Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s legal team say he’s been ‘singled out because of his race’ and ask for a charge to be dropped. Meanwhile one of his attorneys, Anthony Ricco, asks to leave the case.Plus how unsubstantiated necromancy conspiracy theories about Diddy have gone wild on social media.Diddy remains in jail, awaiting trial on three federal charges of transportation for prostitution, sex trafficking and racketeering with conspiracy. He denies all charges.Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty is joined by Cheyenne Roundtree who’s Senior Investigative Reporter at Rolling Stone Magazine and Criminal Defence Attorney Shaun Kent.The Diddy on Trial podcast is here to investigate the rumours, confront the theories, and give you the answers that you need.We also want YOU to be part of the conversation. Have you any burning questions about the cases or the upcoming trial? Heard a theory that doesn’t sit right with you? Get in touch now via WhatsApp: 0330 123 555 1.Presenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Richard Hannaford Production Coordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Clare FordhamCommissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Assistant Commissioner: Will Drysdale Commissioning Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Assistant Producer: Rechmial MillerSean ‘Diddy’ Combs - who has also gone by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, and Brother Love - emerged into the hip-hop scene in the 1990s. He founded Bay Boy Records, which launched the careers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J Blige.His current legal issues began when he was sued by his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie, in late 2023. She accused him of violently abusing and raping her. That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount a day after it was filed, with Mr Combs maintaining his innocence.His controversial history with Ms Ventura resurfaced in 2024, when CCTV footage emerged showing Mr Combs kicking his former girlfriend as she lay on a hotel hallway floor in 2016.Multiple people have filed lawsuits accusing Mr Combs of sexual assault, with accusations dating back to 1991. He denies all claims.He is accused of the federal charges of kidnapping, drugging and coercing women into sexual activities, sometimes by using firearms or threatening them with violence.In a raid on his Los Angeles mansion, police found supplies that they said were intended for use in orgies known as “freak offs”, including drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil.Mr Combs denies all the charges.
Chapter 1: What are the charges against Sean 'Diddy' Combs?
Sean Diddy Combs is charged with racketeering with conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He denies all the charges and says he never sexually assaulted anyone, man or woman, adult or minor. This pod is the place to come to find out everything you need to know about the upcoming trial in May.
And it is still due to begin in May, even though we've had some new tactics being tried by his defense, as well as one of them quitting. Joining me today to examine what exactly this all means is our resident criminal defense attorney, Sean Kent. Hi, Sean.
Hey, guys. How are you all doing?
Chapter 2: Why did Anthony Ricco quit Diddy's legal team?
And Rolling Stone's senior investigative reporter, Cheyenne Roundtree. Hi, Cheyenne. Hi. OK, let's start with some news about Anthony Rico, one of Diddy's defense team. Here's CBS News breaking it down.
A lawyer for Sean Diddy Combs has quit, leaving the rapper's legal team ahead of his sex trafficking trial. In New York federal court, Anthony Rico filed a motion to withdraw as one of Diddy's six defense lawyers yesterday. He didn't give an explanation, but wrote, under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel.
Shan, can you walk us through exactly what went down?
So Anthony Rico has been part of Diddy's defense team since September. So he appeared in court with Diddy when he was first arraigned and pled not guilty to the charges. And Anthony has been kind of this almost public kind of support figure for Diddy as his lawyer. In court, he stands up and points out that Diddy's You know, children have traveled long distances to be there.
He sits next to Diddy, you know, during the hearing. They're talking, they're laughing. So they seem to have kind of a more personal relationship maybe than with, you know, Diddy's other lead defense attorneys who are kind of the ones up in front of the judge. And this past week, he just suddenly files a motion saying that he's withdrawing from the case.
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Chapter 3: What does the withdrawal of a lawyer mean for Diddy's case?
And there is not too much detail given, but clearly there was a fork in the road about, you know, something having to do with this case. And he says, you know, like you heard that under no circumstances can he effectively serve as his defense counsel.
Now, some of the terms are a bit confusing. There's like lead counsel and then defense counsel. Sean, he's not his lead counsel. So is this really that big of a deal?
No, those are all misnomers, lead counsel, so forth. It's just because they all do the equal amount of work. When they say lead counsel, what ends up happening is if you're in the middle of the court, you don't want three lawyers talking at the same time. So they basically said, you'll talk is all lead counsel means.
So if there's an objection or something of that nature, that will be the person talking. So that really is a misnomer, lead counsel. Do I think it's that big of a deal? Yes and no. Legally, I don't think it's a big deal at all. But I always tell people lawyers get off of cases for three reasons. One, Mr. Green has not made a gratuitous appearance. You haven't been paid. That ain't this situation.
You can assure that. Two, what'll end up happening is if the client insists on lying. Like if a client says, I want to lie or something of that nature. And I don't think it's that situation because we're not even to the point where Diddy is going to take the stand and there's avenues if your client wants to lie and insist on you suborning perjury. Three, we just can't get along.
I've said since day one, I think they're trying to case way too quick. They haven't asked for one continuance yet. There are terabytes of information. I cannot see that they could possibly be prepared by time the May term comes. And it could be the possibility the lawyer just said, I don't want to do it anymore.
I really think it means we're not seeing eye to eye, whether it's Diddy or other folks on the team, we're not seeing eye to eye and this can't, I can't go any further.
So he's definitely not said anything about Diddy's perspective. He said that there'll be no lapse in representation as Sean Combs will continue to be represented by five other attorneys of record.
OK, once again, without violating any aspect of the attorney-client privilege or otherwise providing any details whatsoever on the grounds of supporting the application, the government has been notified of the filing of the motion to withdraw as counsel. OK, how do you think this looks to people with no legal background, no legal expertise?
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Chapter 4: What are the conspiracy theories surrounding Diddy?
It has nothing to do with any other thing. People who are associating one client to another, that is a crazy, awful stretch definition. I didn't know what the heck necromancy or whatever the heck it was. I didn't know what it was, but this is insane. And if there was another charge added, we would have all known about it because there would have been another superseding indictment. Thank you.
Another superseding indictment with another charge.
We'd know about it, especially if it was black magic or voodoo. We'd hear about it. It would be front page news. But then some other people came in and they said, you're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about. It wasn't necromancy. It was necrophilia. You've got it all wrong. He wasn't charged with that. What he was more likely charged with... is necrophilia.
I understand once again that this is going to drive traffic to your page, but like Sean's just said, if there was another superseding indictment that added on a fourth charge of necrophilia, you would know about it. It would be front page news. This is more than unsubstantiated. So we're going to wrap that up there. We told you what was in the letter. It didn't have anything in it about necromancy.
Chapter 5: What is necromancy and how is it related to Diddy's case?
A man is shot dead on the streets of New York.
A huge manhunt and a nationwide police appeal led here.
The suspect, Luigi Mangione, was arrested and charged with the murder of Brian Thompson, chief executive of a major US healthcare and insurance company. Mangione denies the charges against him and reaction to the case went viral.
I've never seen anything like that before.
Chapter 6: How does the public perceive Diddy’s legal troubles?
In the Mangione Trial Podcast, we're exploring how this case has divided opinion online, unpicking the facts from conspiracy theories... Delving into the debate around the healthcare system in the US. And we're bringing you major developments as the case unfolds in the courtroom. The Mangione trial from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.
We cannot not talk about the Jay-Z and Busby saga. A civil lawsuit in the US accusing the rap stars Jay-Z and P. Diddy of rape has been dropped. According to court filings, the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed by the anonymous female accuser. OK, so this was the lawsuit that we told you about, filed by an anonymous woman in October last year, accusing P. Diddy...
of raping her when she was 13 at the VMAs in 2000. The lawsuit later added Jay-Z, real name Sean Carter, as a defendant. Both rappers denied the claims and the case has now been dropped with prejudice. Sean, what does that mean with prejudice?
It can never be brought back. Who makes the decision about with or without prejudice? Is it the lawyer? In this situation, it's the lawyer. Sometimes the judge does it as well. Sometimes the judge says, I'm throwing this case out with prejudice. Like if a prosecutor has made a huge mistake, they say, you can't bring this back. Or a judge can say, you filed this incorrectly. I'm dismissing it.
But you have the right to refile it at another point in time. In this situation, when it's dealing with the lawsuit, it can go either way. But the lawyer himself made the decision to dismiss it with prejudice.
Cheyenne, Jay-Z, very vocal when this was filed, uncharacteristically so. He said, I'm not paying one red penny. What's his reaction been to this?
I think he called it a day of victory because he's been adamant since he was, before he was even publicly named, that he was going to bat for himself, his reputation, for this awful, awful allegation. And it's something to note that Diddy's team, I asked for a comment about this, and they said,
there was no settlement reached because sometimes things like this, when cases are dismissed with prejudice, sometimes you think, okay, backdoor, maybe he did pay her to take the case away. And Diddy's team said there was no settlement. So something happened behind the scenes that, you know, the woman, the Jane Doe, decided to withdraw and not to bring the case again.
So Jay-Z sees this as an absolute victory lap, but it doesn't mean that he's necessarily done with the woman's lawyer, Tony Busby. If you remember, he's... filed a lawsuit for extortion and defamation against Tony Busby about this case, saying that he made defamatory comments while pursuing this case. And that case is still moving ahead.
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Chapter 7: What were the recent developments in Diddy's lawsuits?
OK, there are still going to be people out there who thinks it's financial, which it is not. If it was financial, there would have been a filing. But if you check social media, still people are saying behind the scenes, oh, they paid this girl off. A shell paid these people off, something of this nature. And all Busby filed was. I'm dismissing it with prejudice.
So by suing him, he's requiring him to answer the lawsuit. Like the tables have turned, the shoes on the other foot. It's making Busby now answer and tell the court in their answer, why did you dismiss it?
And we asked Tony Busby for a response, and he hasn't addressed the claims by Jay-Z or the case being dismissed. And I should say, once again, Diddy denies all the charges against him, and he says he's never sexually assaulted anyone, man or woman, adult or minor. Now, today's episode is a bit packed, and this last section that we're going to do, it's got lost a little bit, I think.
There has been a new approach from his defence team to count three of the indictment, the transportation for prostitution charge. Namely asking for it to be dismissed on grounds of selective prosecution on the basis of race. This is what they said in their letter.
This case is unprecedented in many ways, but perhaps most notably and most disturbingly, no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution. Sean Combs is an extraordinarily successful artist, businessman, philanthropist and one of the most accomplished black people in this country. Sean, some people are going to look at this and say he's pulling the race card.
How much merit does this line of argument actually have?
None. Is he pulling the race card? He's pulling the heck out of it. And when you try to bring a selective prosecution claim, you just don't throw things against the wall. I've made a selective prosecution claim before. But the way you have to bring it is you have to show somebody else evidence. who was not prosecuted, who was in a similar situation as you.
There's that whole Abercrombie and Fitch thing currently going on, and last time I checked, he's white, and they're currently prosecuting him as well. So it didn't take six months to find a similar prosecution that is currently happening. I think the hope, I'm assuming, is to poison the jury panel, the jury pool, and try to assume that they're going after him just because he's African-American.
I don't see where that's going because in the filing, if they would have pointed to 10 white folks who did the exact same thing, who were not prosecuted for the same stuff, he would have a similar claim. When you do legal filings in anything in life, I don't like bold assertions.
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