Featured Image Credit: Patrick T. Fallon - Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Court, Crime, Diddy, Jay-Z, Sex Trafficking
Callum Jones
Topics: Court, Crime, Diddy, Jay-Z, Sex Trafficking
A$AP Rocky's lawyer has explained why he turned down representing Diddy in court later this year after the disgraced rapper's own attorney quit.
Diddy, whose real name Sean Combs, is at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center as he remains in police custody awaiting trial in May.
He was arrested at the Park Hyatt hotel in Manhattan, New York last September, and has been charged with racketeering and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion - all of which he has denied.
Earlier this month, Diddy's lawyer, Anthony Ricco, decided to step down from the rapper's legal team with immediate effect.
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Now, Joe Tacopina, who represented A$AP Rocky in his 2021 felony shooting case where he was acquitted on all charges, has said he has no interest in representing Diddy in court later this year.
Speaking on The Breakfast Club on Monday (February 24), Tacopina said his ties with Roc Nation and Jay-Z mean he would not represent Combs.
He said: "I represent Roc Nation; a lot of people in Roc I’m very close with. Jay and [Roc Nation president] Desiree Perez, who’s the most amazing, like, bomb of a boss. Jay is amazing. You know, Jay Brown, all those people are just, like, they really are special, special people."
The lawyer went on to say Jay-Z and Diddy are not in contact these days.
"That’s sort of family to me and I don’t think they see eye to eye with P. Diddy," he added.
In the motion for withdrawing as a representative for the Diddy, the filing dated for Thursday (February 20) read in part: "On September 22, 2024, I was retained by the defendant, Sean Combs, to serve as his counsel, and I have served as his counsel since that time."
It went on: "For the reasons set forth below, this motion for withdrawal is filed so that Sean Combs may move forward with his defense and to commence jury selection and trial without any delay."
Ricco went on to explain that the move comes about following a discussion with Combs' lead counsel Mark Agnifilo, where they agreed he should withdraw.
The lawyer added: "While I am aware that the Local Rule requires that an application for withdrawal of counsel is supported and granted 'only upon a showing by affidavit or otherwise of satisfactory reasons for withdrawal,' there are sufficient reasons (related to the protections afforded by the attorney/client privilege) for brevity in my application for withdrawal as counsel in this case."