Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs are accusing federal prosecutors of “outrageous” conduct by using personal items seized from the mogul’s cell at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, to deny him bail.
Diddy’s lawyers sent a letter to the judge in his sex trafficking case on Monday, Nov. 18, saying prosecutors violated the mogul’s rights when they obtained “privileged material” taken from the mogul’s cell during a jail-wide raid.
“This is a matter of grave concern that, most respectfully, must be addressed immediately,” the lawyers told Judge Arun Subramanian, according to the Associated Press.
The lawyers claimed Diddy’s personal items included “notes” on his defense strategy.
“The targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged materials – created in preparation for trial – is outrageous government conduct,” defense attorneys said.
Related: Diddy ‘Paid’ Woman to Post Statement on His Behalf, Feds Say
Prosecutors responded to the letter by saying the Bureau of Prisons turned over the notes after the raid.
With tensions between the two sides escalating, the judge granted Diddy’s legal team an emergency hearing on the matter later today.
This latest round of legal maneuvering came in response to a bombshell motion filed by prosecutors on Friday, Nov. 15, saying Diddy should be denied bail — for a third time — because he’s been breaking jail rules, and had papers in his cell saying he “paid” off a witness.
Prosecutors said jail phone records and Diddy’s notes showed the mogul has been pressuring former Diddy-Dirty Money singer Kalenna Harper to publicly support him and discredit her ex-bandmate Dawn Richard, who filed a civil lawsuit against Diddy on Sept. 10, alleging sexual battery.
The prosecution did not mention Harper’s name in their filing, but described the singer as “Witness-2.”
The filing said Diddy began pressuring Witness-2 the day after Richard filed her complaint, which mentioned Harper 33 times as a witness to the mogul’s alleged abuse.
Prosecutors said Diddy and Witness-2 exchanged phone calls and text messages “at least 128 times” between Sept. 11 and Sept. 15.
“Throughout these phone contacts, the defendant repeatedly asked Witness-2 when she planned to post her statement,” the filing said.
Harper posted a statement on Instagram Sept. 13, saying the allegations in her former bandmate’s lawsuit “do not align with my own truth.”
The singer later did a podcast interview saying she had always admired Diddy.
After the mogul was taken into custody, prosecutors said Bureau of Prisons investigators found notes in his cell indicating “the defendant paid Witness-2 after she posted her statement.”
Diddy was arrested Sept. 16 on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The mogul has also denied all of the allegations against him in dozens of civil lawsuits.
He has a bail hearing scheduled for Friday.
