Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy’s Lawsuit Against ‘Racist’ Liquor Tycoon Eyed as Catalyst for Legal Turmoil

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

As sexual assault lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs started to roll in at the end of 2023, the rapper was also dealing with a separate suit against the alcohol company Diageo. Combs claimed they didn’t pay enough attention to the brands he represented because he’s Black. But when accusations started becoming public, the suit came to an end. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber takes a look at the lawsuit, the outcomes, and the implications with criminal defense and civil rights attorney Tyler Bailey.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST: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. View 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. Sean Diddy Combs is no stranger to legal maneuvering. As a businessman, he was involved in a lot of different industries, music, media, fashion, and of course, liquor. And those endeavors didn't always go smoothly. As Combs faces federal criminal charges plus ongoing civil sexual assault lawsuits, we are taking a closer look at a lawsuit involving one of his business partnerships that some believe may have helped kickstart his apparent downfall. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Well, it is certainly hard to avoid

Sean Niddy Combs these days. We are getting so many details. every day. We're digging into Combs' past, how it could be impacting his current legal situation right now. So what we want to focus on is the fact, and let's set the stage, that Combs is facing multiple lawsuits from both men and women who claim that he sexually assaulted them in the 90s and 2000s, with some of the alleged incidents happening as recently as a couple years ago. And then there are more civil actions that could be on the horizon. Texas attorney Tony Busby says that he expects to file separate lawsuits on behalf of more than 100 alleged sexual abuse victims, including people who say they were minors at the time they were abused at the hands of Sean

Combs. Now, this, of course, comes as Combs faces accusations from the federal government as well. He was arrested in New York three weeks ago. He's been behind bars ever since at the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center. Now, it's expected that this week his attorneys will try for a third time to get him bail. This is because the case is now going to a new. new judge. But remember, the government accuses him of sex trafficking and running a criminal enterprise with basically the sole purpose of satisfying his sexual fantasies. Combs and his legal team, though, have adamantly denied any and all allegations of criminal activity and sexual abuse saying the people filing all of these lawsuits are just looking for a payday. Combs' lead counsel

says that Combs is looking forward to proving his innocence in court and that he may even get up on the stand and testify. Now, as a reminder, I have to put in this caveat, there are not going to be any cameras in the courtroom for his criminal trial. New York courts do not permit filming inside, let alone federal courts. I could go on and on about how I think that's a big mistake, but that's a sidebar for a different day. But what we are going to have are probably courtroom sketches. We'll hear accounts from people inside, maybe live reporting, but it won't be like the Johnny Depp trial where our cameras capture the whole thing, unfortunately. So, going back to lawsuits, the lawsuit that seemed to have kicked things off in a very big way

was a multi-million dollar lawsuit from Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, who we've talked about a lot, Cassie, as she has come to be known. She claimed that Combs had systematically groomed and abused her for a decade, and that Combs, remember, he settled that lawsuit the very next day. Now, he denied the allegations, we know what happened. He was hit with a lot of other lawsuits say after that, and then the raids and the criminal charges came. Okay. But at the same time that all these lawsuits, these sexual abuse lawsuit started, Combs was dealing with something else. He was dealing with another lawsuit that he'd filed months earlier, accusing his longtime business partner Diageo of racism. And that is what we want to talk about today. And to do that,

I want to bring in criminal defense and civil rights attorney Tyler Bailey to talk more about this Tyler thanks so much for coming on um what is your reaction to the current situation that Sean Combs finds himself in because as I mentioned it wasn't bad enough that he was facing a number of lawsuits it wasn't bad enough that his homes are rated it wasn't bad enough that he uh you know was hit with federal charges but now a hundred more lawsuits could be on the horizon and you have to wonder if he could be hit with additional charges as a result of that. Well, when it rains, it pours and for Sean D.B. Combs, it appears as if the world is crumbling around him. He's in jail. Bonn has been denied. Countless lawsuits for somebody who was arguably

a billionaire to be in the position that he's in now has to be, you know, a complete 180 and shocking for him. You know, all these lawsuits. I mean, at some point, the money could dry up. His assets could be frozen. I mean, there's a lot that I'm pretty sure he's thinking about while trying to defend himself and probably protect his mental state while incarcerated. Now, to be clear, there are a number of defenses he could raise both for the civil lawsuits and the criminal charges, mostly saying it's everybody's not telling the truth. This was all consensual. The problem for him will be if he's hit with charges related to minors, perhaps the solicitation of minors. The reason I bring that up is because when you have,

these 25 people who are going to come forward in these lawsuits. This is according to Tony Busby that says they were minors when they were abused. Do you think Sean Combs is going to be hit with a superseding indictment, like an amended indictment, a new indictment, where charges related to minors will be a part of it? Well, I think there's some credible facts that are gathered as a result of these additional possible civil actions. They would probably have an obligation to bring a superseding indictment. And Jesse, you know this. The feds don't investigate and bring cases unless they're strong. They have a high conviction rate. So yes, he can raise defenses. Anybody can raise the defense. Now, overcoming the federal government is a tough challenge

for people who are even at the means that Sean Diddy Combs does here. So if there are allegations that there were minors involved, we can very much see something of that sort. More charges coming down from the feds on Mr. Combs. By the way, as I was going through this lawsuit, it made me think, how skilled you have to be in this area of law? Litigation. Something I practiced, by the way. And particularly, I got to call out personal injury cases. Those can be very, very complicated. They can be emotional. But that is why we are proud to partner with our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm. Look, if you should get injured this firm with over 1,000 attorneys, a team of investigators, paralegals, specialists, they may be who you want in your corner. And talking track record. It'll give you an example. They recently secured verdicts of $12 million in Florida, $6.8 million in New York, and $26 million in Philadelphia. And all of these, mind you, considerably higher than the highest insurance offers in these cases. With Morgan and Morgan, there's no upfront fee.

They only get paid. If you get paid, the whole process can be done straight from your smartphone. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC Sidebar. So I want to talk about Diageo. This is something we haven't talked about in a while. Now, for anybody who doesn't know, this is an international alcoholic beverage company. It's based in London. It is a major distributor of Scotch Whiskey, producing major brands like Johnny Walker.

But they also have other liquors in their portfolio over the years. A lot of brands, Surrach, Smyranoff, Baileys, Tancoray. They also own Guinness. And I want to talk about 2007, because in 2007, Sean Combs signed a deal with Diageo to promote Surac vodka. Many of you might remember those campaigns. But then in 2013, he purchased the brand De Leon tequila with Diageo. This was an interesting partnership. And Combs claimed that when Diageo bought competing tequila brands like Don Julio and Casamigos,

they stopped giving De Leon as much attention. And Combs said it was because he was black. And he didn't just imply that. He stated that in a lawsuit. I want you to take a look at some of the first lines. of this lawsuit that he filed against Diageo. It was filed on behalf of Combs, Wine, and Spirits, LLC. It reads, quote,

Cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageo's business, but it is a lie. While Diageo may conspicuously include images of its black partners and advertising materials and press releases, its words only provide the illusion of inclusion. As Combs' wines and Sean Combs have experienced firsthand, Diageo by and through its parent, company's chief executive officer Ivan Menenez has proven unwilling to treat its black partners

equally, even when explicitly required by contract to do so. The complaint goes on to stay that rather than equal treatment, Diageo has treated Mr. Combs and his brands worse than others because he is black. Diageo has typecasted Sarac and Delione, apparently deciding they are black brands that should be targeted only to urban consumers. Diageo's president of reserve and new business, Stephen Rust directly acknowledged the company's racist undertones in 2019, telling Mr. Combs that some within Diageo's leadership resented him for making too much money. He also admitted that Mr. Combs' race was part of the reason Diageo limited the neighborhoods where the Combs' brands were distributed. If Mr. Combs were Martha Stewart, Mr. Russ said, things would be different.

So, Tyler, quite the accusations there. What were your reactions to that? What's your reaction to that. And also, are claims like this tough to prove? Claims like this are extremely tough to prove, especially at that level. But, you know, language like this is not uncommon in lawsuits that are alleging any facts concerning racial discrimination. Now, the fact that Mr. Combs, who's an astute businessman, decided to file this lawsuit knowing everything else that he had going on, may have not been the smartest thing on his front. But they're hard to claim. I'm not surprised by the allegations because, you know, in lawsuits, lawyers, we put some flamboyant language in our lawsuits, but you have to back them

up with facts. And I'm pretty sure Mr. Combs and lawyers believe that the facts justified that type of language in the lawsuit. I thought the phrase illusion of inclusion was great. That's a, that's a sticking one. I love it. That was a really good one. So going back to here, I have to let everybody know that if you were reading this lawsuit, but this particular if you're not, I have to let you know that parts of this lawsuit are completely redacted. We do not know what they say whatsoever. For example, the sections that talk about what exactly was in the contract between Combs Wine and Diageo completely redacted. By the way, Tyler, why would that be the case? Well, there may be some trade privileges there, some information that's protected and could go to

their underlying business strategy and how they decide to enter into partnerships. So they probably did not want that information being public and disseminated broadly. That's a good point. That's a good point. But Combs does say that he was able to leverage his influence to market Sarac Vaca, saving, saving a struggling brand. The complaint states, quote, Mr. Combs' impact is proven by the numbers. In 2007, Sarac sold only about 75,000 cases per year.

In just two years after Mr. Combs began promoting Surrock, annual sales grew to about 400,000 cases. And by 2014, sales of Sarac had grown by over 3,000 percent since Mr. Combs began marketing it to approximately 2.6 million cases sold per year. Due to the power, reach and efforts of Mr. Combs, Sirac went from just another vodka to a billion-dollar spirit brand known by millions. Tyler, I'll just stop right there. I don't know if those numbers are accurate, but I wouldn't be. surprised because I always equated sarac with Sean Combs yeah I mean there was a point in the mid

2000s to probably what 27 2007 to 2014 or so where you know if you're going out to the club you're going out you're drinking Surrog you know the Surrock boys did he was promoting Surrog anywhere he went he brought a

bottle of Syrac with him and I didn't know what Surrog wasn't before Diddy I think that shows you you know that what he brought to the company. I think he sounds just sounds reasonable. In my days of going back, going out back in the day, this is before my married life, I remember everybody equated it. Every time Surrah came out, it was like, oh, diddy, did he? You know, like that was like, that was the brand. They, whoever bought it, they called them diddy because of it. So I can see those numbers, again, I can't confirm them, but I wouldn't be

surprised that that's actually true. But Combs claims that when he and Diageo joined four to buy, market, and sell delione tequila, Diageo promised to help with distribution and investment. Combs claims that never happened, and instead the focus was put on other newly acquired brands, like I mentioned. He even accuses Diageo of changing the bottle for the tequila to a more inferior material and then launched it without any sort of marketing to the customer. The lawsuit says, while Diageo has undoubtedly violated its contractual obligations and unfairly lined its own pockets. This case is not an ordinary contract dispute in which a party chooses to disregard its contractual promises due to greed and profit. Rather, and similar to the realities experienced by many people of color in the United States, Diageo's treatment of its business relationship with Mr. Combs was tainted by racial prejudices. Tyler, your thoughts on that. You know, on the surface, without knowing more, it's kind of hard to see or say one way or the other.

Now, here's one thing to think about that I've been thinking about is let's say Diageo started to lose faith in Mr. Combs as a businessman due to having information that the public did not know about these parties, about all these different allegations. And they started to slowly start to change their business model in another direction rather than partnering with Mr. Combs. They could have been foreshadowing or seeing a demise there. And so that could be the reason. Maybe it wasn't racial. I'm not sure, but on the surface, we can't tell. I'm sure Mr. Combs, in his position, believes it was. But if it was based on some sort of racial bias, that would seem to be doing business

and bad faith. But in business deals, it's easy to point through some other justification why they transitioned or went another direction. That's a really good point, huh? I mean, we won't know maybe yet, but that's really interesting. I wonder if any executives from Diageo would be called as potential witnesses in a criminal case, but you kind of make me think of it now. No, Jesse, did I mention one thing?

Yeah. I mean, yeah, so, I mean, think about this. If you are a global distributor of wine and beverages and you were going to enter into a multi-year contractual obligation with somebody who's arguably one of the biggest stars in the world, you know they're not going to a deal like that without doing thorough due diligence, looking into. you know, your personal life, your financial position. They're not going to just see somebody who has a million followers or two million followers and say, hey, let's sign the contract for seven years and we're going to be business partners. So they probably knew information that they were privy to them. Mr. Cones may have not even knew that they knew.

But then if you couple that with what the indictment says, the indictment says that he had been engaging in criminal conduct since 2008. So they should have known at the time they entered into the agreement with them that they really did to the due diligence, what might have been happening. So it does become, it's, I'm not taking away with what you're saying, but it does become interesting if they did know something when they found out. Now, Combs says, right, he says that he didn't even mention the allegation you put forward, which again, I think is a really interesting way to put this. But he says this was race, and he says he wasn't the first black entrepreneur to encounter problems with the Diageo company,

because the complaint says, quote, groundbreaking black artist Farrell Williams alleged on a lawsuit filed in 2013 that despite entering a three-year contract to produce and distribute his alcoholic beverage cue cream, Diageo shut down the partnership in breach of the party's agreement after just two years. Even more recently, Ebony Major, the first black blender at a major whiskey distillery filed suit against Diageo for discrimination. After she created a bourbon called Blender Select, Diageo sent Miss Major on a publicity tour to promote it. Yet Miss Mayer, major left just a few months later, alleging persistent racial hostility, including pay discrepancies and demeaning treatment by coworkers. So Tyler, we talked earlier about how these cases might

be difficult to prove, but if you can show a pattern, that would be incredibly important for your case, right? Incredibly important, incredibly relevant. And these are credible people who made similar allegations. So I think that definitely supports Mr. Cohn's position. In any, any civil case when you're trying to prove your case having prior instances of similar allegations helps further prove you know that they may have a viable claim and unlike the criminal case though it's just 51 percent that's all you need um even it's not beyond a reasonable doubt preponderance of the evidence trying to show that the facts are more in favor of one side than the other more likely than not right more likely than not that's right so colm's legal team

is that they tried to go through all of these different business channels to try to get things fixed, but they were stonewalled. So Combs files this lawsuit. He was actually looking for injunctive relief, including as well as damages, but forcing this company Diageo to fulfill its contractual obligations. Well, in response to the lawsuit, which was filed in June of 2023, Diageo denied the claims saying Combs was resorting to false and reckless allegations in an effort to extract additional billions from the company. And they claim, actually, it was Combs who wasn't giving the brands as much attention as they deserved. They wrote, quote, despite having made nearly a billion dollars over the course of our 15-year relationship,

Mr. Combs contributed a total of $1,000 and refused to honor his commitments. Mr. Combs' bad faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice, but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business relationship. Tyler, there's always two sides to a story. There always are two sides to the story, but, you know, of course they're going to deny it. I mean, they would never admit it. It sounds like, I mean, even though I'm saying Combs only contributed $1,000 towards a relationship, I mean, I think that's a stretch.

We all have seen the efforts that he's done on social media and building the brand. I've heard of this tequila brand before, so some things aren't necessarily shouldn't be counted in dollars and cents. But, of course, they're going to deny these allegations. Let's see how it ties back to this current situation, because we know that just a few months later in November of 2023, Cassandra Ventura would file her lawsuit against Combs, making very public, very graphic allegations against him. Again, Combs settled that lawsuit the next day. The exact details of that settlement weren't released. But then we fast forward to January of 2024, Diageo announced that Combs had withdrawn all of his allegations, that they no longer had a business release. relationship with him. Combs said he would voluntarily dismiss his lawsuit against Diageo with prejudice. That means it's final. He can't bring that lawsuit back again in the future. He won't refile it. Tyler, you know what I'm going to ask you? Do you think it was these sexual assault

lawsuits that played a role in his decision to end this lawsuit against Diageo? I 100% think it was. I think that Mr. Combs, when he decided to become a plaintiff, enter into litigation, there is things discovery, subpoena power. He has to give up information to participate in the litigation. So I think that once he realized that the lawyers could start, you know, prying and have a legal justification to do so, and that information could be revealed more broadly, he tried to remove himself from all types of litigation as quickly as possible. That's what it seems like on the surface, whether it's the Diageo lawsuit or quickly.

settling with Ms. Vendora shortly after that. Do you think it was also a matter of finances? He's being hit with multiple lawsuits, probably thought more we're going to be coming, maybe even anticipated that he could face criminal charges. He's trying to say, you know what, this is not the fight we want right now. We need to save our money and resources for everything else. Definitely. I think that, you know, it's hard to fight a lot of different bows on many fronts. I mean, just think about it. He has the public opinion that's changing. on Mr. Combs. You've got possible criminal charges that he was facing at the time. He knows he's probably a target of a federal investigation. He has his own business to run.

His family did take care of, and he wanted to participate as a plaintiff in a billion-dollar lawsuit with a global liquor and wine distributor. I mean, a lot, that's a lot on one person's plate. Yeah. Regardless if you are a billionaire. there. Well, let me ask you that real quick. How anybody, look, the truth is, anybody could file a lawsuit about anybody else. They're not supposed to file frivolous lawsuits. You can get in trouble for doing that. But if he's about to be hit with 100 lawsuits, A, how does he even tackle all of those? And B, couldn't that bankrupt him in and of itself? Not even whether it's, it goes to verdicts or settlements, goes to trial or settlements. But the, the ability to fight 100 law

lawsuits. How does that not bankrupt anybody? So again, how does he respond and how does that not bankrupt him? It's very hard for him to respond to that. He's going to have to hire plenty of lawyers. He's probably got to self-finance this litigation because, you know, being in jail is going to be hard for him to convince any, let's say, reputable insurance company or bank to extend him a significant line of credit to resolve these cases because they're going to probably be hinging their best that he's never going to cede a lot of day from jail so he's probably digging in his own pocket to try to defend these cases or settle them under some sort of confidentiality order as quickly as possible well let me ask you this also real quick if he were

able to get a one of the cases dismissed on a certain point of law or a certain point of fact would that be used to dismiss all the other suits legally, I mean, they would probably try to use it, but, you know, these cases aren't handled in a vacuum, all right? Even the judges who are reading these pleadings and debating these motions, they probably have heard about the baby oil bottles and the countless cases and they know who Sean Combs is. So it would be really hard for them to just, I would say, dismiss these cases when there's a factual basis. You know, the lawyers say, when you got good facts, you argue the facts. You got bad facts, you argued a lot.

And so Mr. Combs has real bad facts here. He has lawsuits all over the country. He has the photograph of the federal government inside his bathroom with all these baby oil bottles. I mean, that picture alone could really harm him his chances, I think, on getting anything dismissed on the legal basis. And that's just the way the law and courts work. I guess you don't believe the, I bought in bulk at Costco defense that has been put forward

by his defense attorney at this point. But look, we can talk about defenses at another day. But I will tell you, just to put a bow on this, Sarac and De Leon, they are now owned solely by Diageo. And many have speculated that Combs' problems with this liquor company were a sign of what was to come, just an onslaught of legal filings. Tyler Bailey, thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate it.

Always. Appreciate you. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. 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.

We'll speak to you next time.