Sean “Diddy” Combs is fighting the evidence prosecutors are expected to use against him at his criminal trial in New York in May.
His legal team said in a filing Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that its lawyers reviewed nine “so-called ‘Freak Off’ tapes” videos provided by New York prosecutors involving a person called ” Victim-1.”
The filing seeks electronic copies of the videos, which Combs’ attorneys say “confirm Mr. Combs’ innocence” between “fully consenting adults in a long-term relationship.”
A source with knowledge of the matter said Combs’ legal team can only view the videos “in the presence of a government official and can view them but cannot keep them.”
The document also states that the recordings were not part of the searches conducted on Combs’ properties last year, but were kept by “Victim-1” and provided to the government as part of its criminal investigation.
“Furthermore, contrary to countless sensationalist media reports, the videos do not depict sex parties,” the document states. “There are no secret cameras, no orgies, no other celebrities involved, no underground tunnels, no minors, and not even the slightest trace of coercion or violence.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney declined to comment.
Combs was charged in September with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held in Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center while awaiting his trial, scheduled for May 5.
The fallout for Combs began in November 2023 when his longtime ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, accused him in a lawsuit of physical and sexual assault and sex trafficking. It was in the trial that so-called “freak offs,” or sex parties, were first mentioned. Ventura and Combs settled for an undisclosed amount.
A few months later, CNN released security video of Combs kicking, punching and roughly dragging Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
He apologizeed for thee incident on social media and said, in part: “My behavior in this video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in this video. I’m disgusted. So I was disgusted when I did it. I’m disgusted now.
