Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs filed a motion on Tuesday requesting the identities of the music mogul’s accusers in his sex trafficking case.
In a letter to a Manhattan federal court judge, Combs’ legal team argued that he needs to know the names of the alleged victims so he can prepare for his May 5 trial.
“This case is unique, in part because of the number of individuals levying allegations against Mr. Combs due to his celebrity status, wealth, and the publicity of his previously settled lawsuit and the grand jury leaks and false inflammatory statements by the DHS agents, as outlined in our previous motion,” the letter signed by Combs’ lawyers Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, and shared with Variety, reads. “This has had a pervasive ripple effect, resulting in a torrent of allegations by unidentified complainants, spanning from the false to outright absurd.”
The letter notes the six additional lawsuits that were filed against Combs on Monday by anonymous accusers. The plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuits are part of the 120 sexual assault lawsuits Combs is facing that will be filed in New York, Los Angeles and Miami over the coming weeks. “Counsel for these accusers recently convened a press conference at which he claimed to represent 120 accusers making outrageous and deeply prejudicial allegations, including violent sexual assault and sexual abuse of minors,” Combs’ lawyers said in Tuesday’s motion. “This publicity stunt, broadcast on Instagram, included a ‘1-800’ number that reportedly received 12,000 calls in the first 24 hours.”
The lawyers continued: “These accusations came on the heels of more than a dozen lawsuits previously filed and currently pending, several of which have already been discredited but only after irreparably damaging Mr. Combs’ character and reputation. These swirling allegations have created a hysterical media circus that, if left unchecked, will irreparably deprive Mr. Combs of a fair trial, if they haven’t already.”
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