• Attorneys for Mike Jeffries asked a judge to rule on whether he is mentally fit for trial.
• Federal prosecutors would likely challenge the move, adding months to pretrial proceedings.
• The former Abercrombie CEO is accused of running an international sex-trafficking business.

The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch is seeking to delay his federal sex-trafficking case on mental competency grounds.

Attorneys for the brand's former top executive, Mike Jeffries, asked a Manhattan judge on Monday to schedule a hearing to determine whether Jeffries is competent to stand trial, a spokesperson for the US attorney's office of the Eastern District of New York told Business Insider in a statement. Federal prosecutors are expected to challenge the move, which could add months to pretrial proceedings.

The defense would have until December 24 to file papers telling US District Judge Nusrat Choudhury how much of their competency motion can be sealed. The rest of the competency battle will play out throughout the first months of 2025.

The spokesperson said the defense has until February 6 to file a doctor's report supporting the competency motion, and the prosecution has until April 8 to file their own doctor's report. The competency hearing itself has yet to be scheduled, the spokesperson said. Jeffries is due back in court on March 13, 2025.

"We filed a motion to Determine Mr. Jeffries' Competency to Stand Trial, which will be dealt with in Court as, and when, appropriate — according to the Judge," Brian Bieber, an attorney for Jeffries, told BI in a statement. A competency hearing is meant to determine whether a defendant is able to understand the charges against them and the role of the judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney.

On October 22, Jeffries, his partner, and a third man were arrested in Florida on federal sex-trafficking charges. Prosecutors allege they ran an international sex-trafficking and prostitution business. The men used Jeffries' position at the company to coerce dozens of men, many of whom wanted to become Abercrombie models, to partake in "sex events" in America and abroad, prosecutors say. Jeffries and Matthew Smith, his partner, have been accused of paying for men to travel to their New York homes and international hotels, where they performed sex acts.

Jeffries, 80, served as Abercrombie's CEO from 1992 to 2014. The indictment alleges that the sex-trafficking spanned from about 2008 to 2015, though Breon Peace, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said his office believes "dozens and dozens of men" were victims between 1992 and 2015.

During his time at Abercrombie, Jeffries steered the brand toward a more sexualized image, complete with shirtless models greeting shoppers. He was first hired by Les Wexner, a Jeffrey Epstein associate. At the peak of his career, Jeffries earned an annual eight-figure salary. His retirement package was reportedly around $25 million and he earned yearly payments of $1 million that ended last year.

• Combs had hoped a Manhattan judge would approve home-detention in a rented Manhattan brownstone.
• This bail request was Combs' 3rd attempt to be freed pending his May 5 sex-trafficking trial.
• Three judges have now ruled Combs posed too high a risk of violence and obstructing justice.

A federal judge in Manhattan on Wednesday night denied the third and likely last bid by Sean "Diddy" Combs to be freed on home confinement pending his May 5 trial date on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

"No condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community," including witnesses and prospective jurors, if Combs were released, wrote US District Judge Arun Subramanian.

"The indictment charges Combs with serious and violent crimes," the judge wrote in an 11-page bail denial that quotes extensively from the allegations in denying bail.

"It alleges that "[f]or decades," Combs 'abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,'" the judge quoted the indictment saying.

The judge also made reference to the notorious hotel hallway-sureveillance video showing Combs beating ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, saying it is "direct evidence of Combs' violence."

Also weighing against bail is evidence gathered by federal prosecutors "supporting a serious risk of witness tampering," the judge wrote.

Combs deleted a series of texts he sent to a key grand jury witness in the days before and after the witness testified before a grand jury in July, the judge wrote.

This witness, identified only as "Witness 1," is a male sex worker who had participated in "freak offs," elaborate, days-long sex parties that Combs allegedly coerced his victims into joining, according to other court filings.

Even during his more than two months in jail, Combs continued to try to influence witnesses and prospective jurors, at times through unauthorized three-way calls or by paying other inmates to use their phone access, the judge wrote.

"His willingness to skirt BOP rules in a way that would make it more difficult for his communications to be monitored is strong evidence that the Court cannot be reasonably assured as to the sufficiency of any conditions of release," the judge wrote, using the acronym for the federal Bureau of Prisons.

It's especially troubling, the judge added, that Combs tried to skirt BOP regulations while he was seeking bail, "and when he knew the government's concerns about witness tampering and obstruction were front and center."

In September, two other judges — a magistrate judge, and Combs' previous case judge — had rejected bail out of similar concerns over violence and potential witness tampering.

Combs had hoped his home for the next eight or so months — as he awaited and then submitted to a federal sex-trafficking trial — would be a four-bedroom, single-family Manhattan brownstone, said a source involved in the bail planning who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

The home would have had space for a defense command center and for several family members to live there too, the source said.

Combs was prepared to post a bail bond for $50 million, collateralized by his Miami mansion. The bond would have been co-signed by his mother, Janice, his sister, his three adult sons, along with two women a bail application described as "the mother of his oldest daughter" and "the mother of his youngest daughter."

Combs would also have worn a GPS tracking ankle bracelet and could only leave the residence to go to court or see a doctor, his lawyers told the judge.

"Mr. Combs will not have access to a cell phone," his lawyers wrote the judge in a last-ditch plea for bail on Tuesday. "Rather, the cell phone will be in the exclusive possession of the security detail, which will keep a written log of all incoming and outgoing calls, texts, messages, etc."

Only his lawyers and specific family members — those approved by the court — would be allowed to visit, and these visits would be monitored by security personnel, Combs' defense promised.

Preparing for a May 5 trial date was "impossible" from his current housing, the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, his lawyers had also argued.

Prosecutors have accused Combs of breaking federal Bureau of Prison rules as recently as this week by trying to influence potential witnesses and jurors from jail, including through forbidden messaging apps and three-way calls.

Defense lawyers had countered that they could keep Combs just as secure on home confinement — or even more secure — than in the jail where he's lived since his September 16 arrest.

The US Probation and Pretrial Services and federal prosecutors had opposed his release.

Combs has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have said in court and in filings that the sexual behavior alleged in the indictment was consensual, and that his accusers have financial incentive to implicate him.

An attorney for Combs declined to comment on the bail denial. A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bail denial.

• Sean "Diddy" Combs could be released on bail for Thanksgiving.
• In fighting to keep him in, prosecutors say he's been making obstructionist statements from jail.
• On Monday, Combs' lawyers cited Donald Trump in saying defendants enjoy broad free-speech rights.

In fighting to be released on bail as early as Thanksgiving, Sean "Diddy" Combs is now turning for help to the one federal defendant more famous than himself: President-elect Donald Trump.

Combs' lawyers cited Trump on Monday in a legal brief meant to counter prosecutors' claim that he has improperly tried to influence prospective jurors in his sex-trafficking case through an online public relations campaign.

Combs' lawyers quote an appellate decision in Trump's DC election interference case, which asserted that defendants enjoy broad free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

"Only a significant and imminent threat to the administration of criminal justice will support restricting Mr. Trump's speech," the DC Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a decision from December that Combs' lawyers now quote.

Like Trump, Combs is a criminal defendant with the presumption of innocence, the rap mogul's lawyers wrote Monday.

That means Combs, like Trump or any other federal criminal defendant, has a greater constitutional claim than other trial participants — including his lawyers — "to criticize and speak out against the prosecution and the criminal trial process that seek to take away his liberty," Combs' eight-page filing says.

"Accordingly, the Court should apply Trump's heightened standard when considering Mr. Combs' speech here," the filing adds.

The defense team is responding to US District Court Judge Arun Subramanian, who last week asked both sides to explain why Combs' public communications from jail either do or do not constitute obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors argued last week that Combs has been orchestrating a PR campaign while locked up at a Brooklyn detention facility, where he is awaiting a May 5 trial date in federal court in Manhattan.

In one example prosecutors cited, Combs urged family members to create an Instagram post in which they display support for him while celebrating his 55th birthday.

Combs used a messaging app forbidden by the Bureau of Prisons, ContactMeASAP.com, in arranging for the post, prosecutors argued last week.

Combs ignored his own lawyers' warnings in doing so, telling them, "I don't care. It's my birthday," lead prosecutor Christy Slavick had argued in a bail hearing Friday.

In addition to the texting app, Combs used at least eight other inmates' phone accounts and had third parties patched into his phone calls, all of which is forbidden by prison rules, Slavik told the judge.

These violations were committed with "the intent to subvert the integrity of these proceedings," in ways that go beyond a simple "PR campaign" to burnish his image, she told the judge.

"He is saying I want to, quote, 'reach for this jury. I just need one,'" Slavik told the judge Friday, quoting from Combs' jailhouse communications.

On Monday, Combs' lawyers told the judge that he has the right to fight back against the barrage of "false and outrageous claims" being made against him for months by "government agents, plaintiffs' attorneys, and others with questionable motives."

"This nonstop drumbeat of negative publicity has destroyed his reputation and will make it virtually impossible for him to receive a fair trial," they wrote.

"Mr. Combs is not required to sit idly by and acquiesce to all of this. He has a right to a fair trial and a constitutional right to speak out on his own behalf," they wrote.

The filing, signed by defense attorney Alexandra A. E. Shapiro, added that Combs has not disclosed false or non-private material, or done anything else improper.

"The government's arguments that asking his children to post birthday wishes on Instagram and that he is not entitled to publicly express his opinion that this prosecution is racially motivated are, quite simply, an unconstitutional effort to silence him," the lawyers wrote.

Prosecutors: You're no Trump

Prosecutors responded to Combs' filing by mid-afternoon Monday. They called Combs' claim that his conduct is protected by the First Amendment "baseless."

Combs' actions while in jail, "show a persistent, brazen effort to improperly interfere with this criminal case," prosecutors said in a 13-page filing.

Even as recently as Sunday — just one day ago — Combs used another inmate's ContactMeASAP account "to engage in unauthorized communications with family members from the MDC," the prosecution filing said, referring to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

As for the comparison to Trump, prosecutors noted that Combs is not running for president.

Trump's judges "faced the unique task of balancing the right of a current candidate for the presidency to speak publicly about his charges against the public's right in a fair trial," they wrote.

The same appellate decision Combs quotes from also sets limits, and certainly doesn't allow planting press statements "to obtain a trial prejudiced in his favor," prosecutors wrote. "Those same First Amendment interests are not at stake here.

Combs has enlisted his family members and other associates in attempts to plant negative stories about his accusers and channel payments to witnesses in his favor, prosecutors have alleged.

"These efforts are not protected by the First Amendment," prosecutors wrote Monday.

The judge told the parties on Friday that he would decide on Combs' latest bail application — his third — sometime this week.

The Trump decision cited by Combs said, "Mr. Trump is free to make statements criticizing the current administration, the Department of Justice, and the Special Counsel, as well as statements that this prosecution is politically motivated or that he is innocent of the charges against him."

The order was not made lightly, the December appellate decision added. "Mr. Trump is a former President and current candidate for the presidency, and there is a strong public interest in what he has to say," it said.

"But Mr. Trump is also an indicted criminal defendant, and he must stand trial in a courtroom under the same procedures that govern all other criminal defendants. That is what the rule of law means."

This story was updated to include details from a prosecution brief filed later Monday.

• On Friday, lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs asked a third judge to set him free on bail.
• Ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries won bail on sex-trafficking charges, Combs' lawyers noted.
• On Friday, prosecutors said that Combs' case is more like R. Kelly's than like Jeffries'.

Prosecutors compared Sean "Diddy" Combs to sex-trafficking convict R. Kelly during two hours of bail arguments in federal court in Manhattan on Friday.

The bail hearing, attended by Combs' children and his mother, ended with the judge promising a decision sometime next week on whether the rap entrepreneur can remain free on bail pending a trial scheduled for May 5. Combs has been jailed since his September 16 arrest.

Combs is asking to post a $50 million bond and to remain on home confinement in a three-bedroom apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Prosecutors counter that Combs is continuing to obstruct justice by contacting witnesses and victims from jail, and can't be trusted to stop doing so if freed.

Over the past two weeks, Combs' lawyers have pointed to ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries — who was quickly freed on $10 million bail when arrested last month on federal sex-trafficking charges — in arguing that Combs, too, deserves bail.

Both Combs and Jeffries used the power of their brands and their wealth to force victims to participate in drug-fueled sex parties, federal prosecutors have alleged. Both men have pleaded not guilty and deny the allegations.

When defense lawyers raised the Jeffries case again on Friday, prosecutors said that the charges against Combs are more like the sex-trafficking charges faced by disgraced R&B singer Kelly and sex-cult leader Keith Raniere, neither of whom were granted bail pre-trial.

The "I Believe I Can Fly" singer is serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges in Brooklyn in 2021 and in Chicago last September.

Raniere, the former leader of the self-help organization-turned-sex-cult NXIVM, is serving a 120-year sentence after a federal jury in Brooklyn found him guilty of sex trafficking in 2019.

The former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO is 80 years old, halted his criminal behavior ten years ago, and suffered "certain other non-public health issues" that contributed to his getting bail, in contrast to the 55-year-old Combs, an assistant US attorney, Christy Slavik, told Combs' judge on Friday.

And like Combs, Kelly and Raniere continued a pattern of violence and intimidation until their arrest, Slavik alleged.

"These cases are much more comparable, your honor," she told US District Court Judge Arun Subramanian.

The judge asked both sides to submit one more set of written bail arguments on Friday, and said he'd issue a decision before week's end.

Also Friday, the judge asked defense attorney Marc Agnifilo why he said in court on Tuesday that prosecutors improperly possessed copies of Combs' handwritten notes that had been clearly labeled "Legal."

The word "Legal" had only been written on the notes after prosecutors received copies, the judge had pointed out. "As I sit here today, I'm not sure when 'Legal' was written on all of them," Agnifilo told the judge Friday, promising to look into the matter further.

A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office and an attorney for Jeffries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Combs, once one of hip-hop's most successful entrepreneurs, is accused of engaging since 2009 in a pattern of physical and sexual violence against multiple victims, including during elaborate, days-long sex parties called "freak offs."

He has contended that the sexual behavior was consensual and that his accusers have a financial motive to implicate him.

• Sean "Diddy" Combs is making his third application for bail in his Manhattan sex-trafficking case.
• In papers filed Thursday, Combs' lawyers cite ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries.
• Jeffries is free on bail on serial sex trafficking charges, so Combs should be too, his lawyers say.

In a third bid for bail, lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs argue that ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries has remained free pending his own federal sex-trafficking case — and so the rap mogul should be released pending trial, too.

Jeffries was quickly granted $10 million bail, without prosecution opposition, after his arrest four weeks ago on charges similar to those faced by Combs. Federal prosecutors allege that for decades, both men used their wealth and the power of their brands to coerce victims into participating in drug-fueled sex parties. Both men have denied the allegations.

Comparisons of Jeffries and Combs are promising to be a prominent part of bail arguments scheduled for Friday in Manhattan.

During Combs' last court date on Tuesday, US District Judge Arun Subramanian told prosecutors he is eager to hear their views on why the federal government agreed to bail in one case and not the other.

Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said she would be prepared to detail how the cases are highly unalike. On Friday morning, prosecutors submitted a two-page letter to the judge that broke down the differences between the two sex-trafficking defendants.

Unlike Jeffries, Combs is charged with racketeering for allegedly running a criminal enterprise "that included repeated acts of violence by Combs and his co-conspirators, including multiple acts involving kidnapping, arson, and forced labor," prosecutors wrote.

Also unlike Jeffries, Combs is accused of using firearms. "As recently as March 2024, firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, were recovered from Combs' residences," prosecutors wrote, referring to weapons seized via a search warrant executed on his Miami and Los Angeles homes.

Combs continues to obstruct justice by contacting witnesses and victims while in jail, prosecutors alleged in Friday's letter. And unlike the 80-year-old Jeffries, who has no criminal history, Combs "has been arrested and investigated multiple times for crimes of violence and obstruction."

Combs' legal team said in a letter sent to the judge Thursday that the two former fashion executives have similar indictments and are similarly accused of witness intimidation.

A third federal sex-trafficking defendant in an unrelated New York case was also allowed to post bail while fighting his case, lead attorney Marc Agnifilo wrote in the memo. That case involves an upstate New York man who remained free pending a January plea to federal sex-trafficking charges.

Prosecutors are fighting Combs' bail offer, which includes a $50 million bond collateralized by his Miami mansion, plus home confinement with round-the-clock monitoring.

Last month, a different set of federal prosecutors approved Jeffries' conditions of release, which "pale in comparison to the conditions proposed by Mr. Combs," his lawyers had argued last week.

Prosecutors agreed to Jeffries' release even after alleging that he and his codefendants used a security company to surveil and intimidate witnesses, "thereby securing their silence," Combs' lawyers argue.

Allegations of witness intimidation have impeded Combs' bail efforts since mid-September when he was arrested in a five-star Midtown Manhattan hotel, the Park Hyatt New York, where he had been staying in anticipation of turning himself in.

The tampering allegations have intensified in the past week, with prosecutors alleging that Combs has been reaching out to witnesses through intermediaries.

Last week, prosecutors alleged Combs' handwritten notes, photographed by federal prison officials during a late October raid, show he is using third parties to pay witnesses and to "find dirt" on victims. A grand jury is hearing evidence on those allegations, Slavik said. Combs' handwritten notes are at the center of a separate, ongoing battle between the defense and prosecutors.

Combs is being held in a federal detention facility in Brooklyn as he awaits a May 5 trial date.

He is charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted, he faces a sentence of at least 15 years and as much as life in prison.

Prosecutors say that beginning in 2009 and continuing to the present day, Combs engaged in a pattern of physical and sexual violence against multiple victims, including at elaborate, drug-fueled sex parties called "freak offs."

Combs has countered that the sexual behavior detailed in the indictment was consensual and that his accusers have financial motives to implicate him.

Combs' two previous bids for bail were rejected by US District Court judges in September and October after prosecutors argued that the music entrepreneur used cash and coercion to foster a culture of fear and obedience in his inner circle.

Weapons, drugs, and supplies for future "freak offs" were recovered from Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles, prosecutors said.

"As two judges have already concluded based on the evidence in the record, the defendant poses serious risks of danger and obstruction to these proceedings," prosecutors wrote last week in opposing this latest bail bid.

Even in jail, Combs has "orchestrated social media campaigns that are, in his own words, aimed at tainting the jury pool," prosecutors wrote.

Combs has also "made efforts to publicly leak materials he views as helpful to his case; and contacted witnesses through third parties," they wrote.

A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office and an attorney for Jeffries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Agnifilo declined to comment on this story, saying that he is only speaking about the case in the courtroom and in legal filings.

This story was updated on November 22 to include a newly-filed response by federal prosecutors.

• Matt Gaetz announced Thursday his withdrawal from consideration to be US attorney general.
• He said his confirmation was "unfairly becoming a distraction" to Trump's team.
• It's the first major defeat that Trump has faced in staffing his new administration.

Matt Gaetz has withdrawn himself from consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for US attorney general, the former Florida congressman announced on Thursday afternoon.

In a post on X, Gaetz said that the "momentum" behind his nomination was strong, but that his "confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction" for the Trump-Vance transition team.

It comes after Gaetz began meeting with senators on Wednesday, accompanied by Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

"I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General," Trump wrote on Truth Social after Gaetz announced his withdrawal. "He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect. Matt has a wonderful future, and I look forward to watching all of the great things he will do!"

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told The Washington Post that Gaetz's decision to withdraw "was appropriate."

While Gaetz's nomination had excited Trump's most ardent supporters, the Florida Republican faced an uphill battle for confirmation in the Senate, where lawmakers had questions about sex-trafficking allegations that have long dogged him.

The Department of Justice declined to pursue charges against Gaetz in 2023, but the House Ethics Committee continued a probe into the allegations, including speaking with witnesses. The panel met on Wednesday to determine whether it would release a long-awaited report on its investigation but ultimately deadlocked.

CNN reported that Gaetz withdrew from consideration shortly after it reached out to him for comment regarding accusations of a second sexual encounter with a 17-year-old at a party in 2017.

Meanwhile, Gaetz had taken the extraordinary step of resigning from the House after his nomination was announced, ostensibly to allow Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to quickly fill his House seat via a special election.

He had also said that he would not take the oath of office in January, despite being elected to serve another full two-year term through 2027.

It is unclear now whether Gaetz will follow through with that plan, and a spokesman did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Gaetz's withdrawal represents Trump's first major loss in staffing up his incoming administration, though other nominees face confirmation challenges in the Senate.

• The judge in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex-trafficking case has questions about the rap mogul's notepads.
• Someone wrote "Legal" on the pads in the days after prison officials took evidence photos of them.
• The judge is asking if the word was added retroactively to implicate prosecutors.

The judge in the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex-trafficking case is demanding answers for an apparent discrepancy concerning hand-written notes from the rap mogul's Brooklyn jail cell.

The jailhouse notes — which prosecutors allege show Combs attempted to pay witnesses — have been a point of heated contention this week.

At a hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, defense lawyers argued that Combs' white, cardboard-bound legal pads, photographed last month during a Bureau of Prisons raid, had the word "Legal" clearly handwritten on their top binders.

Prosecutors' possession of these photographs — despite this clear warning — may warrant dismissal of the entire case due to attorney-client privilege violations, Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo had argued, gesturing to the actual notepads on the defense table before him.

Addressing the judge in response, assistant US Attorney, Christy Slavik said the material is not privileged, adding, "It's not clear when that 'Legal' label was attached."

Now Combs' judge, US District Court Justice Arun Subramanian, who has been doing some sleuthing into the matter on his own, is weighing in.

"At the November 19, 2024 hearing, defense counsel presented the Court with an intact legal pad with "Legal" written on the binding, stating that the "Legal" label on this and the other pads showed that they were clearly protected by attorney-client privilege and should not be in the Government's possession," the judge wrote in an order late Wednesday night.

"The Court notes that the sealed exhibit to the Government's brief at Dkt. 72-1 includes photographs of two intact legal pads taken at the time of the BOP sweep. There is no writing on the binding of either pad," the judge wrote.

The parties have a bail hearing already scheduled for Friday, and at that hearing, the defense "should be prepared to give the Court further context on the "Legal" label that the Court was presented with at the November 19, 2024 hearing."

The defense must also "address why this label doesn't appear on the photographs in the Court's possession, and why it wasn't addressed in defendant's submission to the Court made a few hours before the November 19, 2024 hearing," the judge wrote.

A lawyer for Combs declined to comment Thursday morning. Combs has pleaded not guilty to a federal indictment alleging he engaged in a decadeslong pattern of sexual and physical violence against women, including during elaborate, dayslong sex parties known as "freak offs."

He has insisted through his lawyers that the sexual conduct in the indictment was consensual and that his accusers have financial incentive to implicate him.

A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, Slavik said Combs' jailhouse notes are evidence in an ongoing grand jury investigation into potential obstruction of justice charges.

The notes, part of a "to do" list, include references to "the defendant paying a potential witness to, quote, 'find dirt' on a potential victim," Slavik told the judge.

The notes also include Combs' alleged plan for "following up with a paralegal to determine if a witness was paid off or not," she said.

• In court on Tuesday, defense lawyers said a raid on Sean 'Diddy' Combs' jail cell was improper.
• Photos of Combs' handwritten to-do list should never have been given to prosecutors, a lawyer said.
• The lawyer said he may now seek dismissal of the case or recusal of the entire prosecution team.

Lawyers for Sean "Diddy" Combs warned they may seek to have his sex-trafficking case dismissed because prosecutors caught a glimpse of a handwritten "to-do list" the rap mogul kept in his Brooklyn jail cell.

The to-do list— jotted by Combs on a white legal pad, to memorialize jailhouse conversations with his attorneys — was secretly photographed and then returned to his cell by Bureau of Prisons officials during a late October raid, a lawyer for Combs alleged during a hearing in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday.

News that prosecutors had gained possession of the writings was first revealed this week.

The writing on 19 pages from the list, "are in the heartland of attorney-client material," attorney Marc Agnifilo told US District Court Judge Arun Subramanian, his voice angry, as Combs sat to his left, nodding "yes."

Before them on the defense table was a four-inch stack of folders and paperwork from Combs' cell, including the actual to-do list, Agnifilo told the judge. The lawyer waved some of the papers in the air as he spoke.

"The government now knows potential defense witnesses for a May 5 trial," well in advance of when witness names must be shared, the lawyer complained. "It's giving them an insight into the defense, and they should not have it."

During their turn to speak, prosecutors presented a far different description of the 19 pages, alleging instead that they are evidence of Combs' ongoing attempts to use his cash and influence to obstruct justice.

There were two highly incriminating errands among Combs' to-do list tasks, Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik told the judge at Tuesday's hearing — and neither are protected by attorney-client privilege, she said.

One "relates to the defendant paying a potential witness to, quote, 'find dirt' on a potential victim," Slavik alleged.

The second involves Combs' plan for "following up with a paralegal to determine if a witness was paid off or not," she said.

Indeed, if these two excerpts do somehow relate to attorney-client communications, "they would fall under the crime-fraud exemption," Slavik added. By law, attorney-client privilege does not protect communications involving criminal activity.

These to-do list excerpts are now key evidence in an ongoing grand jury investigation into possible obstruction of justice charges, and could become part of a potential new indictment, she said.

"I think it's clear that this material is outside the defense defending a criminal case," the prosecutor told the judge of the to-do list excerpts.

Combs built a multi-million-dollar fashion and recording empire and was one of the first, and richest, hip-hip entrepreneurs. He has been held without bail since mid-September, when he was arrested and accused of a decades-long pattern of physical and sexual violence against multiple victims, including during elaborate parties called "freak-offs."

At the close of the hearing, the judge asked both sides to prepare written arguments explaining why the 19 pages are, or are not, privileged.

He instructed the prosecution team to meanwhile delete the photographs of the 19 pages from their records, at least until a privilege determination can be made.

The judge also told the prosecution team to ask prison officials to retain copies of the surveillance video from the search of Combs' cell.

Tuesday's hearing revealed new details of the raid itself.

The BOP conducted the raid on Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center without alerting prosecutors beforehand, in order to recover contraband relating to their own investigation into Combs and others at the jail, Slavik told the judge.

Prison officials photographed, then replaced, Combs' paperwork. After the sweep, the officials followed the required procedure for handling potentially sensitive, attorney-client material.

Photographs were given first to a so-called filter team, a separate group of US attorneys not connected to the Combs prosecution. The filter team then extracted all attorney-client material before passing the remaining photographs along to the Combs prosecutors, Slavik told the judge.

Combs is due back in court on Friday, when his defense team will make a third argument for bail. Prosecutors cannot refer to Combs' disputed to-do list tasks in opposing bail, the judge ordered.