NEWS
Diddy is taking another shot against the attorney for many of his sexual assault accusers, Tony Buzbee — this time arguing that the lawyer shouldn’t be allowed to handle cases in the federal district in which many of his suits are filed.
On Tuesday (February 25), the Bad Boy mogul’s attorneys filed a memo in New York federal court arguing against a motion Buzbee, a Texas attorney, made to be granted admission pro hac vice — meaning that, even though he’s not licensed to practice in the jurisdiction in which the case takes place, he’d still be allowed to be involved.
The authors of Diddy’s letter, lawyers Mark Cuccaro, Erica A. Wolff and Michael Tremonte, said that they “have never opposed a pro hac vice application, and we do not do so lightly here.”
But, they continued, Buzbee’s “egregious misconduct” forced their hand.
The team’s main argument centers around the fact that Buzbee filed nearly two dozen civil suits against Diddy in New York’s Southern District, before getting permission to practice there. In addition, they argue that Buzbee’s public comments about Diddy, including on The Chris Hansen Show, “violated New York’s Rules of Professional Conduct by, among other things, repeatedly insisting that Mr. Combs is guilty of the criminal charges pending against him.”
Finally, they argue that Buzbee’s statements about pro hac vice were “deliberately misleading,” because he said that he was licensed to practice in New York state — which is true — but that the issue at hand was not about New York state, but rather about federal court in New York.
HipHopDX has reached out to Tony Buzbee for comment, but he did not immediately respond.
Diddy’s criminal case had recent developments as well.
In a court motion filed on Sunday (February 23), the embattled music mogul claims that the raids on his properties in Miami and Los Angeles were unconstitutional.
The filing states that the warrants used to secure the raids on the two properties were overbroad and included his iCloud account, mobile phones and hotel room.
The filing claims that the warrant applications “presented a grossly distorted picture of reality,” and excluded facts that would have been favorable to Diddy.
The motion, which is heavily redacted, does not reveal what evidence was allegedly excluded from the warrants but that the applications deliberately excluded information that the overseeing judge should have seen, specifically about a witness Diddy’s team claims was fabricating evidence.
The filing states: “The government got its warrants, leaked damaging information, and then executed its military-style raids at Combs’s residences. Here, rather than giving the reviewing magistrate a fair summary, the government hid exculpatory evidence to bolster its case.”
Prosecutors are also accused of engaging in “systemic deception” in order to obtain the warrants.
The motion states that evidence for the warrants came from a person only referred to as “Producer-1” who made allegations against Diddy that were “never credible”.
It is also claimed that “Producer-1” is not set to testify against Diddy in his upcoming sex trafficking trial.
The filing also repeats Diddy’s defense that “Victim-1” who is known to be his ex-girlfriend Cassie, was a voluntary participant in all sexual activity with the currently incarcerated record label boss.
Diddy wants all evidence obtained through the raids on his property via the warrant to be suppressed or for the judge to hold a hearing to discuss how the government obtained the warrants.
NEWS
Massive Attack have been using their latest live show to challenge American data analytics and software company Palantir, with the band describing the firm's ambitions as "terrifying".
The pioneering trip hop group have woven criticism of the controversial surveillance technology company into their new stage production. During their upcoming performance at Primavera Sound, they plan to deploy "custom-made facial recognition software" capable of "scanning a 75,000-person crowd" and projecting audience members onto giant screens with tongue in cheek labels such as "11 weeks no time off, burnout" and "unfinished books", according to Novara Media.
Speaking with the publication, the visual concept takes direct aim at Palantir, the company established two decades ago by billionaire Peter Thiel. Backed financially by the CIA, the firm counts the US and Israeli militaries, ICE, the FBI and the NHS among its clients.
After unveiling the production in Helsinki, Robert Del Naja told Novara Media that he wanted audiences to better understand how Palantir's reach has expanded from supplying "kill chain tech" reportedly used in Gaza to now having access to the medical records of people across Britain.
"We really need a much wider debate on the suitability of a company like this having such capture of our societal infrastructure," he said. He explained that the criticism is embedded throughout Massive Attack's two hour performance and was developed alongside long time collaborator Adam Curtis and London art collective United Visual Artists.
"One visual element represents how a Palantir Gotham monitoring and ‘decision chain’ interface might look," Del Naja explained. "Using facial recognition technology, it lands on groups and individuals – implying a consequential outcome for a given target."
Novara Media also detailed how Palantir's software can connect information from multiple databases. The outlet reported that ICE allegedly combines the platform with body camera footage, social media data and information gathered through Israeli developed hacking software Paragon to identify protesters involved in resistance to immigration raids.
The publication further claimed that Palantir contributes to Maven, a software platform used by the US military, which has recently faced criticism after being linked to the bombing of a girls' school in Iran.
"I find their declarations, objectives and moral framing pretty terrifying," Del Naja said. "To enable AI systems to map police records, satellite tracked locations, health records and personal financial transactions and place all of that information – for the first time – into the hands of a company with an overt political agenda and social objectives of its own is a huge, potentially irreversible and dangerous overreach."
Another moment in Massive Attack's current live production appears during the closing section of "Girl I Love You", when a quote from Peter Thiel is projected on screen reading: "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible".
Last year, Massive Attack introduced the satirical "facial recognition" sequence during their concerts and quickly rejected suggestions that genuine data recognition systems were being used on audiences.
"No Massive Attack live show has ever recorded or stored personal data," the group stated. "Only government departments, relevant authorities & approved contractors can access public databases in the UK, & doing so in multiple cities/countries would be impossible."
The band also pointed to the growing use of facial recognition technology across Britain, arguing that authorities are "overreaching almost all other western democracies with their use of public facial recognition … while there is no specific legislation regulating police use of these systems."
The statement arrived shortly after Massive Attack welcomed Kneecap onto the stage during their major show at the OVO Wembley Arena, introducing them as a group "who refused to be silenced for their solidarity with the Palestinian people."
Massive Attack have consistently spoken out in support of Palestine and a range of other progressive causes. More recently, they pledged to boycott Spotify following reports that CEO Daniel Ek had invested heavily "in a company producing military munition drones and AI technology integrated into fighter aircraft."
During their headline appearance at London's LIDO Festival last summer, the band were joined by actor and activist Khalid Abdalla along with Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def. Earlier this year, Del Naja also criticised what he described as a "draconian government" after being arrested while protesting the ban on Palestine Action.
The musician was one of hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in Trafalgar Square on April 11 to oppose the Palestine Action ban. He carried a placard stating "I Oppose Genocide, I Support Palestine Action".
Police removed him from the protest and arrested him on suspicion of expressing support for a proscribed organisation. He later responded with an extensive statement posted to Instagram.
Back in February, the band revealed a small run of European dates for the summer. The tour began on May 27 at Veikkaus Arena in Helsinki before continuing to Dalhalla in Rättvik on May 30.
The Bristol trip hop pioneers have not released new material since the 2020 EP "Eutopia". Their most recent studio album remains 2010's "Heligoland".
Speaking with NME in 2024, Robert Del Naja revealed that the band had "some new music which we've been sitting on for four years". He later shared in November that he hoped to finally release some of that material in 2026.
