Diddy’s Legal Team Says He Can’t Prep for Trial Because He’s Being Too Closely Monitored

Diddy’s lawyers are again calling into question the circumstances under which they say their client is being held as a 2025 trial start date looms.

As previously reported, Diddy was arrested in New York in September, with a subsequent unsealed indictment revealing trafficking and racketeering allegations. The Bad Boy Records later pleaded not guilty. Numerous updates have made headlines in the months since, including multiple failed bail efforts and an argument from his legal team that Diddy’s shot at a “fair trial” was being compromised by prosecutors.

The latter issue was broached again this week, as first reported by TMZ, with the focus this time placed on alleged interference with Diddy’s preparation process ahead of the trial. In short, it has been alleged that federal officials and prison workers are monitoring Diddy’s communications with his legal team.

Cited in the docs, also viewed by Complex, is a recently reported raid, with Diddy’s attorneys specifically alleging that a prison employee shared a photo of Diddy’s handwritten notes with prosecutors.

Here's how it's worded in the filing:

"The evidence shows the government is using Mr. Combs’ detention to spy on him and invade his confidential communications with his counsel. Since his arrest, the government has been working with BOP staff, including 'Investigator-1,' to take advantage of his incarceration by meticulously monitoring all his communications, including with his attorneys. And during a recent BOP sweep of MDC, Investigator-1 illegally searched Mr. Combs’ handwritten notes containing privileged communications and work product. Investigator-1 photographed the notes and then shared them with the prosecutors."

Defense counsel argues that these alleged instances mark an example of “unfair and unconstitutional tactics,” adding that the search that resulted in the notes was itself “illegal.” Additionally, lawyers argue, Diddy’s Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights have been violated as a result of prosecutors’ alleged actions.

In November, lawyers for Diddy argued that out-of-court statements from possible witnesses in the case, as well as their reps, were undermining his chance of a “fair trial” next year. The government, lawyers argued, “is fueling the fire of online conspiracy theories and making it impossible for [Diddy] to have a fair trial” by not taking action on “outrageous claims” that were circulating at the time.

Wednesday, legal journalist and independent reporter Meghann Cuniff was the first to point to a related push from Diddy’s legal team to have the court order the Metropolitan Detention Center to provide him with a laptop. Mentioned in the filing is what lawyers have described as the monitoring and recording of their client’s notes, thus heightening the need for a laptop. Proposed restrictions on the use of such a device, meanwhile, were criticized as having “no justification.”

Furthermore, Diddy’s legal team claimed that such restrictions are unique to his case, writing, “These restrictions are untenable and from what we understand, not required of any other inmate on [Diddy’s] unit.”

Complex has reached out to Diddy’s reps for comment. This story may be updated.