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- [00:02]
Marjorie Hernandez
Seriously popular.
- [00:04]
Kayla Brantley
The following episode explores a number of allegations regarding the artist Diddy. He denies all charges and has pled not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
- [00:17]
Marjorie Hernandez
The biggest secret in the entertainment industry.
- [00:20]
Kayla Brantley
That really wasn't a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world.
- [00:26]
Marjorie Hernandez
At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all. It seemed like everything Diddy touched turned to gold. Now the once untouchable hip hop mogul is fighting for his life as he faces multiple federal charges in New York, including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise.
- [00:46]
Kayla Brantley
Music mogul and rapper Sean Diddy Combs has faced four different lawsuits in recent weeks alleging sexual assault.
- [00:53]
Marjorie Hernandez
Can be seen grabbing Ventura and throwing.
- [00:55]
Kayla Brantley
Her to the ground.
- [00:56]
Marjorie Hernandez
Oh, this guy is dangerous. Another woman has now come forward alleging comes of sexual assault.
- [01:01]
Kayla Brantley
She claims she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Homes.
- [01:05]
Marjorie Hernandez
I'm DailyMail.com journalist Marjorie Hernandez, and over the last six months I've been investigating this incredible story and speaking to the people in the eye of the storm. Welcome to the trial of Diddy. I'm Marjorie Hernandez, west coast news editor for DailyMail.com out here in Los Angeles, and I've been hosting the Trial of Diddy podcast and a lifelong hip hop fan. So I've followed Diddy and his career throughout the years. So. And as a reporter, I've been covering the lawsuits filed against him over the years, but really took a deep dive into his case for our podcast over the past seven or six months.
- [01:55]
Kayla Brantley
Hey, I'm Kayla Brantley. I am a reporter at large for the Daily Mail in New York based out of Manhattan. And my role has kind of changed a lot. When Diddy's houses were first raided back in March, I was on the exclusives team. So we were all over that story, working with field reporters, you know, talking to alleged victims. And since the beginning, I've, you know, been on it, been after it, and now on his arrest, I've moved over to kind of the social side of things, helping with our social media. And that's really where things have, you know, exploded. And you see the people's interest in this case is insane. There are so many views on it. People want to know who the victims are, what are the new allegations, what's prison like? So we're here to help answer those questions.
- [02:56]
Marjorie Hernandez
Obviously, we've gone through the historical perspective from, from Diddy's early years in Uptown Records to his meteoric rise into creating Bad Boy. And obviously as he gained more power and control, we looked into some of the allegations that started coming up, a lot of it obviously being with the alleged victims who have filed lawsuits. So I think our goal there was to kind of set the tone and provide a historical perspective for those who might not know how important Bad Boy Records was in for the world of hip hop and really Diddy as the icon and the hip hop icon and his own branding and how important he was in hip hop in general and to the culture. So I think it was very helpful to have people like Garrett Kennedy, who's an author, who's covered puff and hip hop for years. So he's very knowledgeable and kind of putting everything into perspective why this case is so important, not only just from, obviously, the alleged criminal allegations that Puff is facing, but also kind of the reckoning of for those like me, who are big hip hop fans, you know, who grew up idolizing and listening to all these artists that he helped cultivate. So I think it was important to kind of set the background as to how he. How he got here and what he's facing now, which is, I think where we are taking the podcast now is kind of not only providing the updates as the case goes on to trial eventually, but also any updates and thoughts people might have on just this case in general, because it is a very shocking and mind blowing case.
- [04:47]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. And Marjorie, you mentioned that this is huge for the culture. And I think that that's what makes this case so interesting is that while he does have allegations similar to, say, a Jeffrey Epstein, that was a person who not many people knew about other than the upper echelon of society. But Diddy is a person that is a household name. Grew up listening to his music. My parents know who he is, my grandparents know who he is. So I think that that's why this case has been as big as it is and has so many eyeballs on it.
- [05:21]
Marjorie Hernandez
A lot of us grew up idolizing the music, the brand, you know, the bravado. A lot of us wanted to emulate that. So to see kind of your hero falling in such a rate, you know, again, these are just alleged allegations. These are just allegations at the moment. It's still very shocking to us all.
- [05:42]
Kayla Brantley
And no matter what happens, there's still such a stain on his reputation, on his legacy, and to happen at a time when he was at his peak, I would say, like, obviously he's had so much success, but it was last year at the VMAs where he got the Video Vanguard Award, which is equivalent to a lifetime achievement award. This was the time where he was really getting his flowers and cementing himself as a legend. And no matter what happens in this case, he will always have that stain on him.
- [06:15]
Marjorie Hernandez
Yeah.
- [06:16]
Kayla Brantley
So, Marjorie, we're on the fifth episode right now. You've had episodes one through four. Who are the type of people that you've spoken to who've been on. What have our listeners been hearing?
- [06:27]
Marjorie Hernandez
Sure. We've had Greg Kading, who is a former LAPD detective who actually investigated Biggie and Tupac's death. And that his perspective was really important, obviously because of his background and just his involvement from those major cases. But also he provided kind of perspective and kind of connected dots between Diddy and those two murders. Again, he's not facing any allegations when it comes to Tupac's murder, but he was obviously there at Biggie's when that murder occurred, but he's not facing any allegations with those cases. However, there is currently a case in Las Vegas where one of the shot callers, a big time Crip member, Keefe D, who's still facing murder charges, and Kading was able to kind of again connect the dots between how Puff was closely involved with the Crip gang, Keefe D being one of them. And I thought that was very interesting perspective that I think most. Some people know, if you really followed the story for over 20 years now. But, but the fact that those allegations came back and somebody, the last person who's alive was Keefe D, who was actually at Vegas at that time, is now 20 years later being prosecuted, that's huge. So just the knowledge of someone like Kading was very important. And I mentioned earlier, we had Garrett Kennedy, who's the journalist, former LA Times reporter, and he talked a lot about, just, again, from a culture perspective, how this really affects not only Diddy in terms of what he's facing and his criminal charges, but also how it's affected the culture. And also we've had Mark Curry, who was one of the Bad Boy artists that Diddy had signed at the height of Bad Boy. And even to this day, 25 years later, you could hear it in his voice that he's still very upset at what he feels like he's been wronged by Diddy, by, you know, Diddy essentially taking over a lot of his publishing rights. He eventually did, as we mentioned in the podcast, he eventually did give back those publishing rights to Curry and other Bad Boy artists. But, you know, as Curry said on our interview, he said, well, you know what, it's like you're giving me a Nissan sentra it's not worth anything anymore to me. So you can hear just in his voice, the frustration he's held on to all these years against Diddy. Also, we had a few victims talk to me, and that was very difficult. First of all, they wanted to remain anonymous because of one pending case that's going on with Diddy, and two, they. Even though, you know, he's. He's in jail right now, there's still a lot of fear that people have told me that they have being even involved or speaking out still against him. So that in itself was very difficult to kind of create that trust with the victims, alleged victims. But they were brave enough to come on and at least talk to me about what they went through. And again, we'll see if hopefully more of them will be more comfortable to come forward, and we'll see where that goes.
- [10:11]
Kayla Brantley
And they're fearing. These alleged victims are fearing retaliation.
- [10:15]
Marjorie Hernandez
Retaliation. But also, you know, when we talk about why now, why are they coming out now, obviously, Cassie's case was huge, and it gave a lot of the victims, I guess, some power or it had to be one person to come forward. Right. And she did that. And once she did that, as we mentioned in the podcast, everybody started coming forward. But the hold that Diddy allegedly had, or what the victims have told me, even though he might be and locked up right now, they still fear that the people who enabled him all these years, allegedly enabled him all these years, are still out there. They have. They're not being. They haven't been prosecuted yet. So they still are in fear that somebody might be watching them or knocking on their door. And it's a real. It's a real fear for them. They're literally in fear for their life still. Yeah, that's what they've told me.
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Kayla Brantley
And even just putting your name out there opens you up to so much scrutiny from the public, too.
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Marjorie Hernandez
Exactly.
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Kayla Brantley
I'm in New York, and Diddy's from New York. He's being held in Brooklyn. So I feel like the feel here is just, you know, it's so interesting how it's kind of like the thing that everyone's talking about, and it's going to be the thing that people continue to talk about because we have a trial coming up just today. He's going to be in court for a pretrial hearing. It's Thursday. By the time this episode comes out, he will have, you know, made that appearance in court. And I don't know. I don't know if there's anything about to Say for him, you know, being from New York, being held in New York, but it feels like a very weird, surreal. Yeah, it's just especially for him. I can imagine that that must feel extremely surreal for him, especially because right before his arrest, he was, you know, going around Central park taking photos with fans. It was like, you know, he knew it was coming and he was enjoying his last moments of freedom in his city.
- [12:26]
Marjorie Hernandez
I can't think of New York without thinking of Diddy. He is such a. An important part of that city. I mean, he even, you know, was awarded the key to the city at one point, which you now had to turn back over. But, you know, just, he's like a hometown hero there. Correct me if I'm wrong. So seeing that fall from grace should, you know, from here, from the west coast, from my perspective, that was shocking to me. I guess the speed of which he fell from that pedestal was very interesting. And for me, as, you know, as a big. I mean, I love west coast hip hop, I love east coast hip hop, but coming from the west coast, it really is an odd thing to see develop in front of you. When I've been a big Tupac fan all my life. I know the Beef and all of that, but, you know, I feel like there's kind of a sense of, you know, now you see what we saw from the west side end. It's interesting and it's not only shocking, but really disappointing in a way. Again, these are allegations, but just to see everything go down is a bit disappointing as a hip hop fan.
- [13:57]
Kayla Brantley
So this week there's been progress where, you know, Diddy's appealed again to try to get out of prison. He has a pre court hearing today in New York, it's Thursday. He's asking for his trial to be in April or May of 2025. Marjorie, what do you think is his reasoning for that? For wanting a trial in April or May?
- [14:21]
Marjorie Hernandez
A lot of attorneys have told me the wheels of justice are very slow. So the fact that he wants it quick. His attorneys have said, publicly said that they want to get him out of jail as soon as possible. So they are actually pushing for those dates. And really, actually, you think that's so far away from now, but it's actually pretty, pretty soon. When you have a huge case like this, when the investigation is still ongoing, who knows how big this witness list is going to be. I mean, this is a huge case. So the fact that they wanted to start in April or May 2025, I think is rather. That's a tall Order given the way these federal cases go, it's quick.
- [15:10]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah.
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Marjorie Hernandez
But they want him out of there. Yeah, it's quick for justice.
- [15:14]
Kayla Brantley
But for Diddy, sitting in jail for five to six months after the life that he's lived, that's gonna be a long five to six months for him if he's able, you know, to get that trial in, you know, April or May.
- [15:29]
Marjorie Hernandez
So we'll see what happens. I mean, again, like you mentioned, he has. Today is October 10th, and he's actually. I don't know if they're going to talk about the bail issue, but that is his third chance, or third try, rather, in an attempt to be released on his own cognizance. But we'll see. There are. Prosecutors have said, you know, he's allegedly intimidated some of the witnesses. He could be a flight risk because of his access to money, and literally, he has access to jets. But he. His attorneys have responded and said, look, we've turned over his passport. You know, we came here even before we wait, been waiting to turn for Diddy to turn himself in, but they ended up arresting him. So it'll be interesting to see whether or not the judge. Actually. There's a new judge now on the case, actually. So it'll be interesting to see if this new judge actually agrees with that statement and lets him free. But all the legal analysts that I've spoken to said there's no way they're going to let him out before this trial.
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Kayla Brantley
Yeah.
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Marjorie Hernandez
So like you said, being having the, you know, that Diddy lifestyle that he's been accustomed to for years, it's going to be a tiny sell for now.
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Kayla Brantley
Yeah, that's. I can only imagine how tough that is going to be for him. I did see that his daughter and mother went to visit him in prison or in jail and that it was an emotional, you know, talk and visit.
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Marjorie Hernandez
Yeah.
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Kayla Brantley
So I'm sure that's hard on the family as well.
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Marjorie Hernandez
Yeah. The children and his mother, Mama Combs, have, you know, released their own statements and talked about how this is hurting them and the allegations against their son, their father. So it must be tough on the children as well, like you said. Yeah.
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Kayla Brantley
My one question that I have is his homes were raided in March. He got arrested in September, has been living as a free man between then. What took the Fed so long to arrest him?
- [17:46]
Marjorie Hernandez
Sure. I mean, for one, they have to investigate and get as many witnesses that they can find in order to build a case around that. I mean, obviously, sdny, they're the top in terms of prosecution in the country. So they really mined their P's and Q's. They really took time to get the witnesses, and it's still an ongoing investigation, so it takes a while for those things to happen. And also, assembling a grand jury is huge. Getting all these people subpoenaed to actually come in to testify, that takes a long process. So it took a while. And in the meantime, Diddy was out there with his family, traveling, but his attorney said he was never too far. Anytime they needed him or they wanted to talk to him, the attorneys were always available and they knew where he was at. So, I mean, it's just, again, the slow wheels of justice. It's just a lot. Everything just takes a long time to investigate, and rightfully so. I mean, you don't want to prosecute somebody unless you have good evidence. Right. Ironclad evidence. So we'll see. We'll see what they have.
- [19:06]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. It was reported that there were multiple terabytes of information that, you know, he had that they had to sift through. And he just. They just returned a cell phone that they had confiscated in March. So I'm sure there's a lot they've been going through, and, you know, you hear the thousand bottles of baby oil that they're going through, and, yeah, there's just a lot to sift through, a.
- [19:31]
Marjorie Hernandez
Lot of evidence, a lot of testimony, and apparently there's also a lot of video, which we know how important that video of Cassie has already been. So we shall see what cache of other goods and videos they actually obtained from those raids in LA and New York.
- [19:53]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah, I want to talk about how important that video, that hotel of him, you know, dragging Cassie down and hitting her, how important that was. Because it's one thing to have allegations and in a suit, but a video is undeniable. Everyone saw it, the world saw it, Other alleged victims saw it, and I'm sure that that really emboldened them to come forward.
- [20:19]
Marjorie Hernandez
Yeah, that was really a turning point in this whole thing. I mean, he has been sued before for harassment and other things. And, you know, quietly, some of those cases, either he settled or they went away. Not really sure how it went away, but some of them just went away. But actually having this video of and seeing him, you can't refute that that's him. He also did not refute that it's him. He went on to apologize shortly thereafter after it went viral. Right. So that in itself was a shock to everybody, even though we know Cassie filed that lawsuit and she Ended up settling with him. It was that actual physical evidence. And watching that attack, that brutal attack go down really got the ball rolling and he had to finally face the music.
- [21:17]
Kayla Brantley
So we were talking about Diddy sitting in a jail cell for the next six months awaiting trial. And the prison that he's in has notoriously been complained about. It's called the mdc, the Metropolitan Detention Center. It's Sunset park in Brooklyn. One of Diddy's prison mates is Sam Bankman Fried, the FTX founder. And he's issued complaints about that prison. One of them being, you know, he's vegan and, you know, they're not serving him vegan food or he, like, has refused to eat. But yeah, this prison has had many complaints. One of the prisoners, past inmates was Ghislaine Maxwell. And her lawyers were filing motions nearly every week about the conditions. You know, there was that infamous mugshot of her where, you know, she said that she had a black eye and that she was treated horribly by guards, that they would flash lights every hour of every night, that she couldn't sleep through the night there, you know, that it was roach infested. And yet these are just not conditions that, you know, a billionaire like Diddy is accustomed to. He's had a luxurious lifestyle, is known for flaunting it, flashing it, you know, money, rings, jewelry, cars, mansions, you know, he has it all, or had it all, I should say. So this, you know, 8 by 10 cell is something that he's, you know, gonna have to get accustomed to.
- [22:56]
Marjorie Hernandez
I've heard it's actually worse than Rikers. Wow. That's what some, some attorneys have told me. And also there have been a lot of inmate deaths there. From what I've read already, you're in, you know, you're in a notorious jail, but the conditions there are just horrific from what I've been told. So that's one of our future guests we're hoping to speak to. Larry Levine. He actually is an expert, a prison expert, and he works with Wall Street Prison Consultants, which is essentially a company that helps inmates identify prison programs during their time in lockup. But he also himself was a former prisoner, so he knows that life. He knows what it's like to have been in a federal lockup. So he can talk to us about what it's like to be in that particular jail where Diddy is right now. And I understand he does have deep sources in the facility. So it'll be interesting to see from Larry's perspective what goes down there. I mean, what, like, what's Diddy's everyday, like, you know, outside of not having any vegan options, you know, what are his meals like? Is he away from the general population? I'm assuming that he is. Most, you know, big names or famous folks are separated from the general population. So I'm sure he's isolated for a very long time, which really can affect somebody's mental psyche. So I'm sure Larry can talk a little bit about that. So looking forward to speaking to him.
- [24:36]
Kayla Brantley
That's going to be such a great perspective to have. You know, it's one thing to talk about it, read about it, but it's another thing to experience it.
- [24:44]
Marjorie Hernandez
We'll be talking to Precious Mirror, who actually attended some of Diddy's white parties over the years. And she was a former Playboy bunny. So she can talk a little bit about what it was like to have been in that environment partying with Diddy. Obviously everybody knows about the white party was the place to be in the Hamptons. So it'll be interesting to see her perspective, what it was like to rub elbows with Diddy and Martha Stewart. Who knows a lot of famous people that were in. In those parties. I'm sure Kayla knows.
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Kayla Brantley
Oh, yeah. Anyone who was anyone was there. I, you know, as a little girl had heard about these, you know, Diddy white parties. So, yeah, very popular.
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Marjorie Hernandez
It's Precious as a Playboy bunny. Sure. She was a fixture in the Playboy Mansion here in Los Angeles. So we can chat with her a little bit about that. Maybe compare and comparison between a Diddy party versus a Hugh Hefner party.
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Kayla Brantley
Yeah.
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Marjorie Hernandez
So that'd be interesting perspective to see both sides.
- [25:58]
Kayla Brantley
I'm sure she's seen some things.
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Marjorie Hernandez
Yeah, kind of an east coast and west coast thing too.
- [26:03]
Kayla Brantley
Yeah. I'm Kayla Brantley.
- [26:10]
Marjorie Hernandez
I'm Marjorie Hernandez and you've been listening to the Trial of Diddy, episode five. And we'll be back next Friday. Sam.