Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs participates in “The Four” panel during the FOX Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 4, 2018 (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File).
In a Wednesday update for the judge presiding over the RICO and sex trafficking prosecution of the still jailed but actively appealing Sean “Diddy” Combs, federal prosecutors in New York revealed that discovery in the case is “voluminous,” involving at least 40 seized devices, iCloud account information, business records, and much more.
The letter jointly filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and Combs’ defense provided an accounting of discovery negotiations to date and outlined the positions of the parties on issues moving forward.
Prosecutors, for their part, told U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian that they are in possession of “several terabytes of electronic material” — that is, thousands upon thousands of gigabytes of data — to work with in their case against the 54-year-old rapper, who remains in custody as he’s accused of running a decades-long sex trafficking scheme in which women were abused, tormented, threatened, and forced to participate in “Freak Off” sex parties that often involved coerced drug use and being filmed without permission.
The March raids of Combs’ properties in Florida and California, which took place months before his indictment, plus subpoenas have resulted in five different categories of “voluminous” evidence, according to prosecutors:
(a) electronically stored information belonging to the defendant (cellphones, laptops, tablets, hard drives, cloud accounts, etc.); (b) electronically stored information of third parties (cellphones, laptops, tablets, and cloud accounts); (c) business records from financial institutions, phone companies, hotels, airlines, and other businesses; (d) physical evidence seized in searches of the defendant’s residence; (e) law enforcement records; and (f) search warrant returns, including cellphone location information.
Prosecutors said they would tell the judge more Thursday about how much more time the government may need to hand over discovery to the defense and what the “anticipated timeline of extracting electronically stored information” is, noting that this evidence “makes up a significant portion of the total discovery in the case.”
For the defense, there was no dispute that the feds “seized a significant amount of Mr. Combs’ electronic devices and data,” but Combs’ team emphasized that “timely production of these materials is critical” to his defense.
“And because these devices belong to Mr. Combs, their production should not be delayed by the government’s initial review for responsiveness and privilege,” the defense’s portion of the letter said. “The government has indicated they will be able to produce these devices in the next 30 days.”
One reason for the defense’s push forward on the issue is that it is hoping for a trial date as soon as April or May 2025, the letter reveals. Notably, Combs’ lawyers also teased a defense filing that will claim there have been “unauthorized and prejudicial leaks of grand jury information” as the case remains pending.
“Mr. Combs continues to assert his right to a speedy trial and intends to request a trial date in April or May 2025, and as consistent with the Court’s trial schedule,” wrote defense attorney Marc Agnifilo. “Mr. Combs also seeks deadlines for the filing of pretrial motions, with permission to raise certain pretrial motions in advance of any deadline. For example, at some point today, Mr. Combs intends to file a motion for a hearing and other remedies related to unauthorized and prejudicial leaks of grand jury information.”
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
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