Diddy's attorneys go after lawyer Tony Buzbee in new docs, warning of 'egregious misconduct'
Sean "Diddy" Combs' defense team is taking aim at the lawyer representing a large share of the music mogul's alleged victims.
In a new motion filed Tuesday, Combs' lawyers opposed attorney Tony Buzbee's request to represent a client in the Southern District of New York despite not being licensed there, also known as "pro hac vice admission."
Buzbee, who is based in Texas, has become the public face of the civil side of Combs' legal woes. Representing a slate of alleged victims, many of them unnamed, he has opted for bold tactics like providing a 1-800 number for potential clients to come forward and holding a press conference detailing what he alleged is a pattern of abuse by Combs left unchecked over decades.
"In our collective decades of practice, undersigned counsel have never opposed a pro hac vice application, and we do not do so lightly here," the filing reads. "But Buzbee's egregious misconduct warrants denial of the privilege of appearing in this district."
Paste BN has reached out to Buzbee for comment.
In a Sunday Instagram post, Buzbee pushed back against reports that he had been "barred" from practicing law in New York.
"Let me be clear. I’m licensed to practice law in New York. I’m in good standing with the state bar and have always been," he wrote alongside a copy of a court clerk's 2019 certification of his licensure to practice "as an attorney and counselor at law in all the courts of this state."
He added, "Although I prefer Texas, I’m proud of the legal work we are doing in New York.
Diddy's legal team takes aim at Buzbee's ability to file in court's district
The filing cites Buzbee's numerous pending civil suits in the Southern District of New York – a federal trial court whose jurisdiction includes eight counties in the state – where, Combs' legal team argues, he failed to disclose he had not yet received permission to represent his clients.
The filing also references a recent case brought by Buzbee that also ensnared rapper Jay-Z. The suit, which has since been dropped "with prejudice," accused both Combs and Jay-Z of raping a teenager in 2000.
After the civil suit was dropped, Combs' team, which often directed ire at Buzbee, told Paste BN the "complete dismissal without a settlement by the 1-800 attorney is yet another confirmation that these lawsuits are built on falsehoods, not facts." Buzbee declined to comment to Paste BN at the time.
Prior to the suit's dismissal, Jay-Z's defense team pointed out that Buzbee had not received pro hac vice in the Southern District of New York, but rather had received it in the Eastern District and was planning to apply for reciprocal admission. Buzbee then applied and was denied on Feb. 13, the filing from Combs' lawyers notes.
The fact that he was denied once needs to be noted in any future application for practice in the Southern District, the motion argues, claiming that Buzbee only reapplied to practice in the district at the buzzer in this case, and has failed to do so for his other civil proceedings. He is carrying on as if he already has permission, Combs' legal team says.
"For nearly five months, Buzbee has filed case after case in this district against (Combs) in the name of anonymous plaintiffs without seeking admission of any kind and without disclosing his lack of admission," the filing reads.
In his own filings in the Jay-Z matter, Buzbee has characterized the issue as an inadvertent paperwork error while Combs' team says it casts doubt on his ability to "conduct himself professionally and ethically."
Buzbee's frequent public statements also raise concerns, the filing argues, citing a "media blitz" in which he promoted his clients' anticipated testimony, including claims of alleged abuse of children. By referencing a federal case, in which Combs faces charges of trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution, Buzbee also violated a New York procedural rule that bars attorneys from opining on separate criminal matters, the filing says.
Combs, who is awaiting trial in a Brooklyn jail, is facing a near-apocalyptic legal fight. Buzbee's civil suits are just one portion of a few dozen filed by individual plaintiffs. Meanwhile, the criminal case brought by federal attorneys and investigators, which is set to kick off at trial in May, alleges the producer transformed his "multi-faceted business empire" into a "criminal enterprise," which oversaw kidnappings, forced labor and sex trafficking, among other crimes.
This story was updated to add new information.
Contributing: Edward Segarra, Paste BN