Skip to main content

Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in court on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. Federal agents arrested him in September 2024 on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. According to a criminal defense attorney, the government is now pressuring co-conspirators to “flip” on Combs. Here’s what the attorney explained.

The government is pushing co-conspirators to ‘flip’ on Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

Sean “Diddy” Combs is behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, until his trial in May 2025. He appeared for a hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. Combs reportedly looked thinner and grayer than usual, showing the toll that the charges against him have taken.

Authorities have not officially charged anyone else with crimes in connection with Combs. However, criminal defense attorney Safa Robinson-Ferrer told Law&Crime Network that there’s pressure on Combs’ “co-conspirators” to “flip.”

“Those co-conspirators and those older victims, we don’t know where they are as of yet,” Robinson-Ferrer said. “Right now, it seems that they’re in grand jury proceedings and process. And so those proceedings are done in secret. We don’t know who’s there; we don’t know who’s testifying. It very well could be additional victims who will ultimately be the basis for additional charges. Or, they could be convening those grand juries in an event to indict other co-conspirators.”

“What the government is more than likely going to do or has been doing is identifying potential co-conspirators, interviewing them, and getting them to flip on Mr. Combs to bolster their evidence,” the criminal defense attorney continued. “So, that is something likely taking place at this time.”

Dawn Richard’s lawyer says ‘anybody who’s complicit’ will be held accountable

Sean 'Diddy' Combs in a yellow blazer holding a glass of champagne next to Jay-Z in a pink suit also holding up a glass of champagne. The men are outside surrounded by trees and grass.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Jay-Z attend 2020 Roc Nation The Brunch on Jan. 25, 2020 | Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation
Related

Nicki Minaj Called Out Jay-Z and Diddy’s ‘Rat Pack’ Behavior on Social Media

Danity Kane member Dawn Richard is suing Sean “Diddy” Combs for sexual assault, food and sleep deprivation, and inadequate pay. Richard’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, told Sky News that she plans on bringing the hammer down on “anybody” who was “complicit” in Combs’ actions.

“We want to hold accountable anybody who’s complicit, because to victimize people on this scale where we’re probably talking about hundreds of people, you can’t do that alone, you have to have helpers … people who actually saw incidents of abuse turned a blind eye to it and continued funding these events where things happened,” Bloom explained. “They should be held accountable, and we intend to do that in our case.”

Some celebrities in connection to the case have already received demand letters

Attorney Tony Buzbee told TMZ Live that some celebrities received demand letters in connection to Sean”Diddy” Combs’ case.

“We have done that already,” Buzbee revealed without directly naming anyone famous. “We’ve done that, I would say, with a handful of individuals, many of which you’ve heard of before. And we’ll continue to do that. That’s just the standard process that every lawyer in the United States who handles these types of cases uses because it’s the right way to do it.”

Buzbee explained that he “attempts to resolve” matters between the victim and the defendant without filing a public lawsuit. However, that likely won’t happen in all cases. Jay-Z was already named in a lawsuit claiming that he raped a 13-year-old in 2000 with Combs. Jay-Z is the first celebrity to be directly named as someone who performed criminal acts alongside Combs.

How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. 

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.