Lawyers for Sean Combs allege US government leaked assault footage to CNN

Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs have alleged that the US government is behind the leak of a video which showed Combs physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, AKA Cassie.

A memo filed by Combs’s legal team on Wednesday complains of “a series of unlawful government leaks, which 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”.

Federal prosecutors deny that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leaked the footage of the assault against Ventura at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, which was obtained by CNN, and aired in May. It depicts Combs grabbing Ventura and throwing her to the floor, then kicking and dragging her.

Shortly afterwards, Combs admitted the footage was of him, saying he was “truly sorry … I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”

It became the most public evidence of wrongdoing by the rapper and businessman, who at that point was facing a number of lawsuits alleging sexual assault in incidents dating from the early 1990s onwards. Ventura had filed her own lawsuit in November 2023, which was settled the following day.

Combs has since faced numerous further allegations of sexual misconduct, culminating in his arrest in New York on three counts of sex trafficking and racketeering. He was denied bail on the grounds that he is a flight risk and could tamper with witnesses, and is jailed in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan detention center.

His lawyers specifically refer to the Ventura footage in the new memo, saying: “The videotape was leaked to CNN for one reason alone: to mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself against these allegations. Rather than using the videotape as trial evidence, alongside other evidence that gives it context and meaning, the agents misused it in the most prejudicial and damaging way possible.”

A footnote in the memo states that federal prosecutors deny the allegation and claim that DHS “did not have possession of the videotape prior to CNN’s publication of it”.

Combs’s lawyers nevertheless claim it is “entirely reasonable” to believe DHS did leak it. They have called for a hearing over the alleged leaks, arguing they were not fully investigated.

The memo also claims that federal raids in March on Combs’s properties in Miami and Los Angeles were “specifically designed to be public spectacles of brutality and were not primarily focused merely on acquiring potential evidence”.

Earlier this week, Combs applied for bail for a third time, with terms including home detention and a $50m bond. His lawyers argued against the risk of witness tampering: “The government’s arguments about the risk of obstruction were based on speculation, resting mainly on untested allegations about communications with witnesses in civil cases and communications initiated by supposed witnesses and not Mr Combs,” a statement read.

Combs is back in court for a hearing today. His lawyers have requested a trial date of spring 2025.