NEW YORK (DM) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a fresh crisis after his lawyer Anthony Ricco stepped down from his legal team with a very cryptic statement.
In a motion for withdraw of counsel filed in New York on Thursday, Ricco said “under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs.”
The notice added that discussions had been had with lead counsel Marc Agnifilo and Ricco before the motion was filed.
Ricco said that he would be providing no details to support the application, adding that government prosecutors had been notified and didn’t take a stance.
Attorney for Sean “Diddy” Combs, Anthony Ricco, speaks to members of the media as he exits Manhattan federal court, Thursday, October 10 2024
He said him standing down would not result in a delay to the current schedule, with Combs set to stand trial in May.
Combs has the same lead counsel he has had since his homes in LA and Miami were raided last year, Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, as well as three other lawyers on his team.
DailyMail.com has approached Ricco for comment.
Combs, 55, remains locked up at Brooklyn’s infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in New York after he was arrested in September of last year.
Combs attends a pre-trial conference in his sex trafficking case with his attorneys Marc Agnifilo and Anthony Ricco in New York City
He was federally charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution on September 17.
The rapper has been accused of arranging ‘Freak Offs,’ described as ‘elaborate and produced sex performances’.
Prosecutors say he arranged and directed these ‘performances’ while he masturbated and often recorded them.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he coerced and abused women for years, aided by associates and employees.
Prosecutors say he also silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Ricco said that he would be providing no details to support the application, adding that government prosecutors had been notified and didn’t take a stance
On top of his impending trial, he is facing dozens of lawsuits from individuals who say were harmed and exploited by him.
His legal team, through Combs, have repeatedly denied these individual suits, disregarding them as attempts for a ‘quick payday’.
If convicted, he is facing the possibility of life behind bars on the racketeering charge and a minimum of 15 years for sex trafficking.
Prosecutors said Combs used the ‘power and prestige’ he wielded as a music mogul to intimidate, threaten and lure women into his orbit, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship.
Combs has also sued NBC Universal over a documentary that he says falsely accuses him of being a serial murderer who had sex with underage girls.
Combs host the after party for “The Real White Party” Sean “Diddy” Combs at Club Dune on September 2, 2007 in East Hampton, New York
The suit, filed on Wednesday, says the documentary ‘Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy’ included statement that the company knew were false.
His complaint reads: ‘Indeed, the entire premise of the Documentary assumes that Mr. Combs has committed numerous heinous crimes, including serial murder, rape of minors, and sex trafficking of minors, and attempts to crudely psychologize him.
‘It maliciously and baselessly jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Combs is a “monster” and “an embodiment of Lucifer” with “a lot of similarities” to Jeffrey Epstein.’
The documentary premiered last month on Peacock TV, the network´s streaming service.
Combs lawsuit says the documentary ‘falsely, recklessly, and maliciously’ accuses him of murdering Kimberly Porter, Christopher Wallace and Dwight Arrington Myers, among other notable names.
Porter, a model who had been Combs’ longtime girlfriend and the mother of some of his children, died in 2008 at the age of 47 from complications from pneumonia.
Wallace, the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G., was killed in 1997 in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles at age 24.
Myers, the rapper known as “Heavy D,” died from a pulmonary embolism in 2011 at the age of 44.
By JOE HUTCHINSON/Daily Mail
