Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs accused federal investigators this week of wrongfully seizing privileged materials from a Brooklyn jail cell, a “weak” claim, according to one legal expert who explained how inmates have reduced expectations of privacy while behind bars.
Combs’ legal team is suing the prosecution for obtaining at least 19 pages of notes from a locker at a federal detention center in Brooklyn — including “intact pages from two different legal pads,” pages from an address book, and torn pages. of the other three legal bearings.
However, according to Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who runs a private practice in Los Angeles, anything taken from Combs by federal investigators and transferred to prosecutors can be reviewed by a third-party team and found to not include privileged material. .
“Diddy’s only real chance to be released is to pay, threaten, or blackmail his victims into changing their stories,” Rahmani said. “And prosecutors want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
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Sean “Diddy” Combs rides his bicycle from his home across the Star Island Bridge in Miami Beach, Florida, April 4, 2024. The hip-hop king’s home in South Florida was raided by Homeland Security Investigations and local law enforcement as part of a federal investigation. investigated. (Romain Maurice/Mega for Fox News Digital)
Combs pleaded not guilty in September to federal sex trafficking, racketeering and other charges.
His defense team argued that some of the material was protected by attorney-client privilege. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday, and attorneys separately asked the judge to let them go forward without shackles.
The items were seized during a federal search of the jail that authorities previously said was planned and unrelated to the Combs case.
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The alleged associate worked to protect and promote Combs Enterprise. (Image by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty)
Rahmani downplayed claims from Combs’ high-powered legal team, which experts say faces an uphill battle given the gravity of the case and the resources of the Justice Department.
“Inmates have no Fourth Amendment expectation of privacy in prison, so that argument is weak,” he told Fox News Digital. “Guards can search the cells without cause or a warrant.”
Privileged documents usually get special treatment, he said.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Invest Fest at the Georgia World Congress Center on August 26, 2023, in Atlanta. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
“The feds usually use a team of ‘taint’ or ‘dirty’ agents who are not working on the case to conduct the search,” he said. “That way, if they see privileged material, the ‘clean’ team will not be disqualified from the case.”
Combs is due in court for a bail hearing on Friday, the latest attempt to get him released before trial. The prosecutor, however, accused him of trying to force the witness from behind bars and said he should remain remanded.
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“The prosecution has reason to believe that Diddy obstructed justice from prison, by contacting witnesses through intermediaries,” Rahmani said. “That was the same argument at the bail hearing, and I have the evidence to back it up.”
In court documents, his attorney argued that the brutal attack on ex-boyfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel, captured on video, was part of a “minute-long glimpse into the complex but consensual ten years the relationship between Mr. Combs and Victim-1.”
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Prosecutors have previously expressed “serious concerns” about the safety of victims and witnesses if Combs is freed, and the judge overseeing the criminal case rejected a broad request for an order that would have barred additional prosecutors from coming forward.
“The Combs ruling does not support a gag order that applies not only to trial participants, but also to alleged victims and their attorneys,” Judge Arun Subramanian wrote. “Local Rule 23.1 does not allow this kind of relief. The rule’s limitations do not apply to witnesses, let alone candidates who have not been identified.”
Combs has been held without bond in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest on federal sex trafficking, forced prostitution and racketeering charges.
The trial is scheduled for May 5 next year. At that point, the U.S. attorney overseeing the case could be replaced by President Trump’s nominee, former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton.
The feds opened an investigation in November 2023, around the time Ventura sued Combs with allegations of physical and sexual abuse. He settled out of court the day after he filed.
Sean “Diddy” Combs waves to boaters as they pass his Star Island home in Miami Beach on April 7, 2024. (Zak Bennett for Fox News Digital)
Combs denies Ventura’s allegations and all other accusers. Then the video was leaked – shows a nearly naked billionaire brutally attacking her in the hallway of Los Angeles’ Intercontinental Hotel.
The video appears to support at least one claim in Ventura’s lawsuit — that Combs assaulted her at a hotel in 2016.
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“Mr. Combs became extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her black eyes“said his lawyer.
He was drunk, according to the lawsuit, and when he passed out he tried to get out. But he allegedly woke up and continued screaming, followed her into the hallway and threw her to the ground.
Sean “Diddy” Combs stood before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky after prosecutors brought three criminal charges against him in Manhattan federal court. (Reuters/Jane Rosenberg)
In the past year, new plaintiffs have continued to come forward, and Texas attorney Tony Buzbee said in October that he now represents more than 100 people who want to sue the rapper.
He has been accused of doling out date rape drugs and victims of adults and children at parties, some of which allegedly involved unnamed “celebrity” accomplices.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or to rainn.org.
