Featured Image Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Topics: Diddy
Anish Vij
Sean 'Diddy' Combs is set to go on trial on various charges in May and his lawyer has just resigned from his legal team.
Anthony Ricco has today (21 February) said he will no longer represent the Grammy-winning producer who is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
"Under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs, consistent with the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice," his withdrawal filing read.
The music mogul, 55, has been charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges on 17 September and has been denied bail multiple times.
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Racketeering conspiracy is a criminal offence and relates to dishonest and fraudulent business dealings. This involves fraud, extortion and bribery, among other things.
Combs has been accused of using his 'power and prestige' to drug sex workers during his alleged 'Freak Off' parties.
The indictment also alleges the rapper of having 'abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct' since 2008.
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120 accusers came forward with sexual misconduct allegations in October and Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee said the lawsuits were from 60 males and 60 females.
"When you talk about the ages of the victims when the conduct occurred, it's shocking," Buzbee said.
"Our youngest victim at the time of the occurrence was nine years old. We have an individual who was 14 years old. We have one who was 15."
Combs' lawyer has said: "In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone - man or woman, adult or minor."
Combs' alleged freak offs were afterparties he was said to have hosted, filled with sex trafficking, abuse, and drugs.
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A person who claims to have attended a number of his parties previously alleged that was a 'signal' made to guests for 'people to leave' so the after party would begin.
The source told Us Weekly they attended Diddy's 'white parties' on a number of occasions between 2006 and 2011.
They alleged that there would be a 'signal' for high-profile celebrities to leave around 2am/3am if they didn't want to take part in the 'after party'.
"Girls would start to lose their clothes — that was the signal for people to leave," they said.
Another source added: "What happened before 2am pales in comparison to what happened at 5am."
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The indictment added that around 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant were seized from Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles when they were raided.
In another lawsuit, accuser Ashley Parham alleged Combs and his accomplices raped her in 2018 after he overheard her claiming he'd been involved in the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.
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A lawsuit against Combs and Jay-Z, which alleged the rape of a 13-year-old girl in 2000, was dismissed.
"The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed," the husband of Beyoncé said in a statement via Roc Nation.
"This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims.
"The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed."
A lawyer for Diddy has denied all allegations in a statement issued to LADbible Group.
"He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation," it read.
LADbible Group has contacted representatives of Sean 'Diddy' Combs for comment.