Sean Combs’ lawyers filed a motion to suppress the search warrants federal agents used during the raid of his homes last March and for access to his internet history.
The motion filed on Sunday and obtained by Rolling Stone claims “the government made false statements and omitted critical exculpatory evidence in its warrant applications in this case,” calling the omissions “intentional, or at the very least, reckless.”
In the motion, the lawyers argue that the government had a variety of evidence that suggested that the participation of “Victim-1” — widely known as Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — in the encounters “was voluntary and consensual, not coerced as the government suggested in its applications.”
It was Ventura’s November 2023 lawsuit against Combs that sparked the criminal investigation behind his charges. In her complaint, Ventura alleged that Combs subjected her to extensive violence and forced her to participate in the “Freak Offs.” She alleged Combs would ply her with “copious amounts” of drugs, and that the intoxicants would help her “disassociate during these horrific encounters.” Her suit was settled in 24 hours, but more than 50 civil lawsuits have followed and Ventura is central to the government’s case. Combs’ homes were subsequently raided in March 2024 and Combs was arrested in September.
In Sunday’s motion, Combs’ lawyers claim the government warrant applications “hid” exculpatory evidence of Ventura having “financial motives.” “The misrepresentations and misleading omissions in the warrants are frequent and patterned,” according to the motion. “The affiant omitted, for example, all information about all the witnesses’ … financial motives to fabricate.” (A lawyer for Ventura did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.)
The motion also addresses the probable cause statements the federal government compiled for its search warrant applications, claiming the statements were “intentionally misleading” and alleges that once the warrants were obtained, it subsequently “leaked damaging information.” It also argues Combs’ Fourth Amendment rights were violated due to their claim that the warrants were issued without probable cause.
Earlier this week, Combs’ lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the charge of transportation to engage in prostitution, also known as the Mann Act.
In their case against Combs, prosecutors alleged that Combs hired male sex workers to have sexual encounters with his girlfriends (“freak offs”). In the motion to dismiss, his lawyers argue, “It is not uncommon for couples using such services to bring a third person — including as alleged here, a man — across State lines and into their intimate relations.”
“Yet no other person, and certainly no white person, has ever previously been prosecuted under the White-Slave Traffic Act for hiring male escorts from another State. Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is a powerful black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished,” the lawyers allege in the court document.
Days after the motion to dismiss was filed, one of Combs’ defense attorneys, Anthony Ricco, requested to withdraw from the criminal case. (Ricco’s name was left off the motion to dismiss document).
Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, which collectively carry a sentence of 15 years to life in prison if convicted. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Combs’ trial is set for May.