Evidence found in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ jail cell suggests he has influenced a witness in his New York sex trafficking and racketeering case and is trying to blackmail others, prosecutors allege. They say that he has sought to avoid federal detection by using three-way calls and other inmates’ phone access codes.
In a motion filed Friday, federal prosecutors say Combs was using secretive methods to contact outsiders from jail, and evidence gathered shows “the clear inference that the defendant’s goal is to blackmail victims and witnesses either into silence or [to] provide testimony helpful to his defense. An allegation that is more often seen in mob trials or Mexican Mafia-style cases.”
But in a motion filed Monday, the music mogul’s lawyers contend that what investigators actually seized from his Metropolitan Detention Center cell in Brooklyn was “attorney-client privileged material,” including handwritten notes by Combs.
“This search and seizure are in violation of Mr. Combs’ Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights,” his attorneys wrote. “The targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged materials — created in preparation for trial — is outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation.”
The attorneys learned that notes were seized from Combs’ cell only when prosecutors filed a motion 30 minutes before midnight Friday citing them as evidence opposing his release, his attorneys wrote.
In a new filing Monday, prosecutors said they had not seen anything from a legal file in his cell and turned over photographs agents took of items in the cell to a “filter team” to determine if there was anything privileged that should remain private. That team redacted anything that appeared to be privileged and then gave the information to prosecutors.
The battling motions come as a federal judge is slated again this week to decide whether Combs, who has been behind bars since his September arrest, should be granted $50-million bail and released to house detention.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs and his associates are accused of luring female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship, and allegedly using force, threats of force, coercion and drugs to get them to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes in what Combs referred to as “freak-offs.”
Federal prosecutors reiterated their opposition to Combs being granted bail to the judge on Friday, alleging Combs attempted to tamper with witnesses and influence potential jurors from his prison cell using his family members, and said they feared that his behavior would worsen out of custody.
According to prosecutors, Combs’ notes were recovered from the “defendant’s cell during a pre-planned nationwide sweep of BOP facilities.”
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said there’s a reason prosecutors believe Combs is obstructing justice from prison, similar to an argument they made during a previous bail hearing, and there is a good chance the judge doesn’t toss out evidence seized.
“Inmates don’t have a Fourth Amendment expectation of privacy in prison. Guards can search his cell without probable cause or a warrant,” she said, adding that there is a process to handle potentially privileged materials found during a search.
“The feds usually use a ‘taint’ or ‘dirty’ team of agents that aren’t working on the case to conduct these searches. That way, if they see privileged materials, the ‘clean’ team won’t be disqualified from the case.”
In their partially redacted filing on Friday, prosecutors allege the evidence seized shows a pattern of influence from Combs while in custody and that he’s made “relentless efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of his abuse who could provide powerful testimony against him.”
They accuse Combs of using phone access codes, known as PAC numbers, of eight other inmates to contact several people — including his sons — and making “three-way calls to contact other individuals.” Prosecutors also allege that Combs has used a third-party communication service called ContactMeASAP to reach unauthorized individuals.
They referred to a call with “Witness-2” and said his communications with the individual as well as his personal notes revealed “a strong inference” that “the defendant paid Witness-2 after she posted her statement.”
