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This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A breakdown of the many lawyers working on the Sean “Diddy” Combs litigation; a motion by Lil Durk to dismiss his federal murder-for-hire charges; an updated version of Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group focused on the Super Bowl; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: The Diddy Debacle’s Many, Many Lawyers
To lead off Billboard’s annual Top Music Lawyers list, I dove deep into the many attorneys involved in the litigation against Sean “Diddy” Combs over his alleged sexual abuse.
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Spread across a complex criminal case and dozens of civil lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions, the Combs litigation unsurprisingly involves a slew of high-powered lawyers, ranging from veteran defense attorneys to experienced sex-crimes prosecutors to a prolific plaintiff’s lawyer who says he represents more than 100 victims. And that’s not even mentioning the BigLaw attorneys hired to defend top industry players who have been dragged — they say wrongly — into the messy litigation.
For the whole story, which covers more than 20 lawyers in all, go read my full article here. And make sure not to miss the actual Top Lawyers list after that, detailing the top music industry attorneys who are making deals, guiding clients and watching out for AI.
Other top stories this week…
IF THE SONG DOESN’T FIT – Lil Durk asked a federal judge to dismiss murder-for-hire charges, claiming prosecutors are citing song lyrics as evidence even though he wrote them more than six months before the alleged crime. Prosecutors had claimed last year that the Chicago drill star rapped about ordering his “OTF” crew to murder rival Quando Rondo, but his lawyers said that claim was “demonstrably false” and that the feds used such evidence to mislead a grand jury: “Unless the government is prosecuting Banks on a theory of extra-sensory prescience, the lyrics could not have soundly informed the grand jury’s finding of probable cause,” Durks lawyers wrote.
DRAKE v. UMG UPDATE – Drake filed an amended complaint in his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” focusing heavily on the Super Bowl halftime show that took place after the original case was filed. Drake’s lawyers say the decision to censor the word “pedophile” during the broadcast had actually helped his case: “Kendrick Lamar would not have been permitted to perform during the Super Bowl Performance unless the word ‘pedophile’… was omitted from the lyrics — that is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile’,” the star’s lawyers wrote.
LEGAL R.I.P. – Music attorney Joel Katz, for decades one of the industry’s most powerful figures, died last week at the age of 80. A longtime practice group chair at the firm Greenberg Traurig, Katz represented a who’s who of top music executives over his career, as well as major artists (Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Tim McGraw) and industry groups (Recording Academy and Country Music Association). After Recording Academy head Deb Dugan accused Katz of sexual harassment in 2020 — an allegation he denied — he joined Barnes & Thornburg in 2021, where he spent the rest of his career. Go read Melinda Newman’s full obituary here, featuring reactions from around the industry.
DIDDY TRIAL DELAY DENIED – Judge Arun Subramanian denied a request by Diddy to delay his sex trafficking and racketeering trial by two months, ruling that the move was made too close to trial. The star’s lawyers had argued they didn’t have enough time to prepare for trial after prosecutors added new charges earlier this month. But the judge ruled that the new indictment largely overlapped with earlier charging papers, telling Diddy’s lawyers he found it “unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare.”
SMOKING GUN OR ‘UNRELIABLE’? – Elsewhere in Diddy-world, his lawyers asked the judge to exclude the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura from the trial, arguing it would “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury.” They claim the clip was edited by CNN and then the original was destroyed, leaving only an “inaccurate, unreliable video” to play for jurors: “The manipulation of the videos was specifically designed to inflame the passions of CNN’s viewing audience, and that is what the government is hoping to leverage in this case.”
DISASTER DEPOSITION – Megan Thee Stallion asked a federal judge to hold Tory Lanez in contempt of court over “disruptive” and “inflammatory” behavior during a recent deposition in a civil lawsuit. Lanez — currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan — made a “mockery of the proceedings” by harassing a female lawyer and demanding definitions of basic terms. The motion came in a defamation case Megan filed against gossip blogger Milagro Gramz, who she claims has waged a “coordinated campaign” with Lanez to “defame and delegitimize” the superstar rapper in the wake of the shooting and trial.
DANCE DANCE LITIGATION – A TikTok user named Kelley Heyer, who says she created last summer’s viral “Apple dance” to a Charli XCX song, is suing Roblox over allegations that the company violated copyright law by selling her dance moves as an “emote.” Heyer claims that other games paid her for a license, but that Roblox used her moves without a deal. The lawsuit is the latest in a long line of cases filed over viral dance moves that are used in video games.
Lil Durk wants a judge to dismiss murder-for-hire charges he’s facing over a 2022 shooting, claiming the feds gave “false evidence” to a grand jury by citing song lyrics that he wrote more than six months before the attack ever took place.
Prosecutors charged the Chicago drill star (Durk Banks) last year over allegations that ordered his “OTF” crew to murder rival Quando Rondo in – accusations they backed up by quoting lyrics from a song called “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy” that allegedly referenced the shooting.
But in a motion to dismiss the case filed Friday, Durk’s attorneys said those lyrics could not possibly have made mention of the Rondo shooting because the rapper wrote them “seven months before the incident even happened.”
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“The government told the grand jury that Mr. Banks, through specific lyrics in his music, celebrated and profited from a revenge murder that he had ordered,” writes Durk’s lawyer Drew Findling. “That claim is demonstrably false.”
The allegedly incriminating lyrics came as a feature on a track released by Babyface Ray in December 2022 – three months after the Rondo shooting. But in their motion this week, Durk’s lawyer say he recorded his verses in January and had no subsequent involvement in the song. They cited sworn affidavits from two music producers who worked on “Wonderful Wayne,” who both said Durk made no edits to the lyrics after the shooting.
“Unless the government is prosecuting Banks on a theory of extra-sensory prescience, the lyrics could not have soundly informed the grand jury’s finding of probable cause,” Findling writes.
The use of rap music as evidence in criminal cases is controversial, as critics argue it threatens free speech and can sway juries by tapping into racial biases. Over the past few years, the practice has drawn backlash from the music industry and led to efforts by lawmakers to stop it. But it has continued largely unabated, most notably in the recent criminal case against Young Thug in Atlanta, in which prosecutors made extensive use of his music.
Durk was arrested in October on murder-for-hire and gun charges related to the September 2022 shooting at a Los Angeles gas station, which left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed but saw friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) killed in the crossfire.
Prosecutors say Durk’s Only The Family crew was not merely a well-publicized group of Chicago rappers, but a “hybrid organization” that also functioned as a criminal gang to carry out violent acts “at the direction” of Durk. One of them was the Rondo attack, the feds say, allegedly carried out in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett), a close friend of Durk’s.
“Banks put a monetary bounty out for an individual with whom Banks was feuding named T.B.,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment, referring to Rondo by his initials. “Banks ordered T.B.’s murder and the hitmen used Banks and OTF-related finances to carry out the murder.”
In addition to Durk, prosecutors have also charged several alleged OTF members — Kavon London Grant, Deandre Dontrell Wilson and Asa Houston — as well as two other alleged Chicago gang members named Keith Jones and David Brian Lindsey.
To support those claims, prosecutors alleged that Durk “sought to commercialize” Lul Pub’s death by “rapping about his revenge” on Rondo: “Told me they got an addy (go, go)/ Got location (go, go)/ Green light (go, go, go, go, go),” Durk raps in the track. “Look on the news and see your son/You screamin’, “No, no” (pu–y).”
But in Friday’s motion to dismiss, Durk’s lawyers say that accusation is “patently false,” and that including them in the indictment is the kind of “egregious” prosecutorial conduct that requires the judge to toss the case entirely.
“A prosecutor who knowingly secures an indictment based upon false information, or who allows a falsely obtained indictment to persist, routs the grand jury from its central protective function,” Findling writes. “That is clearly what happened here.”
Durk’s indictment also alleged that “Wonderful Wayne” makes direct reference to a news clip filmed shortly after the shooting, in which Rondo can be heard screaming “no, no!” after seeing Lul Pab’s dead body. But his lawyers now say those were internet edits posted to YouTube, and that the audio from the news broadcast was not used in the original.
“Mr. Banks did not create these videos, and the government has failed to show any nexus between these manufactured video clips and Mr. Banks,” Finding says. “The internet users who posted the videos … are apparent ‘fan pages’ maintained by people with no affiliation to Mr. Banks.”
Dismissing criminal charges at the outset is a drastic step that courts rarely take. But Durks’ attorneys say the lyrics were the “linchpin” to the case against him, forming one of only two pieces of evidence that was presented to the grand jury that issued the indictment.
“For the grand jury not to have been substantially influenced by that evidence in its decision to indict is inconceivable,” Findling writes.
Post Malone’s ex-fiancée, Hee Sung “Jamie” Park, has filed a court petition seeking sole physical custody of their two-year-old daughter. Park is filing for primary physical custody of the ex-couple’s daughter — named in court documents as “DDP” with a birthdate of May 26, 2022 — while allowing Post visitation rights, in addition to joint […]
A Manhattan federal judge on Friday denied a bid by Sean “Diddy” Combs to delay his sex trafficking and racketeering trial by two months, ruling that the request was made too close to his trial date.
The star’s lawyers asked for the delay on Wednesday (April 16), arguing they didn’t have enough time to prepare for trial after prosecutors added new charges earlier this month. But according to Reuters, Judge Arun Subramanian denied that motion at a court hearing on Friday (April 18).
Endorsing an argument made by the prosecutors, Subramanian said that the new indictment largely overlapped with earlier charging papers. According to CNN, the judge told Combs’ lawyers that it was “unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare.”
Friday’s ruling means that, barring any last-minute disruptions, jury selection will begin on May 5 and testimony will begin on May 12. Representatives for Combs’ legal team did not immediately return a request for comment.
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to “fulfill his sexual desires” by subjecting numerous women to abuse. The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial has long been set to start in May. If convicted on all of the charges, which include sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
In a letter to the judge filed Wednesday, the star’s lawyers claimed the feds were dragging their feet on turning over crucial evidence, and that the extra two months would give them “the necessary time to prepare his defense” for a new superseding indictment filed April 3.
The request — far longer than the two-week delay Diddy’s lawyers had hinted they might seek — was opposed by prosecutors, who said the new charges were not sufficiently different to require any delay at all, and that Combs was not entitled to the evidence he claimed he was owed.
In addition to denying the delay, Subramanian made another important ruling Friday. According to Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press, the judge granted a request from prosecutors to allow three alleged victims to testify under Jane Doe pseudonyms. Diddy’s lawyers had called the move “a blatant violation of Mr. Combs’s Sixth Amendment rights to confront witnesses,” but prosecutors said it was necessary to protect them from harassment and embarrassment.
The judge seemingly left at least one big pretrial issue unresolved: a motion filed by Combs on Thursday seeking to ban prosecutors from showing jurors the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Combs says the clips has been edited and will “confuse and mislead the jury”; prosecutors says it’s a “damning piece of evidence” that must be admitted.
Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a federal judge Thursday (April 17) to exclude the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura from his upcoming sex trafficking trial, arguing it would “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury.”
The headline-grabbing clip, showing Combs striking his then-girlfriend in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, has been “altered, manipulated, sped-up, and edited to be out of sequence,” making it unusable as evidence at his trial next month, his lawyers told the judge.
“The admission of any of these inaccurate, unreliable video files would unfairly confuse and mislead the jury at Mr. Combs’s expense,” the star’s lawyers wrote in the filing. “Their admission would be infinitely more prejudicial than probative.”
In the lead up to the trial, Combs’ lawyers have repeatedly targeted the Cassie tape — likely a core piece of evidence that the government will present to jurors. In one motion, they argued that federal authorities had improperly leaked it to the press to “taint the jury pool.” Last month, they accused CNN of significantly altering the clip and then destroying the original before the network aired it last May.
With Thursday’s filing, Combs’ lawyers finally did what court-watchers were expecting: formally asking the judge to ban the clip from the trial. They cited a report from a forensic video expert that said the clip had been distorted beyond repair, including edits by CNN that Combs’ team says were intentionally made to make the video look worse.
“The manipulation of the videos was specifically designed to inflame the passions of CNN’s viewing audience, and that is what the government is hoping to leverage in this case,” Combs’ attorneys write. “The videos are sped up to make the violence look more violent. The sequence is reordered to leave the viewer with the impression that the woman has been dragged back to a hotel room. And the clips delete footage that provides important context making clear that the events were not as horrific as the government will suggest.”
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to “fulfill his sexual desires.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial is currently set for May 5, though Combs’ lawyers are currently seeking to push the trial back by two months. If convicted on all of the charges, which include sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
The Cassie video, which aired on CNN in May, showed him attacking her at the Intercontinental Hotel in March 2016. The clip drew far more public attention to the accusations against the star — who was then only facing a civil lawsuit — and prompted an apology from Combs shortly after it aired.
“My behavior on that video is inexcusable,” Combs said at the time. “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry.”
Prosecutors and plaintiffs’ attorneys have criticized Combs and his lawyers over their efforts to bar the video from his trial. In one filing, the government said Combs was attacking the clip in an effort to “suppress a damning piece of evidence.” And Douglas Wigdor, Cassie’s attorney, called the star’s arguments “disingenuous” last month: “I am confident that the video fairly and accurately represents what happened, will be admitted into evidence, and that Combs will be held accountable for his depravity.”
Attorneys for Megan Thee Stallion say Tory Lanez must be held in contempt of court over “disruptive” and “inflammatory” behavior during a recent deposition in a civil lawsuit that they say “made a mockery of the proceedings.”
In a motion filed Wednesday, lawyers for the rapper (Megan Pete) say Lanez (Daystar Peterson) – currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting Megan in 2020 – behaved so poorly during the jail-house deposition that it had to be cancelled shortly after it started.
They claim he “feigned ignorance regarding the definition of basic words” and repeatedly harassed Megan’s lawyer about her appearance. They also say he “pretended that the video equipment was not working despite prison staff confirming it was functioning properly.”
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“Mr. Peterson made a mockery of the proceedings,” Megan’s attorneys write. “Nothing short of a contempt finding and meaningful sanctions will deter Mr. Peterson from continuing to abuse the process.”
On Thursday, Judge Cecilia Altonaga gave Lanez until April 30 to explain why he shouldn’t face such punishment: “Daystar Peterson is ordered to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for violating the court’s order authorizing his deposition.”
Lanez was convicted in December 2022 on three felony counts for shooting Megan in July 2020 during an argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He has filed an appeal, which remains pending.
This week’s dispute comes in a civil lawsuit Megan filed last year against social media personality Milagro Gramz (Milagro Cooper), who the star claims waged a “coordinated campaign” with Lanez to “defame and delegitimize” her in the wake of the shooting and trial. A judge ruled in February that the case could move ahead, saying Megan’s allegations, if later proven, “paint a picture of an intentional campaign to destroy her reputation.”
As part of that lawsuit, Megan’s lawyers asked to depose Lanez from prison, saying it was necessary to investigate the extent of Gramz’ alleged coordination with him. But in Wednesday’s filing, Megan’s attorneys say the sit-down “proved to be a waste of time” due to Lanez’s “egregious” conduct.
Among other alleged disruptions, they say Lanez repeatedly demanded dictionary definitions of basic terms before he would answer simple questions, such as the word “meet” when they asked him if he had met with his attorneys ahead of the deposition.
“It could mean a lot of things. I mean meat could be a hot dog; meat could be a steak; meat could be red meat. It could be a lot of things,” Lanez allegedly said, according to a transcript cited by Megan’s lawyers. “You know what I’m saying? You could watch porno. Meat – meat is a whole different thing over there. Meet can be anything. I’m asking you what is your definition of ‘meet.’”
Megan’s lawyers say that Lanez behavior was so bad that even his own lawyers have “disavowed it.” In emails quoted in the filing, Gramz’ attorney Michael Pancier allegedly said the incident had “wasted our time as well” and that he would not oppose “any action you wish to take” against Lanez. Pancier’s co-counsel Michael Hayden, who also represents Lanez in his California criminal appeal, was allegedly copied on the email and did not object.
Reached for comment on the filing via email on Thursday, Pancier told Billboard: “Nothing much to say as Mr. Peterson is not my client and he is not a party to this litigation, and we have nothing to do with him.” Hayden did not immediately return a request for comment.
Drake has filed an updated version of his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” claiming the rival’s Super Bowl halftime show was intended to “assassinate the character of another artist.”
In an amended complaint filed late Wednesday, Drake’s attorneys say the Super Bowl show, watched by 133 million people and “million of children”, “revitalized the public’s attention” to lyrics calling Drake a “certified pedophile” – a diss that the Canadian superstar claims is false and defamatory.
“It was the first, and will hopefully be the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist,” writes Drake’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb.
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During the halftime show, which took place weeks after Drake had already sued UMG over “Not Like Us,” Lamar omitted the word “pedophile.” But after much speculation over whether he’d play the song at all, Kendrick really didn’t hold back otherwise – making it the centerpiece of the set and clearly rapping similar lyrics, including: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young.”
In Wednesday’s updated lawsuit, Drake’s lawyers say the decision to censor the word “pedophile” during the broadcast failed to avoid the song’s defamatory meaning – and instead had underscored the rapper’s legal case against UMG.
“Kendrick Lamar would not have been permitted to perform during the Super Bowl Performance unless the word ‘pedophile’… was omitted from the lyrics — that is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile’,” Gottlieb wrote in the new complaint. “The NFL, as well as the corporate entities responsible for the televised and streaming broadcasts of the Super Bowl Performance, all understood the words “certified pedophile” to be unacceptable in a broadcast to millions of listeners.”
Though it added new claims, the amended complaint also softened certain accusations against UMG, like the lawsuit’s claim that the label used bots to boost the song’s streaming numbers. Drake’s lawyers removed specific allegations about a “whistleblower” and potentially “indirectly” orchestrated such a campaign: “At minimum, UMG was aware that third parties were using bots to stream the Recording and turned a blind eye, despite having the power to stop such behavior.”
In a statement to Billboard on Thursday, UMG blasted Drake and his lawyers over the latest filing, calling the case “frivolous and reckless” and saying that changes were made to the lawsuit because Drake’s team was “fearful of being sanctioned for asserting false allegations.”
“Drake, unquestionably one of the world’s most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed at 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,” UMG wrote. “Should his legal representatives senselessly keep the New York lawsuit alive, we will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit. It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success.”
Lamar released “Not Like Us” last May amid a high-profile beef with Drake that saw the two UMG stars release a series of bruising diss tracks. The song, a knockout punch that blasted Drake as a “certified pedophile” over an infectious beat, eventually became a chart-topping hit in its own right.
In January, Drake took the unusual step of suing UMG over the song, claiming his own label had defamed him by boosting the track’s popularity. The lawsuit, which doesn’t name Lamar himself as a defendant, alleges that UMG “waged a campaign” against its own artist to spread a “malicious narrative” about pedophilia that it knew to be false.
UMG has already filed a scathing motion seeking to dismiss the case last month, arguing not only that it was “meritless” but also ridiculing Drake for suing in the first place. That motion will be refiled following the filing of Wednesday’s updated lawsuit.
In one of the case’s earliest skirmishes, Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ruled earlier this month that discovery could move ahead in the case, denying UMG’s request to halt document production and depositions until after she decides whether to dismiss the case entirely. Drake’s attorneys had already sought swathes of evidence, including Lamar’s recording contract.
Drake’s lawyers billed that decision as a major win at the time, allowing them to “see what UMG was so desperately trying to hide.” But on Thursday, UMG warned that the ruling would cut both ways: “That ‘win’ will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well,” the company wrote. “As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.’”
In their own statement Thursday, Drake’s legal team said the amended complaint “makes an already strong case stronger” than it was before: “UMG’s PR ‘spin’ and failed efforts to avoid discovery cannot suppress the facts and the truth,” Gottlieb said. “With discovery now moving forward, Drake will expose the evidence of UMG’s misconduct, and UMG will be held accountable for the consequences of its ill-conceived decisions.”
Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs are asking a federal judge to postpone his sex trafficking and racketeering trial by two months, blaming prosecutors for delays and saying they cannot “in good conscience” go to trial in May.
In a letter to the judge filed Wednesday (April 16), the star’s lawyers say the feds are dragging their feet on turning over crucial evidence and that the extra two months will give them “the necessary time to prepare his defense” for a new superseding indictment that was unveiled earlier this month.
The request — far longer than the two-week delay Diddy’s lawyers had hinted they might seek — is opposed by prosecutors, according to the letter: “This is a problem that the government has created, yet it opposes our reasonable request,” write attorneys Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos.
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A spokesman for the prosecution declined to comment on Combs’ request for a two-month delay.
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to “fulfill his sexual desires.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial has long been set to start on May 5. If convicted on all of the charges, which include sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
At a hearing Monday, prosecutors told Judge Arun Subramanian that they believed Combs’ legal team was stalling for time, according to the Associated Press. Agnifilo said at the time that he might seek a “very short” two-week adjournment over discovery issues, and Subramanian gave them until Wednesday to file such a request: “We are a freight train moving toward trial,” the judge said.
In Wednesday’s filing seeking instead a two-month delay, Diddy’s lawyers argued that the new indictment implicates “substantially new” alleged conduct. They also said prosecutors were “still producing discovery” and had failed to turn over key materials related to a sex trafficking charge that carries a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence if Combs is convicted.
“Under these circumstances, with discovery seemingly incomplete on a 15-year mandatory minimum count, we cannot, in good conscience, go to trial on the scheduled date,” Agnifilo and Geragos wrote.
Since his indictment, Combs’ legal team has indicated that it wants to take the case against him to trial relatively quickly. After the star was refused bail in September, Agnifilo said he was “going to do everything I can to move his case as quickly as possible.” The start of jury selection for the trial has been scheduled for May 5 since October.
But superseding indictments are a common reason that judges delay criminal trials, giving a defendant more time to prepare a defense to new charges and new evidence. Federal prosecutors have argued that the April indictment was not drastically different than earlier charges, but Diddy’s attorneys say it will put them at a disadvantage.
“We note that the court has broad authority to grant such continuances where the government seeks a superseding indictment which operates to prejudice a defendant,” Agnifilo and Geragos write.
With his sex trafficking and racketeering trial looming next month, Sean “Diddy” Combs has beefed up his trial team by hiring Brian Steel – the veteran Atlanta defense attorney who won Young Thug’s release from prison last year.
In a motion filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Steel requested to be admitted as one of Combs’ lawyers ahead of the upcoming trial, which is currently set to go to jury selection on May 5. Such approval is necessary for out-of-state lawyers to practice in new courts.
The move marks a significant addition to the team representing Combs, the once-powerful rap mogul now charged with abusing women for decades. Steel will join Marc Agnifilo, a former federal prosecutor and longtime criminal defense attorney who has previously repped Martin Shkreli and Keith Raniere, and his law partner Teny Geragos.
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Steel made headlines with his recent work defending Young Thug (Jeffery Williams), who faced a slew of felony charges in Georgia over allegations that his “YSL” rap collective was actually a violent street gang that had wrought havoc on Atlanta. The attorney often took center stage during that case, which captivated the music industry for more than two years.
A well-regarded defense attorney for years in Atlanta, Steel is known for his unique demeanor in the courtroom – polite, calm and scrupulous, but also relentless. Case in point: In June, he accused the judge overseeing Thug’s trial of holding an illegal secret meeting with prosecutors and a key witness. When the judge demanded to know how he’d learned of the meeting, Steel refused to answer so steadfastly that he was eventually held in contempt and ordered into custody. Weeks later, that judge was removed from the case over the incident and Steel was later cleared of any wrongdoing.
In some ways, the case facing Combs is similar to the one leveled against Thug. Both were charged with violating RICO laws (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations), accused of serving as the bosses of large criminal organizations. But Thug’s case was centered on accusations that his group committed drug dealing, carjackings and an alleged drive-by shooting; Combs is accused of using his fame and his sprawling business empire to sexually abuse numerous women and then keep them silent.
Differences aside, Combs is no doubt hoping for a similar result to the one Steel secured for Thug.
After botched testimony from a state’s witness in October sparked talk of a mistrial, prosecutors began reaching plea deals with multiple defendants. But Steel and Thug refused to take one, instead opting to simply plead guilty and hope the judge would set him free on probation rather than the 25 years the district attorney was seeking.
That gamble paid off: After sentencing Thug to only 15 years probation with no time to be served in prison, the judge urged the Grammy-winning rapper to use his platform to set a good example for young people in the future: “Good luck to you. And there better be no violations.”
Since he was indicted in September, Combs’ legal team has seen several shakeups. He hired Alexandra Shapiro, an well-known appellate specialist, in October. Anthony L. Ricco, another prominent New York defense attorney, withdrew from the case in February for undisclosed reasons.
Sean Kingston will soon be out on bond after getting hit with a guilty verdict last month related to a fraud scheme alongside his mother. On Tuesday (April 15), Kingston posted $100,000 bond. The agreement stated if the “Beautiful Girls” singer paid the bond, he could spend the months leading up to his July 11 […]
