Top attorney quits Sean 'Diddy' Combs' defense team before trafficking trial

High-profile attorney Anthony Ricco, known for his role in the bin Laden case, files to withdraw from Sean 'Diddy' Combs' defense team just two months before the trial.

By SHIR PERETS FEBRUARY 24, 2025 02:38 Updated: FEBRUARY 24, 2025 02:39

Rapper Sean Diddy Combs arrives at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards in New York (photo credit: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ)

One of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs’ top lawyers, Anthony Ricco – who previously served as a defense attorney in the case of the United States v. bin Laden – has requested to be removed from the case two months before the sex trafficking trial is set to begin.

“Under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs, consistent with the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice.” Ricco wrote in the Manhattan federal court affidavit. “It is respectfully but regrettably requested that the court grant the relief requested.”

Ricco filed the motion on Thursday, but his bid to step down will not be made official until a judge approves it.

Ricco didn’t provide any explanation for why he couldn't continue to represent Combs, but the New York Post noted that his decision came after speaking with Combs’ lead counsel, Marc Agnifilo.

“It’s become a real sh*tshow, they’re desperate to not go to trial,” an anonymous attorney told Deadline of the case. “Look at the filings; they’re throwing everything at the wall and praying something sticks.”

Sean 'Diddy' Combs', with his mom seated in the back, attends a hearing in federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., October 10, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (credit: JANE ROSENBERG/REUTERS)

The trial will begin in May

Combs is set to go to trial on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution charges starting May 5. He has been incarcerated since his September 16 arrest and is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

Additionally, just days after a civil case accusing Combs and Jay-Z of raping a 13-year-old in 2000 was dropped by the now middle-aged Jane Doe, the New York Post reported that Combs’ defense accused the turbulent U.S. Attorney’s office of going after their client with “racist laws because he is a powerful black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished.”

Combs currently faces at least 40 lawsuits by men and women who claim he drugged them and sexually assaulted or raped them, and is facing a mandatory minimum of 15 years behind bars and up to life imprisonment if convicted on the top charge.