Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has launched his third bid to get out of jail as his defense claims he is innocent and sexual encounters were ‘all consensual’.
The embattled rapper’s legal team have filed new documents, obtained by DailyMail.com, arguing the music mogul is ‘not a threat to the community’ as he sits behind bars on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the criminal allegations.
At a prior hearing, a NY federal judge denied his bail because Diddy allegedly tried to contact witnesses.
In the appeal filed today, Diddy’s attorneys said he reached out to a potential witness with the approval of that witnesses’ attorney.
Combs is currently being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center pending trial after two of his bail requests were rejected
Combs faces charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and interstate transportation for prostitution
Diddy’s attorneys also claimed several witnesses actually called Diddy, and not the other way around.
The appeal mentions an unnamed victim but based on the details, the victim mentioned is Cassie because it talks about the video that was leaked shortly after she settled the case.
Diddy’s legal team said in the bail application their client is not a flight risk, despite what prosecutors have said.
He also agreed not to contact anymore witnesses and to submit weekly drug tests.
In the appeal, Diddy’s team argued the case has been ‘sensationalized’.
They also claimed that Diddy has proved he is keen to comply by surrendering his passport, selling his private jet and offering up his $48 million home to secure bail.
Several lawsuits have been filed against Combs including sexual assault allegations
Footage from 2016 showed Diddy beating up ex-girlfriend Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel
The USAO will have time to respond to Diddy’s appeal but will most likely not be heard in court this week.
Combs, 54, has been locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since pleading not guilty September 17 to federal charges that he used his ‘power and prestige’ to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed ‘Freak Offs.’
Other alleged victims have already filed lawsuits against Combs that include allegations of sexual assault.
An attorney says he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against the hip-hop mogul.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee said he expects lawsuits to be filed within the next month, with most expected to be filed in New York and Los Angeles.
An attorney said they are representing 120 people accusing Diddy of sexual misconduct
Diddy’s mother Janice is ‘devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations’ against her son
Buzbee described the victims as 60 males and 60 females, and that 25 were minors at the time of the alleged misconduct. One individual alleged he was 9 years old when he was abused, Buzbee said. The allegations cover a period from 1991 to this year.
‘This type of sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation should never happen in the United States or anywhere else. This should have never been allowed to go on for so long. This conduct has created a mass of individuals who are injured, scared and scarred,’ Buzbee said at a news conference.
Following the announcement of the accusations in Texas, Erica Wolff, an attorney for Combs, said the performer ‘cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus.
‘That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,’ Wolff said in a statement. ‘He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.’
People across 25 states have come forward with accusations against Diddy
Buzbee said more than 3,280 individuals contacted his firm and alleged they were victimized by Combs and that after vetting the allegations, his firm decided to represent 120 people. Other cases are still being reviewed. He said some of his clients have spoken with the FBI.
The individuals that Buzbee´s firm is representing are from more than 25 states, with the majority from California, New York, Georgia and Florida.
The abuse that´s being alleged took place mostly at parties held in New York, California and Florida where individuals were given drinks that were laced with drugs, Buzbee said.
Some of the alleged conduct took place at auditions where ‘many times, especially young people, people wanting to break into the industry were coerced into this type of conduct in the promise of being made a star,’ Buzbee said.
A courtroom sketch showed Diddy next to his attorney Marc Agnifilo
On Sunday, the former hitmaker’s mother, Janice Smalls Combs, issued a statement in her son’s defense.
‘I come to you today as a mother that is devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations made against my son, Sean Combs,’ Janice, 84, told DailyMail.com in a statement through her lawyer Natlie G. Figgers. ‘It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies.
‘To bear witness what seems to be like a public lynching of my son before he has had the opportunity to prove his innocence is a pain too unbearable to put into words.’
Janice – who was hospitalized this past summer amid her son’s legal issues -conceded that Diddy had not told the truth about being violent with Cassie Ventura, as captured in a March 2016 clip at a Los Angeles hotel that surfaced earlier this year.
Diddy offered up his $48million mansion to secure bail
Janice said that by rapidly settling Cassie’s lawsuit late last year – a day after she filed it – Diddy opened himself up to litigation from others to go after him for financial gains.
‘I am not here to portray my son as perfect because he is not,’ Janice said. ‘He has made mistakes in his past, as we all have. My son may not have been entirely truthful about certain things, such as denying he has ever gotten violent with an ex-girlfriend when the hotel’s surveillance showed otherwise.
‘Sometimes, the truth and a lie become so closely intertwined that it becomes terrifying to admit one part of the story, especially when that truth is outside the norm or is too complicated to be believed.’
Janice said those factors were decisive in the Grammy Award-winning artist settling the suit with Cassie last year.
Diddy and his mother Janice is a resurfaced clip where the two kissed on the lips
‘This is why I believe my son’s civil legal team opted to settle the ex-girlfriend’s lawsuit instead of contesting it until the end, resulting in a ricochet effect as the federal government used this decision against my son by interpreting it as an admission of guilt,’ she said.
Janice said that the clip of Diddy’s violent 2016 beating of Cassie going public in May triggered a feeding frenzy of dishonest opportunists seeking to pile on her embattled son for monetary gain.
‘These lies thrown at him are motivated by those seeking a financial gain, and not justice,’ Janice said. ‘These individuals saw how quickly my son’s civil legal team settled his ex-girlfriend’s lawsuit, so they believe they can receive a quick payday by falsely accusing my son.’
Janice said that ‘false allegations of sexual assault thwart true victims of sexual violence from getting the justice they deserve.’
Diddy’s legal team claimed the case has been ‘sensationalized’ by media coverage
She admitted that her son has made mistakes, but said that his transgressions are not what they have been made out to be.
Combs is one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers across hip-hop, having won three Grammys and worked with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.
He founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the influential fashion line Sean John, a vodka brand and the Revolt TV network. He sold off his stake in the latter company in June of this year.