Welcome to The Trial of Diddy - 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 explore each and every new development in this story, looking at what may - or may not - be coming next for Diddy. This week Marjorie digs into one of Diddy’s lawyers leaving the case and talks to Federal Prison Consultant, Sam Mangel, to discover what he knows about how Diddy’s living now. Don’t miss it! Follow us on instagram @thetrialpod Email us [email protected] Whatsapp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Presenters: Marjorie Hernandez and Kayla Brantley Editor: Sam Morris 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 allegations are being made 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.
If you liked this episode, we think you'll love this.
I'm David Patrick Caracos, and on this week's episode of Apocalypse Now, as Donald Trump heads to Doha, we discuss Qatar, a small state at the center of a world increasingly ridden with faction and conflict. Listen to Apocalypse Now wherever you get your podcasts.
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Chapter 2: What happened with Diddy's lawyer?
Hey, I'm Marjorie Hernandez, DailyMail.com's West Coast news editor, and welcome to episode 24 of The Trial of Diddy. The day we released our last episode, it was announced that one of three main attorneys representing Diddy filed a motion to withdraw from the case.
Lawyer Anthony Rico cited unspecified, quote, sufficient reasons that meant he could no longer represent Diddy, who is currently in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting trial on human trafficking and racketing charges that he has repeatedly and strenuously denied. Rico has said that, quote, under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs.
And while he didn't lay out the specific reasons, driving his decision to leave the case, he did say they do exist and are protected by attorney-client privilege. At this time, Diddy's other attorneys, Mark Agnefilo and Tenny Garagos, are expected to continue representing him. Dailymail.com has approached Rico for comment.
Now, in the meantime, these attorneys filed on February 26, a memorandum opposing Texas-based attorney Tony Busby to represent various clients who have filed cases in the Southern District of New York. They said Busby conducted, quote, egregious misconduct by filing 22 cases in that district since they claim Busby is barred from practicing in New York.
Diddy's attorneys wrote, quote, in countless social media posts, media appearances, and a press conference, Busby has inappropriately commented on pending litigation in a manner that violates his professional and ethical obligations by, among other things, opining on Mr. Combs' guilt on criminal charges that are scheduled to be tried in this district beginning on May 5th, 2025.
Worse, he has falsely accused Mr. Combs of sexually abusing dozens of children when Mr. Combs has never been charged with such crimes.
Diddy's attorneys also said, "...rather than acknowledging the limitations of his practice authority, Mr. Busby instead chose to make a public statement that deflected, claiming that reports of him being barred from practicing in New York State were, quote, trash and pure bunk." Meanwhile, Busby responded to claims that he can't practice in New York with a post on his social media.
So in this post, Busby took a snapshot of a certificate from the Pelt Division of New York Supreme Court that reads that he is actually licensed to practice in the state since January 17th, 2019. Busby goes on to say that there have been rumors swirling that he was not licensed in New York, but he adds in a statement, quote, let me be clear, I'm licensed to practice in New York.
I'm in good standing with the state bar and have always been. Although I prefer Texas, I'm proud of the legal work we are doing in New York. Don't believe the clickbait or dramatic headlines. We have also reached out to Mr. Busby for comment. Okay, and with that, let's welcome this week's guest, federal prison consultant, Sam Mangle. Hello, Sam.
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Chapter 3: What does a federal prison consultant do?
And once you're there, knowing what programs to take, how to qualify for them, and ultimately how to prepare for your release, knowing that you're dealing with a system that has a rule book. And it's the same rule book that I had to follow that El Chapo who's in AdMax has to follow. It's one book for everyone.
And it's not the Bureau of Prisons culture or job to help me or rehabilitate me to get out sooner. It's there to house me and feed me three meals a day. And if I wasn't proactive and doing what I had to do, they were more than happy to let me sleep there for four years and two months.
So folks who have been found guilty and are going to be sentenced, seek out your help to help them navigate through the system and find essentially how to survive the system.
Actually, I do a lot of work with attorneys, but people that are just charged well before the plea or if they go to trial, most people do accept the plea.
Oh, so they hire you from the very beginning.
Ideally from the very beginning. I occasionally, not often, thank God, receive phone calls the night before someone's scheduled to surrender. And there's only so much I can do in 24 hours. Yeah. It's difficult. I believe in being very hands-on. This is not a transactional business. This is about picking and choosing your clients so that you can give them the attention that
that they need and in many cases are not getting from their attorneys because attorneys typically, their job is to get you to sentencing and it ends there. Mine goes for what could be years after.
But the fact that you also have been in the prisons, you were in the system, and you mentioned that the jail where Diddy is now is very similar to one of the lockups where you were at. Right now, he's in Brooklyn MVC, Metropolitan Detention Center, which is notorious for having really awful conditions. There have been prisoners who have died there.
Can you give me any insight into what someone like Diddy is facing in a place like that?
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Chapter 4: What is the current situation for Diddy in prison?
which is the lockdown, that they're not gonna be able to have visits.
No television. I mean, if they have a radio, they could probably listen to the radio and to the televisions that are being played on the unit, but they can't see it. They still get mail, but that's about it.
When you hear something like that, what do you tell your clients in terms of helping themselves get through something like that?
So I can say from firsthand experience, on my second morning at the Philadelphia Detention Center, I remember I had just gotten out of the shower and all of a sudden, out of the side of my eye, I saw one gentleman rush another gentleman in the shower next to me and stabbed him with a shank, something sharp.
And as soon as that person was stabbed, out of nowhere, my cellmate grabbed me and pulled me back into the cell. And his advice, which is something that I would give anyone going in that situation is, get back to your cell, stay out of it. Keep in mind that most of my clients will never see that. They self-surrender to the prison camp. There is no violence in a prison camp.
You can't be convicted of a violent offense if you're in a prison camp. Now, in the examples of Sean Combs or Mangione, anyone else that I'm aware of on that floor, my advice would be, if you are found guilty, you need to get to a United States penitentiary. That's the highest level facility. That's where they will go. That you will be able to live. Not live well, not live successfully, but live.
If that's the best you can offer someone and their family, that they will be able to live and not get hurt or die. Really kind of put that in context as far as what any potential upside is.
But of course, he is still considered innocent and proven guilty. He has not gone to trial yet, which for right now is scheduled for May 5th. So he has a long way to go to see what happens.
But I find it interesting that a lot of these defense teams actually bring someone in like you from the very beginning to kind of map out what could happen and I guess what could be a worst case scenario for them.
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Chapter 5: How does the lockdown affect Diddy's prison experience?
There's a lot of wishful thinking until that judge reads those words, you are remanded to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. My job is to prepare them. As someone who's been through it, it's easier for me to explain it to them.
That makes sense when obviously, especially somebody who has never had any experience of being arrested or facing federal charges, that's huge. Do you also get involved with their family?
I would say probably 40% of my work is with families. It is not uncommon at all. for a family member to call. Okay. So my client who's in Brooklyn on Sunday, I received a call from his family. I haven't heard from my husband in two days. He calls me normally twice a day. I'm very worried what's going on. And that's, you know, when I realized that there's a lockdown.
So that's when I called the facility.
So somebody like you who has insider knowledge and can more easily access those folks so you kind of serve as a conduit to the family to let them know, hey, this is what went down.
Yes. I always know who to call at each facility in order to find out what's going on. Now, if the person goes to the hospital due to HIPAA, they're not going to disclose confidential information, but they can say, listen, he was taken to the hospital. He'll be okay. At least I can share that with the spouse or a loved one. The Bureau of Prisons is a black hole. Once you're in it,
There is no information that comes out unless you know how to get it out or navigate that system.
We have so much more coming up, but for now, let's pause for a break.
We are Theresa and Nemo and that's why we switched to Shopify.
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Chapter 6: What insights does Sam Mangel have about high-profile inmates?
Welcome back. And we're still here with federal prison consultant, Sam Mangle. So your client, he actually is in the same area as where Diddy's house and where Mangione's house?
I believe he's two cells over.
Two cells over. Wow. Has he even interacted with Diddy or spoken to him or seen him? Yes.
So I've had a number of clients, three clients that have been on that floor at one time or another. I also had a number of January 6th clients that were in the facility, although not on that floor. They all told me that he is a very interesting fellow. He was calm. He's taking it as well as can be expected.
Nothing that one would not expect from somebody that's used to the ultimate amount of freedom, luxury, being totally unencumbered to now being told when to go to bed, when to get up, when to shower, when to use a phone, when to use a computer, when to eat, when to stand by your bed and be counted. So it is a deeply demoralizing effect when you're in there.
But I'm told that all the guys on that floor are friendly. They get along. They play board games, chess, checkers, backgammon with each other. They watch TV together. They're very cordial towards each other because when you're in prison, you're the same as the guy next to you, regardless of your wealth or public stature. You all get $360 a month to spend in commissary.
You all get the same outfit to wear. You all get the same set of headphones. You get the same meals, same visiting privileges. So whether you're a billionaire or you're a vagrant on the street that's arrested, You all get the same thing. You're a number. You are an eight-digit number.
When the guy comes around and counts you and asks you to identify yourself, you don't identify yourself as Sean Combs. You identify yourself as your eight-digit BOP number.
It's interesting that you brought out that inmates on that floor, they might be playing checkers or watch TV together. I can't fathom Diddy having a sit down and playing checkers with another individual in jail. Is that the kind of interaction that he would be having or is he mostly in his cell?
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Chapter 7: How can defendants prepare for sentencing?
So normally what's called under the First Step Act, they try to put somebody within 500 miles of their family. Ideally, in his situation, I would say that should not be a overwhelming concern that they need to get him to the safest facility.
So my comment would be, okay, let's get him to like a Tucson USP or somewhere that, again, he will have the opportunity to live his life, have visits with his family, but be safe. Not pleasant, but safe.
I mean, what you do is very interesting, the fact that you're kind of starting from the beginning. When you have somebody like a big name like Diddy, what would you suggest to him in preparing for the trial?
He has to go in there very solid, very respectful of the jury. Let his attorney, you know, Mark Agniflo is an amazing attorney. Let his attorney handle the jury properly and through the voir dire process, figure out who's the best person to hear that case. Unfortunately, 98% of all federal charges, whether through a plea or through a trial, do lead to a conviction.
So overwhelmingly, the odds are stacked against him. I've only had, out of the hundreds and hundreds of people I've helped, only one client, a doctor in Pennsylvania, went to trial and won. So it is an anomaly to actually win. Preparing him is only so much that a consultant can do with serious charges like that. That's why I said most of my clients are white collar offenders.
Where I would really come in and be helpful is if he is found guilty, again, preparing him and his family for what's next. Because a USP is dramatically different than a detention center. And the strategies to get him the most amount of freedom as quickly as possible is something that I would want to work with him on.
But first and foremost, if found guilty, where to get him to a place that he's safe, that his family knows he's safe, so that he can then institute whatever strategies we can put into place for him given those circumstances.
Like you said, he's still considered innocent until proven guilty. And we have a long way to go until he goes to trial. So we'll see how that shakes out. So, Sam, you mentioned that if found guilty, Diddy would go to a U.S. penitentiary somewhere in the country, but normally it would be somewhere near his family.
But can you explain what the difference is between where he is now in the Brooklyn facility versus a U.S. penitentiary where he could end up?
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Chapter 8: What is the psychological impact of facing federal charges?
And he's truly in a general population environment where when they are allowed outside, he's on a closed yard with potentially a thousand men under heavy guard security with controlled movement, which means they can only move around the facility in one direction at 10 minutes before the hour for 10 minutes.
And it is subject to substantial violence because in a high security facility, you will see the worst of the worst. People that have nothing to lose by catching another charge. Gang members, it's very common to see that. So the goal would be to get him to the safest of the high security facilities, which in my opinion currently is USP Tucson.
where they have a sexual offender yard that is a protected yard. He would be amongst other sexual offenders that have lengthy sentences, but that for whatever reason might need a higher level of protection.
And even if somebody like Louis Mangione was convicted and found guilty and sentenced to a long period of time in the federal system, and it's not a sexual charge, I would still recommend going to a place like that because as of today, that is the safest of the United States penitentiaries in the system. Why is it considered the safest? Because of the population.
So if you think about the population, a higher propensity or population of sexual offenders... They don't put gang members there, or maybe they'll put gang dropouts there. So they really do their best to filter the population that goes in there. So it is certainly not a Four Seasons by any means in terms of the prison system, but it is the safest place where he will be able to survive. And live.
That's it. Other than that, it is identical to every other high security facility.
So ultimately a judge would decide, again, if he is found guilty, he hasn't been, ultimately decide where he would go. No, no. Oh, it's not.
A judge can only make a recommendation. So again, when I work with my clients, we do a lot of work with our clients to figure out what's the best facility for them prior to sentencing. Then at sentencing, we have certain asks of the judge, which are strictly recommendations. And then once we get that, we, my firm, works with the Bureau of Prisons to get him to that facility.
Oh, okay. Gotcha. So obviously the judge hands out the sentence and then you guys then come in and say, this is where we would want to place him. Who decides where he goes?
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