The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan did not immediately rule after hearing two hours of arguments.

At the conclusion, Circuit Judge William J. Nardini called it an “exceptionally difficult case” that raises questions of first impression “not only for this court but for any federal court in the country.”

Throughout the arguments, judges questioned whether a judge improperly considered elements of acquitted charges to sentence Combs to what his lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, said was the most prison time ever given someone convicted of the same charges with a similar criminal history.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik, arguing for the government, challenged Shapiro’s claim, saying the four-year, two-month prison term given to Combs was below what federal sentencing guidelines called for and was in line with similar convictions in the 2nd Circuit.

Combs, currently in federal prison in New Jersey, is challenging his conviction and prison sentence. He was convicted last July under the federal Mann Act, which bans transporting people across state lines for any sexual crime.

But he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that carried the potential for a life sentence.

In sentencing Combs, Judge Arun Subramanian said: “Mr. Combs, you’re being sentenced for the offenses of conviction, NOT the crimes he was acquitted of. However, under law, the court ‘shall consider’ the nature of the offense and characteristics of the defendant.”

The judge also cited law which states that no limitation shall be placed on the “background, character and conduct” that a judge can consider.

During Thursday’s arguments, Shapiro asked the appeals panel for a speedy decision.

Combs, 56, has been behind bars since his September 2024 arrest. The Federal Bureau of Prisons says he is scheduled for release in April 2028.

His attorneys say Combs’ conviction should be reversed, or he should at least be freed and resentenced to less time.

Despite extensive written arguments on the subject, there was no discussion Thursday about claims by Combs’ lawyers that his conviction should be reversed on grounds that the First Amendment protects sexual encounters between his girlfriends and male sex workers because they were sometimes filmed and amounted to “amateur pornography.”

There was extensive discussion, though, about his lawyers’ arguments that Subramanian wrongly considered evidence of fraud and coercion that they said the jury rejected as it exonerated him on the most serious charges.

Combs’ trial last year exposed the sordid private life of one of the most influential figures in music. The case featured harrowing testimony about violence, drugs and sexual performances that witnesses said he called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”

He did not testify. His defense team acknowledged that he could be violent but argued that prosecutors were straining to make a federal crime out of his personal life.

The post Appeals court judges raise questions about severity of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ four-year prison sentence appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, took the witness stand in Combs’ sex trafficking trial in New York and said he and Cassie briefly dated in 2011. He said he took her to a West Hollywood hotel one day to get her away from the seething Combs. While there, he said, he got a call from Combs’ assistant, Capricorn Clark, who told him Combs and an affiliate were in his house and that she had been forced to go with them.

Cudi said he left the hotel to drive home, and that he called Combs en route and — using an expletive — asked him why he was in his house. He said Combs calmly replied, “I want to talk to you.”

But Combs wasn’t there when he arrived, Cudi said. Instead, he found that someone had opened Christmas presents he’d bought for his family and locked his dog in a bathroom.

Cudi said he wasn’t sure what was going on, so he called the police.

A few weeks later, Cudi testified, his Porsche was destroyed by fire while parked in his driveway. Cudi said he was at a friend’s house when his dogsitter called and “told me my car was on fire.” Photos shown to the jury showed a hole cut in the car’s fabric roof and a Molotov cocktail was found in the passenger seat.

Cassie testified last week that Combs had threatened to blow up Cudi’s car and hurt him after he learned she was dating the Grammy Award-winning rapper, who is known for his alternative hip-hop style.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges lodged against him after he was arrested in September at a Manhattan hotel. He denies allegations that he used threats and his powerful position in the hip-hop world to abuse women and others, and force Cassie to take part in drug-fueled sexual performances called freak-offs with other men that she said left her too drained to pursue her singing career.

The federal investigation of Combs began in November 2023, a day after Cassie sued him in Manhattan federal court alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. The lawsuit was settled by Combs for $20 million the next day.

In four days of testimony last week, Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, said Combs subjected her to abuse through most of the nearly 11 years she was with him from 2007 through 2018.

She said she developed a relationship with Cudi in late 2011 that she ended within weeks after Combs learned about it when he looked at her phone during a freak-off — one of hundreds she said she endured over the years.

George Kaplan, Combs’ personal assistant from 2013 to 2015, testified earlier Thursday that he saw Combs be violent with Cassie only once, on a 2015 trip to Las Vegas aboard Combs’ private jet. He said he heard glass breaking behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Combs standing with a whiskey glass in his hand.

“There was tremendous commotion and a scuffle, and then after the glass crashed, Cassie screamed: ’Isn’t anybody seeing this?’” Kaplan testified, adding that neither he nor any of the security workers or Bad Boy staff on the plane responded to her call for help.

Kaplan said he didn’t intervene because he didn’t want to lose his dream job. He said he decided to quit after that attack and a later incident in which he saw Cassie sitting in a bedroom with a black eye before Combs sent him to pick up anti-inflammatory medicine at a store to treat the injury.

Kaplan also said he saw Combs become violent with another girlfriend, whom he referred to only as Gina, when the rapper threw green apples at her at his Florida home.

Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press. AP writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

The post Rapper Kid Cudi says his car was set on fire after Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs broke into his Hollywood Hills home appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The “voluminous” amount of data taken during discovery in the sweeping sex abuse and racketeering case against Combs was revealed in a letter filed by the U.S Atty. for the Southern District of New York and comes as Combs’ lawyers are making a third bid to get him released from a Brooklyn jail on $50 million in bonds.

The data came from more than 40 electronic devices and five cloud storage services associated with Combs. Prosecutors say they continue to seek even more data as part of the investigation. Combs’ lawyers are pushing back, demanding copies of the seized data.

In a filing with the court, Combs’ legal team also questioned how information from the grand jury indictment of Combs for sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution was leaked.

“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,” his lawyers noted in the filing.

Combs has been the subject of a sweeping federal probe since at least the beginning of the year and was arrested in New York on Sept. 16.

Combs is accused of using his entertainment empire since as far back as 2009 to lure female victims and use violence, coercion and drugs to get women to take part in what were known as “freak off” parties — elaborate sex performances that often were recorded and sometimes lasted days. Prosecutors allege the music icon’s business network was ultimately about furthering his criminal conduct. Combs has denied any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors informed U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian that during search warrants, Homeland Security Investigations seized “several terabytes of electronic material” from cellphones, laptops, tablets, hard drives, and cloud service accounts as well as business records and physical evidence as part of its investigation into the alleged decades-long sex trafficking and forced sexual acts in the sex parties.

Federal prosecutors say they are still “copying over forty devices and the other five iCloud reports belonging to the defendant, which is expected to take several days due to the volume of the materials.”

Prosecutors told the court that their forensic team is working “expediently as possible since their seizure,” and expects to turn over the data in discovery to Combs’ attorneys “on a rolling basis by the end of the year.”

Combs lawyers, however, say they intend “to ask the Court to require the government to immediately produce certain categories of information – namely, copies of Mr. Combs’ electronic devices that were seized over six months ago.”

“The government also seized additional devices belonging to Mr. Combs at the time of his arrest about three weeks ago,” Combs’ lawyers said in the filing. “We also understand that the government is only now beginning to review and copy these electronic devices, including those that were seized in March 2024.

”Combs’ lawyers reiterated Wednesday said they want a trial as soon as possible. “Mr. Combs continues to assert his right to a speedy trial and intends to request a trial date in April or May 2025,” they told the judge.

The investigation involves more than 50 witnesses and 300 warrants all of which unfolded since last fall, when Combs’ former girlfriend, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, filed a lawsuit against him alleging sex abuse and sex trafficking. Combs settled the suit with significant payout within 24 hours, according to his lawyers.

Combs’ legal troubles had been building for months. In civil lawsuits, multiple women have accused Combs of rape, assault and other abuses, dating back three decades.

The post Terabytes of data from phones, computers seized in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex probe appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee said he expects lawsuits to be filed within the next month, with most expected to be filed in New York and Los Angeles. Buzbee described the victims as 60 males and 60 females, and that 25 were minors at the time of the alleged misconduct. One individual alleged he was 9 years old when he was abused, Buzbee said. The allegations cover a period from 1991 to this year.

“This type of sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation should never happen in the United States or anywhere else. This should have never been allowed to go on for so long. This conduct has created a mass of individuals who are injured, scared and scarred,” Buzbee said at a news conference.

Following the announcement of the accusations in Texas, an attorney for Combs said the performer “cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus.”

“That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff said in a statement. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”

Buzbee said more than 3,280 individuals contacted his firm and alleged they were victimized by Combs and that after vetting the allegations, his firm decided to represent 120 people. Other cases are still being reviewed. He said some of his clients have spoken with the FBI.

The individuals that Buzbee’s firm is representing are from more than 25 states, with the majority from California, New York, Georgia and Florida.

The abuse that’s being alleged took place mostly at parties held in New York, California and Florida where individuals were given drinks that were laced with drugs, Buzbee said.

Some of the alleged conduct took place at auditions where “many times, especially young people, people wanting to break into the industry were coerced into this type of conduct in the promise of being made a star,” Buzbee said.

Combs, 54, has been locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since pleading not guilty Sept. 17 to federal charges that he used his “power and prestige” to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “Freak Offs.”

Other alleged victims have already filed lawsuits against Combs that include allegations of sexual assault.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.

Combs is one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers across hip-hop, having won three Grammys and worked with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112. He founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the influential fashion line Sean John, a vodka brand and the Revolt TV network. He sold off his stake in the latter company in June of this year.

Buzbee has also represented women who accused NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault and misconduct.

The post Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of sexual misconduct by 120 people, attorney says appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Television news helicopters captured the action as Department of Homeland Security agents served a search warrant in what officials described as an investigation into alleged sex trafficking — claims the music legend denies.

Homeland Security investigators yelled for those inside the star’s Holmby Hills mansion to come out with their hands in the air. Combs’ adult sons later told their father they had lasers pointed at them as they emerged from the home, sources told The Times. Combs himself was in Florida at the time.

But much remains unknown about the case and how close authorities are to determining whether to file criminal charges.

Here is a rundown of what we know and what we don’t:

What do we know about the searches?

Sources with knowledge of the operation who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it publicly said it appears investigators searching Combs’ Holmby Hills home emptied safes, dismantled electronics and left papers strewn in some rooms. Federal agents disabled his security system and seized the hard drive, a sources told The Times.

That tracks with what some legal experts expected investigators would seek if trying to build a sex-trafficking case against the hip-hop mogul.

Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County sex crimes prosecutor who is now in private law practice, said investigators would likely seek authorization to “search for videos or photographs on any devices connected to the target … anywhere where digital images can be found in connection to sexual conduct that would have been recorded.”

It is unclear what was recovered in the bicoastal searches.

Federal authorities spent several hours at both homes. Sources said Combs was in Miami at the time but was not at his Florida home when the raid occurred.

No one has been arrested in connection with the investigation, although two of Combs’ sons were briefly detained on the Holmby Hills property, and Brendan Paul, a man described in a recent lawsuit against Combs as a confidant and drug “mule,” was arrested at a Miami airport at the same time the raids were being conducted. Miami-Dade police took Paul, 25, into custody on suspicion of possession of cocaine and marijuana-laced candy, records show.

Where does the case stand?

Sources told The Times that Combs is the subject of a sweeping inquiry into sex-trafficking allegations and sexual assault.

The investigation comes after four women filed civil lawsuits accusing Combs of rape, assault and other abuses, dating back three decades. One of the allegations involved a minor.

A source familiar with Homeland Security’s criminal inquiry said investigators have interviewed some of the people tied to the sex-trafficking allegations in the lawsuits against Combs.

“They have [in the Combs case] convinced one or more federal magistrates they had enough probable cause for one or more search warrants,” said Meghan Blanco, a defense attorney who has handled sex-trafficking cases. “Given the scope of the investigation, it seems they are further along than most investigations.”

Gorin said the allegations involving a minor could be a key focus in the inquiry.

If a minor is moved across state lines for the purpose of sex, “that is enough for at least an argument … of sex trafficking because somebody underage cannot consent,” Gorin said.

“Sex trafficking for adults usually involves some sort of coercion or other restraints,” he said, and can be tougher to prove. Prosecutors would need to show you “encouraged somebody to engage in sexual activity for money or some other inducement.”

What is Diddy’s camp saying?

Aaron Dyer, one of Combs’ lawyers, on Tuesday called the raids a “witch hunt” and criticized how they were conducted.

“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” Dyer said in a statement. “This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits. There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations.”

Sources in Combs’ camp who requested anonymity say the star remains in the U.S. and authorities have not taken his passport. They said Combs had been scheduled to depart by plane Monday for a spring break vacation with his school-age daughters, but opted to delay the trip after learning of the searches.

The post Inside the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ raids: Emptied safes, dismantled electronics, gun-toting feds appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.