Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy’s Sons Hire High-Powered Lawyer After Los Angeles Trafficking Raid

Episode Date: April 4, 2024

Sean “P. Diddy” Combs’ two sons, Justin and Christian Combs, are coming under fire after both were mentioned in lawsuits against their father. The two were also briefly detained during the large raid on Combs’ home in Los Angeles by Homeland Security investigators. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber sits down with entertainment and criminal attorney Darryl Cohen to discuss the legal action P. Diddy’s sons could be facing.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. People in Diddy's inner circle are coming under the spotlight after these raids on both coasts. And now at least two people seem to be lawyering up. Who? The rapper's Sons. Yeah, we're discussing the legal action that Justin and Christian Combs are potentially facing with entertainment and criminal attorney Daryl Cohen. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. So we've been following the Sean Diddy Combs saga for months now. Is that a shocker? Is that a shocker? We've been following it because it is such a wild

case and there are so many moving parts. And this is from the massive lawsuits that were filed against Combs to these raids at his homes in Los Angeles in Miami just last week. And during the raids, oh, I should say during the raid in Los Angeles on March 25th, Combs' sons, Christian and Justin, were actually handcuffed and led out of the homes as investigators from Homeland Security went in to collect evidence. Now, the Southern District of New York is reportedly working on a large sex trafficking case and Sean Combs could be involved. Now, the Combs brothers were not under arrest.

They were merely detained, likely for everyone's safety, because investigators didn't really know who was at the home or who could be armed with weapons when they go in. They haven't been criminally charged. Neither has Diddy been criminally charged. But 30-year-old Justin, he is Combs' oldest biological son. He had him with fashion designer Misa Hilton. And 26-year-old Christian, who goes by the stage name King Combs, is one of three children that Combs shares with model Kim Porter,

who died in 2018. Now, TMZ reports that the brothers were seen later that night collecting belongings from the house. This apparent investigation comes after several lawsuits. Sean Combs, accusing him of everything from sexual abuse and rape to having unregistered guns and participating in human trafficking and shootings. Combs has denied any and all wrongdoing multiple times. Now, Justin's mother, fashion designer, as I mentioned, Misa Hilton, she shared a video from the Los Angeles raid on her Instagram page on Tuesday. The footage,

which appears to come from security cameras around the home, has been edited and sped up in places, but Hilton wrote, quote, the overzealous and overtly militarized force used against my son's Justin and Christian is deplorable. If these were the sons of a non-black celebrity, they would not have been handled with the same aggression. The Daily Mail now reporting that Hilton has said both Christian and Justin have hired attorney Jeffrey Lickman. Now, let me explain this to you.

This is a trial attorney that has represented some very famous, maybe infamous defendants, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, John Gotti Jr., fellow rappers, The Game, Fat Joe. Hilton says Lickman will be invested, investigating the use of force involved in the raid. In his own Instagram post, Lickman called the searches, quote, over the top.

I want to bring on right now our own attorney to talk about this. Not attorney for law and crime, but one of our great legal analysts. Daryl Cohen, criminal and entertainment attorney out of Atlanta. Daryl, thanks so much for coming here on Sidebar. Good morning. Thanks for having me. So let me just start off. What are your thoughts on these two young men,

allegedly hiring Jeffrey Lickman? Well, good for Jeffrey Lickman. probably needs another big fee, and I suspect he's received it before he said, hey, I'm representing them. So we don't see any criminal charges, and the magic word here that I haven't yet mentioned is yet. Just wait, and let's just see how it unfolds. But there's too much here, New York and Miami and Los Angeles. It's a triangle. Let's just see how it unfolds. There has been so much publicity so much that it's gone on anywhere he dead he goes there's always an entourage whether there's an entourage with him or watching him or combined so let's just make a make of a watch

well let's let's be specific what right now he's being hired for is with respect to the rates right and i'm curious what he his purpose would be now uh and what kind of i assume it would be legal action taken against the government because he said quote the government rarely fights fair when they have a major target in its sights, and they certainly haven't played fair in Diddy's case thus far. What do you think he's being hired for to do if it's about the raids and the raids, again, I'm not sure what is it to say to fight the evidence that was collected, the materials that was taken from the home? Is it to file a lawsuit against the government because Justin and Christian were treated unfairly? You tell me. I think I don't know, and that's the most

honest answer I can give you. So why is he here? Obviously, he's a criminal defense lawyer. He's a great lawyer. He's got a great reputation for fighting. But what is he going to fight? If the search warrants were properly executed, proper affidavits, then there's nothing to fight. So we have to wait and see what evidence, if any, what did the government find that will help them, in their opinion, proceed in a criminal way. This is not going to be civil. Let me be really clear. It may be civil in addition, but there's going to be criminal charges in my view coming from this, though I don't know what they're going to be. And obviously, there is fear on both sides. The government's fear that there could be evidence that disappear.

There could be evidence that could be tainted from Pete Niddy's side and his sons. They may be fearful of being brought into a conspiracy. We don't know. We know obviously snippets are TMZ, snippets here, snippets there. But we're talking about possible sex trafficking. And the last person involved in something like that that the whole world knew about is now deceased. He either killed himself or he was killed at the hand of someone else when he was arrested and incarcerated Jeffrey Epstein. Okay, so let's break that down a little bit because I want

to first start with the raids and then we'll get into potential criminal charges that the sons could be facing. But first, let's talk about the raids and whether they were justified and whether Jeffrey Lickman would have any grounds to challenge the raids. Because if we go back to this bombshell lawsuit that was filed by Rodney Jones, and again, I I've said this before, I'll say it again. These lawsuits, I have to believe, have some connection to this criminal investigation. The timing of it is just too suspect. And the reason I bring this up is because Justin and Christian were both mentioned in the Rodney Jones lawsuit.

And remember, he's a music producer. He's known as Little Rod Jones. He filed a suit against Combs in February, filed an amending complaint, more details last week. And he says he spent months basically living with Combs while they were working on this album together called Love. And Jones says that his proximity to Combs, over those. months gave him access to a lot of illicit activity that Jones claims was taking place, drug use, alleged assault of young girls at parties. And he names Christian and Justin Combs. And he says that he has personal knowledge that Christian drugged a woman and sexually assaulted her. Now, Christian

has not been arrested or charged in connection with that assault. But he also talks about Justin Combs, who works as a producer and actor. And he claims that in September 22, Jones was involved at a shooting at Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles. And he mentions firearms, possession, in unregistered firearms, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking. You take the allegations from that lawsuit as true. Wouldn't that seem to justify the use of military force to go into those homes?

Well, it would, but I want to think about for a moment. Why would he file this lawsuit? Does he need the money? Does he want the money? Or is he filing this lawsuit as a preemptory attack to prevent him from being arrested, him from being charged, and he's trying to separate himself, say, you know, I was there.

I saw what went on. I didn't have any part of it. But that's so interesting. That would assume that Rodney Jones knew the feds were investigating Combs and he tried to get out of front of it. How would he know that? Well, I don't know that he necessarily knew that, but he might have, and he may have smelled it.

If it feels bad and smells bad, it's going to be bad. So to make sure, in his view, that he could cut himself away from all of this, what would he do? final lawsuits say, hey man, I was there. I was an unwilling participant because I was there. I didn't do anything else. But on the other hand, I am saying to the world, I'm innocent and anything that these people have done has nothing to do with me. I was just there. But that goes to his credibility, right? I mean, we talk about this so many times. The feds are not going to go in and raid these properties unless they have obviously probable cause, but a little

bit more than that. They have to really believe the witnesses that are coming forward to them. And we don't know if Rodney Jones or Cassandra Ventura or any of the other plaintiffs are. So the ones that the government is speaking with, I imagine they are. In my mind, I think they are. But it seems to me that the fact they went into these massive properties where they don't know what's behind the corner, they had to have taken some of the allegations in that lawsuit as true. If you're dealing with people who are engaged in sex trafficking, if you're dealing with firearms possession, and allegedly, or reportedly, they did recover firearms from these properties. So, again, challenging the raid, Jeffrey Lickman challenging the raid, the use of force,

I'm not sure he's going to have much luck there, but you tell me if I'm wrong. If I thought you were wrong, I would tell you, I don't think he's going to have any luck. Zero, Zelt, Nata. There's probable cause that the government has, in their opinion. Therefore, they were able to obtain these search warrants, not just one search. warrant, but two search warrants. And they went to both major property. So what do we have? We have the government who obviously looked at this lawsuit. But there's more to it. I can assure you, having been a prosecutor, they have spoken to one or more of the people that they believe

are involved, that may be victims, that may be co-defendants that may have rolled. And they have, in their opinion, enough to go ahead execute these search warrants. They're combing through it. scoes the double entendre. And when they finish, they'll then make a lightning strike. The feds usually move very slowly, slowly, and then boom, it's almost like a rattler. Well, okay, so let's talk about the second part of our conversation, right? So you would mention there's one thing challenging the rates, but they're hiring a very high-powered criminal defense attorney with the potential of them facing charges. Why do I say that? So let's go back to that shooting that Jones claims Justin was a part of. So he says that Diddy was hosting this writer and producers

camp at this studio, Chalice Studios. And Jones was there. Diddy was there. Justin. And Justin's friend only referred to as G. And apparently, Justin, and Diddy got into some sort of heated argument and a move from the studio into a restroom. And the complaint from Jones reads says, quote, Mr. Jones was approximately two feet away from the bathroom when gunshots rang out. Mr. Jones recalls hearing multiple gunshots. Mr. Jones immediately went into a state of shock and feared that he would be shot next. Mr. Jones genuinely believed that he would be shot through the door due to how close he was. After the shooting ended, a crowd gathered around the restroom upon information and belief when the door finally opened, Mr. Combs and

Jay Combs exited. G was lying on the restroom floor in a fetal position holding his stomach and bleeding out of his hip, excuse me, out of his torso and leg hip area. Everyone stood around looking upon G. Frustrated by the lack of aid to G, Mr. Jones dropped everything, ran to G, immediately began placing pressure on G's gunshot wound to his torso. Mr. Combs gave strict instructions to inform the police that he had nothing to do with the shooting. He also forced Mr. Jones to lie to the police by telling them that G. was shot standing outside the studio by a drive-by assailant.

And he goes on to say that Mr. Jones has several corroborating witnesses. They feared retaliation from Mr. Combs. They've agreed to speak publicly when subpoenaed. Mr. Jones has the clothing he wore that day and believes it may still have G's bloodstains and DNA. So that was a bombshell element of that lawsuit, but you can see how he's implicating Justin in this. Walk me through if you think Justin could face potential charges with respect to that. Certainly he could.

If the government decides to file charges against him, they will have to rely on a great deal of evidence. They will rely on visual evidence, Mr. Jones's testimony. Is he credible? Is he not credible? How credible is he? Does he have reason to distance himself as a... a victim witness, a possible victim, because he was so close to the shooting. So the government then looks at the physical evidence. They'll look at the clothing that Mr. Jones was wearing, and they will be able to see,

yeah, there may be blood on it, whatever there is, and they'll analyze what they believe his testimony will be, and how credible it will be, and how it would play in front of a jury. And that is really what everybody's looking at. I think it could be part of a racketeering charge. And I've mentioned this in another sidebar that if you're talking about a criminal enterprise that Combs and his sons were part of, and associates were part of, you could say that that shooting, maybe you're not going to charge Justin Combs federally with that shooting specifically, but it could be an overt act in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy as part

of a racketeering enterprise. The reason I say that is because it's also possible Justin could be brought up on sex trafficking charges. There's a claim in Jones's lawsuit that Justin was involved in soliciting sex workers for his father's parties, including underage girls, and says that he would participate in these sexual sessions called freakoff. So do you think I'm right thinking that if we're talking about potential charges against Justin, it could be a RICO charge, it could be sex trafficking charges? I think it would be ill-advised not to be RICO. Why? Execute a search warrant in Los Angeles. Execute a search warrant in Miami. Working.

with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, it's all-encompassing, and it's easier to charge, but difficult to predict and difficult to have someone convicted of RICO because you have to bring in so much. But absolutely, if the sex becomes part of it, if the sex charges become part of it, if the shooting becomes part of it, and there's going to be a lot more. I know the U.S. attorney's office is modus operandi M.O. fairly well, and they don't do anything until they do everything. They don't do it piecemeal. They try not to drop hits, but when they drop, it's a large bomb. Let me talk to you about Christian real quick, because Christian Combs also mentioned in Jones's lawsuit, and I've said this before, and I'll say it again, look, these are allegations

in a civil lawsuit. Standard proof is much lower, obviously, but what he's alleging is criminal conduct. It'll be up to prosecutors determine if they have enough evidence. But, In that lawsuit, he alleges that Christian Combs drugged and sexually assaulted a woman. In that lawsuit, Christian is not named as a defendant. However, there's a little footnote that says it appears to say that Jones plans to file a separate suit, that a complaint is forthcoming. So it seems like he is going to sue Christian Combs, maybe in a separate action. And by the way, Justin Combs is one of the defendants in the Jones case, but Christian is not. So why, first of all, talk to me about Christian Combs here.

Do you think, again, that if he, if you take the allegation is true, that he drugged a woman and sexually assaulted her, that could be part of what we were just talking about, sex trafficking in Greco? And why would Mr. Jones file a lawsuit against Christian for that? Backing up, get me out of here. I'm going to be back and back and back. I want to be on the 50-yard line in the press box looking down. I do not want to be part of the scrum.

I do not want to be part of the huddle. I do not want to be part of the line of scrimmage. I want to make it very clear that I was merely there. I shouldn't have stayed there, but I did. And I want the whole world to know because what I'm doing is I'm setting up a defense. If I am also arrested, if it turns out to be a criminal case, I'm setting up a defense. And what I'm doing is I'm courting the court of public opinion, TMZ and every other. social media's right but what but what could he sue him for emotional distress i you know i was

or could he say listen i was trafficked i was i i again i don't know what his cause of action would be against christian combs for sexually assaulting and drugging a woman i mean i guess you could say it's part of the overall trafficking case what he was forced to be a part of it could be uh you know emotional distress that he had to be around that i'm not sure i understand what his claim would be based on Christian Combs allegedly drugging and sexual assaulting a woman. I'm talking about Mr. Jones. Oh, I understand. I think it's a PFA picked from air.

Again, I don't think he has a cause of action, but it doesn't stop him from filing it. It doesn't stop press from picking it up. And it doesn't stop him from saying, poor, pitiful me, I was just there. And I want everybody to know that. That, in my view, is what it is. He obviously says this woman was drugged.

just because I say something doesn't mean it's true. Doesn't mean it's not true. That's very true. But you have to be able to prove it. And what he alleges is certainly not proof. It's just talk. And I don't think he has any cause of action. But if you've got the right lawyer and you've got enough pictures of dead American

presence to pay that lawyer, they're going to go out and do what they believe is appropriate to protect their client. And I really think this is an offensive action before it becomes defensive. All right. So Darrell Cohen does not quite believe Rodney Jones just yet, but he has also laid out some things that Justin and Christian should be thinking about. Really interesting discussion. Darrell, thanks so much for coming on. Appreciate it.

Thanks for having me. Have a great weekend. 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. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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