Sean “Diddy” Combs has added a brand new lawyer to his trial group, which comes just some weeks earlier than jury choice begins on Could 5.
The disgraced music mogul has referred to as on the lawyer of one other well-known musician, Younger Thug, to hitch his trial group. Brian Metal, the high-powered protection lawyer who represented Thug in his RICO trial, is now set to symbolize Combs after being charged with intercourse trafficking and racketeering.
In line with reviews from Rolling Stone, in a brand new courtroom submitting on Tuesday, Metal submitted his credentials and requested to be specifically admitted as an out-of-state lawyer in Combs’ prison case with simply weeks to go earlier than jury choice begins subsequent month. Metal represented Younger Thug throughout the rapper’s practically two-year trial associated to his YSL gang and racketeering case in Atlanta.
“Brian is a legend, particularly after YSL,” Douglas Weinstein, who represented Thug’s co-defendant Deamonte “Yak Gotti” Kendrick, instructed Rolling Stone. “His insights, tenacity and character shall be an outstanding addition to Mr. Combs’ group. I noticed it in particular person throughout the YSL trial. I want I may very well be a fly on the wall with no matter occurs. He’s a legend in Georgia.”
Combs can be preventing a racketeering conspiracy cost, however his instances is way completely different than the Atlanta rapper’s. The Unhealthy Boy founder has pleaded not responsible to allegations he trafficked a number of girls beneath a “prison enterprise” that used violence, threats, and manipulation to satisfy Combs’ “sexual gratification.” He has been in custody at a federal detention middle in Brooklyn since his arrest final September.
Previous to Metal’s addition to the group, there have been rumors that Combs was trying so as to add Los Angeles authorized titan Mark Geragos to his group. Geragos’ daughter, Teny Geragos, already is representing the Unhealthy Boy Information founder, although Mark has been tied up representing the Mendendez brothers amid their push for resentencing. Nonetheless, a supply tells Rolling Stone he was in New York earlier this week, which may imply one other addition to Diddy’s authorized group.
This variation comes as Combs has as soon as once more pleaded not responsible to new prices introduced in opposition to him by U.S. attorneys, who accuse him of turning his “multi-faceted enterprise empire” right into a “prison enterprise” over twenty years.
The report producer appeared in Manhattan courtroom on Monday, April 14, for an arraignment, with Reuters reporting that Combs entered a not responsible plea in response to the newest prison indictment. Filed on April 3, this new indictment provides one depend of intercourse trafficking and one depend of transportation to interact in prostitution of “Sufferer-2” to the earlier three prices in opposition to him.
In response to the revised indictment, Diddy’s authorized group mentioned in a press release to USA TODAY, “These usually are not new allegations or new accusers. These are the identical people, former long-term girlfriends, who have been concerned in consensual relationships. This was their personal intercourse life, outlined by consent, not coercion.”
