Jailed rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a $50 million lawsuit against NewsNation parent company Nexstar and a witness who was subpoenaed to a federal grand jury considering additional charges against him.
Combs has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution in federal court and denied bail multiple times.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in New York federal court, claims that Courtney Burgess’s media interviews — in which he claims to have videos showing Combs raping celebrities, including some who appear under age, may prevent a fair trial on the federal charges, The Hollywood Reporter said. The suit names Nexstar, the parent company of NewsNation, for interviewing Burgess about the allegations multiple times.
Combs is “taking a stand against the malicious falsehoods that have been fabricated and amplified by individuals seeking to profit at his expense,” the rapper’s lawyer, Erica Wolf, said in a statement. “These defendants have willfully fabricated and disseminated outrageous lies with reckless disregard for the truth. Their falsehoods have poisoned public perception and contaminated the jury pool. This complaint should serve as a warning that such intentional falsehoods, which undermine Mr. Combs’s right to a fair trial, will no longer be tolerated.”
Combs himself has been charged in dozens of lawsuits with raping and drugging women — and men — for sex. The lawsuits began with a suit from former girlfriend Cassie Ventura that was settled “amicably” the day after it was filed. But that lawsuit opened a floodgate and included a federal investigation and resulted in the charges filed last summer.
Combs has denied all the charges in the lawsuits and the federal court, except for those related to him beating Ventura in hotel hallway in 2016. That was caught on video, and he admitted it in a tearful Instagram video once the incriminating video was leaked.
Combs’ lawsuit also takes issue with Burgess’s attorney, Ariel Mitchell, who represents several of the rapper’s accusers as well.
“Burgess and Mitchell’s repeated false and defamatory claims that Burgess possessed videos depicting Mr. Combs sexually assaulting celebrities, including minors, led federal prosecutors to subpoena him to a grand jury sitting in New York, New York,” the lawsuit says. “On the day he appeared before the grand jury, Burgess and Mitchell gave an interview on the courthouse steps, during which they acknowledged that U.S. Marshals had visited his residences to ensure compliance with the subpoena.”
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[Featured image: Sean “Diddy” Combs/Instagram]
