Sean “Diddy” Combs now has fewer prices to face within the $30 million lawsuit filed in opposition to him by former affiliate Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones.
In a ruling on Monday, the presiding decide deemed a number of the prices, together with a RICO declare, legally poor.
He additionally defined the explanation behind his choice and gave a robust reprimand to Lil Rod’s lawyer for his underhanded authorized techniques.
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Choose Struck Out RICO Costs And Some Different Claims
On Monday, Diddy gained one other win in his ongoing authorized battles since his arrest in September final 12 months.
The rapper was sued by a former affiliate, Rodney’ Lil Rod’ Jones, who claimed that he was groomed, abused, and exploited by the embattled rapper in the course of the time that they labored collectively.
Among the prices that Lil Rod introduced in opposition to Diddy have now been dismissed by Choose J. Paul Oetken of the US District Court docket for the Southern District of New York in a 31-page ruling.
In line with The Hollywood Reporter, the decide struck out the racketeering accusation together with the breach of contract declare, which referenced Lil Rod’s claims that he was stiffed on $50,000 in cost, publishing shares, and royalties for his work on Diddy’s “The Love Album: Off the Grid.”
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Three different claims associated to infliction of emotional misery have been additionally dismissed alongside one other reason for motion within the go well with associated to the Trafficking Victims Safety Act.
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Why The Choose Dismissed The RICO Costs
In his ruling, Oetken extensively defined why he didn’t enable Lil Rod and his attorneys to maneuver ahead with the RICO prices.
“[Combs’] alleged refusal to honor the contract with Jones just isn’t itself a RICO predicate act, even when the contract breach resulted from Jones’s refusal to take part in Combs’s alleged racketeering scheme,” he wrote.
The decide added, “In sum, whether or not or not Jones has adequately alleged the existence of a RICO enterprise, he has not tied the actions of that enterprise to defendants’ breach of contract, or some other’ enterprise or property’ hurt incurred by Jones.”
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Oetken went additional to elucidate why the breach of contract cost was additionally dismissed, claiming that Diddy and Lil Rod had no written cost settlement that compelled the embattled rapper to pay his former affiliate dividends and royalties.
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Diddy Nonetheless Has Different Pending Costs In Lil Rod’s Go well with
Following the ruling, Diddy solely has to reply for claims of intercourse trafficking, sexual assault, and premises legal responsibility, which have been all a part of the preliminary go well with.
Nonetheless, Lil Rod’s lawyer, Tyrone A. Blackburn, is unfazed by these dismissals regardless of the implication that he seemingly now has a slimmer case in opposition to Diddy.
In an interview with the outlet after the ruling, he stated that he respects the choice and now intends to maneuver ahead with authorized discovery on the remainder of the case, which additionally named Diddy’s chief of employees, Kristina Khorram.
“We view this as a win. [The] defendants wished a complete dismissal, and so they didn’t get it,” Blackburn advised The Hollywood Reporter. “I do know the place the entire our bodies are buried, and I’ve an enormous shovel. Time to start out digging!”
Federal Prosecutors Had been Not too long ago Ordered To Reveal The Identify Of Diddy’s Accusers
Diddy’s latest courtroom win comes after prosecutors have been additionally ordered to disclose the title of his accusers in his ongoing federal intercourse crimes trial.
The names the music mogul’s attorneys sought have been those listed within the indictment introduced in opposition to the music mogul in September 2024.
Though it was already clear that Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie was one of many accusers, the remainder of the names have been unknown to the rapper and his attorneys previous to the latest ruling.
They have been solely known as Sufferer 1, Sufferer 2, and Sufferer 3, with Cassie being famous as Sufferer 1, seemingly because of her viral assault video being a key piece of proof within the upcoming trial.
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In the meantime, the names will stay solely identified to Diddy’s attorneys and the prosecutors, because the decide additionally added an “below an Lawyer’s Eyes Solely designation” caveat.
As for Diddy, he stays in detention at a federal facility in New York forward of his trial in Could.
The Rapper Appeared ‘Bloated’ Throughout A Court docket Look
Throughout a latest courtroom look, Diddy confronted allegations from three new victims that he sexually abused them between 2004 to 2024, which he pleaded not responsible to.
In line with the New York Post, the rapper appeared “bloated” and “outdated” in his tan jail jumpsuit, sporting grey hair and a grey chinstrap beard.
CBS reporter Alice Gainer additionally famous the rapper’s aged look, writing on X, “Combs walked into courtroom sporting gray hair and a gray beard…”
This growth comes as no shock, because the Unhealthy Boy Information founder has been locked behind bars on the infamous Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn since his September arrest.
