right got to keep them there right you need you need locks on the doors okay this is sounding kind of dangerous now it's an old adage that can't be denied the internet never forgets if something is posted online it's going to live on there somewhere forever and that is proving to be true for Shawn Diddy Colmes as he faces criminal charges in a federal court in New York we are taking a fresh look at some videos of the rapper that take on a new tone given the serious accusations he's now facing we're going to bring
break down some of the clips and the potential impact if any at trial with a digital forensics expert welcome to sidebar presented by law crime I'm Jesse [Music] Weber sha Diddy Colmes has been a pop culture icon since the 1990s for a while now he was an early adopter of video blogging bragging at one point to David Letterman that he had the most friends in history on MySpace we all remember what Myspace was he said he started a vlog called didy TV where he posted about his life and that hasn't stopped DJs aren't supposed to
pass out but when they come to one of my parties this is what happens to him he should I put him to sleep next day right yeah put the drink on his head there it is now comes invites people into his life through social media television appearances concerts he was even in talks with Hulu to make a reality show about his family similar to Keeping Up with the Kardashians but that plan came to a screeching halt when accusations arose about com's Behavior behind the scenes Cassie Ventura com's X filed a multi-million doll lawsuit against him
last November accusing him of physical assault rape sex trafficking drug trafficking comes adamantly denied everything in that lawsuit but he did settle that lawsuit with Ventura the very next day but what ended up happening that lawsuit set off an avalanche of litigation with multiple people both men and women coming forward with their own complaints about com's conduct then in March federal agents raided two of com's homes one in Los Angeles one in Miami taking out boxes full of evidence including dozens of electronic devices at the time Colmes wasn't facing any criminal charges but we spoke
with legal experts who said that an indictment would be imminent and then one week ago Colmes was arrested pursuant to a grand jury indictment through the southern district of New York he was indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy sex trafficking transportation to engage in prostitution the indictment lays out the allegations against him including forced labor bribery obstruction of justice the indictment States quote the defendant engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals this abuse was at times verbal emotional physical and sexual as part of his pattern of abuse coms
manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers at times Colmes and others acting in his Direction made arrangements for women and Commercial sex workers to fly to com's location comes ensured participation from the women by among other things obtaining and distributing narcotics to them controlling their careers leveraging his financial support and threatening to cut off the same and using intimidation and violence by the way talking about Shan comes and these allegations doesn't not just show you how scary the world can be I don't know how unpredictable the
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win they're only getting paid if you get paid so if you're injured you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com LC sidebar or you can click the link in the description and pinned in the comments Holmes allegedly forced men and women to participate in what he called freak offs or fos these hours long sexual performances that involve drugs alcohol baby oil lubricant even professional lighting and cameras prosecutors say that Colmes coerced people into taking part in these freak offs for years and now as old video clips of com start to surface it appears com's bad
boy Behavior has maybe been an open secret in Hollywood and Beyond and what we are seeing now in these resurfacing of older videos of coms are different context we might be looking at these videos in a different lens given these allegations did these videos tell us anything could they be used as evidence at trial well to talk about this I want to bring in digital forensics expert Heather Barnhart to talk more about this Heather thanks so much for coming on good to see you first I want to get your reaction uh to this indictment you
know I've spoken with a lot of legal analysts you're an expert in digital evidence what's what stood out most to you about uh not only the indictment but I'll also say the two letters that were submitted by prosecutors uh when they were trying to fight Colmes Bale he's been denied bail twice but we learned a lot more information in those letters too sextortion is the major issue here and it's a platform I've been speaking on in my opinion it's the number one threat that we're dealing with in the United United States and worldwide the fact
that coms is allegedly reaching out and threatening to release these videos and ruin people's lives the thing is one video one photo can ruin your life forever and who knows what control was set in place to even have these videos recorded if they were consensual or not because that's the allegation right that he would secretly record these freak off sessions and by the way when you hear that the government has obtained and I'm reading from the letter uh by the government over 90 cell phones laptops cloud storage accounts as well as over 30 other electronic
and storage devices such as hard drives thumb drives cameras and a surveillance system what does that tell you so here is the crazy thing investigators have their hands full they are going to need forensic software to help them get through this information but if you think about your phone it knows everything you do you can't hide from your phone it's the perfect Digital Witness that jurries are going to expect when we look at his phone so when you examine Sean K's devices the truth will be there whether you try to remove it or not the
truth is there and a forensic expert will dig that truth out well I'm glad to have you to talk about that because I'm also talking about the new clips that have surfaced and what we make of them so a very digital episode and so let's talk about some of these resurfaced clips of shanes where I think the argument would be is that he seemed to dance around the details of his allegedly debaucherous lifestyle I mean when he went on Ellen degen's Show she asked him about his parties this was back in 2007 no it'll go
from like 9:30 to like maybe 3:00 2 3:00 and then you know we have the top two floors of the hotel and then it will carry on there yeah yeah no I mean the after party no I know about them um and then way back in 1999 Colmes told Entertainment Tonight that his parties might even get him arrested you going to hear about my party they're going to be shutting them down they going to probably be arresting me doing all types of crazy things just cuz we want to have a good time you know whenever
you bring up a different element into people's environment things that broaden people's Sur people get intimidated and then there were celebrities who are you know kind of happy to joke with Colmes about his lifestyle his interactions with women this included late night hosts like David Letterman Jimmy Kimmel Conan O'Brien right got to keep him there right you you need locks on the doors okay this is sounding kind of dangerous now it's a little kinky but you rock with me but just check it out you need um a lot of heat a lot of heat heat
you mean that physically the place has to be hot you don't have no air conditioning no air conditioning why is that heat affects the alcohol and it also affects like um you know everybody gets a little bit more comfortable and loose builds up a nice little sweat so Heather looking at these like I struggle with them right I struggle with them I don't know if they'll make it into evidence I don't know if they'll necessarily be relevant they're actually kind of you know I don't know what they tell us they could be innocent statements about
his parties being a good time exaggerating what these might be like puffery maybe they are wild maybe there was sexual escapades but not necessarily illegal what do you take away from those videos I think there's a huge amount of control that had to be implemented here if you think about seeing the videos of the cell phones being collected and what were told when they were arriving at the party and how fun it would be versus what you end up in it almost sounds like you've entered into a prison and then you were released so thinking
of that and the threats of violence and all the things that could occur from what we're hearing allegedly happen but it's almost when you watch those clips as if he were bragging that he wanted the attention on what these things are because curiosity we're humans humans are curious if you're curious about what these parties are and you'll do anything to get there there's going to be a huge huge celebrity list of people who probably were just present and not participating so I think it's going to be wild what we see investigators uncover during this investigation
I I I think it's also and what is frustrating for a lot of people this was known puffy parties everybody knew about them they're wild now they're dancing around it a little bit but it's he didn't feel to me uncomfortable talking about the parties now he might not have I don't think he ever expected that he was going to get arrested for allegedly what happened uh at some of these events and by the way he's not he's not being arrested for what happened at parties like the white party in G it's it's specific sexual coerced
encounters but he seemed very comfortable speaking about this too he did and you know I think we're going to see as we look closely at the devices belonging to coms we're going to see other people that may be nearby or involved just from connecting to Hotel Wi-Fi yacht WiFi proximity to his device so even if these devices are collected there is going to guaranteed be other people Associated to this so we may be able to even see who's behind him and supporting him because it takes more than one person to do all the things that
are being allegedly done in these freak offs and there were those who said you know they just look the other way right and that's what the people believe is oh all these celebrities were just looking the other way or maybe they were active participants we don't know what is interesting is that there were others who called out Colmes and his behavior so we had comedian Cat Williams and he said this now Infamous line during an interview with Shannon sharp on his YouTube channel back in January so this was after Cassandra uh Ventura's lawsuit was filed
before the raids on col's Mansions before um the charges came out but listen to what he said cuz P Diddy be wanting the body and you got to tell him no you got to tell him no I did okay so Heather to be clear Cat Williams is not mentioned in this criminal case in fact everyone I'm about to mention everyone I'm about to talk about is not actually brought up in the criminal complaint or the letters there are no names the government mentions victims and Witnesses there's a specific mention to victim one but no one
by name so I just want to make that clear but what do you make of that statement from Cat Williams clearly word got out and this goes back to is it a respect for who shot homes was why would people not talk about this it seems to have gone on for over a decade think of people who are adults now that were children at the time there has to be some level of control or almost like an Intrigue to these parties even if you didn't want to participate that no one went forward and said hey
this is what's happening until they started to and you know what's what else is coming into question is how Colmes acted around like you said when you talk about age the young upand cominging artists that he was mentoring like R&B icon Usher pop Superstar Justin Bieber you know Colmes produced Usher's first album and Usher apparently lived with Colmes for about a year and he talked about that what seems to be an intense period of time he talked about it with Howard Stern in 2016 hey it was curious I got a chance to see some things
yeah but you were 13 what were you see I went there to see the lifestyle right and I saw it and it was and it was but I don't know if I could indulge and understand what I was even looking at it was it was pretty wild and Usher also told Stern in that interview that when asked if he would allow his kids to do the same he replied emphatically hell no now Heather again not sure what to take away from that and to be clear there were no allegations in the indictment or the government's
letters where they say anything about minors right that was uh a very conspicuous absence from those uh those filings from the government but when you hear something like what Usher said you know it's again I'm not sure I don't believe that would that video would come into evidence I don't think it shows much but it may give us kind of a glimpse into something I think it does give us a glimpse into the mindset and one of the hardest things in digital forensics is almost tapping into the mindset of the person you are investigating or
looking at because once you're in almost put yourself in their shoes on the things that were done makes the picture clearer I think anything that can make the mindset clearer to the jury will help definitely help the innocent people because here's the issue when you're trying to I assume obtain people through chats because how else are you going to get these people if you have your site set on a specific Target a pop star someone you want there chats had to occurred so I assume that all those chats will be obtained from his devices but
the thing that bothers me the most and this is the hard hardest reality for me when someone has everything why do you have to take the innocence of younger people or even show them a world that is not normal and and and and by the way that's you could say not even showing them a world that's illegal showing them a world a very adult world and I think that's maybe what com's defense will be one of the things and we kind of been hearing Rumblings about it he might look at all these videos and say
yeah I I agree with everything I think everybody agreed to these parties everybody agreed to these sexual events everything was consensual we like a party you might not know what this is like John Smith in Oklahoma but this is the celebrity lifestyle this is the culture and when this trial happens that may be an argument that they move forward with and I would say my rebuttal to that what's the age of consent where these freak offs occurred and can you consent when you're under the influence that's a very very fair argument because he is accused
of drugging people during these freak off sessions where they would be obedient and compliant now talking about age Justin Bieber now Justin Bieber was uh very young when he uh reportedly worked with Colmes and one of the videos that is circulated in the aftermath of all this attention on comes and in fact after the raids uh was com's interaction with a then 15-year-old Justin Bieber this was back in 2009 as he was rocking to start him now when you talk about 2009 that is actually in the time frame in the indictment so they talk about
these freak offs happening uh this alleged criminal conduct from 2008 onward but again Justin Bieber is not mentioned by name in this criminal complaint or in the government's letters but we go back to 2009 he's rocketing to stardom this video was posted on Bieber's YouTube channel and it's titled 48 hours with Diddy Justin he's in you ever seen 48 hours right now he's having 48 hours with Diddy him and his boy um they're having the times of their lives like like like you know where we hanging out and what we doing um we we can't
really disclose but um it's definitely a 15y old's dream it's very uncomfortable I it doesn't even have to be anything connected to these Alle like the criminal case I just find that video uncomfortable it's gotten a lot ofen Heather there are those who believe that Bieber may be cooperating in the government purely speculation but just that video in and of itself I think makes a lot of people uncomfortable it definitely does and he's a father of a young infant son now I think who you were then what you were introduced to again it's taking away
the innocence of people that don't deserve that at all can I ask you a question again and the only reason I'm bringing this up is because there were allegations in the lawsuits I'm I'm really specifically talking about the Rodney little Rod Jones uh lawsuit this is com's former producer who sued him for sexual assault sex trafficking um he mentioned that there he was tasked with soliciting minors and that there were underage people at these parties why do you think there was nothing about that in the indictment do you think that the digital evidence maybe didn't
corroborate it maybe there was not witness testimony that could corroborate it maybe prosecutors are waiting to bring those charges or maybe they didn't want to bring that uh in connection with this case although R Kelly he was facing sex trafficking or racketeering charges that were very much had a theme about uh miners so I I just was again I I don't know if it could very well not be true right the prosecu say there's not enough evidence to show that but when you're looking at these kinds of things were you surprised by that why do
you think it's not in there I think they may be saving this one possibly or even think of this the miners at the time could potentially be adults now so do they want to be involved in this investigation are they willing to speak out on their experiences because as an adult now they can actually do that but I think when you look at all of these freak offs that occurred there has to be a collection and I read a lot of Articles saying that he recorded these with multiple cell phones with professional cameras so I
think the collections of the videos when investigators dig through those will tell the truth and reveal some of the proposed ages of these miners you talk about the power of video by the way I mean that 2016 video of him allegedly beating Cassandra Ventura that was one of the you know biggest pieces of evidence that came out even before the charges and clearly it made its way into the criminal case if that is just a sampling of what the government has you're seeing a very strong case absolutely now given what we know uh about col's
party lifestyle through these lawsuits and people that I've spoken out over the years it is concerning when you see someone so young as Justin Bieber hanging out with the rapper and in fact in a video that was posted on col's YouTube channel was just a year or so later Bieber again it he looks uncomfortable when interacting with the rapper that's my take but let's see what you think what's up man you good I'm good how are you young brother everything's good selling out Arenas and everything starting to act different huh you you ain't been calling
me and hanging out the way we used to hang yeah well I mean you haven't I mean you try to get in contact with me you know through all my you know bu you know partners and whatnot but you never really got my number so okay my number yeah yeah I'm tell you my number yeah yeah now Khloe Kardashian also made comments about being at a P Diddy party on Keeping Up with the Kardashians in 2014 she said that she'd seen a young Justin Bieber at the party and that half of the guests were naked
you know Heather looking back on it he he might be uncomfortable I think he actually looked more uncomfortable in the first video but it could have been a sketch it could have been like a little skit between them I'm not entirely sure um but again you know when I think about the number of witnesses that the government is speaking to or could be speaking to because this is an ongoing investigation I have to wonder if they are celebrities if they are Justin Bieber if they are the Kardashians I bet they are and here's the thing
names are going to come out and I think it's going to shock a lot of people and there's so many things that you read and all the allegations that are out there but even just looking at the phone in that video you can tell the Digital Data is going to seal this investigation on what the truth is that's what I honestly believe but I think too when you see Justin Bieber look so young in those videos there has to be a plethora of miners involved in this and I guarantee they're going to be big names
because I feel like that would be the attraction to come to his parties if that's something you're participating in and there's a new pop star you're going to come see that un fortunately and how much of this do you think would be documented not just in videos I'm talking text messages especially if you're dealing with minors who they might not realize what the consequences of this are so if they're just freely talking about what happened at these parties in text messages I feel like that could be something that prosecutors might be looking at as well
right the text message conversations absolutely chats are everything and even if you take devices if you came to my house right now and I take your phone when you leave you can do whatever you want that's why I do worry about the level of control that Combs may have had over the potential victims or the people that participated or even watched or saw but there's no way for a decade that someone didn't talk about it text about it share something along the way and even the alleged threats that are happening those are happening in email
and text messages so all of these chats secure or not software like celebrate that's what we do we dig in and we uncover the truth now Bieber Who's now 30 actually recently collaborated with Colmes on the love album and he was featured on a song called moments Colmes even posted photos of the two of them in the studio together and sources told the Daily Mail that Bieber was shocked deeply disturbed by col's arrest reportedly unwilling to discuss it they told the outlet that so many people who helped to make him who he is were very
close to Diddy and it is completely thrown him uh Justin hasn't been responding on this since the home raids he's not going to he had a long break from Diddy when he believes most of this took place and he had distanced himself from him he was featured on Diddy's most recent album and had he known any of this there is no way he would have done it so it seems like Diddy's wild parties were a pretty open secret but could those partygoers be aware of some of the crimes that are alleged in com's criminal indictment
the alleged abuse and coercion that was going on it remains to be seen if the southern district of New York will charge anyone else in connection with com's alleged criminal Empire and so far far he's the only defendant named he faces just these three charges racketeer and conspiracy sex trafficking transportation to engage in prostitution Heather barnhard I'll give you the final word because uh we're still at the early stages of this and uh you know one of the things I imagine if they this isn't ongoing investigation and people are coming forward there's going to be
more digital evidence that authorities have to sort through there will be in sex stion something this major you can't act alone there have to be other key players who were assisting combs in this entire allegation Heather thank you so much for coming on really appreciate you breaking down these videos with me what we can expect from the digital evidence in this case the final question I have for you is I don't believe I really don't know if any of that's actually going to make its way into trial what do you think I think some of
them should especially trying to show the age or even the look on miners faces when they're discussing these parties and what's happening behind closed doors I think it shows the discomfort and the people who are probably excited to spend time with coms look I think if miners are not a part of this case the defense will have a really good argument that none of this is relevant that it's highly prejudicial towards their client uh but we shall see we're in the early stages Heather Barnhart thank you so much appreciate it thank you all right everybody
that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us as always please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcast I'm Jesse Weber speak to you next time [Music]
