John Jefferson
The Texas lawyer who says he’s representing more than dozens of potential victims of alleged sex trafficking music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs vowed to name names in an ominous warning to the entertainment industry this week.
Tony Buzbee is a former Recon Marine officer and the head of a Houston-based national law firm, which is joined by the AVA Law Group representing 120 new accusers.
“I expect that there are a lot of nervous people right now who are searching their memories, scrubbing their social media, deleting their data on their phones in the hopes that they are not anyhow in any way associated with this,” he told “Mornings on Merit Street” on Dr. Phil’s Merit TV.
Buzbee added that legal action could come against not just alleged accomplices, but also enablers and even people who “turned a blind eye.”
DIDDY FACES NEW SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS FROM 120 ACCUSERS, WITH CLAIMS INVOLVING 9-YEAR-OLD
No lawsuits had been filed, however, and Buzbee said he expected the first one to begin within a month.
“Most of the cases will be filed in New York, but many might be filed also in California,” he told the hosts. “And I do believe that there will be a lot of additional defendants that the public will be surprised about — and people that we all know.”
“The list is very long.”
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Buzbee said earlier this week that more than two dozen new accusers who reached out to him were minors at the time of their alleged victimization, including a 9-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old.
“When you talk about the ages of the victims when the conduct occurred, it’s shocking,” he told reporters Monday.
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Combs, through his attorney Erica Wolff, has vehemently denied the accusations.
“As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus,” she told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors. He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”
The mogul is being held without bail in federal custody in New York.
Any credible civil lawsuits could lead to additional criminal charges, according to legal experts.
“If there are children that were victims, you can bet the U.S. attorney will investigate and indict Diddy with more charges that are extremely serious,” said David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area defense attorney who has been following the case. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they have already been investigating and more people will be indicted.”
The threat of additional civil suits also puts pressure on the billionaire Bad Boy Records founder to take a plea deal, which his lawyers said earlier this week he wouldn’t accept.
“They need to stop the bleeding, and the U.S. attorney is going to keep coming at them,” Gelman told Fox News Digital. “If I’m Diddy’s attorney, I’m telling Diddy to authorize me to negotiate the best deal, and if he wants to cooperate, that can only help him before it’s too late.”
Fox News’ Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org
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