Diddy accuses federal officials of leaking material in his sex-trafficking case --[Reported by Umva mag]

• Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs condemned government "leaks" relating to his sex-trafficking case.
• The issue may be argued at Combs' next court date, scheduled for Thursday in Manhattan.
• He seeks "a hearing and other remedies" from what he calls prejudicial leaks by DHS agents.

Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs say that unlawful federal government leaks, including information relating to his grand jury and to the March search of his Miami and Los Angeles homes, have prejudiced his sex-trafficking case.

The alleged leaks "have led to damaging, highly prejudicial pre-trial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial," his lawyers argued in a 17-page motion filed Wednesday night.

Combs attorneys Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos made the allegations in the filing to the federal judge in Manhattan now assigned to the case.

They are demanding the judge hold "an evidentiary hearing to examine government misconduct in connection with the leaks," they wrote.

They also are demanding that prosecutors and other members of the government be gagged to prevent leaking to the media, and that officials, in particular agents with the Department of Homeland Security, be ordered to turn over "emails, documents, and records" related to the alleged leaks, according to the motion.

Homeland Security was singled out in the defense motion, though prosecutors with the Department of Justice's US Attorney's Office were also accused of failing to stop the leaks despite repeated behind-the-scenes complaints by the defense.

All DOJ employees, not just its attorneys, are barred by federal law from releasing prejudicial information for the purpose of influencing a trial, the filing says.

"Regardless of what, if any, action the US Attorney's Office took, the leaks continued, even after the arrest," the motion states.

"The reason a hearing is needed is to determine exactly what DHS did, and did not do regarding these leaks, and what the US Attorney's Office did and did not do to stop them," his lawyers wrote.

Spokespersons with the DOJ and the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan did not immediately respond to Wednesday night's filing.

Only a DHS leak could explain the presence of media at Combs' Los Angeles home as a March 25 search warrant was executed, Wednesday night's filing states, noting that press showed up "even before the crime scene tape was put up."

Agents and a spokesperson from Homeland Security Investigations soon confirmed to the press that the government was conducting an ongoing sex trafficking investigation, the filing says.

"We believe that there is a disturbing history of sex trafficking," the New York Post quoted an unnamed DHS source as confirming on March 27. "We are responding to concrete, detailed, explicit allegations," the New York Post was told.

A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

More than 50 agents showed up as both the LA and Miami properties were simultaneously searched. Agents deployed "military-style armored vehicles, with scores of heavily armed agents in full combat gear," according to the Combs filing.

"One would think they were attempting to retake Donbas rather than seize some phones and computers," the lawyers quip.

"The show of force had no legitimate purpose — it was merely an attempt to garner further press attention, sensationalize the case, and portray Mr. Combs as dangerous," the filing continues.

Federal prosecutors said in Combs' indictment that they seized guns and ammunition from the Miami property, "including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, as well as a drum magazine."

The indictment also alleged that "on more than one occasion, Combs himself carried or brandished firearms to intimidate and threaten others, including victims and witnesses to his abuse."

His lawyers have insisted that Combs employed a security company and did not own the guns at his home.

The agents "engaged in a particularly brutal and public search of Mr. Combs' homes, during which they handcuffed Mr. Combs' innocent sons and then marched them before a news helicopter and the press," the filing alleges.

"This was an apparent effort to convey that they had overwhelming evidence against Mr. Combs, justifying the public and brutal treatment of even his children, who were handcuffed and manhandled by federal agents armed with assault rifles, the filing alleges.

Unnamed DHS employees have further "repeatedly leaked grand jury information and materials to the press to raise public hostility against Mr. Combs," the filing continues.

The filing specifically alleges that Homeland Security is "by far the most likely source" of 2016 surveillance video, leaked to CNN in May, showing Combs punching, kicking, and dragging then girlfriend Cassie Ventura in the hallway of the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, the lead witness against him in the case.

The tape was leaked on one of the few days that former President Donald Trump's Manhattan hush-money trial was not being held, because the former president was given a day off to attend his son Barron's high school graduation, the defense alleges.

Federal agents "would have known that May 17 was thus a perfect time, as it was a slow news day given the break in the Trump trial," Combs' lawyers wrote.

The leaks continued in the months after the March searches, with unnamed agents telling multiple news outlets about an ongoing grand jury investigation, victim interviews, and search warrant executions, the defense complains.

Even on September 18, three days after Combs' arrest, a source described as a "Department of Homeland Security agent" who participated in the Miami raid told the New York Post that "the music mogul had rooms that were clearly 'dedicated to sex' with cameras all around.'"

Combs' allegation concerning leaks was the most volatile issue raised in a letter, drafted earlier Wednesday by federal prosecutors and the defense, to inform US District Court Judge Arun Subramanian of the issues to be discussed at the next in-court hearing, scheduled for Thursday.

The two-page letter says Combs will ask on Thursday that a trial date be set in April or May 2025.

"The government will be available for trial on a date set by the court, although it remains within the court's discretion to set a trial date at the outset of the case or at a later time," prosecutors said in the letter.

The letter makes no mention of raising new bail arguments before Subramanian.

Combs has been held in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his September 16 arrest, and two prior judges on the district court level have denied his request to be released on home confinement in Miami on a $50 million bond.

On Tuesday night, his defense team filed a brief with an intermediate federal appellate court asking that the district court-level bail denials be overturned. Federal prosecutors have yet to respond to Combs' bail appeal.

Wednesday's letter also alerts the judge that the parties intend to discuss on Thursday what federal prosecutors called the "voluminous" evidence in the case.

The defense will ask on Thursday that the judge set immediate deadlines for prosecutors to share evidence, the letter said.

"The timely production of these materials is critical to Mr. Combs' ability to prepare his defense," his lawyers wrote.

But the evidence to be shared by prosecutors with the defense via the discovery process includes "several terabytes of electronic material," prosecutors wrote, including from electronic devices seized three weeks ago, on the day Combs was arrested.

Some of the prosecution evidence originates with Combs, prosecutors said, including physical evidence seized in March from his Miami home, and hard drives turned over by the defense on October 1.

Data from more than 40 of Combs devices and accounts is still being extracted, including from his "laptops, tablets, hard drives, cloud accounts, etc," prosecutors said in the letter.

Prosecutors also said that additional evidence came from the electronics of "third parties," or consists of "business records from financial institutions, phone companies, hotels, airlines, and other businesses."

The first batch of evidence was turned over to the defense on Monday, prosecutors said. They expect the remaining discovery, including from third parties, to be turned over on a rolling basis by the end of the year.

On Thursday, "the government will be prepared to answer any questions from the court" regarding "the status and anticipated timeline" for turning over this evidence to the defense.

Update: October 9, 2024 — This story was updated to add details from the defense motion filed Wednesday night.

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