Diddy On Trial
Kristina Khorram speaks out and Tony Buzbee withdraws from Diddy cases
Thu, 27 Mar 2025
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, has made her first public statement since Diddy was arrested and charged.Meanwhile Texan lawyer Tony Buzbee pulls out of 15 cases.Criminal defence attorney Shaun Kent and Rolling Stone’s senior investigative reporter Cheyenne Roundtree join Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty.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: Craig Boardman 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 Bad 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. He denies the charges.
Chapter 1: What are the latest developments in the Diddy trial?
BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadauti. Every week, we're here keeping you up to date on the latest developments in the upcoming Diddy trial. Reminder, Diddy has been charged with sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. He denies all the charges.
He's entered a not guilty plea and says he never sexually assaulted anyone, man or woman, adult or minor. In today's episode, the woman known as Diddy's right-hand woman, Christina Coram, or KK, has responded to the multiple allegations against her. She says, I've never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone, nor have I ever drugged anyone.
And Tony Busby, the Texan lawyer who claimed to have over 150 cases against Diddy, withdraws from 15 cases in the Southern District of New York. Helping me unpack this all today is our resident criminal defense attorney, Sean Kent. Hi, Sean. Hey, guys. How are y'all doing? And Rolling Stone's senior investigative reporter, Cheyenne Roundtree. Hi, Cheyenne. Hi. Good morning.
Chapter 2: Who is Kristina Khorram and what is her role?
So first of all, this is the first time we've spoken about Christina Coram on the podcast. If you're deep in the Diddy world, you've probably seen her name crop up a few times. If you were following him on social media beforehand, you would have seen that he's posted about her before. She was his chief of staff. Cheyenne, what does that actually mean? Because it's sounding very presidential.
I mean, it kind of was, you know, Diddy has multiple businesses and she kind of oversaw the inner workings of his personal life and his business life. So she was, when we say number two at the company of, you know, Diddy, that was KK. And he's spoken about her before. He's called her his soul sister. Yeah, they were really, really close. I mean, she's worked with him for since 2013.
And she says now that she's left, she says former boss in her statement. But they were very, very close. They spent a lot of time together.
And we've got posts from him on Facebook in 2021 saying she's been, she as in Christina Coram, has been my right hand for the past eight years. Don't know how I'd function without her. So they're close personally. And then on the business side of things as well. What do we know about her since these allegations have come out? You mentioned that she's referred to him as her former boss.
What else do we know?
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Chapter 3: What allegations are being made against Kristina Khorram?
Chapter 4: What is the significance of Tony Buzbee withdrawing from cases?
And Tony Busby, the Texan lawyer who claimed to have over 150 cases against Diddy, withdraws from 15 cases in the Southern District of New York. Helping me unpack this all today is our resident criminal defense attorney, Sean Kent. Hi, Sean. Hey, guys. How are y'all doing? And Rolling Stone's senior investigative reporter, Cheyenne Roundtree. Hi, Cheyenne. Hi. Good morning.
So first of all, this is the first time we've spoken about Christina Coram on the podcast. If you're deep in the Diddy world, you've probably seen her name crop up a few times. If you were following him on social media beforehand, you would have seen that he's posted about her before. She was his chief of staff. Cheyenne, what does that actually mean? Because it's sounding very presidential.
I mean, it kind of was, you know, Diddy has multiple businesses and she kind of oversaw the inner workings of his personal life and his business life. So she was, when we say number two at the company of, you know, Diddy, that was KK. And he's spoken about her before. He's called her his soul sister. Yeah, they were really, really close. I mean, she's worked with him for since 2013.
And she says now that she's left, she says former boss in her statement. But they were very, very close. They spent a lot of time together.
And we've got posts from him on Facebook in 2021 saying she's been, she as in Christina Coram, has been my right hand for the past eight years. Don't know how I'd function without her. So they're close personally. And then on the business side of things as well. What do we know about her since these allegations have come out? You mentioned that she's referred to him as her former boss.
What else do we know?
Yeah. So since KK has been kind of roped into this because she was Diddy's right hand woman, she's kind of not been really seen too much. I mean, there was pictures of Diddy the day that he after he settled Cassie's lawsuit. The pictures of him are outside his Miami house. He's looking really stressed. And there's a woman there in a robe next to him. That's KK.
But really, since that moment, we haven't seen too much of her. And she's been named in three lawsuits, one by a former producer who worked with Diddy on the Love album, a former executive assistant, Phil Pines, who we've spoken about at length on this podcast, and then a woman called Ashley Parham, who is in San Francisco. So she has not really been saying too much of anything until now.
Yeah, people were speculating that she'd gone missing because she did have public facing profiles on social media, but those seem to have been wiped and her LinkedIn deleted. Now, Cheyenne, you've got a response from her. People have been reaching out to her for months and months trying to get a response. What has she said to you about her involvement or lack of involvement?
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Chapter 5: How has Kristina Khorram responded to the allegations?
Yeah. So in a statement given to me at Rolling Stone, KK basically said that she's been dealing for months with these really awful allegations and they're causing her family harm. They're causing her harm. And she definitely says, I've never condoned or abated and abetted this sexual assault of anyone, nor have I drugged anyone.
And she basically says that these allegations are heinous and disturbing and that she looks forward to clearing her name.
Sean, we've had two superseding indictments now and she hasn't been added on as a co-defendant. Is there a possibility that she may have gone in and given her own evidence to maybe if she had done something wrong and she could receive sort of take a plea deal there? There's a possibility.
Do I believe it's realistic? Probably not. Mostly based upon her statement. Because her statement is very, a very, very strong denial. And if the prosecutors were going to meet with her and put her on the stand, you would assume her statement would have been so bold as I've never done anything wrong whatsoever because it was open her up for cross examinations. And why did you lie in the statement?
And now you're lying on the stand. I don't. I mean, and that's just my gut reaction.
And we haven't really covered what she's been accused of in these three different civil lawsuits. So Lil Rod is a producer who was working with Diddy in the Love Off The Grid album that came out in 2022. She was accused early in a lawsuit from him, which was filed for $30 million. Basically, he says, quote, as a heterosexual Christian man, Mr. Jones was uncomfortable with Mr. Combs's advances.
So he says that Diddy was making sexual advances towards him without his consent. And Mr. Jones expressed his discomfort to Mr. Combs's chief of staff, Christina Coram. who responded to Mr Jones's complaint with, you know, Sean, Sean will be Sean.
And there are other allegations along the same nature of sort of placating people's frustration, upset, discomfort and saying, oh, well, you know, that's just how he shows love. That's what he does. And those are in that lawsuit. Now, Diddy denies all the allegations in Lil Rod's civil lawsuit, but we see similar allegations
allegations put forward by phil pines and his civil lawsuit as well saying that when he went to christina with concerns about the way people were being treated of violence that he'd witnessed from diddy towards a woman that she said well don't speak about that again so sean is that not corroboration in full conduct of somebody who seems to be keeping a lid on bad goings on
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Chapter 6: What legal implications could Kristina Khorram face?
However, he refused to dismiss the TVPA, Trafficking Victims Protection Act, claims against Coram and Combs, as well as sexual assault and liability claims. Judge Ertgen also gave a warning to Little World's lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, saying, quote, his filings are replete with inaccurate statements of law, conclusory accusations and inappropriate attacks on opposing counsel.
We asked Tyrone Blackburn for his response and he sent us this. We've reached out to Christina Coram or KK multiple times for a comment and she hasn't responded, but she has now given a statement. She said, "...for months, horrific accusations have been made about me in various lawsuits regarding my former boss.
These false allegations of my involvement are causing irreparable and incalculable damage to my reputation and the emotional well-being of myself and my family. I have never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone, nor have I ever drugged anyone."
The idea that I could be accused of playing a role in or even being a bystander to the rape of anyone is beyond upsetting, disturbing and unthinkable. Coram continued, that is not who I am and my heart goes out to all the victims of sexual assault. I am confident that the allegations against me will be proven to be untrue. Should we assume that she's been subpoenaed by the grand jury?
I mean, she'd have been one of my first calls. I'd have been like, well, you're his soul sister. You're his right hand woman.
One would think, and that's something that people need to understand is a lot of times, and I was a prosecutor, what we end up doing is, and maybe this is just assumptions, maybe they met with her, maybe they talked to her, and then they said, you know what, we cannot prosecute this case beyond a reasonable doubt, as opposed to the civil standard, which is more likely than not. Both things.
So a lot of folks are saying, well, they didn't go after a criminal, which means her civil case isn't true. Well, both things can be independently true. A civil case is brought if it's more likely than not that something happened. To prosecute her criminally or make her a co-conspirator, it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
And prosecutors possibly could have met with her, maybe believed her story. Maybe they thought the willful blindness claim would have been too hard to prosecute and said, we're not going after her. Possibly. Or possibly they think she didn't do anything or they couldn't prove it. There's so many things that could have gone into. But that is a very strong denial.
And that's why I don't believe she is going to be a witness based upon that denial and that denial alone.
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Chapter 7: What does the judge's ruling mean for Diddy and Khorram?
Well, you don't want to take the bar exam again because it's an incredibly hard, arduous test that you don't want to do again. But what you can do is do what's called pro hoc vici. All that means is for this matter only. That is literally the definition of it. Pro hoc vici means for this matter. And it is a minstrel function. You fill out a piece of paper.
You get your buddy who's a lawyer in that jurisdiction and say, I vouch for Mr. Kent to practice law with me in Georgia. He knows the laws. You give that application to a clerk or to the judge. The judge simply asks you in some way, there is application, there is on purpose. Have you read the law? Do you understand the law? Can you practice law here and not embarrass yourself? Yes.
And then the judge signs off on it. That is literally as simple as Busby would have had to do to be licensed. And his would have been easier because he's already licensed in the state of New York. So he has his license there. This is just like a subset of New York. And he's already licensed also in the Eastern District of New York, if I'm not mistaken.
And so it would have been so easy to easily fill out an application. What this is the equivalent of is everybody in the courtroom is just mad because he didn't follow the simplest step possible.
He said in his response in a letter in response to Judge Abrams, quote, I made an error in judgment by failing to inform you that I was not admitted to the Southern District. I now seek to remedy this error by withdrawing my representation of the plaintiff in this matter, pending the resolution of my admission to this court.
As an attorney, like you say, in good standing of the New York State Bar, the Texas State Bar, and your sister district, the Bar for the Eastern District of the State of New York, I believe I am eminently qualified and should not be precluded from representing the plaintiff in this action.
At this time, however, my admission status has become a distraction that has shifted the focus of the matter away from where it should be." which is securing justice for the plaintiff. Plaintiff will continue to be represented by the remaining counsel of record from Curis Law as I sort these issues out.
Okay, because here's the other thing that makes it ridiculous. Like, he makes this big, big, big press conference or release that says, I'm withdrawing from the representation of this individual. And I think even the court sent a little stamp on the thing that said... How can you withdraw for something you were not representing to begin with?
That's like me saying I am now withdrawing from being the president of the United States. Well, Mr. Ken, you are never the president of the United States. There's no need to withdraw. I think when you and Cheyenne originally talked way back in the day, I said I had a problem with him bringing all of these lawsuits.
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Chapter 8: How do criminal and civil cases differ in this context?
A big reason why we're here, why he was brought from these cases, all stems from his fight with Jay-Z. Jay-Z's team filed some type of motion, I think, Sean. Basically, Jay-Z's the camp that took it to the court and waved it around. And so this is all fallout from that. So it is kind of crazy that... The whole Jane Doe, Jay-Z kind of saga there is impacting the rest of his cases with Diddy.
And so I reach out to Tony Busby and he basically said until that administration issue is sorted out, they're still pursuing these cases against Diddy. But it has become a little bit of a sideshow about just kind of administrative issues that normally we never really pay attention to or really understand. But it could have potentially big consequences in the rest of these cases.
Yeah. And like you mentioned, with the Jay-Z case, which was then dismissed with prejudice, and we've covered that in previous episodes, they sort of raised the flag saying he's not admitted to practice in the Southern District of New York. So it is interesting that it's the fallout from that particular case. Sean, you did mention this ages ago.
Is there any way that this is going to impact his other cases? Because he hasn't just filed civil claims in the Southern District of New York. There are other places where he's permitted to practice, right?
Absolutely. I think what has ended up happening and this is the danger of going against somebody with the power and financial resources of Jay-Z. What ended up happening is I'm sure his legal team looked for every possible mistake there was. And probably Busby has done this a million times. It's not that big of a deal. Probably other lawyers don't catch it.
They're like and it's I guarantee you is exactly what Busby said. I'm licensed in New York. I'm licensed in Eastern District of New York. I'm going to end up licensed in Southern District of New York. It's not that big of a deal. And probably most folks won't count it. But when you're probably paying millions in legal fees, they found the smallest detail.
They drove a truck through it and it has affected him. Probably there's an assistant or somebody in his office currently getting cursed out because they didn't get that small little detail done. And yes, there's no doubt in my mind this detail will affect all of his other cases. Because of a credibility issue.
And that's the problem with making yourself the face of these lawsuits and making this 1-800 number and making it about me rather than making it about the individual victims. Because all of their credibility, whether they said a word or not, is all now getting called into question.
And of course, we'll continue to update you as that plays out. And then if he, what did you call it? Pro hoc vice, if he does that.
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