A federal judge has denied Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ request for an evidentiary hearing into claims that the government leaked tapes of the music mogul allegedly assaulting his former girlfriend for the purpose of harming his reputation.
On Monday, Dec. 16, in an opinion obtained by PEOPLE, Judge Arun Subramanian said Diddy has not “carried his burden” that the government had been leaking sensitive materials to the press, including 2016 hotel surveillance footage of his alleged physical assault against Cassie Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel.
“As to the Intercontinental Hotel video, Combs has not carried his burden to show that the government leaked it to CNN,” Subramanian wrote. “Combs argues that ‘the most likely source of the leak is the government’ but he doesn’t point to any sound basis for this conclusion.”
The clip, which was released by CNN five months before Combs’ Sept. 16 arrest for sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, shows Combs grabbing Ventura by the neck before he threw her to the ground, kicked her and dragged her down the hallway.
Diddy’s team accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of leaking the video to tarnish Combs’ reputation in an October court filing.
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Diddy’s defense accused DHS of launching a seven-month smear campaign against Combs to “undermine” his “right to a “fair trial,” by “leaking confidential grand jury materials,” the filing states.
“The leaks have resulted in damaging and highly prejudicial media coverage, particularly sensationalizing the investigation and the involvement of Mr. Combs’ family,” the filing claims.
Federal prosecutors denied the claims, stating in a letter to the court that they were “not in possession of the video before its publication by CNN. Indeed, at the time of CNN’s publication, the Government did not possess any video of the March 2016 incident.”
Subramanian, in his ruling, concluded, “The court once again reminds the government and its agents that if specific information comes to light that they leaked prohibited information, action will be taken.”
He added: “And the court reminds the public that whether the government can prove Comb’s guilty in this case will turn on the evidence presented at trial, not in a ‘trial by newspapers.'”
Combs is currently being held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. He is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution and has pleaded not guilty.
