LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs pushed back against a woman's lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault, filing a motion on Friday to dismiss some claims that were not under law when the alleged incident occurred.
The motion filed in a New York court claims Combs cannot be sued because certain laws didn't exist when Joi Dickerson-Neal made the allegations against him in 1991.
The music mogul's lawyers want certain statutes from Dickerson-Neal's claims such as revenge porn and human trafficking to be dismissed with prejudice.
In a filing last year, she said Combs “intentionally drugged” her, then brought her home and sexually assaulted her after a date in Harlem when she was a 19-year-old college student.
Without her knowledge, Combs videotaped the assault and later shared it with several friends in the music industry, the lawsuit alleges. He denied the allegations, accusing her of seeking to exploit the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.
While Friday’s motion seeks to dismiss the case on legal grounds, Diddy’s attorneys and the mogul “vehemently deny” what they called “numerous false, offensive, and salacious accusations” in the lawsuit.
Dickerson-Neal’s claim came nearly three decades after his alleged misconduct, and the New York State Revenge Porn Law was not codified until 2019, Combs’ lawyers said. His attorneys also pointed out a few others including the New York Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Law, which came into effect in 2007.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Dickerson-Neal has done.
Last month, Combs' properties in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by federal authorities in a sex trafficking investigation. The criminal investigation is a major escalation in the scrutiny of Combs, who has been the defendant in several recent sexual abuse lawsuits.
In a lawsuit Combs settled the day after it was filed in November, his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, sued him alleging years of sexual abuse, including rape. The lawsuit said he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said he raped her two decades ago when she was 17.
Combs and his attorneys have denied all of the allegations in the lawsuits.
This story corrects the spelling of Joi Dickerson-Neal's surname.
FILE - Music mogul and entrepreneur Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the Billboard Music Awards, May 15, 2022, in Las Vegas. Combs pushed back against a woman’s lawsuit that accused him of sexual assault. Combs’ lawyers filed a motion Friday, April 26, 2024, to dismiss some claims that were not under law when the alleged incident occurred. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case in which prosecutors allege he stole nearly $17 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
The scandal surrounding Ippei Mizuhara shocked baseball fans from the U.S. to Japan when the news broke in March.
Mizuhara will plead guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return, the U.S. Justice Department announced. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum of 30 years in federal prison, and the false tax return charge carries a sentence of up to three years in federal prison.
The plea agreement says Mizuhara will be required to pay Ohtani restitution that could total nearly $17 million, as well as more than $1 million to the IRS. Those amounts could change prior to sentencing.
Mizuhara will enter his guilty plea in the coming weeks and is set to be arraigned May 14, prosecutors said.
“The extent of this defendant’s deception and theft is massive,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement. “He took advantage of his position of trust to take advantage of Mr. Ohtani and fuel a dangerous gambling habit.”
Mizuhara exploited his personal and professional relationship with Ohtani to plunder millions from the two-way player’s account for years, at times impersonating Ohtani to bankers, prosecutors said. Mizuhara’s winning bets totaled over $142 million, which he deposited in his own bank account and not Ohtani’s. But his losing bets were around $183 million, a net loss of nearly $41 million. He did not wager on baseball.
Mizuhara helped Ohtani open a bank account in 2018 and began stealing money from that account in 2021, according to the plea agreement. At one point, Mizuhara charged the security protocols, email and phone number associated with it so that calls came directly to him, not Ohtani, when the back was trying to verify wire transfers. Mizuhara impersonated Ohtani to the bank about 24 times, according to the agreement.
Mizuhara also admitted to falsifying his 2022 tax returns by underreporting his income by more than $4 million.
An email to Mizuhara's attorney, Michael G. Freedman, seeking comment on the deal was not immediately returned Wednesday.
There was no evidence that Ohtani was involved in or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is cooperating with investigators, authorities said.
The Los Angeles Times and ESPN broke the news of the prosecution in late March, prompting the Dodgers to fire the interpreter and MLB to open its own investigation.
MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering on baseball, even legally. MLB also bans betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
Mizuhara has been free on an unsecured $25,000 bond, colloquially known as a signature bond, meaning he did not have to put up any cash or collateral to be freed. If he violates the bond conditions — which include a requirement to undergo gambling addiction treatment — he will be on the hook for $25,000.
Ohtani has sought to focus on the field as the case winds through the courts. Hours after his ex-interpreter first appeared in court in April, he hit his 175th home run in MLB, tying Hideki Matsui for the most by a Japan-born player, during the Dodgers’ 8-7 loss to the San Diego Padres in 11 innings.
FILE - Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara stands next to Japanese baseball star Shohei Ohtani and translates during an interview at Dodger Stadium on Feb. 3, 2024, in Los Angeles. Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Ohtani pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in a sports betting case where prosecutors allege he stole $16 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)
FILE - Interpreter Ippei Mizuhara listens during a baseball news conference at Dodger Stadium, Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in Los Angeles. Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud Wednesday, May 8, 2024, in a sports betting case where prosecutors allege he stole $16 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
