Diddy has claimed his “reputation has been destroyed” when he filed for bail for the third time while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The disgraced hip-hop mogul said prosecutors’ “allegations and aggressive and deceptive media tactics” had already torn his public image and only an acquittal could undo that.
Diddy claimed that allegations that he ran a decade-long criminal enterprise were “fictional” and that prosecutors were putting a “theatrical spin” on the truth.
The 55-year-old hitmaker, real name Sean Combs, tried to discredit his accusers, including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Diddy said a second “victim” wasn’t even a victim because she was “consensually intimate with Mr. Combs for years.”
Diddy is accused of organizing orgies called “Freak Offs,” in which women were drugged and forced into marathon sex sessions, sometimes with male prostitutes.
He has denied sex trafficking and extortion, among other things, and will stand trial in May next year.
Diddy has already been denied bail twice, including a $50 million bail package that includes 24-hour surveillance by guards and house arrest.
Sean “Diddy” Combs, pictured in a September court sketch, filed his third bail application while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges
Lawyers for the disgraced rap mogul tried to discredit his accusers – including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura – claiming his second victim was ‘voluntarily intimate’ with him
A hearing will take place Friday in federal court in New York on this third attempt to be released.
In his third bail application, Diddy’s lawyers wrote: ‘Mr. Combs fully intends to face these charges.
“The prospect of a conviction does not materially change his incentives here, where his reputation has already been destroyed by the government’s allegations and aggressive and deceptive media tactics, and can only be rebuilt by winning at trial.”
Diddy’s legal team focused on the two victims named by prosecutors in their legal filings for the previous bail applications.
They said the “story the government presented was fictional” and that they were putting a “theatrical spin” on it.
The filing criticized the security camera video of Diddy attacking Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel on March 5, 2016, claiming that the full version is not as damning as the version leaked to CNN.
In fact, it was just a “sad look at a decade-long consensual relationship,” according to the filing from Diddy’s lawyers.
They said the shocking footage had been ‘edited’ and ‘manipulated’ to make it look worse than it was.
The rapper is accused of arranging “Freak Offs,” described as “elaborate and produced sex performances” arranged and directed by Combs.
The disgraced rap mogul remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being repeatedly denied bail
The incident was merely a “domestic dispute where he ran down the hotel hallway to retrieve his clothes and cell phone.”
There is also no “one piece of evidence” to support the claim that Ventura was traded, the document said.
Diddy’s attorneys also say there is “no second victim at all,” as the second victim in the indictment was “consensually intimate with Mr. Combs for years.”
Prosecutors have argued that Diddy continues to obstruct justice while in jail, and that no amount of bail would prevent him from influencing the jury and tampering with witnesses.
They brought up a video his children posted on his birthday earlier this month as evidence that he is coordinating a “public relations” campaign from behind bars.
The filing criticized the security camera video of Diddy attacking Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel on March 5, 2016, claiming that the full version is not as damning.
His defense fired back at prosecutors’ claim that his children’s birthday video for him on Nov. 4 was for a “public relations” campaign, saying they were “grasping at straws.”
In their filing, Diddy’s attorneys fired back, saying, “The government is grasping at straws and making great use of Mr. Combs’ request for his family to make an Instagram post celebrating his birthday.”
“We do not believe that a social media post showing his family’s love and birthday wishes violates the court’s order, even though it portrays him in a more positive light than the overwhelmingly unfavorable media reporting that has dominated the public narrative about Mr. Combs in the past. years’.
During Friday’s hearing, the judge is expected to address questions about alleged prosecutorial misconduct that Diddy’s attorneys say could lead to the case being dismissed.
The dispute involves notes seized by a Bureau of Prisons investigator during an Oct. 28 raid on Diddy’s cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, where he is being held.
Prosecutors used some notes to argue that Diddy still tried to obstruct justice by paying a female witness to make a positive statement about him on Instagram.
Diddy’s lawyers have argued that this material is confidential and said in court this week that they need to gather more information before deciding what the remedy might be.
But the case is so serious that it may have to be dismissed or the team of four female prosecutors re-tried, attorney Marc Agnifilo said.
Diddy was arrested on September 16 and has been in the MDC ever since.
He appeared relaxed in court Wednesday, smiling and joking with his lawyers.
Earlier this week, he was hit with five new civil lawsuits, the latest in a flurry that is expected to reach more than 100 once all are filed.
The new claims include an allegation from a woman who says she was drugged and raped at one of Diddy’s infamous “White Parties” in New York’s Hamptons.
Diddy’s lawyers deny all civil allegations.