- Sean Combs' lawyers said Monday that prosecutors took "improper possession" of his handwritten notes.
- The notes were taken from his jail cell and include "privileged attorney-client details," they said.
- His lawyers want an evidentiary hearing, at which prosecutors would explain what was taken and why.
Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs on Monday accused the prosecutors in his sex-trafficking case of improperly possessing sensitive notes he wrote by hand while in jail awaiting trial in Manhattan.
The handwritten notes and other material from Combs' cell include "attorney-client privileged material," his lawyers said when demanding a hearing to determine what was taken and why.
In a letter asking US District Judge Arun Subramanian to set an immediate hearing date, Combs' defense team said prosecutors should be asked to explain who authorized "a search of Mr. Combs' sleeping area, personal effects, and paperwork" at his federal jail in Brooklyn.
"The targeted seizure of a pre-trial detainee's work product and privileged materials — created in preparation for trial — is outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation," his lawyers wrote in the letter, signed by the defense attorney Marc Agnifilo.
Combs has been held in a Brooklyn detention center since mid-September when he was arrested on a federal indictment alleging he engaged in a decadeslong pattern of physical and sexual violence against multiple victims, including at elaborate sex parties he called "freak-offs."
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyers have said that the sexual contact was consensual and that his accusers have a financial incentive to lie.
Combs' lawyers said in Monday's letter that they only learned federal prosecutors were in possession of privileged materials from their client's jail cell late on Friday during an ongoing legal battle over bail.
Prosecutors referenced the materials in a 30-page memorandum opposing Combs' third bid at bail. Their arguments for keeping Combs detained included allegations that the multimillionaire music mogul was trying to obstruct justice by contacting witnesses, including a woman he hoped would publicly support him.
The prosecution's bail memorandum did mention "notes from the defendant's cell" that had been taken from Combs "during a pre-planned nationwide sweep of BOP facilities," a reference to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Details of the handwritten notes were redacted from the prosecution memo.
Prosecutors assured the defense and the judge that any seized materials that qualified as "possibly privileged" were reviewed by an independent government "filter team" to remove any attorney-client communications that prosecutors are barred from seeing.
On Monday, Combs' lawyers countered that the prosecutors' 30-page bail memorandum showed the filter team didn't do its job.
"The prosecutors are currently in possession of privileged material and are actively using this material to detain the defendant," they wrote in asking for an evidentiary hearing.
Agnifilo and a spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Combs, his defense team, and prosecutors are scheduled to return to court on Friday for the third round of bail arguments. He has offered his Miami mansion as collateral for a $50 million bail package that would include all-day monitoring and home confinement at the estate.
Two federal judges declined Combs' previous bids for bail after prosecutors argued that the chance of his obstructing justice and the risk to the community were too high for him to remain free.