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Lawyers for Diddy have accused the government of purposely leaking information to prohibit him from having a fair trial.
A new legal motion submitted by lawyers representing Diddy claims that the federal government is colluding with the media to spoil their client’s chance at a fair trial. The filing made on Wednesday (Oct. 9), requests that the court take the “government’s scheme” seriously, and asks that all of the appropriate remedies including the dismissal of the trial outright and disqualification of witnesses be taken into account. The legal team cites a hotel surveillance video from 2016 – which shows Diddy, aka Sean Combs, allegedly assaulting the singer Cassie Ventura – as proof of the collusion. The video was aired on CNN in May, prompting Diddy to make a public apology. It is unclear how the network was able to obtain the video.
“The videotape was leaked to CNN for one reason alone: to mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself against these allegations,” wrote attorneys Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos. The reasoning they presented the government as the likely suspect mentions that Ventura made no mention of the assault in her lawsuit against Diddy last November and “received a substantial eight-figure settlement,” and a third party would’ve sold the footage.
The lawyers named the Department of Homeland Security as the group behind the leak, claiming that the raids they conducted on Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami were done in broad daylight for full media exposure, stating that the media was present at the Los Angeles residence “before the crime scene tape was put up,” and pointed to DHS agents perp-walking Diddy’s children to a public area during the raid. They also allege that a DHS agent was behind anonymous leaks to the press.
Prosecutors have cited the hotel footage as core for their argument that Diddy engaged in sex trafficking and intimidation, alleging that he assaulted Cassie Ventura because she refused to participate in one of his alleged “freak-offs.” The motion came with another filed request by Diddy’s lawyers to have the trial begin in April or May of next year. The embattled music mogul is currently in federal custody in Brooklyn. He had another bail appeal denied by the court on Tuesday (Oct. 8), with a procedural hearing set for early Thursday (Oct. 10).