Sean Combs’ Alleged Witness Tampering: ‘Gaslighting’ and Dangled Rent Payments

Sean “Diddy” Combs repeatedly contacted victims and witnesses in the months leading up to his arrest on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, according to prosecutors, with the Bad Boy Entertainment founder allegedly asking one victim for her continued “friendship and support,” while hinting that he would continue to pay her rent if she complied. 

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Days after Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed an explosive sex trafficking and abuse lawsuit against Combs in November, the hip-hop mogul allegedly made two phone calls to an unnamed victim that he financially supported. In response to the calls, the woman allegedly texted Combs that reading Ventura’s lawsuit felt like she was “reading my own sexual trauma,” according to court documents. “It makes me sick how three solid pages, word for word, is exactly my experiences and my anguish.”

But Combs “gaslit” the woman on the recorded call and attempted to “convince her that she had willingly engaged in sex acts with him,” prosecutors said. Combs ensured “the victim that if she continues to be on his side and provide support and friendship, that she doesn’t have to worry about anything else which is just a thinly veiled reference to continuing that financial support,” court papers claim.  

Later, Combs allegedly told a co-conspirator to ensure that his “financial adviser” is “not doing anything dumb, like not having that rent paid on time,” referring to the woman’s accommodations.

Combs’ alleged witness tampering was a focal point of Southern District of New York prosecutors’ argument that he should remain in federal custody as the high-profile case heads to trial. The former billionaire’s “long history of obstruction and violence demonstrates that the defendant simply cannot overcome the presumption that no condition or combination of conditions can ensure the safety of the community,” prosecutors argued. “His influence makes it so difficult for witnesses to share their experiences and trust that the government can keep them safe from him,” said attorney Emily Johnson, one of the prosecutors.
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Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo argued that his client did not intimidate potential witnesses, saying that Combs had only gotten in touch with people to alert them that his attorneys wanted to speak with them. Still, as part of Combs’ substantial $50 million bail package, Agnifilo offered that Combs would not have any contact with known grand jury witnesses. If granted release, Combs would also submit to weekly drug tests and ban any women who weren’t family members from visiting his house. A judge denied his appeal on Wednesday.

In the months leading up to Combs’ indictment, prosecutors claim that Combs and his co-conspirators had “constant contact with witnesses” over several different methods — sometimes after the witnesses received subpoenas to testify in front of a grand jury. 

“That contact has occurred prior to dates of testimony or meetings with the government, and in one case with an individual who hadn’t spoken to the defendant in years prior to this reach out,” prosecutors allege. 

Most recently, prosecutors claimed, there were 128 phone contacts between Combs and Diddy-Dirty Money singer Kalenna Harper — 58 calls and texts directly from Combs — after Harper was named in bandmate Dawn Richard’s Sept. 10 lawsuit against Combs. After Harper released a statement distancing herself from Richard’s lawsuit, Combs did not contact Harper again, prosecutors stated. 

Combs’ attorney Agnifilo said Combs’ communication with Harper was “the furthest thing from witness obstruction I can think of.”
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In a statement provided to Rolling Stone, Richard’s attorney Lisa Bloom said they were “shocked but not surprised” by Combs’ contact with a “witness who then spoke out publicly” against Richard. “We will be demanding those text and phone messages in our litigation and if they show witness tampering, we will add that claim to our lawsuit and aggressively pursue it,” Bloom added. 

Although Combs’ attorney claimed that the mogul was acting innocuously in contacting victims and witnesses, prosecutors referred to documentation showing Combs expressing concern that his calls and texts were being monitored. “I can’t be on these phones and shit like that … you feel me,” Combs allegedly told someone, according to court documents. “I can’t even talk on the phone. Like, please don’t send no texts or do nothing. People misread and shit.”