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- [00:01]
Kayla Brantley
Welcome to the trial of ditting. I'm Kayla Brantley.
- [00:03]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
And I'm Hermania Rodriguez Poleo.
- [00:05]
Kayla Brantley
We'll be back in a second.
- [00:16]
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- [01:36]
The biggest secret in the entertainment industry that really wasn't a secret at all. At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all.
- [01:45]
Kayla Brantley
Everything Diddy touched turned to gold.
- [01:48]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Now he faces multiple federal charges in New York, including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise.
- [01:56]
Kayla Brantley
Another woman has now come forward.
- [01:57]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
A legend comes of sexual assault Music.
- [02:00]
Kayla Brantley
Mogul and rapper Sean Diddy. She claims she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs.
- [02:05]
Unknown
Oh, this guy is dangerous.
- [02:08]
Kayla Brantley
From freak offs to the mysterious list, the shocking case that has gripped the world is finally here. And we'll be bringing you every detail as it happens.
- [02:18]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Welcome to the trial of Diddy.
- [02:24]
Kayla Brantley
Welcome back to the trial of Diddy Hermania. It's been a while, but we're about a month after the verdict came in. Today we're recording this. It's the Thursday, July 31, and Sean Diddy Combs is currently still awaiting sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention center in Brooklyn. And after about 13 hours of deliberation over three days, the jury returned a mixed verdict acquitting Diddy of racketeering, conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking.
- [02:52]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Yeah, if our listeners recall, Diddy was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. One count involving Cassie and the other, Jane. He faces up to 20 years in prison for these convictions. On Tuesday, Diddy's defense team requested that Diddy be released before his sentencing date on a $50 million bond. One of Diddy's attorneys, Mark Agnifolo, said that conditions at the Metropolitan Detention center were dangerous and that past defendants convicted of the same crimes as Diddy were typically released before their sentencing. In a statement to the judge, Agnifolo wrote that, quote, sean Combs should not be in jail for this conduct. In fact, he may be the only person in a United States jail for being any sort of John. Late Wednesday, Diddy's defense team took it a step further and filed for an acquittal on charges three and five or a new trial. The memorandum states that since the government arrested Diddy last September, it has painted him as a monster. It says that prosecutors accused him of running a 20 year racketeering enterprise and of sex trafficking multiple women. But the two month trial showed these charges were not supported by credible evidence and that the jury rejected them.
- [04:09]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah, and the defense says that Diddy now stands convicted of only two prostitution counts under the Mann act, which doesn't require proof of coercion, threats or fraud. And that the government told the jury it had to convict Diddy as long as he arranged for a long time girlfriend or a paid male escort to travel across state lines to get together and have sex. The memorandum goes on to say that to their knowledge, Diddy is the only person ever convicted of violating the statute for conduct like this and that he had no commercial motive and that but everyone else involved, as well as the escorts, chose to travel and engage in the activity voluntarily. They say that the verdict itself confirms that the women were not vulnerable, exploited, trafficked or sexually assaulted during the freak offs and that Diddy never had sex with the supposed prostitutes and he never made any money from the prostitution. Diddy's team is saying that if there is no acquittal, then at the very least, a new trial is required.
- [05:06]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Now, in the weeks since the verdict, many notable public legal experts have noted that the denial of bail may signal harsher consequences for Diddy. The prosecution are seeking a sentence of four to five years. While some legal experts, such as O.J. simpson's former attorney, Robert Shapiro, have predicted 2.5 to 3.5 years. Diddy was denied bail and he remains incarcerated at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention center pending sentencing, which will take place on October 3rd.
- [05:36]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah, and Diddy's potential sentencing has become such a hot topic. Everyone wants to know how long he's going to prison, if he's going to prison at all, if he's going to get time served. But those in the music and entertainment industry as well have given their thoughts on what a potential comeback for Diddy could really look like. And this is, given the severity of allegations and the public backlash, will he be able to even make a comeback? And Melvin Villiver Jr. He's a music marketing expert and assistant professor at Clemson University. He spoke to Us Weekly and he made note of the fact that even amid financial losses that Diddy has endured, he still has a lot of assets, which Melvin believes may be a factor in his businesses continuing to thrive. And while we did see entities like Hulu and even Diddy's former company Revolt really just cut ties with him, he does remain an owner of Bad Boy records, which in 2024 was listed as having a 400 million dol.
- [06:33]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
That's right, Kayla. And while the experts are mainly commenting on what may happen to Diddy, others are highlighting where they think the prosecution went wrong in the case. Just the other week, on July 17, lead prosecutor Maureen Comey was abruptly fired. She's actually the daughter of James Comey, the former FBI director. It's been reported that her dismissal was cited as the president's powers under Article 2 of the Constitution. Comey is also the prosecutor who convicted Ghislaine Maxwell. There's no evidence, however, that Comey's firing has anything to do with Diddy's case. However, on Wednesday, July 30, Deadline published an article relating to a potential pardon for Diddy on behalf of President Donald Trump. While the White House has not said anything about this, a source for the Trump administration told Deadline that Trump is seriously considering a pardon for Diddy.
- [07:29]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah, I mean, imagine a presidential pardon for Diddy. That would absolutely be something. But Hermania. It's also been reported that Diddy has started to participate in rehabilitation and self improvement programs while currently behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The program is known as the STOP program. STOP S T O P. It's an acronym for specialized treatment for optimized programming. STOP is a federal course for inmates targeting the prevention of sexual assault data, violence and domestic abuse. Diddy's also receiving regular in prison therapy and other self help programs as a, quote, path to redemption.
- [08:07]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Welcome to the trial of Diddy. Path to Redemption. We'll be right back after this.
- [08:23]
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- [09:40]
Kayla Brantley
Welcome back to the trial of Diddy. While Diddy awaits sentencing for his federal case, there are a plethora of civil cases waiting for him. One is by his former bandmate Don Richard and former Making the Band star Sarah Rivers. Now I want to welcome to the show Eric Fudali. He is a partner and managing attorney at the Bloom firm. And Eric, you're currently working on a civil case against Diddy. Can you bring us up to speed on what the status of that is?
- [10:08]
Unknown
Yeah, sure. I'm actually working on two. I represent two clients against Mr. Combs. The first is Ms. Dawn Richard, who you've likely heard of. She has a civil lawsuit pending against Mr. Combs. She also testified in the criminal case against Mr. Combs. And I also represent an individual who is being identified as John Doe, and he has claims as well in the Civil arena against Mr. Combs.
- [10:30]
Kayla Brantley
And where do you stand now? Like, are you doing depositions? What what happens now that Sean Diddy Combs is awaiting his sentencing hearing?
- [10:37]
Unknown
Yeah, so we're still pretty early in the case. Both lawsuits are filed in federal court. And in federal court, when you first file the lawsuit, things move a bit slowly, then pick up very quickly. So right now we're in what's called the pleading stage, which pretty much is we filed our complaints. I'm am complaints the defendants. There's multiple defendants. They've moved to dismiss on various issues. We've met and conferred with opposing counsel multiple times, and we're making decisions now. And drafting briefs, responding, objecting to the motions to dismiss, as well as amending some facts in this complaint. Pretty normal pleading stage. Things are going on right now. And then hopefully, once we get past this pleading stage, we'll start diving right into depositions, requesting documents. Of course, taking Mr. Combs deposition will be a very immediate priority, as well as getting all the documents and everything like that.
- [11:23]
Kayla Brantley
And when do you expect this to go to court?
- [11:27]
Unknown
So it's hard to tell. So federal court does move faster in state court, and it's very tough to predict. You never know the judge's schedule or how things are going to go or what's going to happen with the sentencing. But I would predict sometime and hopefully early 2026, early to mid-2026 is when we'll actually see a jury trial and hopefully be able to try our case in front of, of a jury on behalf of our clients.
- [11:47]
Kayla Brantley
And as we know, there have been so many civil cases against Sean Diddy Combs, there's dozens, actually. So how does this work? Who gets to go first? You know, this is one man and lots of cases. Can you explain that a bit?
- [12:01]
Unknown
Yeah, I can do my best. Because it's a bit random, right? I mean, there's, you know, there's no correct answer. I mean, typically, whoever files first is for sort of first in line to get the trial. But there's so many other factors. For instance, some cases are filed in state court, which just happens to move a bit more slowly than federal court. For instance, in New York, it can take up to three and a half to four years to get to trial. After you file your lawsuit in state court, federal court moves a bit more quickly, usually a year, two years, you can get to a jury trial. Also, there's motions to dismiss. There's also some cases, I understand, which are under what's called a stay based on some laws that are still being worked out in various jurisdictions, waiting for some clarity on some of the laws from the court of appeals. So those cases might take a little longer. So it's really hard to sort of quantify or qualify, you know, who goes first, who ultimately will go first. Of course, you know, as representatives, two plaintiffs against Mr. Combs. It's my priority to get the cases to trial as quickly and as expeditiously as possible, while, of course, certainly being well prepared for trial. So it's that give and take. You want to push towards trial, you want to get to it quickly. Of course, there's benefit to being first when there's so many Lawsuits against an individual and certain entities. But obviously, you want to be well prepared. You want to make sure all your ducks are in a row.
- [13:10]
Kayla Brantley
And even though this federal case seems to be over, you know, he has a long road ahead of him.
- [13:15]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Right, but that's. That's my question. How does this overlap with Diddy's time in prison? If he has to serve more time, will he. Would he be deposed while he's serving time in jail? Would he attend these trials while he's in jail? Do we have to wait until he serves his time? How does that work?
- [13:33]
Unknown
Those are great questions. So the short answer is no. Well, no and yes. So no to the last. Your last question. No, we do not have to wait until Mr. Combs is out of prison to pursue our civil cases or. Or to depose him or to try the case. I have deposed many alleged perpetrators and defendants in prison. It's actually not the worst place to take a deposition. It's very safe, very, very secure, and I've done it many times, so that certainly is not a deterrent. I'm happy to go to whatever prison he'll be held in and take his deposition there. Likewise with the trial, the Marshals will bring Mr. Combs, or any defendant out under custody, of course, will usually stay in the courtroom with them standing behind him or something. And the trial can be conducted while the defendant is in prison. So there's no real waiting. Sometimes civil cases will wait till the end of a criminal case to get moving, have, like, a stay while the criminal case is pending. We chose not to do that. We. We chose to continue to pursue our case. So from. From our perspective, there will be no waiting, and we're going to pursue it as quickly again as possible.
- [14:30]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
So, Arik, paint a picture for us. Once Diddy does serve his time and leaves prison, I mean, a big part of his fortune has to be gone by now, and he's still paying lawyers. There's still more. Okay, I'm sure that's expensive. Now he has all these civil lawsuits, Will there be anything left for him to pay out? How do you imagine that? Like Diddy leaving prison, is he going to continue to work? Would it be that any money he now makes has to go to victims? How. How does it look for Diddy after prison?
- [15:04]
Unknown
That's another great question, another difficult one to answer. So it's my understanding and it's my assumption that Mr. Combs has plenty of money, plenty of cash, and plenty of assets to pay his lawyers and to pay out any judgment that will potentially be brought against him. That's my understanding, and that's my hope, as I, you know, as we pursue these cases, we have certainly had circumstances where we have won judgments against, you know, those who allege that they're millionaires, billionaires, but refuse to sort of cooperate with the collection process. And we then have to pursue those judgments, which is not pleasant, unfortunately. I would say it's one of the flaws in the American judicial system that while paying judgments is not optional, it's mandatory, you still have to sometimes go and chase those judgments, and we're certainly equipped to do that, and we've done that and brought on other lawyers to do that before in the past. My assumption, again, and my hope, is that, you know, Mr. Combs will be able to pay his attorneys and any judgments, you know, that may end up against him at the end of, you know, these civil cases. I think he had two rows of defense attorneys. I know that is not cheap. But again, we are moving forward under the assumption that if there is a judgment against Mr. Combs, that we will be able to collect on it and we will pursue collection on it.
- [16:09]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Are you concerned that the fact he was acquitted on sex trafficking is going to impact these civil cases against him?
- [16:18]
Unknown
Again, short answer, no. And I'm certainly happy to extrapolate there. I'm not concerned. First of all, although Ms. Richard testified in the criminal case, Ms. Richards claims and allegations in her civil lawsuit were not part of the criminal case. So a jury did not equip Mr. Combs of the allegations Ms. Rashard brought against him, nor did they acquit him of the claims that Mr. Doe, we also represent against him. So from that regard, it does not impact the case at all. Also, I would say sex trafficking is a very nuanced law and not an easy law to prosecute, you know, even from the civil arena, which has, you know, a lower standard of burden. I pursued many of these sex trafficking cases. I'm very well versed. I was part of some of the early litigation that expanded the sex trafficking laws in the civil arena. So, no, I'm not concerned about that. They're completely separate. It's a completely different standard. And we intend to continue to pursue our claims as aggressively as we would have had he been convicted of all the charges against him.
- [17:16]
Kayla Brantley
And, Eric, a lot of people look at the criminal case against him as the prosecution really failed here. Is there anything that your team is looking at that you feel you can learn for your case moving forward?
- [17:29]
Unknown
Yeah. Another great question. Certainly. I mean, I was at A vast majority of the trial, either someone, myself or someone from my team attended almost every day of the criminal trial with that actual idea in mind, whether they were going to get a conviction or an acquittal on the sex trafficking charge or any of the charges. We certainly learned a lot about the defense, you know, what sort of defenses Mr. Combs was going to present. For instance, it became very apparent from the opening statements that Mr. Combs team was accepting and admitting that he's a violent person, that he's a domestic abuser, that he beats women up. I mean, that was apparent. We saw it in the video, and the defense owned that. So, you know, right there, first day, first 20 minutes of the trial, we learned something about the defense. And then certainly we can watch how the prosecution presented the sex trafficking claims and the other claims and see what seemed to resonate with the jury, seemed what clearly did not resonate with the jury. And we can certainly learn from both sides of the trial, and that's why we attended, A, in support of our clients, but B, to learn, you know, what strategies were going to be employed by both sides.
- [18:28]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Diddy's lawyers are still begging for him to be released on bond, even though the judge has repeatedly said no, but also they have filed. This is a bit confusing for non, non lawyers. It's a motion to acquit him or overturn the conviction. I mean, if you've heard what the judge has said, it doesn't seem like that's realistic. Can you explain what this motion is about and whether it has any shot at working?
- [18:56]
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of motions in the criminal realm are confusing for lawyers as well as non lawyers. But ultimately, to the best of my ability, I can explain that. It's a motion to sort of set aside, from my understanding, the verdict and say, no, the evidence did not present, or there's inconsistencies in the verdict that would suggest the convictions on the prostitution need to be overturned. Those are very difficult motions to win. And typically, in my experience, they are done only to preserve their appeal, because if you don't file those motions at the trial stage, you lose your right to appeal on those issues. So typically, they're not very successful. They're usually done as a formality. Now, I'm sure Mr. Combs team is not treating these as a formality, and I'm sure they are hoping and hope, you know, and working aggressively to try to convince the judge to overturn the convictions. I doubt that'll take place. I assume the judge will keep the verdict and move forward with sentencing. But I'm not surprised that that motion has been brought that sort of standard in these types of especially high profile criminal cases when you're sort of setting up the appeal, the inevitable appeal, and setting up your argument for a lower prison sentence.
- [19:59]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
And on that note, Diddy's lawyers have continued to claim that he's being discriminated against, that Diddy's the only person right now convicted under the mana. This is the argument that they say in court that he's been discriminated against, that people who are convicted of these offenses of being so called johns don't go to prison. Is that truth? What is the actual situation here of what in these cases? The prison sentence that people would get?
- [20:28]
Unknown
Sure. So I'm certainly not an expert on prison sentences. I do the civil side and I ask you for money damages. So I'm not an expert. Although I was a prosecutor one time, a long time ago in my career. I'm not an expert in sentencing. What I can say though is that I have heard the judge opine on why he is holding Mr. Combs in jail pending sentencing and what he's considered. I'm also aware of what the judge can consider in a criminal case when it comes to sentencing. And the short answer is everything. So the judge can consider all the evidence and some even non evidence that he's seen at trial. So for instance, anyone who observed that trial closely or even not closely, saw a lot of evidence of violence on Mr. Combs part. So the judge, even though Mr. Combs wasn't acquitted of any of the violent acts, the judge can consider the sort of enormous amount of violence that was both presented and admitted to by Mr. Combs team in making his sentencing decisions. So my guess and my prediction and my understanding is that the judge is considering all that violence, not just the convictions of, you know, the prostitution, but considering everything he saw, the enormous amount of violence. There were allegations of witness tampering, there's allegations of intimidation. There was an allegation in the trial that he blew up Kid Cudi's car with a Molotov cocktail.
- [21:41]
Right.
- [21:41]
There are very serious, violent, aggressive, intimidating allegations in the criminal case, some even evidence of that that the judge is allowed to consider. And also listening to the judge, you know my understanding as to why the judge is keeping Mr. Combs in jail pending sentencing.
- [21:56]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
And the judge did say that. So again, I don't. The judge has signaled that he thinks Diddy's a violent person and that's why he denied bond. But still his lawyers also have again asked for bond. I guess by your response, I think you don't think he's going to get this bond before sentencing.
- [22:14]
Unknown
I do not. Judges at this level and most judges anyways don't typically change their mind on things. That's not something judges are known to do very often. I would predict that this judge will keep his decision, stay clear with what he wants and stay clear that Mr. Combs is going to have to stay in jail pendencing sentencing. What the sentencing ultimately will be, you know, is a mystery. Again, the judge has complete discretion. He can take the what the prosecution has suggested. He can take what defense has suggested. He can go somewhere in the middle. He can do whatever he wants really when it comes to sentencing. It's entirely his discretion. He can also consider really anything he wants. So Again, I expect Mr. Combs to stay in jail pending sentencing and then the judge to rule on a very fair and reasonable sentence.
- [22:55]
Kayla Brantley
And I know you said you're not a sentencing expert, but I feel like that that's the big question that everyone has is how long will he get sentenced. So if you just had a guess, maybe he's facing up to 20 years maximum. Do you have any thoughts or guesses on that?
- [23:11]
Unknown
Yeah, I don't think he'll get the maximum. I don't think he'll get the minimum. I think there will be somewhere in the middle is my best guess. I think the judge will, as we say, split the baby. I also would expect that he'll get credit for time served. Mr. Combs has been in jail for I think at least close to a year and I think he'll get credit for that. So I think any sentence that he does rule out will be reduced by the amount of time Mr. Combs has spent in jail. But again, probably somewhere in the middle of the two suggestions.
- [23:36]
Hermania Rodriguez Poleo
Thank you so much, Eric.
- [23:37]
Kayla Brantley
Thank you, Eric.
- [23:38]
Unknown
My pleasure. I hope I can help. Thanks for having me on.
- [23:45]
Kayla Brantley
Thank you for tuning in to the Trial of Diddy. We will be doing update episodes and we will be back definitely for Diddy's October 3rd sentencing. For more exclusives on on this case, be sure to subscribe to the trial plus@crimedesk.com if you haven't already.
- [24:15]
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