Following an argument by Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorneys that the seizure violated attorney-client privilege, a federal court on Tuesday ordered prosecutors to destroy copies of 19 pages of notes obtained from his detention cell.
The court will retain the documents for the next few weeks as prosecutors and Combs attorneys submit briefs on the matter, according to a Tuesday ruling by Judge Arun Subramanian.
While incarcerated pending trial on accusations of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution, Combs has been charged by prosecutors with attempting to sway witnesses.
Prosecutors claim that Combs’ music empire, which he allegedly exploited to abuse and exploit women, is connected to the sex-related offenses for which he was arrested this fall.
The music mogul has refuted the charges and the accusations made by the prosecution that he is manipulating jail witnesses. His defense has retaliated against the prosecution, claiming that the government’s seizure of documents from Combs’ jail cell that ought to be kept secret from law enforcement constituted a flagrant, deliberate, and damaging violation of the attorney-client privilege.
Combs, 55, who was dressed in olive prison clothes for the hearing on Tuesday, seems to have shed some pounds since his previous court appearance. As he walked into the courtroom, he grinned, but as the session continued, he seemed to get serious.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik, Combs’ writings about buying off witnesses and gathering information on victims are included in the 11-page documents and the eight-page calendar book.
“Finding dirt on two different victims is not privilege,” Slavik said, adding that a witness had been bought off.
According to her, Combs contacted a relative on October 14 to discuss information on an accuser with a non-legal person.
Marc Agnifilo, the defense lawyer, stated that he would like to view the security footage of the event in Combs’ cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as well as learn how the prosecutors acquired the documents. He contended that the incident might result in the indictment being dropped or the prosecution team as a whole being recused.
According to Slavik, the pages were found during a search that was a part of a premeditated sweep to deal with drugs and contraband. The U.S. attorney informed the judge that the search was carried out by the Bureau of Prisons and that none of the prosecution team members were aware of it or accountable for it.
During Tuesday’s hearing, an investigator from that agency stated that the papers were obtained in a fully appropriate manner and that the search was a part of an ongoing undercover investigation.
“The bottom line is that no multi-agency law enforcement initiative justified rifling through Mr. Combs’ personal handwritten notes of conversations with his lawyers, and the prosecutors arguments to the contrary lack all credibility,” Agnifilo said in a reply to the court’s
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