Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs requested a mistrial on Saturday, alleging prosecutorial misconduct in a letter addressed to the federal judge overseeing Combs’ ongoing sex trafficking case.
Defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro argued that prosecutors either knew or should have known that testimony regarding Combs allegedly hanging Bryana Bongolan over a balcony at Cassie Ventura’s apartment was false or inconsistent. Shapiro emphasized testimony from Ventura, who claimed she witnessed the September 2016 event, despite text evidence showing that Ventura may have been informed of it only afterward, according to People.
Prosecutors introduced photos showing Bongolan’s injuries, reportedly taken in Los Angeles on September 26, 2016. The defense argued that during this period, specifically between September 24 and 29, 2016, Combs was in New York, aligning with the dates the photos were supposedly captured.
Bongolan said she tried to talk to Combs over FaceTime a day or two after the incident, but he did not say much. She later sued him for $10 million for the 2016 incident. The 2016 incident Bongolan testified about was also mentioned in Ventura’s November 2023 lawsuit against Combs. However, Ventura’s lawsuit did not name the woman who Combs allegedly held over the balcony.
Late last month, Combs’ attorneys sought a mistrial over testimony about the firebombing of Kid Cudi’s car in 2012.
Lance Jimenez, arson investigator with the Los Angeles Fire Department, testified that fingerprints taken from Kid Cudi’s vehicle were destroyed eight months after the incident. Jimenez said this was not standard protocol, and it is unclear who destroyed the fingerprints.
The line of questioning sparked an objection from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers, who accused prosecutors of implicating Combs in the destroyed evidence. U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian agreed and struck that portion of testimony — though he denied the mistrial request, concluding the line of questioning was not prejudicial.
Combs was arrested on September 16, 2024, outside a Manhattan hotel on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has been denied bail three times, as Judge Andrew L. Carter determined there was a “serious risk” of witness tampering in this case.
Federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills, California, and Miami in March 2024. Reports indicated that the raids were connected to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation that resulted in his arrest months later.
The raids also occurred four months after Ventura accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
However, in May 2024, CNN publicized hotel surveillance footage allegedly showing Combs assaulting Ventura. After the video was released, Combs released a video expressing remorse for his behavior.
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
Days after footage of the Ventura assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a New York Fashion Institute of Technology student who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs of sexually assaulting her on four occasions between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in at least 30 other lawsuits — including one, filed in October, which alleges he and Jay-Z raped a 13-year-old girl in New York in 2000. The accuser in that case had her lawsuit dismissed in February.
Combs turned down a plea deal days before jury selection began. His trial is expected to last two months.
[Feature Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File]
