Diddy Moves to Shield Himself From Civil Lawsuits as Criminal Trial Approaches

Sean "Diddy" Combs is requesting that civil lawsuits against him be temporarily suspended while he prepares for a high-profile criminal trial in New York. Facing over 60 civil suits and charges including racketeering, sex trafficking, and interstate domestic violence, the music mogul's legal team argues that proceeding with civil discovery would place him at risk of self-incrimination.

The disgraced rapper's attorneys filed a motion seeking to freeze civil proceedings, including a prominent lawsuit filed by Joi Dickerson-Neal, until after the conclusion of his upcoming criminal case. The motion specifically raises concerns that answering questions in the civil suits could potentially harm his defense in the criminal trial.

According to AllHipHop, central to Diddy's legal strategy has been the Fifth Amendment, which protects an individual from being compelled to testify against oneself. His lawyers say it would put him in the impossible position of needing to testify in a way that wouldn't hurt his civil case but would contradict his defense in the federal criminal case.

This was part of a request to suspend civil litigation stemming from Dickerson-Neal's lawsuit, who alleges Diddy drugged and raped her after a date in 1991. Dickerson-Neal was a student at Syracuse University at the time. In the complaint, Diddy is accused of spiking her drink at a Harlem eatery that left her impaired, unable to walk or stand.

Diddy had allegedly recorded this and circulated it throughout the music industry, with Jodeci's Davante Swing appearing to have received some of the footage, Dickerson-Neal claims. Swing told her "everybody" had watched the video, she stated. Dickerson-Neal alleges sexual assault as well as infliction of emotional distress, the so-called "revenge p**n", and a breach of New York's gender-motivated violence statute.

Meanwhile, Diddy's lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss parts of the case. The defense says that revenge p**n sex trafficking laws did not exist when this allegedly happened in 1991. But the accusations are based on a legal standard that didn't exist at the time, Diddy's lawyers said.

Plea Deal Discussion in Court

On Friday, Diddy also showed up at New York Supreme Court for a pretrial hearing prior to his explosive criminal trial scheduled to begin in May. During the hearing, federal prosecutors raised the issue of a plea deal, asking Judge Arun Subramanian to confirm on the record that Diddy had been offered a deal but chose to reject it. The judge indicated he would address the plea offer in further detail during a pretrial conference scheduled for May 1. The specifics of the plea deal, however, have not been disclosed to the public.

Ahead of the trial, Diddy's attorneys had hoped to delay the hearing until July, but Judge Subramanian denied that request last week. Jury selection is now scheduled to begin on May 5, with opening arguments set to commence on May 12.

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Diddy, Sean Combs