Sean Diddy

Behind Diddy's Legal Team

Author: Editors Desk Source: Complex

October 8, 2024 at 13:17

Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean "Diddy" Combs

We take a close look at the three attorneys defending Diddy. Who are they? Why were they chosen? What’s their history with the mogul?

Diddy’s arrest last month on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering has raised plenty of questions about the mogul’s future. For now, the fate of Sean Combs rests in the hands of federal prosecutors, and of the three lawyers he has picked to shepherd him through the case.

With Diddy set to appear in court later this week, Complex decided to take a closer look at the three attorneys defending the Bad Boy head: Marc Agnifilo, Teny Geragos, and Anthony Ricco. Who are they? Why were they chosen? What’s their history with Diddy? And what role might each of them play in his trial?

Who are Diddy's lawyers?

To begin to answer the question, you have to go all the way back to the end of 1999, the last time Diddy found himself in significant criminal legal trouble. He was arrested after a December 29 shooting in Manhattan, and accused of illegal gun possession.

To the rapper’s defense came a then-51-year-old lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, who joined Diddy’s legal team at the request of Johnnie Cochran. Brafman was at that point perhaps best known for successfully defending NYC club owner Peter Gatien against federal drug conspiracy charges in 1998.

The new lawyer did wonders for Diddy, inspiring headlines like “Ben Brafman Comes to Save Puffy.” Diddy was acquitted of all charges in that case. Relatedly, he took a liking to Brafman, calling the older man “Uncle Benny.”

Brafman stayed in Diddy’s circle, repping him again in civil cases in 2007 and 2011. Most recently, Brafman was Diddy’s attorney when the mogul was sued by Cassie—the lawsuit that by many accounts kicked off the federal investigation that culminated in the rapper’s arrest on September 16.

Brafman is not one of Diddy’s attorneys this time out, for reasons that are unclear. But he got the next-best thing: two lawyers from Brafman’s inner circle.

“...Marc Agnifilo has rescued a lot worse.”

Anthony Ricco — Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

Marc Agnifilo is the Diddy attorney our readers may be most familiar with, from his frequent appearances on TMZ. He worked with Brafman for 18 years, before breaking away to start his own firm this past March.

Agnifilo calls Brafman his “mentor.” “He fought Puffy's battle 25 years ago, and I get to fight it now,” he told Business Insider.

Agnifilo is familiar with complex cases from both sides of the law. Before he was a defense attorney, he worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey, heading up their violent crime unit and working on their organized crime “strike force.” It was there that he gained expertise in racketeering statutes—the same laws his client is currently charged with violating.

Under Brafman and on his own, Agnifilo has been a part of a number of high profile cases. He repped NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere—who, like Diddy, was charged with both racketeering and sex trafficking. He also represented former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn when Strauss-Kahn was accused of rape. And he’s stood by the side of Wu-Tang’s least favorite finance bro, Martin Shrkeli.

Agnfilio has the confidence of a number of experts, and of some of his own former clients.

“Diddy indictment is very weak,” Martin Shkreli wrote on X last month. “I think he gets acquitted. My former attorney Marc Agnifilo has rescued a lot worse.”

“He’s quite knowledgeable in the law, but also a great diplomat, and as a former prosecutor he definitely knows how the system works,” Eugene Gourevitch, who Agnifilo represented in a fraud case, told Bloomberg Law. “He knows the levers to pull…He will make the best possible recommendation for his client, whoever the client is.”