Sean “Diddy” Combs picked up a legal victory on Tuesday in his sex trafficking case.
During a Nov. 19 hearing in New York federal court, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered prosecutors to destroy several pages of handwritten notes seized during a raid last month of the mogul’s cell at Metropolitan Detention Center, NBC News reported.
As part of his ruling, the judge barred prosecutors from using 19 pages — 11 pages and eight entries from a calendar book — in their arguments against granting the music mogul bail.
Related: Diddy ‘Paid’ Woman to Post Statement on His Behalf, Feds Say
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik argued that the papers revealed the mogul had allegedly paid off one witness, and told one of his family members to dig up “dirt” on alleged victims.
“A witness was paid off and finding dirt on two different victims is not privilege,” Slavik said about the papers.
But Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo countered the papers contained the mogul’s handwritten notes about the strategy for his upcoming trial, and accused the government of “egregious, willful and harmful breach of the attorney client privilege.”
In response, the judge ruled in favor of the defense.
“The government should not be in possession of the 19 pages,” Subramanian said during the hour-long hearing.
As previously reported, prosecutors wrote in a filing on Nov. 15, that the notes said the Bad Boy Records founder had allegedly “paid” former Diddy-Dirty Money singer Kalenna Harper to release a statement voicing support for the embattled mogul.
Harper posted a statement to Instagram on Sept. 13, saying allegations in a sexual battery civil suit her former bandmate Dawn Richard filed against Diddy on Sept. 10, “do not align” with her own experiences with the mogul.
Prosecutors did not mention Harper’s name in their filing, but described her as “Witness-2.” The filing said Diddy began pressuring Witness-2 the day after Richard filed her complaint.
“The defendant reached out to Witness-2 on Sept. 11, and sent her a copy of the lawsuit against the defendant in which Witness-2’s name was mentioned several times,” the filing said.
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.
Diddy was arrested on Sept. 16, and is being held without bail as he awaits trial on racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution charges.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts.
The mogul is scheduled to return to court on Friday, Nov. 22 for a bail hearing, in his third attempt to be released ahead of his May 2025 trial.
