Diddy has claimed his “reputation has been destroyed” as he made a third bail application while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The disgraced hip hop mogul said prosecutors’ “aggressive and deceptive accusations and media tactics” had already destroyed his public image and only an acquittal could reverse that.
Diddy claimed that allegations that he ran a criminal enterprise for a decade were “fictitious” and that prosecutors were putting a “theatrical spin” on the truth.
The 55-year-old hitmaker, whose real name is Sean Combs, attempted to discredit his accusers, including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Diddy said a second “victim” wasn’t even a victim because she “was willingly intimate with Mr. Combs for years.”
Diddy is accused of organizing orgies called ‘Freak Offs’ in which women were drugged and forced to have marathon sex sessions, sometimes with prostitutes.
He has denied sex trafficking and extortion, among other charges, and is due to go to trial in May next year.
Diddy has already been denied bail twice, including a $50 million bail package that involves 24-hour surveillance by security guards and home detention.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, pictured in a September court sketch, made his third bail application while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Lawyers for the disgraced rap mogul sought to discredit his accusers, including his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, and claimed his second victim had “willful intimacy” with him.
A hearing will take place on Friday in federal court in New York for this third attempt at release.
In his third bail application, Diddy’s lawyers wrote: ‘Mr Combs has every intention of facing 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 accusations and the aggressive and deceptive tactics of the media, and can only be rebuilt if he wins at trial.”
Diddy’s legal team targeted the two victims cited by prosecutors in their legal filings for previous bail requests.
They said the “narrative presented by the government was fictitious” and that they were putting a “theatrical spin” on things.
The filing criticizes the security camera video of Diddy attacking Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel on March 5, 2016, and claims that the full version is not as damning as the version leaked to CNN.
In fact, it was just a “sad glimpse into a consensual relationship that lasted a decade,” the document from Diddy’s lawyers states.
They said the shocking images were “edited” and “manipulated” to make it look worse than it was.
The rapper has been accused of organizing ‘Freak Offs’, described as ‘elaborate and produced sexual performances’ arranged and directed by Combs.
The disgraced rap mogul remains jailed at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after being repeatedly denied bail.
The incident was simply a “domestic dispute in which he ran down the hotel hallway to retrieve his clothes and mobile phone.”
There is also “not a single piece of evidence” to support the claim that Ventura was trafficked, the document states.
Diddy’s attorneys also say there is “no second victim,” as the prosecution’s second victim was “willingly 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 prevent him from influencing jurors and tampering with witnesses.
They trotted out a video his children posted on his birthday earlier this month as proof that he’s coordinating a “public relations” campaign from behind bars.
The filing criticizes the security camera video of Diddy attacking Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel on March 5, 2016, and claims the full version is not as damning.
His defense responded to prosecutors’ claims that the birthday video his children gave him on Nov. 4 was for a “public relations” campaign, saying they were “grasping at straws.”
In their filing, Diddy’s attorneys responded, saying, “Clutching at straws, the government makes much of Mr. Combs’ request that his family make an Instagram post celebrating 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 that has dominated the public narrative about Mr. Combs during the past year.
During Friday’s hearing, the judge is expected to address questions about alleged prosecutorial misconduct that Diddy’s attorneys say could lead to the case being dismissed.
The dispute concerns notes confiscated by a Bureau of Prisons investigator during an Oct. 28 raid on Diddy’s cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, where he is being held.
Prosecutors used some of the notes to argue that Diddy was still trying to obstruct justice by paying a witness to make a positive statement about him on Instagram.
Diddy’s lawyers have claimed this material is privileged and said in court this week that they need to get more information before deciding what the remedy might be.
But the matter is so serious that the case may need to be dismissed, or the team of four prosecutors may have to be recused, said defense attorney Marc Agnifilo.
Diddy was arrested on September 16 and has been at the MDC since then.
During Wednesday’s hearing he appeared relaxed in court and smiled and joked with his attorneys.
Earlier this week, it was hit with five new civil lawsuits, the latest in a deluge that is expected to reach more than 100 when they are all filed.
The new claims include one from a woman who says she was drugged and raped at one of Diddy’s infamous “White Parties” in the New York Hamptons.
Diddy’s lawyers deny all civil allegations.