on this, and I'd like to barge into a couple of mansions on either coast of the country. So, you know, it seems highly probable that there is a very deep and serious investigation going on here, and that would involve approaching sort of

circle by circle, getting closer and closer to the subject or target of your investigation. And again, to be clear, it has not been named as a subject or a target, but, you know, his homes were rated and subpoenas for people around him and who may have partied with him would not, you know, be at all a surprise. And that's the question I want to ask you right now. If we talk and what I'm about to say, let me be very clear, is entirely speculative, okay? I'm reading the T-league. I'm speculative.

I'm making that clear. If Ashton Coucher, should he be concerned about being criminally charged? And why do I say that? But I say that because a big question has been, well, if all of these parties have been going on and this illegal conduct has been going on and you have celebrities who, you have have been there and knew about it and never said anything. Do they face liability? Is it just the knowledge of it and not doing something? Is it the participating in it? Again, speculating. We don't know. I'm reading the allegations in these lawsuits. There hasn't even been a criminal

complaint. But I'm just asking you, do you think that this is a fair conversation to have that high profile celebrities who were with Diddy, partied with Diddy, are concerned right now that they too could go within the orbit of federal investigators? Well, that's a very fact-specific question. and we don't know the facts, you know, did somebody see something and not say something versus did somebody encourage something to happen versus did something go on that someone participated in? All of those details make a difference. What I can say, and I don't want to speculate in the least, honestly, about, you know, does a particular celebrity, whether it's Ashton or somebody else, face, you know, collateral liability? But what I can say is that in a

situation like this, any smart celebrity, any smart celebrity's, you know, entertainment lawyer is going to be consulting with criminal defense counsel as well so that if a subpoena does come down or, you know, or if there is, if someone was at a party where potentially something illegal, you know, happened, you want to be ready and understand what the potential liability is. You want to be able to counsel your client. Are you going to answer questions from, you know, federal investigators or are you going to take the Fifth Amendment? You know, what, how exactly do you handle this? You don't wait until the day you get a, you know, your client gets a subpoena to then start thinking about, well, gee, what's our position here? So again, that's without any speculation

as to whether there's any liability whatsoever on the part of Ashton Kutcher or anyone else. Yep, yep. And look, we're again, just speculating, but it is interesting. His name's coming in news. I think a lot of old relationships, a lot of old videos are surfacing again because in light of this, we will obviously have a better understanding of everything as this case progresses. And to be clear, this could lead nowhere. Did he could not. There's a possibility. that he will not be charged, that this investigation will stop. Just because you have probable cause to initiate a raid doesn't mean that you have sufficient evidence to get back a grand jury indictment or even if they want to submit it to a grand

jury or even they want to go forward with charges. But we're reading into it. Jonathan Handel, thanks so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. I know it was early today. You're on the West Coast. So always appreciate you being so generous with your time, sir. It's a pleasure, Jesse.

Thank you very much. All right, everybody. That is all we have for you right now here on this episode of Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.