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Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs have filed a request with a federal judge to issue a gag order aimed at preventing lawyers representing alleged victims and witnesses from making public statements.
In a letter submitted on Tuesday, April 29, Combs’ legal team argued that, despite a previous request for such an order, several attorneys continue to generate what they described as “negative publicity” that could taint the jury pool.
The letter, addressed to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, specifically named attorney Douglas Wigdor, who represents Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, for engaging with the media.
“Absent a Court order, we expect the publicity to not only continue, but escalate as trial commences,” Combs’ attorneys wrote. “Indeed, in recent weeks, lawyers for government witnesses have commented on pretrial litigation and continued to broadcast prejudicial statements.”
They cited Wigdor’s recent comments regarding Combs’ request to suppress a surveillance video from 2016, which allegedly shows the music mogul pulling and dragging Ventura by the hair in a Los Angeles hotel hallway as she tried to flee. Despite the defense’s effort to block the footage from being shown to jurors, the judge ruled the video would remain admissible as evidence.
Combs’ attorneys claimed the video, which was first aired by CNN, had been “edited” and “manipulated,” and expressed concern over its potential influence on public opinion.
In response, Wigdor told DailyMail.com that he plans to formally oppose the gag order request.
“We will vigorously oppose the motion seeking an extraordinarily sweeping gag order, as it is an obvious attempt to control and silence victims and their counsel, in contravention of well-established legal and ethical precedent,” Wigdor said. “Given this, it should come as no surprise that Combs fails to cite even one case to support his request.”
The defense also criticized attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents another prosecution witness. While that individual has not been publicly identified, Bloom is also known to be representing former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard, who previously worked with Combs.
