Kayla Brantley (5:38)

And with all that said, let's welcome this week's guest friend of the podcast, super attorney, Lisa Bloom.

Marjorie Hernandez (5:45)

Now, Lisa, you again, big friend of the pod here. We've had you on before talking about your other client, Dawn Richard, who was also suing Diddy, and you're helping her with that case. Can you give us an update on what's going on with Dawn's case?

Host 1 (6:01)

Yes. So I'm very proud to represent Dawn Richard. She's a lovely person and a terrific musician and very brave. And we filed her case several months ago just before the criminal charges came down against Sean Combs. And the criminal case was strikingly similar to the complaint that we had already filed with some very similar allegations of sex trafficking and co conspirators. So we found that to be encouraging. We had a lot of different people and parties to sue in the case. That took a long time. We've had a fight with some of the other defendants besides Diddy, who don't want to be in the case and feel that they should be dismissed. Some of them we did dismiss. We worked with them. We looked at the facts, we looked at what they had to say, because I always want to be fair and reasonable. Some of them we did, others we did not. And so we're having those fights over the motions to dismiss. Once all that gets sorted out by the judge on those motions, then we'll begin the. The discovery phase of the case, which means we take depositions, we exchange documents and information, ultimately get to a trial, but we don't have a trial date yet, and I would expect that's at least a year away.

Marjorie Hernandez (7:04)

And are there any deposition dates with Diddy so far in Don's case?

Host 1 (7:09)

Yeah, not yet, of course. I very much look forward to that. We have to get past the motions to dismiss first, so we know which parties are in the case. So it wouldn't be proper for us to notice his deposition, to send out that legal notice until this phase is resolved. Right.

Marjorie Hernandez (7:24)

You know, as they say, sometimes the wheels of justice are very, very slow.

Host 1 (7:29)

So slow.

Marjorie Hernandez (7:31)

And so how is, you know, dawn coping with that?

Host 1 (7:34)

You know, it's. It's tough. It's tough. She had a tour. She was out on tour a few months ago. I think she did beautifully. She got wonderful reviews and feedback for her performances because she's all about the music. But in terms of the case, it's very difficult. She does get a certain amount of negativity and hate online, as anybody does who brings these. She's had people following her. We don't know if it's press or crazed fans or people on Sean Combs side, you know, but it's. It's very scary. I mean, she doesn't just Disclose her locations to try to protect herself. I mean, that's her life now.

Kayla Brantley (8:10)

So, Lisa, what advice do you give your clients to cope with the pressures of having these ongoing cases?

Host 1 (8:16)

Kayla? I tell them, live your life. You know, she had asked me, do you think I should go on tour? I said, absolutely. Make your music go on tour. Be you. Don't let this slow you down. And she did. And I knew that would also bring her a lot of gratification because she is all about the music and she's just a magnificent performer. I follow her on Instagram. I love to look at her pictures of her and her costumes. And I mean, she's amazing. So I tell her, do that. Live your life. And of course, let us know if there are any serious threats to you. Otherwise, I also tell everybody, don't read the comments. Block anybody online who's particularly annoying. I get that all the time. I don't even care. But don't read the comments and the articles. There's always going to be somebody at home who's going to troll you. Don't let that affect you. You who you are.

Marjorie Hernandez (9:00)

Now, she is definitely a very public person. But you also recently are representing another individual, just this time, a John Doe. Can you tell us how that case is going and what have you told him as well, in terms of protecting himself?

Host 1 (9:17)

Yes. So John Doe is an adult entertainer who was somewhat well known in Las Vegas in 2007. And that's when Sean Combs, he says, found him and began to engage him at parties. And he says, you know, the incidents got worse and worse. I don't repeat the allegations of the complaints publicly for legal reasons, but we filed John Doe's complaint, which is very sexually explicit, not too long ago. And also in the Southern District of New York. It's a federal case. It's publicly filed. Anybody can look at it. We also had to make a special motion to the court to allow him to proceed anonymously because the allegations are so sexually explicit and he did not want his name out there. You know, people are afraid. Don Richard was brave enough to confront forward with her real name, but that's not for everyone. And John Doe decided he was ready to file the case. He's absolutely terrified as well, but not with his real name.

Marjorie Hernandez (10:12)

From what I recall from your complaint, that took place for a period of five years, is that correct?

Host 1 (10:17)

Yes, that's. That's what he alleges.

Kayla Brantley (10:20)

Sarah Rivers was on making the band just like Don was, and their allegations are pretty similar. Do you know if Don has made contact with Sarah at all.

Host 1 (10:29)

I'm not aware of any contact that Don has had with Sarah, but we really appreciate Sarah's courage and coming forward, making these allegations. These are also very similar to the allegations that Dawn Richard made in her complaint, in our complaint. And a lot of this is something that you can see if you go back and look at old videos of the show, the way that these women were treated. So a lot of this stuff should not be disputed because it's right there on the video.

Kayla Brantley (10:55)

So usually when you have a case like this with allegations going back 20 years, you may have witnesses, maybe some emails, but there's not really much evidence besides testimony. But what's so striking to me in this case is that the evidence here is perfectly edited and was televised for all to see.

Host 1 (11:14)

And isn't that amazing, Kayla? And thank you for pointing that out, because to me, this is part of the normalization of the bad treatment of women in the music industry that they would be so bold in the early 2000s, which is not that long ago, 20 years ago, to just put it all on film. And even now, you know, people ask me, why do I think that sexual abuse is so bad in the music industry? Because I think that's one of the worst industries for women out of all the industries that I've gone after. And I think it's because it is so accepted and normalized. Yeah, you know, look at female artists are still expected to wear very skimpy, tiny little clothes and be very sexy, whereas male artists can wear whatever they want. And it's all about the music for them. Right. And when you look at a lot of music videos now, there's still overly sexualized images of women, which really have nothing to do with the song. It's just there, I guess, as eye candy for people. And, you know, some of that you could say, well, that's just part of the artistry, but it's so prevalent. And women being sexually harassed, sexually assaulted in the music industry. In the music industry, covering it up over and over again, as in R. Kelly's case, for example. I mean, it's really time for a reckoning in the music industry.

Kayla Brantley (12:30)

Lisa, we know that there's edited footage available from making the band, but is there a chance you can get your hands on raw footage that's never been seen before?

Host 1 (12:38)

You know, I hope so. I hope that the production companies have preserved it. That's something that we definitely want to look at and see. What is there. Also, people's personal videos. You know, people are always Making videos with their phone. What do people have what is still preserved? Absolutely. You know, I wonder if this, as I said, will really even be contested, that the women were deprived of food, that they weren't allowed to leave, that they had bad labor conditions, they had to work ridiculous hours, they were so controlled. You know, I wonder if that will even be contested in the case, because I think it's. It's pretty clear that these things happened.

Marjorie Hernandez (13:11)

I remember viewing those episodes. It was almost like. I don't know if it was a badge of honor or kind of like his way of training his artists is how it was played on the show. Yeah.

Host 1 (13:24)

And. And why do artists need to be hazed? They don't. People in other industries don't need to be hazed. Television actors don't get hazed. You know, I mean, it's. It's silly. I think it was partly for the entertainment value of reality tv. We all like to see things that are shocking and outrageous, and it's partly the personality of the people involved that they were cruel and sadistic.

Kayla Brantley (13:49)

When the case against Diddy first started, it was a huge shock. And then even more allegations kept pouring in, which really felt like it was bolstering the cases against him. But now it kind of feels like there's so many new claims coming out every week, and a lot of them are very similar, and it kind of feels like there's a sense of fatigue, maybe from the public. Lisa, how does that impact your case at all?

Host 1 (14:12)

You know, our job as attorneys is to gather the evidence, gather the facts, the witnesses, and to put on a winning case at trial. So it's not that significant to me whether people in general are tired of hearing about the allegations or they've got fatigue over it. My job is to go into court and put on a case that. That will win. Right. And I think that the two cases that I've accepted, Don Richards and the John Doe case, are both very strong cases. I have also reviewed a lot of others and rejected them because I didn't feel that they had strong enough evidence and witnesses. So a lot of people are coming forward. Perhaps the people that we didn't, they went to other attorneys who see it differently. And God bless them, I hope that they do get good representation if they want to continue with their case. But it's kind of a different angle, looking at something from the point of view of a case rather than from the point of view of media. I agree with you. I mean, Sean Combs has become a punchline. People are kind of Tired of it, maybe. But the criminal case looks like it's on track to go forward in May, which is only two months away. And I think that will create a whole new round of interest. And I think people are really going to be shocked. You know, people know about some of the allegations, like the baby oil, and they want to maybe laugh about it. It seems funny. There's funny memes about it. But these allegations are deadly serious about what he's accused of doing to people, including my clients. So I think once people hear the details of what he's accused of doing, they will sit up and take notice.

Marjorie Hernandez (15:42)

We were talking about Sarah earlier. A lot of her claims are the same again as your client Dawn's claims. And I was wondering, are you thinking of possibly calling Sarah onto your case as well as a witness?

Host 1 (15:54)

Sure. So what we do in our cases is we look at all of the publicly available information, and certainly a complaint like Sarah's complaint is something that's publicly available, and then we're looking for overlap and what will help our client. You know, my. I. I'm. My interest is helping my clients. I hope everybody else does well, too, but my job is to help my clients. So we're going to look at, you know, is there overlap? Will people cooperate with us? I always prefer that somebody will voluntarily cooperate, be a witness for us. Most people don't want to be witnesses. They don't want to get help. Other people, they don't want to be in the legal system at all. You can't pay them other than a very small amount for a daily fee, like, I think, maybe $30 or something. So, you know, you can't pay people. Most people don't want to do it, and they want to run as far away from the courthouse as possible. Some people get an attack of courage and they decide they do want to help, and we love those people. There's a woman who helped me in a case years ago who I thanked profusely, and she has become a dear friend of mine now because I am so appreciative of what she did. So going back to Sarah, yes, of course, we would want to reach out to her through her attorneys, see whether. Whether she's willing to help us, whether she'd be willing to testify. If people don't want to testify, we always have the option of subpoenaing them. But I really, as kind of a policy matter, I don't like to subpoena other victims. I don't like to force them to do something. If somebody is just a witness to something, and they're not a victim. I may exercise the subpoena power because I've got to get witnesses into court to prove our case.

Marjorie Hernandez (17:25)

We have so much more coming up, but for now, let's pause for a break. Welcome back. And we're still here with attorney Lisa Bloom.

Kayla Brantley (17:51)

So, Lisa, there was a lawsuit against Jay Z and Diddy from an alleged victim claiming that they both sexually assaulted her. Now, this was from the very early 2000s, and the case was actually dismissed because there were unsubstantiated claims. How does this possibly affect the credibility of other cases?

Host 1 (18:11)

Well, that doesn't have any effect on our case because that has nothing to do with me, my law firm, or my clients. I don't know exactly what happened there. I've also seen some reports that I think the attorney is Tony Busby in that case. Right. And I think he's claiming that the allegations were not false. So I really don't know. I haven't looked into it. But, you know, that kind of thing does happen. This is why at our firm, we are very, very careful about vetting cases, about going over things. Sometimes people kind of get sick of us asking them question after question after question. I need every email, I need every text. I want to see everything before we file a case. Case, it's never going to be perfect. You're working with human beings. Sometimes stories change, memories are faulty, witnesses fall away. Sometimes people do make false statements and they can be very convincing. So, you know, that's one of the things actually I find very interesting about practicing law is you never really know. And things do change a lot. But if people did file a case that's not substantiated, they should withdraw it.

Marjorie Hernandez (19:13)

Jay Z's legal team went further and actually have filed a lawsuit again, the Jane Doe in that case. And I was just wondering what you thought of that. And also the fact that somebody like Jay Z can sue an alleged victim, I mean, does that kind of concern you as well? Would that prevent other folks who might have a substantiated claim that might prevent them from doing so?

Host 1 (19:36)

Right. I'm glad you raised that, Marjorie. I, you know, it is concerning. So again, I mean, I'll just step away from that specific case because I don't know exactly what happened there. I know that he did file that case, as you say, against her, and I think against her attorney as well.

Marjorie Hernandez (19:48)

Right.

Host 1 (19:49)

Yeah. So that is kind of a trend right now with the kinds of people that I sue. Billionaire bullies, you know, celebrity sex offender types. It is a trend that they will go after the victim or the alleged victim and even the attorneys. And I think they do that for a number of reasons. You know, the best defense is a good offense. They may be innocent. You know, again, I don't know what happened in that case. They want to clear their name, and they have enough money to have attorneys. I think that case was filed in Texas. Go after somebody in any state and, you know, be very aggressive sometimes. Not necessarily in this case, but sometimes those cases are frivolous, in my opinion. And I think they're done just to be very aggressive. I think it's very sad if any victim is deterred from coming forward. You know, victims need good attorneys who know what they're doing to avoid being in that position. I've had people sue me. I've won those cases, had them dismissed. But, you know, they're going to do whatever they can think of to be aggressive, whether it's filing these cases, running negative PR campaigns against victims and their attorneys, which is harder to go after, harder to prove. That's one of the allegations in the Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively case. Right. And some of my cases involve that as well. You know, it's rough. It's rough out there. People have to know what they're doing. I would say that. That.

Marjorie Hernandez (21:11)

I mean, what is the optics of that, though? Somebody like a Jay Z or somebody like a Diddy. Diddy has not filed any lawsuits against any of the victims. But somebody who was famous like that to go after an alleged victim, the optics of that. What do you think of that in general?

Host 1 (21:27)

Well, I think it's very concerning. It's very hard to be, obviously a sexual abuse victim in general. Add to that being a sexual abuse victim who comes forward in a lawsuit, it's really hard. I mean, one of the things that we look at when people come to us, and many people come to me for representation every day, one of the things I look at is, are you going to be strong enough to really do this fight? You know, what if they sue you? What if they run a negative PR campaign? What if there's all kinds of social media posts about you? Are you going to be able to withstand it? You know, I have a case right now that we're about to file against a prominent person. And my client is in her early 60s and she's very strong. And, you know, I like to say that women get stronger as we get older. I have noticed that all my life. And I like having an older client who's very secure in who she is and made up her mind and really thought this through. And she's mature and she knows what she wants to do. And, you know, I'm very comfortable with her. Somebody who is maybe just starting out in the business, they're in their early 20s, they want to file, and then, you know, maybe a couple months later, the world's crashing in on them and they want to back out of it. I understand that. I'm very compassionate. But that puts us in a very tough position. So I'm always looking for people who are strong enough to withstand litigation. Litigation is tough. Many people, by the way we represent, we don't file. We do pre litigation settlement. That's for many people, the right thing. They can get a settlement. It's all confidential. They go on with their lives. That's what a lot of people still want. And so we still do a lot of, of that.

Kayla Brantley (23:04)

And how long do these cases typically take?

Host 1 (23:07)

Years. You know, once you file, I would say you should expect maybe two years to get to trial. That's a long time, right, to be going over the details of your sexual abuse over and over. And I tell them, you know, you may be having a good day, you had a great day at work, you had a great day with your partner and your kid. And then you get a call from me, you know, I need to get some questions answered in discovery. And ugh, it all comes crashing down on you. You, right? Or worse, somebody's unemployed and the case becomes their whole life. I understand that too, because it's, it's such a vortex that you get sucked into. But that's also very unhealthy. So people need to have an emotional support person. They need to be in therapy, they need to have other things going on in their lives because a couple of years fighting in litigation is really tough. And again, that's why a lot of people settle before filing because they, they know themselves and they say like, I, I, I just can't do that.

Marjorie Hernandez (24:00)

Do you have a good percentage of, or any percentage of your clients who actually refuse to take that settlement and actually want to take the individual to court?

Host 1 (24:10)

I would say 95% prefer to settle without going to litigation. We send a confidential demand letter. We often have mediations which are confidential and they're done, they move on with their lives. There are some cases that we have to file because there might be a statute of limitations ticking those time deadlines to file. And so we have to other. I don't want to settle because I believe that the person has already gotten away with this in the past, and a confidential settlement is just going to enable them to continue to do it. Other cases we tried to settle before litigating, and the other side was not reasonable. And so we file it. I would say most of the time, the other side will come to the bargaining table and we'll have a negotiation. Sometimes they won't even do that. So then we file. Or if the negotiation doesn't go well, we don't think they're being reasonable, then we will file.

Marjorie Hernandez (24:59)

Lisa, I do have a question going back to your client, John Doe, and you said this allegation or these incidents happened starting at 2007. What made him finally come forward and. And file?

Host 1 (25:13)

One of the things we say in his complaint, so I don't think I'm disclosing anything improper, is that Sean Combs being arrested and being in prison lowered his fear level. Right. He still has fear, but it did make him more comfortable in coming forward. Now, it would be an overstatement to say that he's comfortable. He's not comfortable now. He's still scared. He's still very anxious about bringing this case. He feels a little bit better that we were able to prevail on the motion that he could be a John Doe. But, you know, there's always a chance that his name will get out there and it will be humiliating for him. People don't want to be known as a sexual abuse victim or even an accuser. Reminds me, a lot of the 11 women I represented against Jeffrey Epstein, once he went to prison, a lot of them came forward. But even after he died, some of them were still scared. And I found that to be so interesting about the trauma response that a lot of times it's not rational. You could say, look, he's dead. You have nothing to fear now, and nobody is supporting this monster, Jeffrey Epstein. But still, she was scared. And that's how the trauma response works.

Marjorie Hernandez (26:24)

And it took years and years to even speak up.

Host 1 (26:26)

Right.

Marjorie Hernandez (26:27)

It's the process of getting through that fear.

Kayla Brantley (26:29)

Lisa, we have asked this question of nearly every one of our guests, especially legal experts, and we've had varied responses. It is now March 5 and two months from now. May 5 is the trial date. Do you think we will actually go to trial on May 5?

Host 1 (26:48)

I do think it's going to go forward. Then I do have some inside information on that, that they are planning to go forward May 5th. I can't tell you my source, but it sounds like it is going to go. I wanted to know because I intend to be there for that trial for a number of reasons. So I needed to know for my own scheduling purposes. I understand that jury selection will begin May 5 in the southern District of New York, which of course is in New York City. And that will take about a week. And then they expect the trial itself to begin the following Monday, May 12th. Now, obviously, anything can happen, and one of the easiest things to get in our legal system is a delay. All kinds of things can lead to a delay. An attorney gets sick, somebody's out of town, another case drags on, and so the judge needs to push the case forward. There's some dispute that's not resolved, that needs to give. You know, a lot of things could happen to delay the case. But my understanding right now is that all parties do expect the trial to start May 5th. Wow.

Marjorie Hernandez (27:45)

Were you surprised at that?

Host 1 (27:46)

I was a little surprised because often the first trial date is gets put off. But Southern District of New York is kind of a no nonsense jurisdiction and judge may be pushing this forward. You know, I don't know the details about it, but I think it would be good for everybody if it does start on May 5th. Let's get on with it.

Kayla Brantley (28:04)

So there is a trial date in two months. What is Diddy's team doing right now to prepare from now until then?

Host 1 (28:12)

Well, I'm sure they have from the prosecution what's called the Brady evidence, which means that the prosecution has to turn over all of their evidence to the other side. So I would assume that Sean Combs team is going over all of that evidence, talking to those witnesses, reviewing witness statements, looking for holes that they can exploit, whether it's on cross examination of witnesses, whether it's pointing out deficiencies in the evidence. They're probably thinking about whether Sean Combs should testify. I think it's very unlikely that he will testify. That is ultimately his decision. Every criminal defendant in America gets to make that decision himself. The lawyers don't make that decisions for him. I would be very, very, very surprised if he does testify, but that's a decision that usually they reserve for trial.

Marjorie Hernandez (29:00)

And also I'm curious to see is who will be on that witness list.

Host 1 (29:04)

Yes, and I think that that probably will be publicly available, you know, a week or two before trial, unless there's some confidentiality orders in the case that I don't know about. And, you know, people, by the way, lawyers, we put a lot of names on a witness list just because you can't call somebody unless they're on the witness list. So usually we put a lot of names on there, but we don't call all those people. So we shouldn't get too excited if there's names on the list that, you know, know they may not get called as witnesses.

Kayla Brantley (29:33)

And of course, Daily Mail has reached out to Diddy's team for comment on both of the cases that Lisa mentioned.

Marjorie Hernandez (29:40)

So for now, that's it. Thanks again to this week's guest, Lisa Bloom. Great to have her back on the pod. And as we prepare for Diddy's trial in May, which Lisa seems convinced will actually happen, what other trials would you like us to cover? Let us know by email the trialalailymail.com or you can WhatsApp us on/447-796-5572 and start your message with Trial.

Kayla Brantley (30:15)

As ever, thank you for listening. Please share all your comments, suggestions and thoughts on the trial of Diddy on Apple or Spotify and follow us on TikTok talk at Daily Mail. Crime do follow the trial of Diddy as we will be here each week with fresh information, new insights and some expert guests.

Host 1 (30:33)

Goodbye.