SERIALously - 195: Diddy's PR Guru Quits, A New Allegation, Drugs Found During Arrest & He's in the SHU?!

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

In this episode, we cover the latest $50M bail news for Sean "Diddy" Combs and the discovery of narcotics in his hotel room at the time of his arrest. We also examine the defense team's controversial ties to Keith Raniere, from the NXIVM sex trafficking cult. Plus, we dive into the conditions at the Brooklyn Federal facility, where Diddy is reportedly in solitary confinement, and reveal new witness testimony about her night with him. Link to previous episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164?uo=4 We're going on TOUR!! Come see one of our episodes LIVE in a city near you! Head to https://annieelise.com/blogs/events for dates and ticket info! Shop the Merch: www.annieelise.com Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/      Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise    All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_    SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/    About Me: https://annieelise.com/ For Business Inquiries: [e-mail]

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And we normally do our Thursday episodes where it's headline highlights, where we talk about everything going on in the true crime world, whether it's a brand new case, whether it's an update to an existing case we've covered or one of the deep dives we've gone over. But if you've been listening, and this isn't your first time listening, you know that this week we made an exception and we dropped the Thursday episode on Tuesday instead because we wanted to cover all of the news of what's going on with a ditty Now while I had no intention of coming back on the mic this soon and dropping an episode this Thursday We had just moved it up

We have more to talk about because I covered the whole indictment everything in Tuesday's episode like literally caught up in real time in Tuesday's episode like literally caught up in real time, but since then more information has come out and more information that I believe is very, very relevant to share. So let me give you a rundown of everything we're talking about in today's episode before I jump right into it. We're going to be of course touching just briefly on all of the new bail news because he was back with another bail hearing yesterday on Wednesday and I'm going to go over what happened in that. But more than that, there's been evidence and testimony that narcotics had been found in his

hotel room right after he was arrested in New York. His closest allies are now separating from him and quitting turning off their cell phones. They want nothing to do with him. I'm going to go into the specifics of who and why that's such a big deal. We also are learning more about the defense team strategy and something that I think is very interesting. There is a lot of comparison in Diddy's case with the Epstein case. I understand why for, you know, logical and legitimate reasons. But what nobody is really talking about is the fact that his defense lawyer is also the one who represented Keith Renieri in all of his stuff.

He ended up quitting the case, I believe, but in any event he had represented him. And if you don't know who Keith Renieri is, he's the one from NXIVM, which is a sex trafficking cult. They were located in, where were they? They were in New York. They were in Albany, New York. And he would bring in celebrities and women and he would have sex with the women. He would make the women have sex with each other.

Then the women started having like a spin-off little cult within it. They had to get branded. It was a disgusting, disgusting case. They ended up doing a documentary or a docu-series on it. I think on HBO, I think it was a disgusting disgusting case they ended up doing a documentary or a docu series on it I think on HBO I Think it was but anyway, it's the same defense team, which I feel like that's a little too close to comfort, right? But I guess he knows that whole world well We also are gonna talk about the Brooklyn jail that Diddy is currently being housed in we're gonna talk about the conditions

Plus the fact that he allegedly is in the shoe, which the shoe is spelled S-H-U not like a shoe on your foot, but it's segregation and that's very important because it makes it very very difficult to not only have any privileges but also to get in contact with him even as his defense attorney. Not that it's impossible, it just makes it difficult and I'm gonna go into all of that. And then we're also gonna talk about a new witness testimony that just came out

a couple of hours ago, where she talks about her night with Diddy and what went down in that. So we've got a lot to go over. Let me just kind of kick off in case you didn't listen to Tuesday's episode with a very high level review, which I'm sure you've seen the headlines at this

point. But this investigation into Diddy has been ongoing for about a year now. Then finally, on Monday night, he was arrested at a hotel in New York City, and he was charged with three felonies, sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. In that federal indictment that was unsealed, which we reviewed verbatim on Tuesday's episode you can go back and listen, but I went through all 14 pages word-for-word so that you understood, you know, the whole dirtiness of it all. He was described in this indictment as the boss of this years-long criminal enterprise, one that threatened and abused different women,

that would coerce these women into participating against their will in these like drug-fueled orgies with male prostitutes. And it said that Diddy would threaten them with violence, with the loss of financial support if they refused to partake. And apparently these orgies, which he called freak-offs, which I think is so disgusting and weird in itself, but in these orgies, they would last for days where they'd be fed drugs, he would be masturbating in the corner. That sounds vile and graphic, but I'm telling you,

that's what it says in the indictment. He was like, watch and masturbate in the corner. He would video record them. He would then use those recordings as leverage to try to blackmail them and These would apparently go on so long and be so exhausting Because they would go on for so many days that they would have to have people come with IVs To bring the energy back to them and rehydrate them like, you know an IV that you get in a freaking hospital

I back to them and rehydrate them. Like, you know, an IV that you get in a freaking hospital. I personally do get IVs anytime I'm hung over because they do have people who come to your house and do those, but like that just goes to show how intense these parties were. They also outlined in this indictment how when they executed those search warrants on his house they found a thousand bottles of baby oil and lube, three different AR-15s with the serial numbers sawed off, which are scraped off, which I think is very interesting considering there has been so many different allegations over the years of his involvement with different crimes, murders, and things of that nature.

And it's just horrific. Again, listen to the deep dive if you are still catching up because it has been a busy week. The racketeering charge alone, though, carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and a sex trafficking conviction would carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. So if convicted, he is going away for a long, long time. And a lot of people are worried, okay, even if he's not making bail, what if somebody kills him in prison? What if he kills himself? You know,

bringing back again the Epstein comparison. And I will talk about that because the facility that Epstein was in is actually no longer even open in New York. That's why Diddy's in this Brooklyn facility, which is horrific, but I don't want to jump ahead. So let me start with talking about what went down with the bail hearing. We know that first thing after he was arrested he was denied bail, but then his defense team was arguing it, and they were really trying to throw whatever they possibly could to the wall to make this thing stick. I'm talking they not only were offering 50 million dollars but they were saying you know Diddy's gonna sell his plane there's no

way he'll flee the country he won't have the means we're gonna give you 50 million dollars we also will make sure he has no access to a cell phone we will have security guards monitoring his house in Miami where he would be staying making sure that they're monitoring who's coming, who's going, all of these things like, we're gonna put him in, you know, it's gonna be Fort Knox and he's not gonna have access to anything.

Really trying to put together, in my opinion, a compelling package, definitely. But the judge was not having it. The judge still said no, absolutely not. And ultimately denied him bail. The judge mandated that no, absolutely not, and ultimately denied him bail. The judge mandated that he stay behind bars until his federal trial. So he's currently in Brooklyn and we don't know when that federal trial is going to happen. They haven't set a date. They haven't even done pre-trial hearings.

I mean, he's going to be in there for a while. The reason for the judge doing this is because they're concerned that he of course, not only is a flight risk, whether he has a private plane or not, he has means, he is very well connected, but there's also the risk that he could self harm, definitely, but even more than that, it's the risk of him intimidating witnesses

who they're collecting even more witnesses right now, so intimidating them to not turn against him and to not testify against him and we know that he's being accused of that and charged with that so it definitely doesn't seem like that would be something you know a far cry from happening or something out of his wheelhouse and also being a danger to society we saw in that video that was released a few months ago of him and Cassie in that hotel room where he literally is dragging her and beating her. So the judge is like, I don't care what you're offering.

He is a flight risk, he is a threat to society, he is a threat to all of these witnesses. No, he is staying locked up. And I was happy, of course, to hear that, but also I was kind of pleasantly surprised because so often we do see in these high profile cases where there is special treatment, quite frankly. So I'm very happy that he is being treated like, you know, a regular schmuggler guy who committed these heinous crimes and was pulled in off the street, you know, and that he they're not fooled or blinded by the glitz and the glam or any of that. Now one of the prosecutors, Emily Johnson, did directly put a quote out calling him a

serial abuser and a serial obstructor. She said that his wealth would make it so easy for him to escape undetected. And she noted that after he was arrested, law enforcement found what they suspected to be narcotics inside his hotel room. Apparently it was in the form of pink powder. Now I don't know what narcotic that would be. I personally, I feel like I'm well versed in the drug world, but I've never heard about a pink powder. I know white, I know gray, I know blue, well blue I guess is from Breaking Bad, so that's not real. But you know what I mean? So if you know what that pink powder is or what it could be,

please feel free to educate me. But they apparently did find these narcotics in his hotel room. So as I mentioned earlier, his defense attorney is the same defense attorney who worked with Keith Raniere. And Keith Raniere is in my opinion one of the most dangerous and vile human beings that has ever walked the face of the earth. I mean he was a cult leader through and through. I mean and I'm talking classic cult leader. The long hair, the like loser outfit, the luxurious face who just like preys on women and of course some higher being or whatever tells them they need to have sex with him because probably can't get it any other way but let's be honest you know.

But anyway he was so dangerous because he would recruit these women and he would recruit celebrities. She was the one from Smallville. He recruited her and some other people to where then it almost gave his cult more credibility which he of course was not advertising as a cult. But they would continue to bring young girls in, and these young girls would live in the same house with them. They would all share kind of this weird compound in Albany.

They would be forced to have sex with Keith, of course, classic cult leader move. They also were monitored in terms of what they ate, what their weight was, who they could speak with, what their activities were, and it was all about, you know, the same baseline thing that I feel like every cult promises, whether it's Scientology, whether it is an FLDS cult, where it's like you're gonna have this spiritual awakening, you're gonna have this enlightenment, you're gonna be a heightened being, all of these things. And so he did this for years and years and years and then finally he got caught and I can't remember I think it was Mexico he fled to with a handful of these girls who still stood by him and then he was

arrested. There's body cam footage out there that shows this arrest going down but he ended up being held in that same facility where Diddy's being held now. And so what I think is interesting, I know that was very long-winded and I going down, but he ended up being held in that same facility where Diddy's being held now. And so what I think is interesting, I know that was very long-winded and I rambled for a minute, but Diddy's defense attorney is the same one who represented Keith. So Keith has been convicted. He's now in Tucson, Arizona, like throw away the key, he's locked up. But I think what's interesting is not, what I mean by that is that he like,

he's not unfamiliar to this type of case. He's worked in sex trafficking allegations. He's worked with high profile people. And I think that that could make it a little bit tricky, not only because he's well versed and he knows all this, but Keith was convicted. So now I feel as though he could probably strategize a bit as to what works, what doesn't work as they get ready to, I believe, you know, had to trial in the future, of course. So I just, I thought that was something interesting because while there has been so much comparing

Diddy and Epstein, nobody's really talking about the Keith and the Epstein. Now I mentioned at the top of this episode that people are beginning to break off from Diddy. They don't wanna have any sort of association with him, rightfully so. And what's interesting is this morning it was announced that his PR guru, Natalie Moore,

who was by his side for more than 20 years, she reportedly quit just days after he was arrested. Now to give you some context of her, she is a very renowned Australian PR expert. She was handpicked by Diddy back in the 90s to come and join his team. And she's actually somebody who played a pretty pivotal role in transforming his image from, you know, that notorious bad boy rapper to this polished, buttoned-up, white party's entrepreneur. She also, not for nothing, stood by him during those horrific accusations that came from Cassie when Cassie filed the lawsuit against Diddy last November saying he was abusive all of those things before that video ever even came out. Well, his PR expert stood

by him through that whole thing, which, bad on you, hello, then that video also came out. And that puts a little bit of a wrinkle in your credibility, right? Anyways, that lawsuit between Cassie and Diddy ended up being settled privately. But she has served as the head of communications for Diddy's multimillion dollar business for years. She's assisted him with his fashion line, his fragrance collection, and she was always more than willing to refute any sex trafficking claims. But the Daily Mail is now reporting that she is just gone, a ghost. Her phone is disconnected, her email address renders no longer active, and she has just fallen off the face of the earth and disconnected with Diddy.

And an insider informed the publication the Irish Star, quote, this situation left her with no other option. Diddy was her entire world and she will surely be deposed for this if she has not been so already. So I think it's interesting. It's going to be interesting to see who else starts detaching from him. Who else comes out of the woodwork with stories about him and who detaches from him. Now before we go into the new allegation that came out against him, I want to talk to you a little bit about that jail and the conditions. So I mentioned earlier how there was a lot of concern, of course, that if he was released or even not released, that he could either kill himself or somebody would kill him in jail and that it would be very reminiscent of Jeffrey Epstein. But what a lot of people don't know

is there's only one federal jail in New York now because the Metropolitan Correctional Center that was in Manhattan closed in 2021. They closed after that slew of problems that came to light after Jeffrey Epstein's suicide, which happened two years earlier. So now there's only one center, and that's the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. This is the federal lockup where Diddy is, and they have had a pretty bad rap.

I'm talking horrific conditions, rampant violence, and multiple deaths. It's also been home to a number of high-profile inmates, not only Keith Romeri that I mentioned, but also R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Jeffrey's right-hand lady, and some horrific people. A former warden at the facility says that it makes sense that Diddy would be in the shoe because he's a target if he's behind bars. He has that celebrity status and the nature of the allegations against him potentially bring him that unwanted attention from other inmates. He says there are a whole lot of inmates there who would actually see killing him as a badge of honor. And because of that, it's almost like the shoe is the safest place for him. But let me talk to you about the shoe. In the shoe, his lifestyle is going to be way, way, way, way different than not only the lifestyle he's used to, but the lifestyle that he would receive if he was in gen pop. He's going to have one hour of wreck time per day. He's only

going to have three showers per week. He will receive a 6 a.m. wake-up call, which when he does that and receives that, he'll have to make his bed. He will have to mop the floor. He will receive a 6 a.m. wake-up call, which when he does that and receives that he'll have to make his bed He will have to mop the floor He will have to like keep his cell his little area clean and he will receive three meals per day All of which will be prepared early in the day and it'll wait in like this warming box for him And then it'll be given to him since he's not in general population So it's definitely not fresh not that prison food is but it's not even as fresh as Genpop food. It's kept in a warming box. So it's definitely not going to be the food that he is used to receiving and eating and not the treatment he is used to.

It's been said that his family and friends will be allowed to visit periodically. However, from what I understand, usually you don't get any visitors in the shoe unless it's your legal team, and his lawyers will have more access to him to work on his case. But the problem is, sometimes being in the shoe can make it very difficult to be in contact. And that's something that his defense team is also arguing, because in the shoe there's limited access to phones,

it's harder to set up appointments to meet face to face, they will have access to him, but it just makes it that much more difficult to do. It's similar to Wade Wilson actually, the guy with all the face tattoos, because he was such a high profile case and there's such this media frenzy around him where jail calls are being released every few days, interviews, things like that, to where they ended up revoking all of his privileges last month. They wouldn't allow him to make any calls, receive any calls. He couldn't even speak with his team, his attorneys, I guess were having a hard time

getting in touch with him too. I was talking with somebody who's closely involved in that and they just shut down the portal entirely because he was so high profile and they had to put him away and segregate him from everybody. So same, but different. Now I want to talk to you about this new allegation that has come out and this testimony of what her experience was. Helena Watts remembers being invited to get naked with Diddy when she was a 23-year-old

reporter and she describes how the night quickly turned sour. This is according to an interview with Express in the U.K. And she says, It's nearly midnight. I'm in packed Glasgow nightclub Corinthian, and I'm hanging out with P. Diddy and his entourage. The music is pumping, drinks are being guzzled, and there are lots of beautiful women just swarming the music star.

Then one of his entourage, a short bald man, invites me to join them in a hot tub nearby in Blytheswood's hotel. Of course I'm flattered and I want to go. As a 23-year-old reporter who's just landed her dream job on the Daily Star's music column, I can't believe my luck. I'd waited 10 hours to interview Diddy, who was warm and charming and even leaned in for a hug. And now, he wants to party with me.

So I tell the short bald man that yes, I would like to join them. Only today, and with the rapper in prison, does now this offer have a sinister quality. The short bald man keeps a close eye on me, and when I turn to get a drink he says, Halina, where are you going? Stay here where I can see you. Now you definitely wanna come to the hot tub, right? I say, I'm not sure because I don't have a bikini. To which he replies, no worries girl, you can go naked.

Then P Diddy's money girls, the women that dance with him on stage, are telling me I need to come because above all, I must get my quote big ass in that hot tub. Their enthusiasm is infectious and they're women so they'll have my back. This is going to be okay. This is going to be excellent. In a frenzied commotion, Diddy leaves the club in a limo and I'm left alone with the short bald man. He hails a taxi and we get in, and then I start having second thoughts. Everything in me says no, so I tell the short bald man that I don't want to go. And that's

when the atmosphere changes. His face drops and he starts yelling, I can't be dealing with this shit, fucking girls, they can't make up their mind. He gets the taxi to pull over and I'm thrown out of the vehicle. And there I was alone in a city that I had never been to before. I remember feeling shocked and vulnerable by his outburst and how the situation unfolded, but then hugely relieved as I had gotten myself

out of a potentially dangerous situation. So incensed by the encounter, I then wrote about it on my personal blog, which is why I can remember exactly how it played out. Now looking back, I wonder if the short bald man was procuring women for Diddy. I wonder if I could have ended up being one of those women who have accused him of abuse. If the allegations against him are proven to be true, I feel immense gratitude for my lucky escape and feel sorry for the many women who didn't get that chance." And this is just one woman's account and I would have to imagine

that we're going to see countless accounts come coming forward and starting to emerge. Prosecutors have said that they have interviewed over 50 victims and witnesses and they expect that number to grow. And that's again, one of the reasons why the judge isn't allowing bail, because there is a history of victim intimidation, allegedly. So who's to say he's not going to try and bribe and intimidate and do all of these things. So it's like, as long as he's held away,

he can't contact people, he can't do anything. Sure, he probably still has people doing his dirty work for him, but maybe with him locked away, that will start to subside as well. Just like his PR person, who now has ghosted everybody and turned off her cell phone, turned off her email, maybe people won't feel as compelled

or threatened themselves to help him. And then hopefully, if this case gets blown wide open. I'm very confident that more charges are going to follow. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and it was just enough to get that arrest warrant and get him locked up to where he would be refused bail and that it would be enough to hold him, but I don't think this is all they've got, especially if they've interviewed over 50 victims and witnesses. So it's my belief we are going to see way more charges come down the pike. We also, I think,

are going to hear a lot more of the unsettling details of what truly went on behind the scenes in Diddy's life. So as I mentioned on Tuesday, if you aren't following this podcast, take a second. It's obviously totally free. Hit the little button in the top corner and follow because as soon as we get these updates, just like today, I want to jump on the mic and I'm going to give them to you. So if you don't want to miss those, make sure that you're following. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Serialistly with me. I know we did three this week instead of the normal two, but I will be back on the mic with you Monday morning for a deep dive into an all new case.

So check back for that. Also, as a reminder, if you want to see one of these episodes live and in person, we are hitting the road. Come and do a city near you. The tour starts next week. You can get all of those details over on the website, Annie, Elise, and go to the events page. We're going to San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Orange County, California.

It's all over there. So tickets are almost gone, but there are some left. So grab them now. All right, guys, thanks again. And until the next one, stay safe, be nice, don't kill people, don't join any cults, and just take care of yourself. You