Sean Combs, who’s facing sex trafficking and racketeering charges, is accusing the government of vast misconduct related to leaking evidence to the media that he says prevents him from receiving a fair trial.
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Lawyers for Combs, in a bid to get a hearing on the issue filed on Wednesday, seek a court order that would keep a potential jury from considering such evidence, including hotel surveillance footage of him violently assaulting the singer Cassie, or the dismissal of all charges if it’s proven that the government was the source of the leak. The video published by CNN was part of a seven-month campaign initiated by prosecutors and federal law enforcement agents to “raise public hostility against Mr. Combs in advance of trial,” they claim.
The motion was filed on the heels of Combs, also known as “Diddy,” appealing for a second time on Tuesday an order by the court denying him bail. He’s currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
In September, federal prosecutors brought a three-count indictment accusing Combs of crimes related to an alleged decades-long pattern of physical and sexual violence against people in his orbit. The government accused him of directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various business associates since at least 2008.
Combs has maintained the sexual encounters with his accusers were consensual.
The footage of Combs in a towel hitting, kicking and dragging Ventura as she tries to escape has emerged as a key piece of evidence in the case. During the bail hearing, prosecutors argued that it demonstrates his propensity toward violence. It’s expected to be used by prosecutors to argue that he violated sex trafficking laws, which requires a showing that a “commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion.”
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Combs’ lawyers claim that the Department of Homeland Security leaked the video to CNN as part of a scheme to get secure an indictment from the grand jury and prevent him from getting a fair trial. They argue that Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, likely isn’t the source since she secured a eight-figure settlement.
“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,” Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, lawyers for Combs, write in the filing.
The hearing, if it’s granted, will determine whether federal prosecutors violated court rules mandating secrecy of grand jury proceedings and materials. Under a federal rule of criminal procedure, the government is barred from disclosing “anything that will reveal what transpired.”
In advance of the potential hearing, Combs’ legal team urge the court to order discovery of any emails or texts by government attorneys or law enforcement agents about the investigation.
“After the evidentiary hearing, and the extent and nature of the misconduct has been clarified, Mr. Combs will submit requests for any additional appropriate remedies, including disqualification of witnesses, suppression of evidence including the 2016 video, or dismissal of all charges in the indictment,” the filing states.
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