US prosecutors have claimed P Diddy will menace or threaten witnesses or alleged victims if a judge lets him out on bail, because they say that’s exactly what he did in the immediate aftermath of Cassie’s beating.
The US Attorney’s Office responded to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs‘ latest effort to get released on bail by filing new documents to remind the judge what the defendant has allegedly done in the past to obstruct justice.
They focus on the infamous video from March 2016 at the Los Angeles InterContinental Hotel where Diddy allegedly hosted a Freak Off party.
In the hotel’s surveillance footage, Diddy is seen brutally attacking then girlfriend Cassie Ventura after she attempts to leave the hotel.
Wearing only a white towel he chases Cassie to a waiting lift, knocks her to the ground and kicks her as she lays there then drags back towards his hotel suite. Two days after CNN published the footage, Diddy apologised.
“My behaviour on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” he said in a statement on Instagram.
“I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” he added. “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. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
Combs had previously denied Ventura’s allegations of assault, which was the basis of a now-settled federal lawsuit filed by Ventura.
Although prosecutors make no mention of Cassie by name, they describe everything we’ve seen in the video – Diddy punching the victim, throwing her to the ground, kicking her and attempting to “drag her back to the hotel room”. The documents filed claim the Bad Boy Records founder attempted to bribe the hotel’s security officer with “a stack of cash in exchange for his silence.”
Although the security officer turned down the money, they say Diddy directed his staff to obtain the video, and “within days” it “disappeared” from the hotel’s computer servers.
They are formally asking the appeals court judges to affirm the lower court’s decision to deny Diddy bond, and hold him in custody pending trial. Diddy and his new team of lawyers had filed an appeal of the bond hearing decision. Diddy has already been denied him twice.
As he awaits trial Diddy faces a series of new lawsuits including one in which it is claimed he threatened to give a woman “a Glasgow smile” by cutting her face with a knife as he raped her. The filing in a US court came as his lawyers claimed they should be given the names of his alleged victims after six more people launched law suits claiming sexual assault and rape.
In one lawsuit, he is accused of raping a woman. The woman alleges the music mogul raped and abused her to make her “pay” for comments she made about the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. The court document, filed in California, is the latest civil case to be filed against him.
The woman is suing the music mogul, along with four other men and two women, over allegations of sexual assault, battery, rape, sexual abuse, false imprisonment and kidnapping, and has called for a trial by jury.
Combs has not yet responded to this lawsuit, but has denied all claims of sexual assault made against him.
He has also previously denied any involvement in the murder of Shakur who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.
In the lawsuit, the woman claims Combs raped her using a remote control – and that associates witnessed and also took part in sexual abuse.
She also alleges he threatened to give her “a Glasgow smile” – to cut her face with a knife – and threatened he could harm her and her family if she spoke out.
She claims she first met one of Combs’ friends in a bar in February 2018.
In the lawsuit, she says the man made a video call to Combs and showed her but she told him she “was not impressed” as she believed “he had something to do with the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur”.
She heard Combs remark that she would “pay” for her statement and dismissal of him, the court documents say.
The woman says she was at the friend’s home in Orinda, California, the following month, when the rapper arrived unannounced.
He told her again she would “pay”, the lawsuit claims, and approached her with a knife.
He held it to the right side of her face “and threatened to give her a ‘Glasgow smile’ in retaliation for her previous statements on the video call”, the document says.
The woman alleges her clothes were removed and that Combs covered her in a substance she realised was an oil or lubricant, before picking up a television remote and “violently” raping her with it.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and his attorneys are currently attempting to persuade the court to order his alleged victims to be identified.
The demand comes after suits were filed by four men and two women against Combs, 54, on Monday, October 14.
They filed the complaints as John and Jane Does through their attorney Tony Buzbee, who says he is representing a staggering 120 unidentified accusers who have made similar allegations against the Bad Boy Records founder.
Combs’ legal team filed new court documents asking the court to “require the government to identify its alleged victims” so that Combs “can prepare for trial.”
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily Showbiz newsletterhere.