Italian
Sean “Diddy” Combs has attempted to obstruct justice from the Brooklyn federal jail where he is being held ahead of his upcoming sex trafficking and racketeering trial, according to prosecutors who allege the accused rapper turned mogul of witness tampering and using his family and children in an attempted PR play as he potentially faces 15 years minimum in prison.
In a court filing to the judge overseeing Combs’ bail hearing on Friday — his third since a mid-September arrest and incarceration at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — several prosecuting attorneys with the Southern District of New York tell Judge Arun Subramanian how Combs has obtained multiple inmates’ phone lines in attempts to evade scrutiny, control witnesses and influence testimony while jailed. They also allege that he uses a non-authorized messaging app to communicate with the outside world and coerced his family to create a birthday message intended for the eyes of potential jurors before his sensational trial begins in the spring.
Two judges have previously declined to release Combs from custody, citing potential witness tampering in the case as the key reason he must remain locked up before his trial. The court filing from Friday urges the judge to reject the latest Hail Mary from the rap world and menswear icon’s legal team, which involves a hearing for a proposed $50 million bail for his release from Metro and into home confinement.
Prosecutors shut down the idea of allowing Combs back onto the streets in the filing, as they detail his bad jailhouse behavior, much of which closely reflects the actions and coercive moves that he is accused of in the federal case filed against him and the many civil suits raining down on the beleaguered rap game kingpin.
“In seeking a new hearing, the defendant rehashes the same arguments rejected by those two judges with claims of ‘new evidence.’ But the defendant offers nothing new and material justifying a third bail hearing,” New York prosecutors wrote in the filing. “In fact, the only truly ‘new’ relevant evidence shows that the defendant has continued to engage in a relentless course of obstructive conduct designed to subvert the integrity of these proceedings.”
The means of obtaining evidence that led to these accusations regarding Combs’ alleged jailhouse shenanigans prompted the billionaire mogul’s legal team to file a rebuttal court document on Monday, calling foul on prosecutors for seizing what they say is attorney-client privileged material from his jail cell at Metro. His handwritten notes about his defense witnesses and thoughts on legal strategies for his looming trial were among what was taken away.
“This search and seizure are in violation of Mr. Combs’ Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights,” lead attorney Marc Agnifilo wrote to the court. “Moreover, the targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged materials — created in preparation for trial — is outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation. Because the prosecutors are currently in possession of privileged material and are actively using this material to detain the defendant, the defense requests an immediate evidentiary hearing. This is an emergent matter because the Government has Mr. Combs’ privileged notes to his lawyers concerning defense witnesses and defense strategies.”
New York attorneys called the action a “pre-planned nationwide sweep of BOP facilities”; Agnifilo’s immediate hearing demand included several questions related to the jail cell raid, including who authorized the search of Combs’ prison cell and decided what to confiscate, as well as who passed the seized items to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The evidence obtained and handed to prosecutors includes clear instances of continuous bad behavior from Combs. They allege Combs exchanged hundreds of text messages via an app called ContactMeASAP, which purports to be “an innovative text messaging service for federal inmates to communicate with loved ones via real-time messages” and claims to offer “seamless SMS conversion.” Combs, officials said, had two accounts with the app, with dozens of people, including attorneys and others who are not listed on the defendant’s list of approved contacts.
“[Combs’] intentions are reflected in his own words on [Bureau of Prisons] calls with a network of family members and associates whom the defendant has tasked with executing his will,” prosecutors told the court. “On multiple calls, the defendant is explicit about his intention to use public statements to alter public perception and the defendant leaves no doubt that the narrative he wants to is the potential jury pool’s perception of this criminal proceeding.“
This month, Combs spent some of his time with his family, enlisting them in planning and executing a social media campaign around his birthday with the intention of “influencing the potential jury in this criminal proceeding,” according to prosecutors. With Combs’ curated direction, his children posted the video to their social media accounts showing his kids gathered to celebrate Diddy’s birthday. Combs then “monitored the analytics,” the government said, of the social media posts and “explicitly discussed with his family how to ensure that the video had his desired effect on potential jury members in this case.” In addition, they accuse Combs of trying to “anonymously leak video favorable to his defense.”
A reel went up on Combs’ son Justin’s Instagram page on Nov. 4 featuring the 30-year-old and his siblings calling the rapper in prison to tell him to have a happy birthday.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has claimed he has done nothing wrong. His trial is scheduled for May 2025. An email sent to Combs Global seeking comment on the recent filings was not immediately returned on Monday.
