P. Diddy Sex Trafficking Case: Taking a Closer Look

No we support D this up we the supporters we've been anticipating it for months and it finally happened charges filed against Shawn Diddy Colmes alleging coercion violence all wrapped up in a RICO charge and while a few are still showing their support the evidence is piling up against one of the top selling rap artists of all time we are taking a closer look at the best evidence the prosecution has that could Send Shawn Colmes to prison for the rest of his life Welcome to the sidebar presented by law and crime I'm Jesse Weber 54-year-old Shawn

Diddy Colmes was led out of a federal courtroom in New York on Tuesday by Marshals uncuffed but headed straight for jail spent the night in the MDC the Metropolitan Detention Center out in Brooklyn it's a notorious jail that has had some pretty bad History of Violence suicides sex offender Jeffrey Epstein being held There prior to his trial when he was found dead in his cell in 2019 actually interestingly enough Damen Williams the US attorney for the southern district of New York was actually asked yesterday if he was worried about com's safety given the Jeffrey Epstein

situation essentially said look we have to strive to keep everyone protected this is just the way the criminal justice system works interesting question nonetheless by the way a form filed with the court On Tuesday afternoon list sha comes as the defendant and then under bail disposition detention risk of flight SL danger it has an x mark next to it also checked is the box next to defendant arrain pleads not guilty now we've gone over the 14-page indictment filed against combs in the southern district of New York plus letters regarding bail sent to the judge by

both the prosecution and the defense you can check out the sidebar episode that we Did there we kind of did a deep dive uh you can check it out on the law and crime Network YouTube page but right now what we want to talk about is something else so the documents what they do is they give us a better idea of what Homeland Security agents found inside of com's homes in Los Angeles and Miami when they were raided back in March as well as other evidence that they have collected during the course of this investigation

the southern district of New York is well known for being one of the top courts in the country according to statistics from the United States sentencing commission in fiscal year 2023 the sdny had more than 1,000 cases and of those cases 94% of the defendants ended up taking a plea while only 6% chose to take their case to trial and the Court's conviction rate is reported to be 95% so in other words if the southern district of New York prosecutors file Charges against you it's safe to assume they've done their homework and think that they

have a really solid case so the US attorney here was asked during a news conference on Tuesday why the charges against comes were brought in New York instead of Florida or California well um I'm I'm bias I'm the US attorney in the southern district of New York I think that we um have an outstanding track record of bringing some of the most impactful sprawling Complex difficult um sex trafficking uh human trafficking labor trafficking you name it um the southern district of New York can do it and so we're very proud of that and so the

scope and complexity of this investigation isn't something that we ran from it's something that we Embrace and we will continue to do that okay I want to talk about some of the strongest pieces of evidence right now against Shan comes the rapper producer and to do that I want to bring in two Special guests I'm joined by Colin Schmidt retired FBI agent CEO of Kronos investigations and Robin nun trial attorney and federal litigator it's great to have you both here so first um Colin what is your reaction to col's arrest and col's indictment well I

I I think I was on one of your shows at the very outet of this when the search warant occurred and I was asked okay why didn't they arrest him and and died him right on the spot And my statement then was they're they're putting their case together because he's such a public figure and he has so many resources they want to make sure they get it right so when I saw this indictment as well as the uh the detention memo that the prosecutor put us over it looks to me like they really really did

their homework and they're really making sure that these charges stick so Robin what do you think because this is interesting you heard Damen Williams say they're confident their office should handle it you know there were raids in California and Florida um there seemed to be a connection to New York saying that this criminal organization this criminal Enterprise U was based or had headquarters uh in the southern district what do you make of this case being spearheaded by them and what do you make of the indictment that we saw yeah um there are no stronger prosecution

unit than the southern District of New York they have a special unit that is designed to take cases such as easy sex trafficking Rico organized crime rings so I think Damen Williams is is is stating it pretty clearly and correctly that the southern district of New York would be on anyone's top list of of units um of government agencies that would be able to handle something like this with a celebrity and the complexities and the number of witnesses um because it is such a elite um and and Heavy conviction um centered um prosecution unit the

look The the indictment and the bail letter that was put forward by the prosecution serious accusations I mean disturbing to say the least and even though we don't know all the evidence and we're going to get into some of it they seem to be very confident in their case but it also we didn't know how many victims there were it seems that one of the charges is is at least with respect To just one victim um racketeering cases can be complicated but saying that do you feel that this is a strong case at based on

the allegation put forward yeah this is one of the strongest sex trafficking cases that I've ever seen while the indictment was not as detailed as I was expected and there were some allegations that I suspected might be made that were not such as you know underage victims or you know perhaps murder or you know things like that this Was focused enough um and had enough meat that I feel like it'll be very difficult I feel like to sort of get out of these allegations it seems like they've interviewed a number of witnesses I think they

said at least 50 victims and witnesses that have already been sort of um interviewed and have agreed to cooperate in this and I'm sure that there're many more and they're even looking for more so I I I think that they feel pretty strongly that they've Put together a strong package and I think they're pretty confident do you agree the way he was arrested this has became a big issue yesterday he came to New York was at the Park Hyatt he his attorneys knew he was going to be hit with charges in fact his attorney uh

said to the media before the indictment was unsealed we anticipate racketeering and sex trafficking charges but yet despite that they took issue with the way that he was arrested and he was Apprehended and taken into custody I think he wanted to surrender himself do you disagree or agree with the way that it was handled I'm a little agnostic on that the bottom line is uh he's he's accused of very very serious crimes I mean there was harm allegedly harm done to people and if they they want to go out and arrest him and do it

in that manner that's their prerogative and frankly that's their right so for them to say Well he was going to turn himself he was going to do this he was going to we don't know what he's going to do because he right after or near the time of when this first search warrant was done at his place in La apparently he got on a plane and flew down to Florida so he's already shown a propensity to move when there's pressure so I think the New York authorities thought well we got to make sure we get

this right we want to take any chances of a flight uh from this guy Because if they try to track him down in a foreign country it would be an absolute nightmare by the way I was talking um last night about this and I was asked why didn't he just leave the country right he knew the charges were coming why didn't he just leave the country and I said well they you know authorities could have arrested him immediately on the spot if they knew but would that mean that they were tracking him beforehand they knew

when he was Boarding a flight and he is he's been moving around right he hasn't just stayed in one place during the course of this investigation what would have prevented him from getting on the plane having a flight plan for I don't know let's say California let's say Colorado let's say New York and just saying keep going and go to some country that doesn't have extradition what prevented him from doing that and what would be the way authorities could track him and Stop him from doing that well there to do that there it takes a

lot of moving Parts because he's going to have to get Pilots that are going to participate in in that you know conspiracy to to flee the pilots also have to fly file a flight plan they also have to pick a country to go to that's going to be friendly to his uh issues it's not going to extradite him and he also when that plan is uh fil then he has to go through a process with uh Customs and Border Protection to be in terms of being able to go to the next country so I think

I'm sure he had considered that and I'm sure he took the advice of his lawyers and decided not to do that because if he had fled then the this would have Amplified and then the full force of the United States government would have would come down on tracking him down and bringing him back do you think they were tracking him though like not necessarily like they had a a surveillance team watching Him at all times but do you think um investigators do you think Federal authorities kind of knew what he was doing well I think

based upon the number of people who have come forward in terms of the indictment I think they had people that were likely reporting on him reporting on his uh his U actions and his movements as well as the fact that they put so many resources to this it would it would be reasonable for them to be uh watching his phones watching his Computer activity and and frankly having more people around him who are are who are informing on him and his behavor uh I want to go into some of the evidence now and talk about

what could be the strongest piece and and to be clear it's not entirely evident what the prosecution has what people said to them what the physical evidence is what the digital evidence is but let's go through it so the prosecution says that many of the Accusations against Combs can be corroborated by Witnesses and this is mentioned several times in the prosecution's letter to Judge Robin tarnavski where they were arguing against baale for example on page two of that letter it says quote at least a dozen witnesses will confirm that they person personally observe the defendant's

violence towards women and or the injury sustained by women at the defendant's hand then on page 11 it says Dozens of victims and Witnesses have provided detailed credible and corroborated information against the defendant page 13 quote as to witnesses to date the government has conducted interviews with over 50 victims and Witnesses many of whom saw or experienced the defendants abuse the government only expects that number to continue to grow given that the investigation which is now public is ongoing so Colin how does law Enforcement even go about this finding these people conducting these interviews what

do you think that's about well two points here number one he cooperated his behavior himself with that video that came out of him assaulting his girlfriend in the in the hotel which was somewhat hard to watch as a father of a daughter and and uh somebody who's been in law enforcement secondly you talk to one person and the the most basic basic question you asked At the beginning middle or the end of the interview is there anybody else oh yeah I have this girlfriend that also uh suffered this uh this type of behavior from him

and then you go to that person oh yeah I got this person I get this so it ends up being a string or a network of people because frankly these women are are most likely associat Associates with each other or know each other and they may even be uh close friends and they've been in the circle that was Basically uh targeted by by uh Sean uh pymes as well as the people around him that were assisting him in this this behavior and we're going to also get to this a little bit when we talk about

the digital Evans but how does how do authorities corroborate what they're being told is it they hear a consistent pattern over speaking to multiple people if five people say the same thing okay unless they coordinated this it looks like it might be true or there looks Like there might be probable cause here um or is it also looking at their phones looking at other evidence that was collected during the course of the raids and saying that matches up to their story um I imagine the fact that you know I say this I said this before

and I'll say it again the idea that anybody can sue anybody I mean you're supposed to you're not supposed to file frivolous lawsuits but it seems on the outset that you have prosecutors Who are believing the accounts of these accusers at the very least it seems Cassandra Ventura um and filing criminal charges based on those accounts so it seems that you know authorities are believing what's being told and they have the corroboration it's not just the accounts of these people but other evidence to back it up now again their stories might be similar but I

guess the question is how do authorities corroborate what they're being told well The first thing pattern is cooperation so if you have 50 people saying the behavior was the same same pattern or same he took the same actions and that and I and he's been uh he's been accused we don't know until he's seen his day in court what really happened but that's the first level of cooperation the second thing is apparently They seized videos from his house in uh California and that's going to be extreme cooperation right there because you know It's going to

play out right in front of them and then the third piece of this is the digital evidence is the text messages is the is the communications that he had with these women based upon and every one of them is likely saved those text messages on their phones and were able to give screenshots to the authorities so it appears to me that the evidence is overwhelming however we're only going to know what that if it truly is overwhelming once uh he has his day In court you know I think it is interesting how many people were

apparently interviewed and we we're not entirely sure if all the people who filed lawsuits against Shan Colmes are the main accusers that but it seems it seems to me at least from Cassandra Ventura's point of view it seems that prosecutors have built their case based on those allegations and I said this yesterday and I say it today it's one thing for somebody to sue somebody else Right we have a lower standard they shouldn't file FIV lawsuits but you have to you know filing a civil lawsuit is very different than criminal charges for prosecutors to believe

these accounts and seemingly have it you know people who are corroborating one another there's a pattern there but Also may be corroborated by the physical the digital evidence that is very significant that you have civil lawsuits that may have triggered a criminal prosecution I think That's right I think that the Civil complaints which we saw there were many definitely got the ball rolling but I would say that it was the video of Cassie that violent incident that we saw in that hotel lobby that I guess was came out of the blue that really was what

I think put the nail in the coffin that was actually cited to in the indictment as something that they plan to use as evidence and actually I believe led to the enhancements that we Saw on what they're seeking as far as prison time and and essentially he could be looking at life in prison if he's convicted across the board I am curious does it a clear case for you when you hear the different accounts because they're saying there's a lot there they're saying he operated a criminal organization that um engaged in force labor kidnapp in

arson violence um they're saying that it was a common purpose to protect Diddy to Satisfy his sexual desires to make money um there's a lot thrown out there is this a tough case to ultimately prosecute um and then you have the sex trafficking charge you have the transportation of uh prostitute transportation for purpos of prostitution charge is this a tough case to prosecute is it a clear case to prosecute yeah I think it's always a tough case right I think that a lot of work and evidence has gone into leading Up to now in terms

of bringing this indictment in terms of having that initial hearing and sort of having him arrested and and bringing these charges however I I I do think that Diddy has very competent legal counsel I think that they have seen this probably coming for some time I think that while this case feels like R Kelly all over again to me where you obviously have you know sort of a video of an underage person um you know that was involved and Introduced I think that this has you know sort of samplings of that but I assume that

the defense is going to say that he did not do this right that this wasn't an organized crime syndicate that the prosecutors are accusing him of this is a group of friends having a sex party yeah it's not what you want to necessarily hear about no one really possibly you know likes it but it is what it is people like Diddy people wanted to be around him and they allowed Themselves to be sort of manipulated sometimes into perhaps doing things that sound unsavory um when when heard in the news I think that is the Crux

of what the defense's sort of argument will be and I guess the question will be what do you believe continue on with this when agents ended up searching colm's homes back in March they left with a lot of evidence there were weapons both seemingly legal and illegal us attorney Damen Williams showed photographs of Some of them during that news conference here are some of the items that we recovered during the searches as you can see here this is a drum magazine large capacity and it contains I believe 59 rounds I mentioned as well we recovered

three AR-15s this is a close-up shot of one of the AR-15s and you can see right here here the serial number has been thoroughly defaced another picture of more Ammunition and parts of two AR-15s right there okay so first let me ask you why would someone deface weapons like this well well to hide the ownership of the weapon and so or or the origin of the weapon so depending on where he got it uh that he may be defacing it or whoever defaced it so if that weapon had been used in a crime prior to

him possessing it so that's one of the number number one reasons as well as be able to keep transferring that Weapon amongst other people because there's no no no way of tracing that weapon do you were you surprised that he wasn't charged specifically with those gun charges remember so it's part of the overall racketeering case it's an example of a criminal organization but he was in charge specifically which which my understanding is a federal CRI possession of a weapon that has an obliterated serial number I think the uh the suspect in the second attempted Assassination

of former president Donald Trump has been hit with that charge uh were you surprised that Colmes was not hit with that no because it's coming I believe it's gonna they're gonna they're going to supersede with this indictment with more charges uh that's generally the they they start with this one kind of see how it fleshes out and then they'll they'll determine what what they need to actually add on depending on how the evidence starts playing out amongst Uh the people that are going to start coming forward because they they're probably looking not only to cooperate

the uh this the human trafficking but they also want to cooperate all this uh this possession of all these Firearms right and look I a little bit more about evidence here talking about strong evidence apparently investigators collected a lot of electronic data which can be crucial in a case like this we talked about it but the prosecution Writes in their bail letter the electronic evidence is similar ly vast the government has sought and obtained numerous search warrants for such evidence in addition to obtaining evidence voluntarily from certain victims and Witnesses setting aside devices seized in

connection with the government's arrest the government has obtained 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 this electronic data comes from the defendant himself as well as co-conspirators victims and Witnesses and Chronicles much of the defendant's criminal activity as it occurs and the government also sent out subpoenas to all sorts of companies and Associates connected to Combs it says quote finally the evidence includes records obtained pursuant to over 300 grand jury subpoenas and other Voluntary

Productions these materials come from over 100 entities and individuals including Communications providers tech companies social media companies Banks and other financial institutions Airlines hotels car services and other travel related companies escort services any even the defendants companies and wealth management firm so that is a lot what can we expect well and I believe uh uh the homeland security investigations are Leading this investigation and frankly they're very good at what they do so and I'm sure they have a team or even a task force looking at this because the the criminal the alleged criminal conspiracy is

so vast and there's so many victims so what I I would expect is once they get through this evidence the the the the evidence it appears to be overwhelming because you're going to see all the text messages all all of his statements that are going to incriminate Himself with all of these people and frankly this has been going on for so long I think there was a comfort level that he had or his Circle had where they thought they weren't going to get caught they could just continue to do this and then frankly that the

hammer fell so there's so much here that if there was going to be a trial it would likely be uh something would take months in in terms of presenting all of this evidence and by the way they say that the Investigation is ongoing is it possible that investigators are still combing through this material it's been a while it's been since March since they uh did those raids but remember they they interviewed people they spoke to these alleged victims that could have been going on before or after um the raids so I mean do you think

they're still combing through this evidence when they say the investigation is ongoing I think that means more people to come forward How does it work absolutely they're going to continue to come through that evidence and then then once they come through that evidence that might lead to more search warrants or more subpoenas or more court orders to get cloudbased uh information as well as the fact that more people are going to be coming forward and then they're going to lead them to to getting more electronic evidence so this thing is going to go on Until

uh there's a trial or there is a plea agreement and I'll I'll just finish up with this last part that the prosecutors they sent to the judge uh before the bail hearing um this attachment exhibit a which was the surveillance video of Colmes allegedly attacking his then girlfriend Cassandra ventur in a Los Angeles hotel and ventur was attempting was allegedly attempting to leave the hotel after a alleged freak off session where she was apparently Drugged and forced to have sex with male prostitutes and then Colmes comes running down the hallway in a towel th throws

her to the ground that's the allegation from the video now the government says that this very disturbing footage is proof of com's temper his violent nature it shows how far he will go when he doesn't get what he wants in the beginning of her complaint it mentions how Colmes is a rapper a record executive how he rose to Prominence in the entertainment industry and then she explains how in 2022 when he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BET Awards he called out Ventura in his speech and also Cassie for holding me down the dark

times love but then the suit says quote the truth however is that Cassie Miss Cassandra Ventura was held down by Mr Colmes and endured over a decade of his violent behavior and Disturbed demands for Miss Ventura the dark times were those she spent trapped By Mr Colmes in a cycle of abuse violence and sex trafficking and then lists a number of quote violent and unlawful acts which we're going to get into but it's important to start from the beginning with this so in the complaint she explains how she met Colmes when she was 19 years

old back in 2005 he was apparently 37 he signed her to his record label Bad Boy Records as an artist and from there she claims that Colmes her boss and who she describes as Quote one of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry lured her into a fastpaced drug fueled lifestyle and into a romantic relationship with him where he quote asserted complete control over her personal and professional life thereby ensuring her inability to escape his hold she claims that he provided unprecedented avenues for success for the aspiring artist but in return demanded obedience loyalty

and silence and that is key that is a common Characteristic in sex trafficking claims the promise of something valuable to force someone to engage in sexual activity and there are more references to this where combms according to Ventura would buy her designer clothing pay for lavish vacations for them bought her a car so I want you to keep that in mind as we talk more about this now the complaint goes on to say quote within a year of signing with Bad Boy Records Mr Combs became deeply entrenched in Miss Ventura's life almost immediately asserting possession

and control over her and inserting himself into all aspects of her career and her personal life and expanding upon that concept of control and ownership as Ventura defines this the complaint also states that Colmes started renting her an apartment that was within walking distance of his place and the complaint says quote Mr Colmes also became deeply involved in Miss Ventura's personal life with his Personal staff attending to miss Ventura's day-to-day travel and other needs including Medical Care on multiple occasions Mr Colmes had Miss Ventura's personal medical record sent directly to his email address for instance

when Miss Ventura began experiencing memory loss potentially due to excessive drug use and or head injuries caused by Mr com's beatings her MRI results were provided directly to Mr Colmes Mr Colmes also repeatedly arranged for his staff to Drive Miss Ventura to certain doctor appointments by the way that is alluded to in com's criminal indictment as well because in the indictment it states quote comes maintained control over his victims through among other things physical violence Promises of career opportunities granting and threat to withhold financial support and by other coercive means including tracking their whereabouts dictating

the victim's appearance monitoring their medical Records controlling their housing and supplying them with Controlled Substances now by the way according to Ventura hmes pursued her and began this romantic relationship with her even though he had been dating Kim Porter and Ventura apparently had a boyfriend and she explained that she would acques to his requests and demands including her taking a copious amount of drugs at his insistence because she was afraid she was afraid of the repercussions for her And her career the complaint says quote compounding this all-encompassing intrusion into her life Mr com secured his

control over the young and impressionable Miss Ventura by introducing her to a drug fueled lifestyle that kept her complacent and compliant now I want to get into the physical and sexual abuse allegations that's a main component of this case so the complaint lists out many alleged incidents for example it states quote Mr Colmes would violently beat Miss Ventura leaving bruises on her body after every instance in which he beat Miss Ventura Mr Colmes used his money and power to orchestrate extensive efforts to hide the evidence of his abuse including by hiding Miss Ventura in hotels

for days at a time to let her bruises heal it goes on that in one such instance after a party with Jay-Z Mr comes beat Miss Ventura repeatedly in an Escalade including by kicking and hitting her There's another instance that says that in January of 2009 after Mr comes learned that Miss Ventura spoke to another Music Manager at a party in Los Angeles he became enraged it goes on to state that in the car leaving the club Mr combes beat Miss Ventura pushing her into a corner of the vehicle and stomping on her face now

to be clear we don't know if any of these specific in instances of abuse will make their way into this criminal case whether it's Only respect to the freak offs because again the indictment really focuses on that and not necessarily individual isolated moments of abuse but we'll wait and see now for anyone following this story in this complaint in this lawsuit is the first time that we heard about this Infamous March 2016 incident at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles this is where Ventura claims that a drunk Shawn comes punched her in the face and

as she tried to escape the Hotel room he follows her into the hallway yells at her grabs her and throws glass vases and we all saw this episode with our own eyes when CNN published video of this encounter a few months back seeing combs in a towel allegedly beating ventur in that hallway kicking her dragging her an episode that Combs apologized for on Instagram just 2 days after that video was released and this was also referenced in the criminal indictment as well it's actually one of The more specific instances that is described and as Ventura

and prosecutors allege comes attempted to bribe a security guard to keep all of this quiet and that comes and his team may have purchased that surveillance footage so that no one would see it now going back to why this was mentioned in the indictment and what was said in this complaint according to prosecutors and according to Ventura at that hotel room that 2016 incident she was allegedly Escaping a freak off which again is at the center of this criminal indictment against Colmes and it's the first time I will tell you I ever heard of it

I ever heard of a freak off was in this lawsuit these vois sexual performances where coms would allegedly Force Ventura to engage in sex acts with other men mostly male sex workers as her complaining explains Colmes would allegedly demand these freak offs or fos at random times and she was expected to find the place And hire the men these would happen according to Ventura frequently at all different locations including prominent hotels the fos would get so wild that there's an allegation that there was damage sustained at the hotel rooms the complaint says quote sometimes Mr

comes would pay to fly mail sex workers to his location including to multiple cities in the United States as well as abroad he required Miss Ventura and his staff to help him make these Arrangements Mr Com's assistance would help to set up the fos including by setting up the hotel suites with baby oil and Astroglide Mr Colmes always supplied Miss Ventura and the sex workers with copious amounts of drugs before and during the fos Miss Ventura was given ecstasy cocane GHB ketamine marijuana and alcohol in excessive amounts during fos which allowed her to to disassociate

during these horrific encounters it became commonplace to get IV fluids in The days after an fo to recover from the excessive substances pushed upon her and to be clear according to Ventura this is not something she wanted to do in the complaint it says frequently her anxiety before an fo would become so great that she would become physically ill sometimes to the point of vomiting while kneeling over the toilet Mr coms would shame her into performing for him eventually forcing her to get up and proceed with the encounter she knew Firsthand that telling Mr Colmes

that she did not want to engage in fos was met with anger and violence in addition any suggestion that Miss Ventura would refuse the fo or otherwise report Mr com's abuse was met with ultimatums by Mr combes who would say that Miss Ventura would not go to the police because she had a lot to lose now not only is that consistent with what is alleged in the criminal indictment the fact pattern as laid out by prosecutors But that specifically is what accounts for her sex trafficking claim in this lawsuit and the racketeering sex trafficking and

transportation to engage in prostitution charges that he faces ventur alleges in her complaint that comes would pleasure himself during these fos and also film The encounters and get this after she claimed she tried to delete photos and videos of these fos Colmes told her he's got the videos and in fact quote on one occasion he sat Next to her on a flight and made her watch a video she thought she had deleted reinforcing her inability to escape and the immense power he held over her goes on to state that over the years she again and

again tried to escape his tight hold over her life every time she hid Mr com's vast network of Corporations and Affiliated entities found her and those who work for Mr com companies implored her to return to him many went as far as to explicitly state That her failure to return to Mr Colmes would hinder her success in the entertainment industry again that goes to this racketeering conspiracy it's not colm's acting alone there's a team there's an an Enterprise that's what the allegation is put forward by prosecutors now later on in the complaint she explains how

by 2017 2018 she wanted to leave sha comes and she says how at one point they went to dinner seemingly to try to talk about ending the Relationship but at the end of the night he allegedly forces himself into her apartment and rapes her as she says no now if you didn't think all of these allegations were shocking enough and by the way remember this was the first lawsuit this started all this was the first time we were hearing these shocking allegations for the first time but there were other parts of this complaint where she

mentioned mentions other high-profile individuals that is Again shocking for instance she explains how in 2011 during a rough patch in her relationship with Shan comes she started a relationship with rapper kid cuy and the following year she claims quote Mr Colmes told Miss Ventura that he was going to blow up kid C's Car and that he wanted to ensure that kid cuty was home with his friends when it happened and around that time kid C's call exploded in his driveway and guess what this is a part of the criminal Indictment as part of the racketeering

conspiracy charge where you're showing this criminal Enterprise prosecutors list out a number of alleged underlying crimes committed by the Enterprise members included in there is arson this seems to be with respect to the kid cuty car incident and prosecutors in a following subsequent letter to the court had indicated they have evidence fire reports to back this up but continuing on with other high-profile people Mentioned in Ventura's lawsuit what about com's longtime rival music executive Suge Knight he's mentioned the complaint reads on one occasion when Mr combms and Miss ventur were using drugs together in his

home one of the security staff barged in and announced that Suge Knight was spotted at Mel's Drive-In Diner in Los Angeles Mr comes began to get dressed retrieved multiple guns from a safe and ran out of his home to where he believed Mr Knight was dining Miss Ventura became terrified and began to cry the complaint goes on to say that on at least two occasions Mr comes demanded that Miss Ventura hold Mr com's gun in her purse there was no clear reason why Mr comes required her to hold his guns except to reinforce to his

young girlfriend that he was violent powerful and dangerous as Colmes now faces these criminal charges there is a separate legal team that is dealing with the multiple civil lawsuits that Appending against him and one of those complaints was filed by a woman named Grace Omari so Omari was apparently a steward working aboard a yacht that was rented by Shawn comes in December of 2022 for a holiday celebration with his family when she claims she was sexually assaulted by Christian comes and within weeks of Shawn comes homes being raided back in March by federal agents Mo

Omari filed a civil complaint against Christian and named his father Shan Comes in the suit as well for allegedly facilitating this assault to occur now through her attorney or Mary put out a statement after sha combms was arrested saying quote the long awaited Federal arrest of Shawn comes is the first step for our clients receiving Justice we leave the criminal aspect of this case in the hands of the people in justice system as for the civil cases we await our time for the facts to reveal themselves and seek the Justice our Clients deserve it goes

on to say we also anticipate more victims coming forward we knew this was coming the evidence is very clear and it was only a matter of time this is an important step towards Justice for All of Mr col's victims including my clients justice will prevail so what is the status of this ciil civil case and what impact could it have if any on the criminal charges that sha combms now faces well to discuss that I want to bring in Criminal defense attorney Natalie Whittingham Burell to talk more about this Natalie thank you so much for

coming here on sidebar appreciate it hi Jesse good morning thank you for having me of course so first let me start from a basic point of law how much do civil cases that might be alleging similar conduct as criminal charges how much does a a result in a civil case affect a criminal case uh not at all so it doesn't affect the criminal case the Jury in a criminal case is supposed to remain fair and unbiased and only consider the facts that they're hearing in the courtroom as far as the judge is concerned if the

judge is going to be imposing a sentence because the jury found the person guilty the judge should be considering what happened in the courtroom um and usually they don't take into consideration civil liability I've heard many judges say I know that there's a concurrent case in the Civil Courts we're going to let that play out this is separate and apart from that and the reason being is that it's a different burden of proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt versus preponderance of the evidence and so for that reason you can't really let what happens in the civil

uh context infiltrate the criminal context because the try or fact is determining something different before I make these connections because there could be overlap here there is the Possibility that and I'll get to this in a second whether or not Gro Mar may be cooperating with Federal investigators whether any piece of that evidence could come into the federal case we'll get to that in second but what did you make of the statement from grao Mary's legal team after Shawn Colmes was arrested I see so what they're saying basically is that this is opening up a

um it's it's kind of opening up for more victims to come forward and I think that's really What it's all about as far as the civil case is concerned so more people might feel emboldened like look there's a criminal case here this means that what happened to me is valid and I am free to speak out about it right they'd always been waiting for it I guess you know if the feds had investigated and nothing had come of it people might have felt less inclined to come forward so as far as uh emboldening potential victims

yes the criminal case would impact the Psyche of a person who's potentially a victim of Sean Colmes yes let me ask you this the statement where they're saying you know this isn't a surprise we expected this to happen now that could be because we were all seeing what was happening play out we knew that there were raids We There was reports about a grand jury being impanel there was reports that he was the Shan comes was the target of Investigation do you think that that We're not surprised because we saw everything everybody else said or

do you think we're not surprised because Grace om Mary may be cooperating with the government as a witness in the in the Federal Criminal Case right I see what you mean it it could be that there's really no way to know uh whether or not she's cooperating uh because because like with Cassie you saw the details that Cassie alleged in her lawsuit being played out in the actual formal Indictment and the letters that were written by the state to try and encourage the court to hold on to Shan Colmes and not release him whereas I

don't see a lot of a specific detail overlap with what Omari is um alleging other than the fact that what she alleges uh confirms and supports what Cassie has been saying um it's interesting I think what she says Omari more confirms than report what's in the little Rod lawsuit right is things that Were happening on Yachts which isn't really detailed in the criminal case and I'm going to get to that connection in a minute I guess just more generally speaking and this is interesting because the way the prosecutors filed these charges against Shan combms there's

not a lot of independent sexual assault claims right they've really focused it more on these freak offs these sexual performances and the idea that the allegations are that he centered these SE sexual performances that were directed by Combs that he would force people to be a part of them he would transport people to be a part of them he would drug people people to engage in these freak offs and do you think that's strategic that the prosecutors are not saying we know that he's facing a number of sexual assault lawsuits or his son might be

facing a sexual lawsuit lawsuit we're not going to include that as kind of separate charges but and or even Evidence of the freak offs because I don't what what she's alleging and we'll get to what she's alleging she's not alleging a freak off happened with her right and I and I'm thinking that Federal prosecutors are very specific for a reason here right right they're very specific for a reason because first of all you made a very good distinction what Miss Mary is alleging is against uh Christian com Sean coles's son Diddy's son not against Diddy

himself as far as The actual uh essay is concerned however what it does do is kind of lay a foundation for the context in which they're saying these freak offs happen and so I think by leaving their indictment more General they have left it open for more evidence to be introduced at trial because they could easily say well this is relevant to the environment in which these freak offs took place this is why people would be afraid to come forward if they're facing The threat of you know uh Financial ruin sexual assault or being shunned

in the entertainment community and so for all of those reasons you know even though this is isn't specifically named in the criminal case these actions by Omari which makes complete sense because uh uh Christian Colmes is not a defendant in the criminal case um it certainly does add to context and so now I could see now on the defense side them wanting to do something akin to a bill of Particulars where they want to get more information from how actually the prosecution intends to prove this case because they've left it so open that pretty much

any of those bad acts could and so you're you're kind of laying the fr the groundwork for how possibly uh grce so Mary could testify in a federal case but there's a lot of things that need to happen before that so I want to talk a little bit more about this so we have Christian King Colmes 26-year-old Model rapper third oldest son of Shawn Colmes who's one of three children that com shares uh with the late model Kim Porter she died in 2018 and we go back to the raids uh that happened in Los Angeles

and Miami back on March uh com's Sons is specifically in La Christian and Justin they were handcuffed and they were LED out of the home as investigators from Homeland Security went in to collect the evidence uh 30-year-old Justin is com's oldest Biological son who he had with a fashion designer named Misa Hilton and Justin's mother shared a video from the Los Angeles raid on her Instagram page and the footage which appears to come from security cameras around the home has been edited and sped up in places and she writes quote the overzealous and overtly militarized

Force used against my sons Justin and Christian is deplorable if these were the sons of a non-black celebrity they would not have Been handled with the same aggression Christian by the way celebrated his birthday one week after the raids posting photos of his lavish celebrations on his Instagram story and he also posted this to his story uh stop with the blue cap Emoji cap is slanging for lying and then on April 4th Grace Omari filed her civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court so that timeline I find is really interesting Natalie you have the raids

uh you have there have Been lawsuits that have already discussed um either one or two of these Sons but then the the her lawsuit comes after the raids after everyone saw them in handcuffs so what do you make of uh the remarks of Misa Hilton what do you make of the fact of what uh Shan col's son posted on Instagram and also the timing of the gray Mary lawsuit yeah so first of all about Misa Hilton's statement all I have to say is CRI a river you know um To say that this has anything to

do with race when Bernie made offs and enire family was decimated by his uh you know grift and Ponzi scheme that he was running on the New York Elite uh his sons were raided as well in public and they were grown men just like how Misa Hilton's son is a grown man and all of didy sons are adult men 26 and up into their 30s and so um Unfortunately they were in the wrong place at the wrong time but when law enforcement is doing a Raid on allegations of sex trafficking gun ownership and moving drugs

across state lines they're going to come in with Force given the nature of the uh case and and I'll say one last thing on Misa Hilton she didn't have anything to say for the alleged victims of Shan coles's crimes in particular Cassie where he is on video severely beating her so the video has there's been never been a statement or outcry by Misa Hilton or any of uh Sean comes' paramor Uh that have said that they feel any sympathy for Cassie or what she went through so again find me a river as far as uh

Justin or whichever son having his birthday party immediately after the raid I think it exemplifies the type of bubble that these people live in that allowed for these crimes allegedly to go on for so long without being checked by the powers that be because H who else could be raided by the federal government and the the very next week be Having a lavish birthday party right that comes from a certain level of financial privilege that they have that places them out side of the Paradigm of what everyday people like my clients have to deal with

um as to your uh third question about the timing of the lawsuit I think it goes right along with what you asked me about at the top which was the her attorney statement these types of things where you see that the government is intervening it's almost Like um before that a lot of victims of crimes are are under a type of gaslighting uh by the public by Society by their own family members that they shouldn't try to hurt this successful man who's done so much for his community because remember he's also a philanthropist he's also

um a mogul he's also a leader and that people really looked up to and I'm so I'm sure that many people were discouraged from speaking out against him and now that he Has been federally indicted um some of that armor is gone and people probably feel more comfortable with coming forward so let's get into this civil lawsuit uh we did a sidebar on this in the past but I kind of want to reiterate so arari says that she had worked as a steward on the yach that Sean Colmes had rented she was in charge of

providing food and drinks for a 12-h hour period She was 25 years old at the time and she believes and claim that the alcohol on That yacht had been laced with drugs because she says women would have one drink then almost immediately pass out or start falling over and again if you go back to the indictment there were allegations that coms had been drugging people during the course of these freak offs but uh Omari says the Christian Combs have been staying at a villa on the shore but then would come on to the Yachts on

the evenings to party and on December 28th 2022 Christian according To her reportedly arrives very intoxicated and pressured Omari to take shots of tequila so she does and Christian allegedly tries to get her to drink more in the OT makeshift recording studio and she claims that Christian kissed her neck and face as he groped her legs breasts and private areas now Omari reportedly told Christian excuse me you don't touch my legs like that that I'll move my legs where I want to if I want to do this then I will you Don't touch my legs

like that Mary then says that she told Christian she couldn't stay with him unless it was approved by a supervisor so her complaint says that she knew all of them would be asleep by this time and this was just kind of a ruse to get out of the situation well she claims what did Christian do he said okay who can I talk to I'm going to say I requested you right now Omari then says that she responded with well you can take your Hand off my ass for the first thing now Amari says that she

tried to go back to work but Christian found her again wanted her to find him a place to sleep for the night so she took him to the cinema room of the yacht and that's when she claims Christian kept her from leaving groped her took off all of his clothes and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him and she says that she was unable to fight him off until someone came in now the lawsuit Goes on to say that Omari told the yacht Captain what had happened the next day and not only

did he not believe her that he didn't do any sort of Investigation she says that the captain even retaliated against her for months after the alleged assault before firing her in May of 2023 the Civil complaint also includes photos of apparent bruises on Omar's arms which she says were caused by Christian Combs and in this civil suit she accuses him of assault battery Sexual assault intentional infliction of emotional distress now Natalie before I get into the allegations surrounding sha comms because he is a named defendant too what do you make of those allegations well I

think it's a very serious allegation and one that's interesting for the corroboration that it could or could not have uh her employer would be liable for not protecting her after she makes an outcry that she's been assaulted on their yacht Um and so I'm not sure if they would be willing to come forward and corroborate what she said but I do understand that the evidence also includes a um recording from the recording studio of her uh resisting uh Mr comes and so I think what this Lays out is um something that many people or women

in particular are familiar with which is sexual harassment in the workplace especially in these industries that have softer HR such as entertainment travel management Hotels you know Hospitality those types of Employments where you come into contact with wealthy individuals who feel like they can do basically whatever they want because they paid for it and so nothing that she's saying sounds um outside the realm of possibility it's just a matter um of corroboration and if if what she says is proven to be true that is physical assault uh sexual assault harassment everything of that nature and

so we'll see what the Evidence shows when they do the discovery process long before he was hit with multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault he dated the famous pop star and actress reportedly from 1999 to 2001 their first public appearance was September 1999 at the MTV Music Awards and the following year when they were together was where she wore that Infamous Versace green dress at the Grammys the couple were on red carpets together they went to com's Famous white party together big aess couple in fact there is a photo of them together lying in

a white bed with giant pillows and in another photo they're in a that same bed with other people and one clip that is actually surfaced recently is of the couple in the show MTV Diaries from 2000 and this is Colmes expressed his dissatisfaction with Lopez having to perform a kiss scene in one of her movies and she confessed he has a problem with stuff like that so was a Little odd but something else interesting happened you fast forward to 2015 they'd already broken up and this is when Jennifer Lopez appeared on The Wendy Williams Show

back in 2015 I was telling you that I could always see you getting back with puffy in a little way I remember you said that yes yes or in my mind look at look it or in my mind getting together permanently first my pitball it's crazy everybody had like everybody came alive they all had Something to say yeah everybody has an opinion yes it's funny to me and then the cameras panned over to Lopez's mom Guadalupe Lupe Rodriguez who was in the audience who has this kind of concern look on her face and she seems

to mouth it's done okay now we can't forget that Lopez and colm's relationship was marked by one of the biggest controversies of his life the infamous 1999 shooting outside of a New York City nightclub after an Argument broke out that left three people injured Lopez comes and com's bodyguard Anthony Jones they were actually pursued by police after leaving the scene and were arrested stolen gun was found in the car Lopez was detained for I believe 12 hours but the charges were never pursued against her comes though Jones and a man named shine Barrow who was

a former bad boy rapper who was also there that night they were arrested they went on trial Colmes was Accused of opening Fire And then trying to bribe the driver of the car to take the fall for having the gun Jones and Colmes they were acquitted of gun possession and bribery charges but Barrow was convicted of assault and reckless endangerment for the shooting and he was sentenced to 10 years in jail in fact Barrow has recently stated that Colmes sent him to prison yeah blamed him said that he called witnesses to testify against him and

by the way Lopez Never showed up to the courthouse she was named as a potential witness but never ended up being called to testify the pair ended up breaking up and what's interesting about that is that Lopez and this shooting was referenced recently in one of the civil lawsuits that was filed against Shawn Colmes this one is the sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit filed by by Rodney little Rod Jones this is comes former producer and Jones claimed that comes showed off his Guns to him at one point and bragged about shooting people and that

he confessed he was in fact responsible for that 1999 shooting outside of the nightclub and he claimed that Colmes told him that Lopez carried the gun into the club for him and passed the gun to him when he got into that altercation and the shots were fired Jones claims that Colmes forced his then artist shine to be the Fall Guy taking the blame for the shooting and now all of that brings Us to Lopez today after these charges against comes what role could she play to be clear she's not listed she's not mentioned in the

indictment in any way or any of the government's letters from the prosecution to the judge where it was regarding bail his bail has been denied twice by the way but there's been no reference actually in filings from the government about Jennifer Lopez and she has not spoken out since the arrest of Sean Colmes but I want to talk about This and for that I want to bring on former prosecutor Ava suin to talk more about this Ava thanks so much for coming here on sidebar thank you for having me of course so let me first

ask you the main question I ask everybody in the past week your thoughts on the arrest and indictment of Shan combes how the mighty have fallen it is unbelievable I remember when I was in high school sea pcoms was like the guy everybody wanted to be and I mean kids Emulated him and to see now that he's charged with such a Greedious charges trafficking um and everything else it's it's completely unbelievable was there anything in the indictment that surprised you was there anything missing from the indictment that you expected to see in it one of

the things that surprised me is when you read the first line it says that his activity has been going on for decades but then the charges are from 2008 to 2023 2024 so it Seems that it's been going on for a long time this is a long time coming that he's been engaging in the activity but perhaps the prosecutors only have enough evidence for 2008 to 2023 period of time that's so interesting and I want to talk about uh JLo for a second because you know first let me ask you this question as we're talking

about celebrities and we're talking about Jennifer Lopez so many people who were affiliated with him who went to his parties who had this Connection they haven't issued statements like this is abhorent I I condemn all of this I didn't know about anything you're seeing it a little bit but not on a grand scale I remember when Harvey Weinstein was criminally charged or even when those accusations came out from the New York Times piece there were people who came celebrities came forward and said I remember his party you know I remember talking to him he always

said these things you heard Rumblings of it You're hearing that much less now with Shawn combes and the question I keep getting asked is why why are you not hearing more from celebrities why are they staying silent why do you think that is I think there's a big difference between ped situation and Weinstein in Weinstein a lot of the women came forward and talked about the fact that they were victims or he inappropriately you know made advances to them but here if you're attending ped's parties I Think Ashton kusher in one feed was saying yeah

his parties oh let me tell you about them let me think about them they're wild Guilty By Association nobody wants to touch that with a 10- foot poll if you're a celebrity and to be clear not guilty in a court of law like because you go to a party and not be commit a crime you just were around it and the question was was in an Open Secret but you're guilty by association in the court of public opinion right if It comes out that you were attending as parties everyone's naturally going to think what were

you doing at that party what was your involvement were you invol D in the freak offs did you engage in it it would be a PR nightmare I do Wonder because the Govern you know the government said that they've spoken with over 50 Witnesses and victims as of right now that number could potentially grow because they say this investigation's ongoing and I'm sure you Can agree that when there is an indictment sometimes more people come forward and will cooperate with the government maybe they feel that they're concerned about charges coming um do you think that

those conversations are happening behind the scenes do you think celebrities right now through their legal teams are meeting with prosecutors and giving information absolutely I this P's conduct was going on for over decades over 10 years we know for sure So it's very likely that the prosecutors are meeting with people building their case and it may be the situation where the prosecutors actually don't want celebrities to reveal any information because it could be a situation where Court it really tanks your case if let's say hypothetically you had Ashton kusher someone say yeah I was attending

the freak offs during these period of times this is the conduct I observed he makes that statement in the Media then when prosecutors are preparing for that case well the defense has great Canon father for cross-examination right let's say Ashton koser makes that statement a year before the case goes the defense now has a year to think about how they're going to cross-examine that witness fair and that could make the case a lot worse for the government or if he says something in the media that's contradicted by something that he said at another time Um

the the question I would have is celebrities are very private obviously is there a situation where the government maybe got information from high-profile celebrities but they will not reveal during the course of this investigation or even at a trial that they got that information information from celebrity a or celebrity B like in other words they don't they can get information from Witnesses but they don't necessarily have to call them uh As Witnesses at a trial they can use that information to find further Evidence right so they might there's a chance correct me from wrong that

they may have spoken with celebrities but we'll never know that those conversations happen absolutely like if you look at the indictment itself it's 14 pages but what we don't see is there could be all the videotapes uh any um cell phone records countless documents that they looked at in order to put Together those 14 pages as well as countless witness interviews there's always a mountain of evidence in order to get to that point where you have an indictment I want to ask you something as a former prosecutor if you wanted to interview Jennifer Lopez how

do you do it without anybody knowing this's Paparazzi all the time you call her into your office people are going to be seeing especially now especially now everybody knows what I would imagine There's cameras set up outside the US attorney's office you go to her house why are agents showing up to her house how do you get information from a celebrity like this we're talking about the sdny here it's a high-profile prosecutor's office that is used to dealing with um politicians celebrities they have mechanisms and pl and things in place I'm sure to be able

to interview JLo without the paparazzi and anybody knowing I mean you could Probably get her in a blacked out car taker whether it's a loading dock or some designated area where people would not suspect a celebrity would drive into have your agents meet her take her up into a secret room and have a conversation with her going back to this at hand over the years Colmes has shown off his Mansions his cars his wardrobe and of course what we're going to talk about right now his private jets my first time in this Thing m it's

going to be better once some stuff is swapped smelling newness fresh [Music] mahogany so we have this golf stream a G550 was registered by love a LLC sometime in 2020 or 2021 and here's a question is there more to that plane or another plane that meets the eye could that plane be a source of evidence of Anything of anything that Colmes is accused of now will there be flight manifests that provide information about high-profile people who were on that plane potential sex workers that were on that plane alleged accusers on that plane because it's important

when we talk about sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution these kinds of charges there is an element of transporting people over state or International lines so there is A lot to sort out when it comes to sha comes and planes and what was happening in the sky so for that I want to bring on Aviation attorney Justin t green Justin thanks so much for coming here on sidebar appreciate it no thanks for having me so my first question for you is uh in my understanding is there our websites where you can track both

public and private aircrafts but according to the flight a Weare site you can't track com's Jet at the request of the owner or Operator and TMZ reports that being unable to track this all black jet is actually a relatively new development can you talk us about that it's you know it really isn't for uh some celebrities who may have a actual legitimate uh reason uh that their air you know their Jets not be tracked you know I I can't imagine if uh Taylor Swift were going to fly into Westchester Airport how many people would be

meeting her there if if um if they were able to Track her jet so I don't think that's the biggest thing and and the operator is required to keep a flight log um that would actually indicate uh you know at least where the airplane took off to and where it went um in fact The Operators uh requireed to keep certain records by federal regulations but many of the records May no longer exist because the only one that they have to keep uh is the flight log now the question is could love air have anything to

do with those Allegations in fact when com's mansions in Miami and Los Angeles were raided back in March there was rampant speculation that comes had actually fled the country turned out to not be true while coms was spotted at the Obaka airport in Miami that day his jet was in Antigua allegedly coming from California now it's unclear who might have been on board uh Justin here's my question to you how do you know who is on his plane were when they were on the plane what Kind of information what kind of records are there so

the records that an operator has to keep include the itinerary for its flights uh the flight log that I just mentioned before and I think most importantly for the purposes of this uh conversation a passenger manifest who is on board the souls on board now um the the the problem is that the once the airplane is finished with its flights they have to keep these records for 90 days except for the Flight log that they have to maintain so it is possible um that a operator after 90 days could discard the passenger manifest in which

case you wouldn't know who was on the airplane three over three months ago now the the big issue is there's absolutely no reason most of these documents are are kept electronically there' really be no reason to um delete uh the passenger manifest and if if they go into the records and they find missing records I Think that's going to be a red flag for the investigators it's a really good point just to put a bow on that how much information do the logs provide um the logs are just honestly nothing that's going to really amount

you'll you'll know uh what time the airplane took off you know how much fuel was on board you'll know uh you know basic information about the flight where it went to where where it came from but it's not going to necessarily give you What happened on the airplane who is on the airplane the passenger manifest will tell you who's on it you know one one point and and obviously the Jeffrey Epstein Saga you know the the crimes that were committed with the use of his airplane you know is really top of mind but one thing

that everyone has to realize is that anyone who's on that airplane if it if it's a a vulnerable person they're stuck there it's it's kind of be you know they can't get out Of there until the airplane lands and and deep planes so people on on board a private jet are in a very vulnerable position to to a bad actor so I think that's something the investigators have to consider com's access to a private airplane it came up because it was a point of concern during his arraignment in the uh southern district of New York

because his defense team addressed that in a letter to the judge where they were arguing for a bond and the letter says Quote since at least April 2024 Mr Colmes has and by the way that is after the raids uh Mr comes has been making efforts to sell his airplane we inform the government of these efforts in May of 2024 just this weekend Mr combms entered into a letter of intent with a party to sell it Mr comes understands he is not to travel to Los Angeles where the plane had been located this week and

further that the plane is not to be brought to any District in which he is Located ated until it is sold over the past several months there have been several potential buyers for the airplane and at least two buyers have signed a letter of intent to purchase the aircraft due to the nature of this asset and the amount of inspection and due diligence that is required for purchase it is not a simple asset to offload so Justin clearly it seems to me tough to sell a plane um from that point of view but I also

thought it was Interesting where they were making kind of a promise that he's not going to be with his plane he's not going to be a risk of flight yeah I you know obviously it's much easier for someone to get out of the country if they have a private plane someone someone um especially depending on uh I guess the Integrity of of the operator um if you know he would he would be able to to get out of the country and go very quickly to a place That might not be able to bring him back

uh to to face the charges that he's facing can I just amplify that point a little bit because I've been asked that question a lot why didn't he just take off on his private jet and leave that there is a difficulty there there right it's not as simple as someone would make it out to be especially if a law enforcement got wind of that they could have immediately arrested him just briefly explain to us why that was more You know you see it in the the the movies and sometimes you see it in real life

but why is it not so simple to just jump on a plane take off go to a country that doesn't extradite you well it's it's it's certainly um not difficult to um jump out on an airplane but I imagine if he went to an airport and he presented his uh passport to go to another country um he would have not gotten on that airplane the FBI would have picked him up um in his private jet I'm sure they were watching to see see where he was going but I just in term you know this is

not really an aviation issue but you're talking about having to go to a country um say Russia um that is going to uh not send you back to the US based on a request and and you become a a kind of a a a prisoner of that country moreover he would be leaving you know all or probably a lot of his ass certainly not all but but a lot of his assets behind um so I don't think it's a Particularly attractive option um you know life in Exile especially in a country that is not going

to um return you to the US it's not like he can go and live in Paris or London um is not a a great choice counterargument to that would be federal prison um let me ask you this um if this was a key piece of evidence right if this plane was a key piece of evidence in this case would the government even allow Shan comes to sell it well I you know the question that I Had when when you were asking me the question was was whether the airplane itself is a crime scene um whether

some of the activities that he is you know being accused of occurred on the airplane in which case I think it's something you know kind of a CSI question whether there's evidence you know putting aside the Manifest putting aside the flight log and putting aside uh the flight planning documents anything else that you know is likely Available whether whether there's actual evidence of misconduct um in the fibers on the rugs you know on the on the carpeting of that airplane or elsewhere so that's that's really a question for the FBI um now wanted to ask

you something else about this letter so in it says in advance of the plane being sold this is again the defense's letter on bail in advance of the plane being sold which it eventually will be we've agreed to keep the airplane in Los Angeles while Mr Colmes resides in his home in Florida if it is not being chartered coincidentally and not at Mr com's request last night the pl airplane was chartered on a part 135 flight from Los Angeles to Teterboro New Jersey Mr com had no Advanced knowledge of the flight nor did he possess

any control over its movement last night obviously Mr comes agrees to not go to any state in this case New Jersey in which his airplane is located pending its sail Which is actively being pursued and my understanding is part 135 refers to a certificate from the uh F FAA for private planes what did you make of that yeah what did you make of that well I mean it it sounds like they're chartering the airplane out so somebody who who wants to Charter it um for a here from California to Teterboro um could basically just pay

for it and the operator will operate it and Sean just owns the airplane doesn't know you know Mr Mr uh Colmes owns the airplane doesn't know anything about it you know the problem I have is once it's in Toro it's it's pretty damn close to where he's at so I think that that's um you know once it's off Charter um he still owns the airplane um so you know an hour away by car if if he was out um he'd be in tto Bur with his airplane one of the things that I've always wondered uh

if he was trying to sell the plane how much would he get for it so I was thinking You know if he's trying to sell it might need the funds to pay for all these legal expenses he's has a lot of legal exposure right now being sued by multiple people he's now going to have to fight this criminal case how much could you get for a private airplane I I mean I'd have to look it up but the first thing I would do if I bought that airplane is go to the fa and ask them

to change its side number um yeah you know so you're not flying around with the Same n number we call it that Mr comes flew around with um but I I don't I don't think it has any less or better value than than any other airplane um but I would I would not want to be flying around with the same uh n number the the faa's U number for the airplane so by the way back in uh late March this was again I believe after the raids TMZ uh was reporting that all of the companies

that comes used to charter flights that they were going to receive Subpoenas it seems you know investigators wanted to know who connected with coms uh had flown at his expense you know maybe look for potential victims um witnesses that can confirm or deny some of these allegations but Justin interestingly I didn't see anything in the indictment or in the government's letters regarding bail where they mentioned subpoena uh Charter companies or getting information uh about the plane or planes Nothing about that and it makes me wonder um were these Charter companies actually uh subpoenaed um was

there any information that was relevant that was obtained um and the fact that it wasn't mentioned you know I don't know if it's going to be part of the criminal case but it was interesting for me to see that and make and try to determine whether or not this plane is uh is relevant to the case yeah I think I think it depends on what records they Kept now they should have kept the itinerary for all the flights they should have kept the flight log honestly they even though they don't legally have to they should

have the passenger manifest the weit and balance the flight plans and any of the dispatch records so they the the the investigators would have a decent package assuming all those documents are available in which case now they have um the witnesses you know so now they have who was on each flight Who would Pilots maybe more importantly who were the flight attendants um who were the passengers and I imagine this may just be like Epstein where people hope that they are not uh on any of these manifests uh because they may be in you know

not saying they did anything wrong but that that they may be uh subject to being interviewed by the FBI about what happened on each particular flight the former member of the girl group Danity Kane she filed a lawsuit on September 10th claiming that com sexually and verbally abused her for a decade she also claimed that coms owes her more than $3 million in unpaid salary and royalties as well as unpaid wages for touring and in her lawsuit it says quote in or around November 2009 after the Soul Train Awards in Atlanta Georgia Mr Colmes flew

Miss Richard and Miss Harper to his house in New York on his private jet for an Afterparty there were many Well-known celebrities at the Afterparty and copious amounts of illegal drugs were being openly consumed upon information and belief Mr Colmes had arranged for dozens of young women and girls some of whom whom appeared to be underage to be transported to the party so again just going full circle we can see why the plane plays such a important role not only in these civil cases but if we're talking about sex trafficking and we're talking about transportation

Of people uh it's important in this the criminal case and you know like you said it on the outset you know they're taking people from one part of the country cross state lines to another part and uh it facilitates what whatever crime occurred at that party was facilitated by his use of this um so I I you know obviously a lot remains to be seen in in the litigation in the prosecution and also the civil cases but uh the jet is a key piece of Uh of evidence here Justin thank you so much for coming

on again really appreciate your time Justin Green uh we look forward to speaking with you again anytime thanks a lot all right everybody that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube where get your podcast I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak to you next time [Music]