Sunday, November 24, 2024 - Diddy has claimed that his 'reputation has been destroyed' as he made a third bail application while awaiting trial on s3x trafficking charges.
The disgraced hip hop mogul is accused of
organizing orgies called 'Freak Offs' in which women were drugged and
forced into marathon-long s3x sessions, sometimes with male prostitutes.
He recently slammed the 'allegations and aggressive and
deceptive media tactics' by prosecutors had already shredded his public image
and only an acquittal could reverse that.
Diddy claimed the charges 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, sought to
discredit his accusers - including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Diddy said that a second 'victim' wasn't even a victim
because she was 'voluntarily intimate with Mr. Combs for years'.
He has denied s3x trafficking and racketeering among other
charges and is due to go on trial in May of next year.
Diddy has already been denied bail twice, including a
$50million bail package involving round-the-clock monitoring by security guards
and home detention.
A hearing is due to take place on Friday at the federal
court in New York for this third attempt to get free.
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 took aim at the two victims cited by
prosecutors in their legal filings for the previous bail applications.
They said that the 'narrative the government presented was
fictional' and that they were putting a 'theatrical spin' on things.
The filing criticized the security camera video of Diddy
attacking Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel on March 5, 2016, and claimed
that the full version is not as damning as the version leaked to CNN.
In fact, it was just a 'sad glimpse into a decade-long
consensual relationship', the filing from Diddy's lawyers states.
They said that the shocking footage was 'edited' and
'manipulated' to make it look worse than it was.
The incident was merely a 'domestic dispute in which he ran
down the hall of the hotel to recover his clothes and cellphone'.
Nor is there 'one piece of evidence' backing up the claim
Ventura was trafficked, the document states.
Diddy's lawyers also say that there is 'no second victim at
all' as the second victim in the indictment was 'voluntarily intimate with Mr.
Combs for years'.
Prosecutors have argued that Diddy continues to obstruct
justice while in prison, and that no set of bail conditions would stop 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.
In their filing, Diddy's lawyers fired back and said:
'Grasping at straws, the government makes much of Mr Combs' request that his
family make an Instagram post to celebrate his birthday.
'We do not believe that a social media post showing his
family's love and birthday wishes violated the court's order, even if it
presents him in a more positive light than the overwhelmingly unfavorable media
coverage which has dominated the public narrative about Mr Combs for the past
year'.
During the hearing on Friday, the judge is expected to deal
with questions about alleged prosecutorial misconduct which Diddy's lawyers say
could lead to the case being dismissed.
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