Sean “Diddy” Combs remains in jail awaiting trial, and legal experts say he’s likely to remain there for some time, having lost an appeal against bail.
The embattled music mogul was charged on Sept. 17 with three felonies: racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Diddy has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing amid multiple lawsuits over the past 10 months alleging sexual abuse.
The latest lawsuit, filed on Sept. 24, is from a woman who claims she was drugged, raped and tied up by the Bad Boy Entertainment founder and his former bodyguard in 2001. She claims she learned in November 2023 that the alleged rape had been recorded and sold as pornography. She is the 11th person to accuse Diddy of sexual assault.
While the world has yet to hear from Diddy about his alleged “freak-offs,” old videos have surfaced online of him talking about his infamous parties.
How damaging are these resurfaced clips to Diddy’s case? Could a plea deal be on the table? And what happens next? Yahoo Entertainment spoke to legal experts about these burning questions.
Are These Old Viral Diddy Videos Still Important?
In the court of public opinion: yes. At trial: no.
Since his arrest, several resurfaced clips of Diddy have gone viral, including a 2002 interview on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in which he talked about how locking “beautiful women” in rooms makes for a “killer party.” Ashton Kutcher’s quotes about partying with Diddy have made headlines, as have several videos of Diddy with a young Justin Bieber. Unless one of these people comes forward with an accusation against Diddy to bolster the government’s case, it probably doesn’t mean much.
“Out-of-court statements from other people cannot be used as evidence because they are hearsay,” criminal defense attorney Lauren Johnson-Norris tells Yahoo Entertainment. “However, if witnesses actually observed [alleged crimes related to the indictment]Those witnesses could be brought before the court to testify against Combs about what they actually saw.”
There are many unconfirmed rumors circulating on X, formerly Twitter, “but rumors are not proof.”
“The government will focus on proving the allegations and putting the pieces of the puzzle together,” Johnson-Norris explained.
Where is Diddy now?
Diddy is still being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY, but NBC News reports that Diddy has been moved from suicide watch to an area reserved for inmates who need special protection. Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur convicted of fraud, is one of 18-20 inmates in the same section.
Diddy has been released without bail twice, and Johnson-Norris doesn’t expect him to be released again: “Unless there’s a significant change in circumstances, which I don’t see happening here, it appears Combs will remain behind bars until his trial.”
The rapper is said to have spoken briefly with his “shock[ed]”children.
Are others also being charged?
Diddy is accused of running a criminal organization, but former federal prosecutor Jennie Wang VonCannon tells Yahoo Entertainment she doesn’t anticipate any others being charged at this time.
“Combs is charged with being ‘the leader of the Combs Enterprise,'” she said, referring to the wording in the indictment. “Based on the allegations, it appears that the government has all the evidence necessary to charge those whom Combs allegedly directed as the leader of the Combs Enterprise; the fact that only Combs was charged indicates that no other lower-level individuals are likely to be charged for the conduct described in the indictment.”
Does the government have reason to offer a settlement?
“The short answer is yes,” says VonCannon, a partner at law firm Crowell.
“There are real victims who have suffered [alleged sexual] “He would be charged with assault and would be exposed to a years-long trial,” she says, calling Diddy “a defendant with many resources.”
“If a defendant pleads guilty, it would be a quicker resolution, where victims and witnesses would not have to testify at trial,” she added. A plea deal also “limits” Diddy’s right to appeal, which could also be helpful to prosecutors.
However, Diddy would have to plead guilty for that to happen. Aside from publicly apologizing when surveillance footage leaked of him attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, he has maintained his innocence.
Can Ventura testify?
Diddy was sued in November 2023 by Ventura, his longtime ex-girlfriend, for sex trafficking, rape and physical abuse. It was quickly settled out of court and the terms were not disclosed, but a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) was likely involved, legal experts agree.
However, a nondisclosure agreement “has no effect on a court subpoena or an order for a witness to testify in a criminal case,” Johnson-Norris said, opening the door for Ventura to testify.
“NDAs typically contain exceptions, and if they don’t, the court will find that it would otherwise be contrary to public policy to prevent a witness from testifying,” she said. “A court order will always override contractual provisions about who can and cannot testify. That means we need to hear Cassie testify in this criminal case.”
Ventura appears to be deeply involved in the federal case against Diddy, as the language in her 35-page civil lawsuit matches some of the allegations against him in the government’s complaint.
Will Diddy plead a ‘consent’ defense?
Sexual abuse is difficult to prosecute because the defense typically argues that the acts were consensual. But according to VonCannon, this is not a typical “he said, she said” case.
“While the consent defense is common in cases where the alleged acts occur between two people and behind closed doors, this case is much broader than that, involving racketeering allegations involving non-sexual acts such as kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor, and distribution of narcotics and narcotics,” she explained. “All of the underlying acts of the RICO conspiracy, taken together, make it very difficult for Combs to mount a successful ‘consent defense.'”
What happens now?
According to Johnson-Norris, in these types of federal cases, it typically takes “two years from the filing of an indictment to the sentencing.”
“I expect there will be periods where we hear about the case because of motions filed by the defense, and there will also be periods where we hear nothing at all,” she explains.
The next status conference in the case is Wednesday, October 9 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
