life behind bars if discovered responsible on expenses of intercourse trafficking and extra, Sean “Diddy” Combs and his legal professionals at the moment are occurring the offensive in opposition to the Division of Homeland Safety.
In a dangerous tactic, Combs’ protection are accusing DHS brokers of leaking grand jury data and orchestrating a smear marketing campaign in opposition to the “It’s All Concerning the Benjamins” performer. Because the bail denied Combs stews within the raucous Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn, his Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos group are demanding an pivotal listening to in entrance of Choose Arun Subramanian ASAP over the alleged DHS “misconduct.”
“Defendant Sean Combs strikes for 4 types of aid associated to what the protection believes was a collection of illegal authorities leaks, which have led to damaging, extremely prejudicial pre-trial publicity that may solely taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his proper to a good trial,” declares a doubtlessly perturbing memorandum of legislation in assist of movement for an Evidentiary listening to filed late Wednesday in federal courtroom.
Learn Sean Combs’ protection’s memorandum of legislation accusing DHS of misconduct right here
Coming at some point after the September 16 arrested Dangerous Boy Data founder began his enchantment for pre-trial launch with claims of the feds concealing proof, the newly filed doc beats on a really comparable drum. Nonetheless, in contrast to the Hail Mary enchantment, which saves its ire for the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace for the Southern District of New York, this submitting is sort of all in regards to the DHS – nearly. Actually, taking part in on the standard jockeying and in-fighting amongst bureaucracies, Combs’ group say “the explanation a listening to is required is to find out precisely what the DHS did, and didn’t do relating to these leaks, and what the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace did and didn’t do to cease them.”
Lamenting “underhanded ways” by DHS, in the present day’s submitting hopes to reframe the March 25 raids by the feds on Combs’ Miami and LA properties as being “particularly designed to be public spectacles of brutality and weren’t primarily centered merely on buying potential proof.”
In that vein, the protection invoke the claims of rape, abuse and extra horrors that Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura made in opposition to the rapper in her short-lived and rapidly settled swimsuit of November of final 12 months. Whereas Combs is alleged to have paid Ventura round $30 million to finish her swimsuit, he all the time denied her allegations of what went down over time they have been collectively. That facade fell fairly quick when safety footage of Combs attacking and beating Ventura within the hall of an upmarket LA lodge in 2016 hit the airwaves on CNN and elsewhere in Might.
On the time, Combs apologized for his “inexcusable conduct,” saying what the video confirmed “disgusted” him. Now, citing the general public airing of the eight-year-old surveillance video as “essentially the most egregious instance” of presidency trial by public opinion, the protection desires a “gag order” and “suppression of any proof leaked by authorities staff.”
Looking for to maintain that brutal video away from a jury, the protection says: “The videotape was leaked to CNN for one purpose alone: to mortally wound the status and the prospect of Sean Combs efficiently defending himself in opposition to these allegations. Relatively than utilizing the videotape as trial proof, alongside different proof that offers it context and that means, the brokers misused it in essentially the most prejudicial and damaging manner potential. The federal government knew what it had: a frankly deplorable video recording of Sean Combs in a towel hitting, kicking and dragging a lady in full view of a digital camera within the hallway of the lodge.”
“The potential drawback for the federal government is that if an agent supplied this videotape to CNN, this is able to be a violation of grand jury secrecy,” Combs’ group provides sticking within the shiv Roy Cohn fashion.
However right here’s the factor, it isn’t clear from in the present day’s submitting that the protection actually assume they’ve DHS on the run. “After the undersigned notified the federal government that we might be submitting this movement, prosecutors responded that the video broadcast by CNN was not obtained by grand jury course of and that DHS didn’t have possession of the videotape previous to CNN’s publication of it,” a footnote in Wednesday’s 17-page memo states. “Nonetheless, authorities attorneys haven’t given any indication that they’ve investigated any of the leaks associated to this case.”
To that, neither reps from SDNY US Lawyer Damian Williams workplace or DHS responded to request from Deadline on in the present day’s filings and the allegations that comprise. if both entity get again to us, this put up shall be up to date.
With all this occurring and the bail enchantment course of starting, tomorrow will see Combs, his legal professionals and prosecutors again in courtroom for a pre-trial standing convention.
Among the many points more likely to be raised are discovery, sealing of sure proof and scheduling a trial for Combs. “Mr. Combs continues to claim his proper to a speedy trial and intends to request a trial date in April or Might 2025, and as according to the Courtroom’s trial schedule,” Agnifilo and Geragos mentioned in a correspondence to Choose Subramanian.
With these new accusations by the protection, and the state of bail enchantment, that trial begin date may be too optimistic.
