Kim Porter’s longtime confidant Lawanda Lane denies claims that the late model and girlfriend of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attempted to write a book manuscript.
lane said TMZ that there was no indication that Porter, who died at age 47 in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, 2018, ever intended to write a book, a claim made by Courtney Burgess, who is a witness in Diddy’s criminal trial.
Lane cited her close ties to Porter, including 30 years of friendship, 20 years of living together and working for her and Diddy as a caregiver for their twin daughters.
Lane said she spent time with Porter daily and that the late model “never wrote anything.”
Lane told the outlet that she had taken it upon herself to account for and redistribute Porter’s possessions after her death, and never found a manuscript among the items left behind by her beloved friend.
Kim Porter’s longtime confidant Lawanda Lane denies claims that the late model and girlfriend of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attempted to write a book manuscript. Porter photographed in Los Angeles in June 2018, five months before her death at the age of 47.
Lane cited her close ties to Porter, including 30 years of friendship, 20 years of living together and working for her and Diddy as a caregiver for their twin daughters.
Lane told the outlet that no one in Diddy’s family knows Burgess, who testified last week in the case in New York City, who maintains he was an associate of Porter.
Burgess’ attorney, Ariel Mitchell, told the outlet that the manuscript had been stored on a flash drive, which was turned over to federal officials amid their investigation into Combs.
Burgess also says he has sex tapes recorded at Diddy’s parties, which feature several notable names.
The claims about a manuscript written by the late Porter come just a month after Amazon removed a book titled Kim’s Lost Words: A Journey for Justice, from the Other Side… after Porter’s family found it condemned as a fraud.
“We were informed of a dispute related to this title and notified the publisher,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement at the time. ‘The book is not currently available for sale in our store.’
On Thursday, federal prosecutors said Combs’ lawyers are trying to “hijack” the music mogul’s criminal case by asking a judge to force early disclosure of evidence, including the identities of his accusers.
Prosecutors urged a judge in papers filed late Wednesday to reject the requests, saying the effort to reveal the identities of potential witnesses, in particular, was “blatantly inadequate.”
On Thursday, federal prosecutors said Combs’ lawyers are trying to “hijack” the music mogul’s criminal case by asking a judge to force early disclosure of evidence, including the identities of his accusers. Photographed in New York in 2018.
Porter died at age 47 in Los Angeles on November 15, 2018. Photographed in Los Angeles in 2015.
They said it was inappropriate for defense attorneys to request disclosure of the victims’ identities and details about other evidence that could advance the government’s case.
Defense attorneys also called for a gag order to prevent accusers’ attorneys from making public comments and have claimed that government leaks to the media have threatened the rapper’s chances for a fair trial.
Prosecutors said the requests were “a thinly veiled attempt to restrict the government’s evidence at this early stage of the case and to hijack the criminal proceedings so that the defendant can respond to civil claims.” This demand should be rejected outright, especially in light of the risk it poses to the safety of witnesses.’
Prosecutors added: “As the defendant well knows, there is no legal authority for his attempt to co-opt this criminal proceeding to defend himself against civil litigation.”
Combs has remained in a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest on September 16, awaiting a trial scheduled to begin on May 5.
Part of the reason a judge rejected a bail package suggested by his attorneys was that it risked obstructing justice and witness tampering.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges of coercing and abusing women for years, with the help of associates and employees.
Prosecutors said that since at least 2008, Combs participated in a racketeering conspiracy, using his power and prestige in the entertainment industry to force women to engage in prolonged sexual acts with male sex workers in what was known as ‘Freak Offs’.
Lane said she spent time with Porter daily and that the late model “never wrote anything.”
They said he used videos of the attacks as collateral to threaten victims, and they said he also physically assaulted women and others by hitting, punching, dragging and kicking them.
Prosecutors said defense claims that the government leaked to CNN a video of Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway on March 5, 2016, were not true.
They said defense attorneys were involved in a “blatant attempt to suppress damning evidence against him: a video of him violently beating a victim.”
In May, Combs released a video statement saying he took “full responsibility” for his actions in the video against Cassie, an R&B singer whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. She sued him last November, alleging years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The lawsuit was resolved the next day.
“I was disgusted then when I did it; I’m disgusted now,” Combs said in the video.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura has done.
Combs also faces civil lawsuits from several men and women who allege that Combs sexually assaulted them over the past quarter century after being drugged.
Combs’ lawyers have asked that the accusers and their attorneys be ordered not to make public statements, saying they have already made “numerous inflammatory extrajudicial statements designed to assassinate Mr. Combs’ character in the press.”
Porter and Combs at the BET Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on June 27, 2006
Porter and Combs photographed at the Kodak Theater on February 27, 2005 in Hollywood, California
More than a dozen lawsuits filed in Manhattan federal court have been assigned to different judges, leading to varying initial rulings on whether the allegations were sufficiently made.
In one case, a judge ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee woman who alleges Combs raped her in 2004 when she was 19 must proceed without anonymity or not at all.
The judge wrote that defendants have the right to investigate those who sue them and the public has the right to know who uses the courts.
An attorney for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.