Politics
In prosecution of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, allegations of obstruction and cover-up could be key
By Jordan Rubin
UPDATE(Sept. 17, 2024, 4:55 p.m. ET):This story has been updated to reflect that Combs has pleaded not guilty and will remain in custody after a judge denied bail.
Federal prosecutors in New York unveiled a shocking indictment against Sean “Diddy” Combs on Tuesday, alleging three counts: racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution. While no one knows how this criminal case will end, one of the key types of evidence against the music mogul could involve any alleged instances of obstruction, cover-up and related behavior.
The graphic and depraved nature of the allegations stand out in the 14-page indictment, but any evidence that a defendant sought to conceal their acts or engage in other surreptitious behavior can help prosecutors prove guilt at trial, whatever the underlying charges might be.
On Tuesday afternoon, a judge denied bail for Combs, who will remain in custody. Combs’ lawyer said earlier in the day that his client, who pleaded not guilty, will “fight this with all of his energy and all of his might and the full confidence of his lawyers.” Criminal defendants are presumed innocent.
In laying out the alleged racketeering conspiracy, prosecutors wrote that Combs created a criminal enterprise “whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.” While the last item on that sordid list — obstruction — might seem like the relatively most mundane, prosecutors could present related evidence that helps them tie together their broader allegation that Combs was knowingly engaged in criminality such that there would be reason for him and/or his associates to engage in obstruction.
That is, prosecutors might wonder aloud at trial: Why would a defendant seek to cover up his conduct if he wasn’t doing anything wrong?
On that note, prosecutors allege that Combs used his business to, among other things, “cover up his abuse and commercial sex.” Elsewhere in the indictment, a paragraph alleging various crimes also alleges “concealing the commission of such acts.” While concealment can seem less significant than the alleged acts themselves, to the extent that there is any conflicting evidence at trial, prosecutors can point to any concealment activity as further proof that a defendant was knowingly engaged in wrongdoing.
Along those lines, prosecutors may likewise emphasize that authorities allegedly recovered guns from Combs’ homes with defaced serial numbers. As I noted in connection with the gun charges in Florida in the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, that can indicate an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement.
Notably, in seeking Combs’ detention pretrialprosecutors wrote to the court that the hip-hop star “poses a significant risk of obstructing justice,” adding that he “has attempted to bribe security staff and threatened and interfered with witnesses to his criminal conduct. He has already tried to obstruct the Government’s investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events.”
On top of everything else in the sweeping indictment — and there’s a lot there — to the extent that prosecutors can demonstrate to a jury that Combs engaged in cover-up activity, that can help the government prove its case.
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Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro,” a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined BLN, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America’s operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down.
A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump’s choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday’s decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump’s order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” Lamberth wrote.
There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agency overseeing Voice of America. Lake had denounced Lamberth’s March 7 ruling, saying it would be appealed. Since then, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run USAGM. That requires Senate approval, a step that was not taken with Lake.
Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore it, said she is deeply grateful for the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” she said. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Voice of America has transmitted news coverage to countries around the world since its formation in World War II, often in countries with no tradition of a free press. Before Trump’s executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore the government-run Voice of America’s operations after it had effectively been shut down a year ago, putting hundreds of employees who have been on administrative leave back to work.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth gave the U.S. Agency for Global Media a week to put together a plan for putting Voice of America on the air. It has been operating with a skeleton staff since President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shut it down.
A week ago, Lamberth said Kari Lake, who had been Trump’s choice to lead the agency, did not have the legal authority to do what she had done at Voice of America. In Tuesday’s decision, Lamberth ruled on the actions she had taken to respond to Trump’s order, essentially shelving 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees.
“Defendants have provided nothing approaching a principled basis for their decision,” Lamberth wrote.
There was no immediate comment on the decision by the agency overseeing Voice of America. Lake had denounced Lamberth’s March 7 ruling, saying it would be appealed. Since then, Trump nominated Sarah Rogers, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, to run USAGM. That requires Senate approval, a step that was not taken with Lake.
Patsy Widakuswara, Voice of America’s White House bureau chief and a plaintiff in the lawsuit to restore it, said she is deeply grateful for the decision.
“We are eager to begin repairing the damage Kari Lake has inflicted on our agency and our colleagues, to return to our congressional mandate, and to rebuild the trust of the global audience we have been unable to serve for the past year,” she said.
“We know the road to restoring VOA’s operations and reputation will be long and difficult,” she said. “We hope the American people will continue to support our mission to produce journalism, not propaganda.”
Voice of America has transmitted news coverage to countries around the world since its formation in World War II, often in countries with no tradition of a free press. Before Trump’s executive order, VOA had operated in 49 different languages, broadcasting to 362 million people.
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