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Seven new lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, together with one alleging the rape of a 13-year-old lady. They arrive as his attorneys tried once more Monday to get him freed on bail — and complained {that a} “recent wave of publicity” is endangering his proper to a good felony trial.
Within the lawsuits filed Sunday in state and federal courts, 4 males and three ladies, all nameless, allege they had been sexually assaulted by Combs at events over the past twenty years.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not responsible to federal intercourse trafficking expenses contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his Sept. 16 arrest. Prices embody allegations he coerced and abused ladies for years, aided by associates and workers, and silenced victims by way of blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.
He has remained incarcerated pending a Might 5 trial after two judges denied bail in rulings being appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.
Combs’ attorneys requested a choose Sunday to order potential witnesses and their attorneys to cease making statements that might forestall a good trial.
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“Because the Courtroom is conscious, Mr. Combs has been the goal of an endless stream of allegations by potential witnesses and their counsel within the press,” they wrote. “These potential witnesses and their attorneys have made quite a few inflammatory extrajudicial statements geared toward assassinating Mr. Combs’s character within the press.”
The most recent lawsuits are drawn from what attorneys say are greater than 100 accusers who’re planning authorized motion in opposition to Combs. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Tony Buzbee introduced the deliberate litigation at an Oct. 1 information convention and posted a 1-800 quantity for accusers to name.
As earlier than, Combs’ representatives dismissed the most recent lawsuits as “clear makes an attempt to garner publicity.” They mentioned Combs and his authorized crew “have full confidence within the information, their authorized defences, and the integrity of the judicial course of.”
Combs “has by no means sexually assaulted anybody — grownup or minor, man or lady,” they added.
One of many lawsuits filed Sunday alleges {that a} 13-year-old lady who was invited to a celebration by a limousine driver after the Video Music Awards in Manhattan in September 2000 was raped by a “male superstar” after which by Combs as people recognized solely as “Superstar A,” a male, and “Superstar B,” a feminine, watched.
One other lawsuit alleged that Combs sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male at a Manhattan resort penthouse celebration in 2022.
Within the lawsuits, it was alleged that the plaintiffs believed they’d been fed drinks laced with medicine earlier than they had been assaulted.
In the meantime, attorneys for Combs on Monday advised the 2nd Circuit in a submitting that he’ll renew his bail utility earlier than the decrease courtroom primarily based on “vital modified circumstances.” They mentioned the problems embody “constitutional considerations stemming from his circumstances of confinement and proof contained in just lately produced discovery.”
In a submitting final week, prosecutors advised the appeals courtroom that judges denied bail after proof confirmed Combs “used methodical and complicated means to silence and intimidate witnesses all through the racketeering conspiracy and throughout the Authorities’s investigation.”
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