Monday, 21 October 2024

Diddy requests gag order on accusers and legal team amid slew of new sexual misconduct lawsuits


Attorneys for Sean "Diddy" Combs on Sunday asked a judge overseeing his sex trafficking case to impose a gag order on his accusers and their lawyers, as new sexual misconduct lawsuits emerge. 

Combs faces at least 24 sexual misconduct lawsuits so far, including seven new ones that were made public on Sunday. The new lawsuits come from four men and three women, including an accuser who alleged they were assaulted at a party when they were 13. All accusers were anonymous. 

The embattled music mogul has denied any wrongdoing, including in a criminal sex-trafficking case. He is currently incarcerated at a prison in New York, pending his May 5 trial. 

Combs' legal team requested the gag order in a letter to the judge on Sunday, per the Associated Press, after claiming that negative media coverage has infringed on his right to a fair trial because they could potentially taint the jury pool.

“As the Court is aware, Mr. Combs has been the target of an unending stream of allegations by prospective witnesses and their counsel in the press,” the team wrote. “These prospective witnesses and their lawyers have made numerous inflammatory extrajudicial statements aimed at assassinating Mr. Combs’s character in the press."

The seven lawsuits include allegations that Combs drugged and assaulted a 17-year-old male at a party in New York in 2022. Another accuser claimed she was raped by Combs and another unnamed male celebrity in 2000, when she was 13, at an afterparty for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, according to Reuters.

Combs' attorneys have not made new comments on the lawsuits, but referred to previous comments expressing confidence in their client's innocence. 

"Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process," the lawyers said. "In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone - adult or minor, man or woman."

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.


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