Evidence found in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ jail cell suggests he has influenced a witness in his New York sex trafficking and racketeering case and is trying to blackmail others, prosecutors allege. They say that he has sought to avoid federal detection by using three-way calls and other inmates’ phone access codes.
In a motion filed Friday, federal prosecutors say Combs was using secretive methods to contact outsiders from jail, and evidence gathered shows “the clear inference that the defendant’s goal is to blackmail victims and witnesses either into silence or provide testimony helpful to his defense. An allegation that is more often seen in mob trials or Mexican Mafia-style cases.”
But in a motion filed Monday, the music mogul’s lawyers contend that what investigators actually seized from his Metropolitan Detention Center cell in Brooklyn was “attorney-client privileged material,” including handwritten notes by Combs.
“This search and seizure are in violation of Mr. Combs’ Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights,” his attorneys wrote. “The targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee’s work product and privileged materials — created in preparation for trial — is outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation.”
The attorneys only learned that notes were seized from Combs’ cell when prosecutors filed a motion 30 minutes before midnight Friday citing them as evidence opposing his release, his attorneys wrote.