Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ attorney accused the federal agents and prosecutors of leaking surveillance footage in a court filing on Wednesday.
The hip-hop mogul’s lawyers are accusing the government of leaking hotel surveillance footage to CNN, in which he could be clearly seen beating his ex-girlfriend.
After the surveillance footage was released by CNN in May, Combs was forced to publicly apologise for his “inexcusable” behaviour.
A video from an InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles shows Combs, wearing a towel, striking, kicking, and dragging Cassie (Casandra Ventura) as she tries to leave.
While prosecutors haven’t named her, the case aligns with Cassie’s lawsuit, which accused Combs of years of abuse.
The defendant’s lawyers have requested that the widely circulated video be excluded from the trial. On the eve of his court appearance, the music mogul’s attorneys claimed that leaks had caused “damaging, highly prejudicial pretrial publicity,” which they argued could taint the jury pool and deny Combs a fair trial
Whereas prosecutors have made it clear in court papers that the particular footage is the key evidence in their case, and that footage will be used as a piece of evidence during the trial.
While the source of the footage leak still remains unclear, in a court filing on Wednesday, Combs’ lawyers blamed the Department of Homeland Security for the leak when they raided his homes in March.
“The videotape was leaked to CNN for one reason alone: to mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself against these allegations,” the lawyers, Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, wrote.
According to the government’s account of the hotel footage, Combs assaulted his former girlfriend in an attempt to prevent her from leaving a freak-off session; prosecutors have said they have evidence that there was at least one prostitute inside Mr Combs’s hotel room.
Prosecutors referenced the video in their indictment, stating that Combs attempted to bribe a hotel security worker with a “stack of cash” to keep the incident under the sheets.
Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested last month and is being held without bail on charges of sex trafficking by force, transportation for prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy. His attorneys are pushing for a speedy trial, while Combs also faces several civil lawsuits from alleged victims.