the defense may get all the evidence in the case a superseding indictment may be on the horizon and that's it for trying to get bail we're breaking down some of the recent major updates in the Sha Diddy combes criminal case welcome to sidebar presented by law on crime I'm Jesse Weber all right it is time once again to do a kind of reassessment of where we are right now in the Shawn Diddy comes criminal case so many things happen at such a fast pace now if you haven't been following the day to day of this criminal case we've got some recent updates for you and to start you know I will tell you I was actually doing a live stream of a diddy hearing the other day on our long crime YouTube channel and we take questions from our viewers and they're great questions by the way we love when you guys submit the questions but we took a question from one of our YouTubers and it was something as simple as what's going on with Diddy I haven't really been following it and and you know I thought about that we do so many stories here on sidebar about this guy sometimes I just assume most of you know what's been going on from the very beginning but the truth is many don't and his charges are not so easy to understand they're kind of complicated they're not so straightforward so let me briefly set the stage about what he's charged with and how he got here so sha Colmes the music mogul the multi-millionaire he was arrested in September out in New York by federal authorities and this wasn't a surprise to us why because after his ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura filed her bombshell lawsuit against him in November of 201 23 accusing him of sexually verbally emotionally and psychologically abusing her over their relationship that lasted years that was the start of many lawsuits to come against Shawn Colmes by the way he was just sued by three men who said that they were assaulted by him as well now what happened after we saw the beginning of all these lawsuits two of his properties in March of 2024 were raided by federal agents who you know confiscated guns and digital and physical evidence in May CNN published a video of combs reportedly beating Cassandra Ventura in a hotel hallway from back in 2016 this surveillance footage apparently captures him running down a hallway in a towel and kicking punching and dragging her and then what two days after that video is published he ends up apologizing in an Instagram video then September he's arrested out in New York and he was charged with three Federal crimes racketeering conspiracy sex trafficking by force fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution I think the best way to explain what he's being charged with is how it's described in his criminal indictment namely that he allegedly abused threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires protect his reputation and conceal his conduct to do so Colmes relied on the employees resources and influence of the multifaceted business Empire that he led and controlled creating a criminal Enterprise whose members and Associates engaged in and attempted to engage in among other crimes sex trafficking Force labor kidnapping arson bribery and obstruction of justice coms and other members and Associates of the coms Enterprise wielded the power and Prestige of com's role at the com's businesses to intimidate threaten and lure female victims into com's orbit often under the pretense of a romantic relationship coms then use Force threats of force and coercion to call victims to engage in extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers that comes referred to as among other things freak offs freak offs were elaborate and produced sex performances that Colmes arranged directed pleasured himself during and often electronically recorded in arranging these freak offs comes with the assistance of members and Associates of the coms Enterprise transported and caused to be transported commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally freak offs occurred regularly some times lasted multiple days and often involv multiple commercial sex workers during freak offs Combs distributed a variety of Controlled Substances to victims in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant sometimes unbeknownst to victims Colmes kept videos he filmed of victims engaging in sex acts with commercial sex workers after freak offs combes and the victims typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use so that essentially is what we're talking about and since his arrest he has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center out in Brooklyn New York by the way as you can see with how we cover stories like Diddy we just try to call balls and Strikes just try to give you the facts sober analysis and that is why we're thrilled to partner with a company like straight arrow news so this is an app and website that is focused on objective unbiased reporting as somebody who's always doing research for sidebar I get it I know how easy it is to get lost in biased journalism well straight hour news helps us cut through that with tools like the media landscape which shows where Outlets in the political Spectrum or the media Miss tool highlighting stories that mainstream media might be skipping so check it out for yourself for free use the tools that we use to research at s. com sidebar or click the link in the description and supporting them means supporting journalists like us who are committed to delivering the truth okay all that in mind let's talk now about some recent updates in the criminal case so I want to start with what happened just a few days ago because Colmes had this pre-trial hearing in federal court in front of Judge run suban the current judge overseeing this case and the prosecution indicated to the court that they plan to turn over all evidence to the defense by the end of the year so what what is that just less than two weeks now the government in a letter to the court in anticipation of this hearing they did have a little caveat they said certain Discovery however may be produced after that date for example due to technological limitations the government has not yet been able to extract every electronic device seized to the extent that the ongoing efforts to extract the devices are successful those extractions will be produced promptly moreover as noted previously the government's investigation is ongoing and the government will continue to produce discoverable material as it is received on a rolling basis this may include among other things records received in response to outstanding or new subpoenas or other legal process now I have to put this in perspective for a minute the prosecution has indicated that there is a mountain of evidence in this case and when you're talking a racketeering case that is apparently you know allegations are stemming what from 2008 2009 to 2024 there's a lot of stuff here and it can get complicated and particularly digital evidence I mean in this case assistant us attorney Emily Johnson one of the prosecutors said back in October that during and this was during the early stages of this case as per reporting by PBS 96 electronic devices were seized during these raids on Shan colm's properties and that eight devices contained over 90 terabytes of information now not all of it might be relevant to the case but that is a lot to go through but even in a filing last month home's defense team said that the Productions that were turned over to them by the prosecution have been voluminous and they confirm that the government quote has turned over many terabytes of data including search warrant affidavits think about how much material that is so when you think about that when you think about how much material has been turned over to the defense and maybe will still have to be turned over it is still amazing to me that the defense will be ready for a May 2025 trial but I tell you what just keep that in mind keep that date in mind for a second now during this hearing this week there has also been a discussion about Brady material now Brady material is relevant evidence that is favorable to the defense potentially exculpatory evidence tending to prove a defendant did not commit the crime and this is evidence that the process ution finds out about and has to turn over to the defense and in their joint letter to the court in anticipation of this hearing this week the defense argued quote that the Brady disclosures failed to meet the minimum constitutional standards to which MrColmes is entitled so during the hearing judge subber manian asked the prosecution can you tell me how you're complying with the Brady obligations to which assistant United States Attorney Emily Johnson reportedly responded that they are endeavoring to get the defense the information requesting including interrogations the prosecution conducted and also told the court that they had given the defense files from victim one now based on the description of victim one in the indictment and prosecution filings the Vic this is the victim by the way who makes up the sex trafficking charge I think a fair argument would be that is probably Cassandra Ventura so when there is a discussion of turning over evidence regarding victim one potentially Cassandra Ventura and exculpatory evidence regarding victim one I have to wonder if this relates back to the argument presented by the defense over the past several months that there is no evidence that victim one is a victim of sex trafficking rather that she and combms had this consensual yearslong toxic violent relationship and when you look at the 2016 video that I mentioned before the defense would say this is not evidence that he was trafficking her but this was just a very unfortunate disturbing domestic spat now the prosecutors have asserted that there was a sex worker in that hotel room that she was allegedly escaping from and so this is a prime example of sex trafficking but going back to what this exculpatory information might be regarding victim one colm's lawyer Mark aifo seemed to confirm that in this hearing this might be what's going on because he apparently said to the judge if what happened in Mrcom's bedroom was found to be entire ly personal we'd view that as subject to Brady now to be clear we don't know exactly what exculpatory Brady material is being referred to but I think a fair assessment would be if they're trying to say that everything was consensual um maybe toxic but consensual between uh Cassandra ventor or victim one and Shan Colmes that's exculpatory okay moving on also in this hearing there was an important discussion about a superseding indictment you see it's been reported that the pro prosecutors here have been presenting evidence to a grand jury and that this investigation is ongoing so it is possible that Combs could be hit with new or amended charges and so judge subber Manan asked a USA Johnson more about this the judge asked what can you tell me about your ongoing investigation and any superseding indictment now a USA Johnson reportedly replied I can't say much we're mindful of the trial date and any additional charges will have little dis Discovery information huh what does that mean does it seem to suggest that if we bring charges it wouldn't make a major change in the case maybe suggesting it wouldn't necessar necessarily require a change in the trial date so is it possible that means just maybe I don't know amending the racketeering charge to add more evidence so does that mean maybe just adding additional supporting evidence to let's say the racketeering charge that is so widespread or W or overarching because the racketeering charge has a number of underlying crimes I mentioned before forc Labor kidnapping obstruction uh bribery and so are maybe they're just going to amend it with additional information it's hard to say I mean prosecutors have alleged that they have evidence that com's engaged in further acts of obstruction while he's been locked up in the MDC after his arrest after the indictment namely allegedly paying to use other inmates phone access accounts using three Way phone calls to contact people not approved on his contact list evidence that he told his family to contact potential victims and Witnesses in this case so if they are going to now you know amend the indictment to include this is that a possibility is that maybe why it won't change the structure of the case it's not like an additional charge per se or maybe they say look we know there's a trial date we get it but that may change I mean we keep wondering if Colmes is going to be hit with charges with respect to miners since that is the basis of a lot of the civil lawsuits that he's currently facing since he was first criminally charged and if they do end up charging him criminally at the federal level with respect to minors that I have to imagine would include a lot more Discovery would change the whole tenor of this case would change his entire defense strategy but honestly tough to say what to make from those remarks now moving back to Colmes lawyer Mark agnifilo he asked during this hearing that the racketeering charge he said his very vague and that the prosecution what they're alleging with multiple acts of arson and kidnapping but he said it wasn't clear what events they're referring to and he even suggested we anticipate a motion for a bill of particulars coming to the court now a bill of particulars is when a defendant says to the government look I need some more clarity on my charges itemize it out for me I need more details of each charge so I can properly understand the case and defend against it and it's a way for a defendant to avoid being surprised at trial and by the way col's defense has asked for this before at another point in this case including wanting to know the names of the victims in this case so we'll see if they get a little bit more clarity or ask for more clarity about what the charges are by the way when agnifilo talks about arson and kidnapping in one of the government's first letters to the court of the very beginning of this case in September they kind of explain what this is they write in the early morning hours of December 22nd 2011 the defendant and a co-conspirator kidnapped an individual at gunpoint to facilitate breaking into and entering the residence of another individual one multiple Witnesses would testify a trial to the to the events surrounding the kidnapping and Breakin the latter of which is corroborated by police reports and other records approximately two weeks later the defendant's co-conspirators set fire to individual one's vehicle by slicing open the car's convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside the interior police and fire department reports extensively document the arson and conclude that the fire was intentionally set multiple Witnesses would also testify to the defendant bragging about his role in destroying individual ones car and we believe this is actually in reference to rapper kid Cuddy because this description is almost identical to what has been alleged in another lawsuit against Shawn Colmes I believe it was the Cassandra ventur lawsuit where she said that Colmes took this Revenge out on the rapper because of him being romantically linked to her all right so moving on the judge concluded the hearing by scheduling the next hearing for March 17th meaning we may not see or hear from Shawn Colmes for quite some time as he sits behind bars in the MDC now to be fair we haven't really seen him with our own eyes there's been courtroom sketches but I will tell you this talking about seeing and hearing from Sean Colmes long crimes very own Elizabeth Milner was inside that courtroom for this hearing and she relayed to us how coms looked so when Diddy came inside you know it was still that standard issued MDC jumpsuit he's wearing um khaki you know from that video of I think that was obtained by Daily Mail back in September of Diddy playing hacky sack in Central Park to now he appeared just astonishly thinner which you can expect to be inside a Federal Detention Center for a couple months now a lot different from the luxury lifestyle that he was living before but he appeared very noticeably thinner and maybe um being locked up and detention is starting to wear on him he appeared grayer a little bit as well too but again he appeared just like how you would expect Diddy to appear for a hearing first of all I got to call out Elizabeth here because her reporting on this was picked up by the Press lot of outlets quoted her description of Diddy so great reporting by her but also it's interesting hearing the way that he looked considering what he reportedly said in court too according to ABC Holmes reportedly said to those in the court happy holidays yall he was also apparently polite to the judge asking good afternoon how are you doing today so seemingly a positive attitude considering he's locked up for the foreseeable future and you know may not be doing great Behind Bars which by the way we have an update on that as well so after judge subber Manan became the latest judge to deny Shawn com's bail you know denying him pre-trial release comes by the way still had the option to appeal that decision to the second circuit court of appeals but in a recent filing his team wrote MrColmes does not seek to appeal the District Court's denial of his renewed motion and hereby moves to voluntarily dismiss the appeal so it seems he is given up trying to be released he has given up trying to fight for Bale and I think a fair argument for why he would do that would he be he probably realized it wouldn't be successful after so many judges all concluded the same thing and given the fact that his trial is basically just around the corner I may I mean May will be here before you know it and there is such an enormous amount of evidence to review like I mentioned maybe let's not spend the time and money trying to fight a non-winner argument right let's focus on my legal defense not bail it's not happening for me and by the way why did Judge subber manian recently last month become the latest judge to deny him bail well as judge subber Manan wrote in his order the court finds that the government has shown by clear and convincing evidence so it's a lower standard that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community so first he says aside from all the heinous allegations in the indictment subber manian he cites the 16 videotape as evidence of com's violence and his dangerousness this is important in a bail analysis second sub Romanian ruled that comes presents a serious risk of witness tampering like improperly contacting a grand jury witness and trying to cover it up third subber Manan says that Colmes violated the Bureau of Prisons regulations in the MDC when he was making these three-way phone calls or using other inmates phone access codes he broke the rules while in the MDC while he was seeking bail and when he knew the government had already alleged he was reaching out to Witnesses and engaging in obstructive conduct yet subber Manan says he does this fourth this was interesting subber Manan actually took issue with what he perceived to be Shan colm's lawyers misrepresenting to the court about whether or not com's legal pads in his Jail unit were actually labeled legal or not this is with respect to a separate inquiry on whether his rights were violated when photos were taken of those legal pads it seemed to be the suggestion that the fense might not have been so accurate about when or if those pads were labeled legal or not so it's a bit of a problem there fifth even though Shan Combs presented a bail package of $50 million and private security to monitor him on house arrest judge subber Manan wrote the court doubts the sufficiency of any conditions that place trust in Combs and individuals in his employee like a private security detail to follow those conditions so in other words he might influence that security detail they can't be trusted either and here's the final Point Colmes is in a different position than Mike Jeff the former CEO of abian Fitch who was also recently arrested and charge with Federal sex trafficking crimes in New York why the issue with Jeff was that he was less a danger on the outside versus a Flight Risk and he had no criminal history and the allegations there stemmed from a decade ago and he's 80 years old and there's no Rico or racketeering allegation so he really can't be compared with Shawn comes there's no way to ensure comes wouldn't be a danger on the outside or essentially follow the rules that's the bottom line okay so now that he's locked up it does seem clear there's one thing he's probably going to do and that is review evidence in this case that leads me to another update here so you remember there was this whole back and forth about how and when comes could use a laptop to review evidence while he's locked up at the MDC well judge subber Manan recently ordered that the MDC must give Combs access to the Discovery laptop 7 days per week from 8:00 a. m.
to 3:30 p. m.
