(NewsNation) — Embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has reportedly hired a high-profile criminal defense attorney amid a possible federal sex trafficking probe and 10th civil suit filed against him since November.
Combs has hired Marc Agnifilo, who has represented “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng and NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere, Business Insider reported.
Agnifilo told the outlet that he’s been in communication with prosecutors with the Southern District of New York.
“I think that the Southern District is appropriately taking its time and considering many different factors,” he told the outlet. “But we are firmly convinced that he did not violate any federal laws, and we hope we can work with prosecutors in reaching that conclusion.”
Agnifilo, a former federal prosecutor, said Combs has not spoken with federal prosecutors and that he doesn’t believe “anything is imminent,” the outlet reported.
Combs is reportedly the subject of a federal criminal investigation in New York, with a grand jury hearing evidence of alleged sex trafficking by the rap mogul.
The reported criminal investigation comes on the heels of a 10th civil lawsuit filed against Combs in the last nine months.
In the latest suit, former adult film actress Adria English says that, between 2004 and 2009, Combs forced her to take drugs and have sex with guests at Combs’ “white parties” at his homes in New York and Miami.
Singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who had been in a decade-long relationship with Combs in the early 2000s, filed a lawsuit in New York federal court last November alleging sex trafficking, human trafficking, sexual battery, sexual assault and gender-motivated violence, among other causes of action.
She settled the lawsuit with her former partner one day later, but her suit spawned several more alleged victims to come forward.
Hotel surveillance video from 2016 obtained by CNN appeared to show Combs violently attacking, kicking and shoving Ventura at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Two days later, Combs released an apology video admitting he beat Ventura in the hotel hallway.
Agnifilo said the sex trafficking allegations by Ventura sparked the federal probe.
