On Wednesday, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers filed documents in a New York federal court claiming the Department of Homeland Security leaked a 2016 video of Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura at a Nevada hotel to CNN — who publicized the footage in May.
In the memorandum, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo identified DHS as CNN’s probable source. Prosecutors wrote in response that “the Government was not in possession of the video before its publication by CNN,” as the news outlet never publicly identified who provided the footage.
Combs’ lawyers claimed that prosecutors admitted that they did not obtain the footage through the grand jury process, and DHS agents did not have the video until after CNN’s reporting.
“The timing of the leak suggests government involvement. The tape was leaked on one of the few days the Trump trial was not being held as Barron Trump, Donald Trump’s youngest son, graduated that day from High School in Florida with his father in attendance,
“Combs’ attorneys wrote, per Law & Crime. “Eventually, the court announced that May 17 would not be a trial day. This was a fact that would have been known to federal agents—and they also would have known that May 17 was thus a perfect time, as it was a slow news day given the break in the Trump trial.”
According to CNN, Combs’ legal team also accused authorities of tipping off the media of searches conducted in March at the producer’s homes in California and Florida. DHS’ Homeland Security Investigations division carried out the searches.
The reported raids also occurred four months after his ex-girlfriend, Cassi Ventura accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
Last month, Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard sued Combs for sexual assault and abuse. In her lawsuit, she claimed she witnessed Combs abuse Ventura in 2009 — throwing her against a wall, choking her, and dragging her up a flight of stairs. She also claimed she saw Combs hurl a hot pan of eggs at while saying, “I can’t stand you b***h, you never do it right!”
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, named Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
In that case, Gardner claimed Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall drugged and raped her and a friend following an Uptown Records event in 1990. Gardner said she was 16 at the time of the incident. She also accused Combs of choking her a day after the assault.
Days after footage of the 2016 assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs in the lawsuit of sexually assaulting her on four instances between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Lampros claimed Combs promised to mentor her and connect her with executives in the fashion industry. Instead, Combs allegedly forced her to drink before raping her in a hotel room. Lampros recalled another instance in which Combs forced her to perform oral sex on her in a parking garage while a parking attendant watched
Reports indicated that Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in eight lawsuits. He continues to deny these allegations.
Combs remains jailed on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He is due in court on Thursday as he seeks bail for the third time.
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[Feature Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP]
