Lawyers for P Diddy have reportedly made an attempt to silence a grand jury witness who has made claims about the rapper's infamous parties.
Lawyers Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos have reportedly filed a letter to the federal judge overseeing the jailed rapper's sex trafficking and racketeering case. The attorneys have reportedly asked the judge to issue a gag order on witnesses to stop them "undermining Mr. Combs' right to a fair trial and the integrity of the grand jury proceedings."
According to ABC News, the lawyers have complained in the letter that statements by certain individuals are creating a "deluge of improper pretrial publicity". The attorneys have allegedly targeted Combs' former friend Courtney Burgess, who has claimed in interviews he has seen videos of celebrities being abused at one of the rapper's so-called 'freak-off' parties.
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The lawyers have reportedly argued: "These stories have spread rapidly through the media and created the impression that such videos exist, which is false, and that the government is actually crediting his sensational claims, which is profoundly prejudicial."
They are said to have complained that the government is fueling online conspiracy theories about Diddy by not treating Burgess' claims as an "extortion scam". The lawyers also claim the government has been investigating the rapper for almost a year and must know the alleged "freak-off" parties never involved men or minors.
Burgess has claimed he has seen videos of at least two male stars who were "underage" when they were being "victimized" at the parties. He has not named the celebrities allegedly in the videos.
Burgess has also described the jailed rapper, real name Sean Combs, as "Lucifer". He told NewsNation's Bandfield: "At the time, I guess he was ambitious. Then from ambitious [he] went to doing anything. And then [he] from doing anything to didn't care about nobody - who he could beat.
"And then he ended up turning into Lucifer. And today, I'm looking at him - I know you all call him Diddy or Puffy - I call him Lucifer."
Diddy has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution.
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