Sean “Diddy” Combs stays jailed forward of his prison trial, and based on authorized specialists, he’ll possible be there for some time, having misplaced an attraction to be launched on bail.
The embattled music mogul was charged on Sept. 17 with three felony counts of racketeering, intercourse trafficking and transportation to interact in prostitution. Diddy pleaded not responsible and has denied wrongdoing amid a number of lawsuits over the previous 10 months alleging sexual abuse.
The most recent lawsuit, filed on Sept. 24, is from a girl who alleges she was drugged, raped and certain by the Unhealthy Boy Leisure founder and his former bodyguard in 2001. She claims she came upon in November 2023 the alleged rape was recorded and offered as pornography. She’s the eleventh individual to accuse Diddy of sexual assault.
Whereas the world has but to listen to immediately from Diddy about his alleged “freak offs,” the web has resurfaced outdated movies of him speaking about his notorious events.
How damaging are these resurfaced clips to Diddy’s case? May a plea deal be on the desk? And what occurs subsequent? Yahoo Leisure has spoken to authorized specialists about these burning questions.
Do any of those outdated viral Diddy movies matter?
Within the courtroom of public opinion: sure. At trial: no.
A number of resurfaced clips of Diddy have gone viral since his arrest — together with a 2002 interview on Late Night time With Conan O’Brien the place he talked about how locking “lovely girls” in rooms makes for a “killer social gathering.” Ashton Kutcher’s quotes about partying with Diddy have made headlines as have numerous movies of Diddy with a younger Justin Bieber. Until one in every of these folks comes ahead with an allegation towards Diddy to help the federal government’s case, it possible doesn’t suggest a lot.
“Out-of-court statements made by different folks can not come into proof as a result of they’re rumour statements,” prison protection lawyer Lauren Johnson-Norris tells Yahoo Leisure. “Nevertheless, if witnesses truly noticed [alleged crimes related to the indictment], these witnesses may very well be delivered to courtroom to testify towards Combs as to what they really noticed.”
There are many unverified rumors flying on X, previously Twitter, “however rumors aren’t proof.”
“The federal government goes to be specializing in proving the fees they’ve alleged and placing the items of the puzzle collectively,” Johnson-Norris explains.
The place is Diddy proper now?
Diddy remains to be being held on the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn, N.Y., however NBC Information studies that Diddy has been moved from suicide watch to an space reserved for detainees who require particular safety. Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud, is among the many 18-20 inmates in the identical part.
Diddy has been denied bail twice, and Johnson-Norris does not see him getting out: “Until there are some important modifications in circumstances, which I don’t see occurring right here, it seems that Combs is prone to stay behind bars till his trial.”
The rapper has reportedly spoken briefly together with his “shock[ed]” youngsters.
Will others be charged?
Diddy is accused of working a prison group, however former federal prosecutor Jennie Wang VonCannon, tells Yahoo Leisure she does not imagine others can be charged at the moment.
“Combs is alleged to be ‘the chief of the Combs Enterprise,'” she says, referring to wording within the indictment. “Based mostly on the allegations, it seems that the federal government already has the proof it must cost these whom Combs allegedly directed because the chief of the Combs Enterprise; the truth that it charged solely Combs signifies that there’ll possible be no extra lower-level individuals charged for conduct described within the indictment.”
Does the federal government have any cause to supply a plea deal?
“The brief reply is sure,” VonCannon, companion at Crowell regulation agency, says.
“There are actual victims who’ve suffered [alleged sexual] abuse and who can be uncovered to a years-long course of,” she says, calling Diddy “a closely resourced defendant.”
“If a defendant pleads responsible, that will be a faster decision that will not require victims and witnesses to testify at trial,” she provides. A plea deal additionally “severely curtails” Diddy’s proper to attraction, which is also useful to prosecutors.
Nevertheless, Diddy must plead responsible so as to make that occur. Except for publicly apologizing when surveillance footage leaked of him assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, he is maintained his innocence.
Can Ventura testify?
Diddy was sued by Ventura, his longtime ex-girlfriend, in November 2023 for intercourse trafficking, rape and bodily abuse. It was rapidly settled out of courtroom and phrases weren’t disclosed, however a nondisclosure settlement (NDA) was possible concerned, authorized specialists agree.
Nevertheless, an NDA “doesn’t override a courtroom subpoena or order for a witness to testify in a prison case,” Johnson-Norris says, opening the door for Ventura to testify.
“NDAs often embrace exception language in them, or if they do not, the courtroom will discover it could be in any other case towards public coverage to preclude a witness from testifying,” she says. “A courtroom order will all the time take priority over contracted language about who can and may’t make statements. Meaning we should always hear Cassie testify on this prison case.”
Ventura appears very related to the federal case towards Diddy because the wording in her 35-page civil swimsuit matches a number of the allegations towards him within the authorities’s indictment.
Is Diddy going to mount a ‘consent’ protection?
Sexual abuse instances will be tough to prosecute because the protection sometimes claims that acts have been consensual; nevertheless, VonCannon says this is not a typical “he-said, she-said” case.
“Whereas the consent protection is widespread in instances the place the alleged acts occur between two folks and behind closed doorways, this case is way broader than that, with racketeering allegations involving non-sex acts equivalent to kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering, pressured labor and distribution of narcotics and managed substances,” she explains. “All the predicate acts of the RICO conspiracy, taken collectively, make it very tough to Combs to mount a profitable ‘consent protection.'”
What occurs subsequent?
Johnson-Norris says that in a majority of these federal instances, it sometimes takes “two years between the submitting of an indictment till sentencing.”
“I count on there can be intervals the place we hear concerning the case attributable to motions filed by the protection, after which there can be intervals of time that we hear nothing in any respect,” she explains.
The subsequent standing convention within the case is on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. ET.
