Welcome back to our new, weekly episodes of The Trial of Diddy. The show is hosted by DailyMail.com’s West Coast News Editor Marjorie Hernandez and Manhattan-based Kayla Brantley, reporter-at-large and TV correspondent at Daily Mail. Each week Kayla and Marjorie will be exploring each and every new development in this story, looking at what may - or may not - be coming next for Diddy. On this episode we catch up on the new Jay Z allegations and have an interview with friend-of-the-show attorney Lisa Bloom who has some great insights into the case and the many characters who are involved in it. As Lisa herself says, “People are rarely as smart as they think they are.” Follow us on instagram @thetrialpod Email us [email protected] Whatsapp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Presenters: Marjorie Hernandez and Kayla Brantley Editor: Buddy Peace Producer: Rob Fitzpatrick Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the latest allegations against Diddy?
The following episode explores a number of allegations regarding the artist Diddy. He denies all charges and has pled not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The biggest secret in the entertainment industry that really wasn't a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world.
At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all. It seemed like everything Diddy touched turned to gold. Now the once untouchable hip-hop mogul is fighting for his life as he faces multiple federal charges in New York, including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise.
Music mogul and rapper Sean Diddy Combs has faced four different lawsuits in recent weeks alleging sexual assault. I'm DailyMail.com journalist Marjorie Hernandez. And over the last six months, I've been investigating this incredible story and speaking to the people in the eye of the storm.
Welcome to the trial of Diddy.
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Chapter 2: How did Jay-Z respond to recent accusations?
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Hey, I'm Kayla Brantley, reporter at large for the Daily Mail in Manhattan.
And I'm Marjorie Hernandez, DailyMail.com's West Coast news editor. Welcome to episode 15 of The Trial of Diddy. It's been quite a week and we've had our mini Jay-Z episode on Tuesday. And here we are back with more updates. Later on, we'll catch up with our friend of the pod, attorney Lisa Bloom, who has some fantastic insights into all the latest developments.
But before that, let's get into some news. James Swiatuska had a great piece on Daily Mail on Tuesday, December 10th, explaining how Jay-Z and Beyonce appeared with their 12-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, at the premiere of her new film, Mufasa. The Lion King here in L.A. on Monday night. This was, of course, very shortly after Jay-Z's rape accusations had dropped.
And James's piece says Beyonce is reportedly working with a crisis specialist who is believed to have, quote, forced jay-z to appear in public and attend these kind of events as she wants to face all the accusations quote head on an insider told james quote beyonce will do anything she can to keep their family together but is also concerned that more women will come forward with lies
The insider went on to say, quote, this has been hanging over their heads since Diddy's arrest and has been causing a strain on their marriage. Jay-Z, as we have seen this week, released a furious statement denying and condemning these new allegations.
describing it as, quote, blackmail attempt and mentioning how it is, quote, unfair that his family, particularly his eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, will also be affected. Now, Jay-Z wrote, quote, My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press.
and asked questions about the nature of these claims and explained the cruelty and greed of people. He went on to say, "...I mourn yet another loss of innocence. Children should not have to endure such at their young age." It is unfair to have to try to understand inexplicable degrees of malice meant to destroy families and human spirit. The facts of the case are this.
Jay-Z is accused of assaulting a woman who identifies as Jane Doe at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty on September 7, 2000. This is the same year he started dating Beyonce. The suit claims Jane Doe was driven to a house party and offered a drink that made her feel, quote, woozy and lightheaded and felt like she needed to lie down.
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Chapter 3: What insights does attorney Lisa Bloom provide?
And it really does not help if they have to reveal their real names or else drop the case. So I think that's really unfortunate.
Can you go over that point again, that the defense is provided the name, right? But so what is then their purpose to push the name to be made public?
Well, their real purpose is to embarrass and humiliate the victim. They're going to do anything they can to do that and hope that the victim will just drop the case. Of course, they don't say that in court. They say that they want it to be public so that members of the public can come forward with information and help them. I don't think that really happens very much, but that's what they say.
Or they'll say, you know, in fairness, Sean Combs' name is out there. Why shouldn't the victim's name be out there? Well, they're not in equivalent positions is the answer to that. Sean Combs is very wealthy, famous, can hire the best lawyers, the best investigators, has a lot of people even now who still support him.
And, you know, other people are just powerless everyday people who are terrified of being involved in the legal system, who may have a hard time even getting a lawyer. And if they have a lawyer, it's somebody who's a solo practitioner or a small firm. You can't afford investigators and any of that. So they come to this in very different positions.
I do think that that's interesting, Lisa, that you said that, you know, the defense will find out who these people are, because one of the things that Diddy's team has argued is that they can't really build a case without knowing who this person is. And so, you know, what you said kind of blows that all out of the water that they will know who it is. It's just not going to be known to the public.
Exactly. Yes. And I've had many cases where we file. For example, I had I think eight women I represented against the company Activision in a big sexual harassment scandal they had. And many of the women wanted to be Jane Doe's in that case. And they were. And of course, we revealed their name to the other side. So the other side could, in fairness, know who it was and fight the case.
So of course, I've also had cases against the clothing company Guess. And our clients in those cases started out as Jane Doe's. And then some of them, as the case progressed, decided to come out and use their real name. So I also like to tell victims that they generally get stronger as the case progresses.
People are usually terrified at the beginning, even to call me, even to talk about the case confidentially with me. Maybe we send a letter first to start the case. They're terrified of that. They're terrified of filing the lawsuit. But as it goes on, they see that actually the earth is not opening up and swallowing them. They are okay and
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Chapter 4: What challenges do victims face in sexual assault cases?
Otherwise, we could have sent somebody into the prison to serve him, but that's somewhat complicated. So we got all that ironed out. Everybody is now served. And some of the defendants were still considering whether they really should be in or should be out. We're willing to listen to evidence.
I mean, I've always said just because somebody was at a party or did business with Sean Combs does not mean that they were complicit. They may not have known. But if they did know and they turned a blind eye to it and they funded him, then they were complicit and then we're not letting them out of the case. So that's where we are right now.
We have a conference with the judge in January, and that's when all of the discovery sort of gets set. The discovery is the phase where we get documents and information. We exchange it. We give them what we have. They're supposed to give us what they have. And then we start taking depositions.
I think, you know, obviously one of the biggest moments will be when I get to take Sean Combs' deposition, which will probably be in prison. And I'm very happy to go and take his deposition in prison. I've been to prison for various cases many times, so it doesn't bother me, doesn't scare me.
And we'll see what he says about Don and we'll see what his story is and we'll see whether it matches up with the documents and information and other witnesses that you know, we'll see what he has to say for himself.
Is your team pulling any of the footage from making the band as evidence?
So that's a great question. We are going through it to see what there is. I think some of that footage will support Dawn's story, you know, that she was being treated very badly. It was kind of part of the show that the women were treated so badly and that Sean Combs would rant and rave and have temper tantrums. Somehow this was all seen as acceptable at the time. I don't think that was just TV.
I think that was the reality. And I think some of that footage will really help us. Yes.
Have any of the other members of Danity Kane also come forward? And have you spoken to any of them?
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Chapter 5: How does the legal process work for sexual assault victims?
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Welcome back to The Trial of Diddy. And we are still here with Lisa Bloom. Seems like also there is a new case or new cases every week filed against him. How will that work with... Now I think it's close to a dozen cases that he has against him. And if you do get to a point where you are going to depose him, how will that...
occur when there's also all these other cases and all these other attorneys who might also want to do the same?
Well, everybody has the right to take his deposition in their cases. Every party to a case has to sit for a deposition. You can't get out of it by saying, well, there's a whole bunch of people suing me. If you don't want a whole bunch of people suing you, maybe you shouldn't do a So we all are going to have the right to take his deposition.
There'll probably be some skirmishing as to the dates and the times and who goes first and all that. That's fine. But eventually we are all going to get his deposition.
And in the meantime, he will stay in jail at this point.
Yes, unless he can convince somebody to let him out. And so far, that's not working. So as you know, there was a bail hearing. One of the reasons why the judge said bail was denied was because of our case, because of alleged witness tampering in our case. He had over 100 phone contacts, according to the government, with a witness in our case who came out and spoke out against Don.
So, oops, I guess he forgot that his phone was being tapped. even though on another call he says, my phone is being tapped. So he knew, but I guess he forgot, you know, we like to say people have the right to remain silent, but not the ability. So he was personally apparently reaching out to a witness in our case, and that's considered witness tampering by the government.
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Chapter 6: What role does public perception play in these cases?
And the judge agreed and he did not get bail. He since has asked another judge to release him, denied. I believe that went up on appeal. Um, I think it was denied. So I, I'm not sure if the appeal has been decided yet, but he's still in prison. Right. And I think he's going to stay there probably for the rest of his life.
Were you shocked at the fact that he was reaching out to your witnesses?
Yes. I was shocked. Not a lot of things shocked me, Marjorie. You've known me for a long time. I've been around the block, but what? And again, because he knew his phone was being tapped, but I think he was getting probably desperate. Perhaps he was on drugs. I know some were found in his room when he was arrested. So
I don't know, but I'm speculating that maybe he wasn't in his right mind or he just was very upset. And maybe it was ego. He's used to telling people what to do. He's used to, you know, calling all the shots. And so he reached out to her. You know, it would take a psychologist to explain that kind of thinking. But yeah, that was pretty shocking.
There are also reports that he had used other cellmates' phones or somehow was able to use their codes. I mean, what did you think about that, that he was able to access that stuff?
People are rarely as smart as they think they are. People think, you know, like they see TV or movies like, oh, I'll get somebody else's phone and all. You know, they think they're very clever. They're not. And the government seized his hard drives at his home. They seized his phone when they arrested him. You're not going to outsmart
the SDNY, the prosecutors in the Southern District of New York who have seen it all, have heard it all, who have your devices. I mean, your devices, you know, tend to give everything away. That's where all of our information is, right? Texts, phone calls, emails. So yeah, even if you use somebody else's, you know, eventually they're going to get it. It's just, Not a good idea.
Lisa, I want to look to the latest allegations, a suit that was filed against Jay-Z that added Jay-Z along with Sean Combs. Jay-Z has come out swinging against these allegations and has also... targeted the lawyer who filed this civil suit, you know, calling it blackmail and every name in the book.
What are your thoughts on that from a legal perspective, from somebody who is representing a victim, an alleged victim?
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Chapter 7: How are other Danity Kane members involved?
Those lawsuits never went anywhere. I fought them. I got them dismissed. But that's why there are not that many lawyers representing victims. There's a handful of us out there, but it's a very difficult area of practice because they come after us and we have to pay outside lawyers to represent us. We're operating generally on a very thin margin. We're not getting paid hourly.
We only get paid when we win. And, uh, it makes it very difficult, but it's, this is a, an increasingly common strategy to go after the accusers lawyers to try to scare them and, um, I think it's really unfortunate. I think that case should be thrown out. I think Jay-Z should have to pay his attorney's fees, and then he can face the case of the woman accusing him of rape.
There's also just a question of optics. I mean, the fact that he's going after the attorney, what do you think about that?
You know, they say every story needs a villain and Jay-Z doesn't want to be a villain. He wants to make the attorney a villain. So that's the strategy. I think Jay-Z ultimately probably will deny the charges. And look, here's what we know about people who are guilty or people who are innocent. They deny the charges. Both of them do.
So the fact that somebody denies it or denies it really strongly or denies it in a way that seems very compelling because it was probably written by crisis managers, it really doesn't tell us anything. The case is going to be decided based on the evidence, the witnesses, the credibility. You know, was Jay-Z there? For example, was he at that party after the VMAs, I think, in 2000? Was he there?
Let's start with that. Was he there? If he wasn't there, he's got a pretty good defense. Well, I haven't heard that. And he's had time to figure it out and to think about it because initially there was a letter, right? And there was some back and forth. So I don't know if there was a few weeks, a month, whatever, but that would be a very easy thing to look up. Was he there with Sean Combs? So-
You know, I think all will be revealed in the case itself. Should he be worried that there could be an investigation into the allegations? You mean a criminal investigation?
Yeah, criminal. Yes.
He should definitely be worried. Yes.
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