A video showing Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs violently assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura was not illegally leaked to CNN by prosecutors because they did not have it at the time, lawyers insisted last night.
Federal prosecutors made the claim in a new filing, which accuses the rapper’s lawyers of attempting to “suppress damning evidence” and prevent jurors from seeing Combs “brutally assault a victim.”
Combs’ lawyers made the leak allegations earlier this month, but government lawyers responded by urging the judge overseeing the case to reject his request for an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.
“Without any factual basis, the leak motion seeks to suppress highly probative evidence…by claiming that it was grand jury material leaked by government agents,” prosecutors wrote.
“But, as the defendant fully knows, the video was not in the Government’s possession at the time of CNN’s publication and the Government never, at any time, obtained the video through a grand jury process.”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, accompanied by attorney Anthony Ricco, attends a hearing in federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City last month.
CNN aired video in May showing Combs attacking Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016.
The disgraced star is behind bars in New York ahead of a trial in May 2025
Cassie Ventura (L) and Sean Combs photographed together in New York City in May 2015.
The video, shared by CNN in May, shows Combs attacking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Combs’ lawyers have demanded an investigation into the alleged leaks, claiming they had “led to damaging and highly prejudicial pretrial publicity that can only taint the jury and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial.”
They specifically pointed to the 2016 video, claiming it was “leaked” to “mortally wound the reputation and prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself against these allegations.”
“Instead of using the videotape as evidence at trial, along with other evidence that gives it context and meaning, the officers misused it in the most prejudicial and damaging way possible,” his attorneys continued.
Wednesday’s filing also responded to Combs’ recent demand that the names of his alleged victims be revealed.
His lawyers stated earlier this month that he cannot be fairly defended without access to this information.
The government said such revelations would result in “serious risks” to the safety of the alleged victims.
They cited Combs’ “significant history of violence and obstruction” and said they had “serious concerns” about the possibility of witness tampering if he was provided with a list of names.
They added that the request should be denied as it “amounts to a request for early disclosure of the Government’s witness list, something to which it is clearly not entitled at this early stage of the proceedings.”
Music mogul Combs was previously one of the most powerful men in the music industry, but in September he was formally charged with extortion and sex trafficking. If convicted on all charges, he could face life in prison.
The video shared by CNN accurately reflects an assault described by Ventura in her lawsuit against him, which said that Combs had already hit her that night and that she was trying to leave the InterContinental Hotel when he woke up and went after her.
This frame grab taken from hotel security camera video and broadcast by CNN shows Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attacking singer Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.
This is the former InterContinental hotel in Century City, Los Angeles, where Diddy allegedly attacked his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
In the footage, a man who appears to be Combs, wearing only a towel, punches Ventura, kicks her and throws her to the ground.
The lawsuit alleges that Combs paid $50,000 to remove the video at that time.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said it could not prosecute Combs for the attack shown in the video because of the statute of limitations, noting that no case had been presented to prosecutors.
Two days after the images were published, Combs posted a video on Instagram and Facebook apologizing for the assault on Ventura, in what was his first admission of wrongdoing since the series of allegations began.
