Sean “Diddy” Combs has added a new lawyer to his trial team, which comes just a few weeks before jury selection begins on May 5.
Source: Theo Wargo
The disgraced music mogul has called on the lawyer of another famous musician, Young Thug, to join his trial team. Brian Steel, the high-powered defense lawyer who represented Thug in his RICO trial, is now set to represent Combs after being charged with sex trafficking and racketeering.
According to reports from Rolling Stone, in a new court filing on Tuesday, Steel submitted his credentials and asked to be specially admitted as an out-of-state lawyer in Combs’ criminal case with just weeks to go before jury selection starts next month. Steel represented Young Thug during the rapper’s nearly two-year trial related to his YSL gang and racketeering case in Atlanta.
“Brian is a legend, especially after YSL,” Douglas Weinstein, who represented Thug’s co-defendant Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, told Rolling Stone. “His insights, tenacity and character will be a phenomenal addition to Mr. Combs’ team. I saw it in person during the YSL trial. I wish I could be a fly on the wall with whatever happens. He’s a legend in Georgia.”
Combs is also fighting a racketeering conspiracy charge, but his cases is much different than the Atlanta rapper’s. The Bad Boy founder has pleaded not guilty to allegations he trafficked multiple women under a “criminal enterprise” that used violence, threats, and manipulation to fulfill Combs’ “sexual gratification.” He has been in custody at a federal detention center in Brooklyn since his arrest last September.
Prior to Steel’s addition to the team, there were rumors that Combs was looking to add Los Angeles legal titan Mark Geragos to his team. Geragos’ daughter, Teny Geragos, already is representing the Bad Boy Records founder, though Mark has been tied up representing the Mendendez brothers amid their push for resentencing. Still, a source tells Rolling Stone he was in New York earlier this week, which could mean another addition to Diddy’s legal team.
This change comes as Combs has once again pleaded not guilty to new charges brought against him by U.S. attorneys, who accuse him of turning his “multi-faceted business empire” into a “criminal enterprise” over two decades.
The record producer appeared in Manhattan court on Monday, April 14, for an arraignment, with Reuters reporting that Combs entered a not guilty plea in response to the latest criminal indictment. Filed on April 3, this new indictment adds one count of sex trafficking and one count of transportation to engage in prostitution of “Victim-2” to the previous three charges against him.
In response to the revised indictment, Diddy’s legal team said in a statement to USA TODAY, “These are not new allegations or new accusers. These are the same individuals, former long-term girlfriends, who were involved in consensual relationships. This was their private sex life, defined by consent, not coercion.”
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