• Luigi Mangione is under monitoring in a 9-by-7-foot federal solitary-confinement cell in Brooklyn.
• On Monday, he may be moved to the same protective unit as Diddy and SBF, who are in the same jail.
• A prison consultant called his conditions "miserable."

Luigi Mangione is being held in a 9-by-7-foot solitary-confinement cell at the federal jail in Brooklyn that also houses the rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and the cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, Business Insider has learned.

The trio could be living together in the same 15-man protective-custody unit as early as Monday, Sam Mangel, a prison consultant who has knowledge of Mangione's housing, said.

Federal prison records confirmed Friday morning that Mangione, Combs, and Bankman-Fried were at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Mangione is set to remain in solitary until at least Monday in one of MDC's small cinderblock Special Housing Unit cells — in a unit also known as "the SHU" and "the hole," Mangel said.

He'll eat meals in his cell, and inmates in his situation are typically allowed out for one hour of recreation or showering a day. Guards are supposed to check on him every 15 minutes.

"Miserable, just miserable," Mangel said when asked to describe conditions in federal solitary-confinement cells.

"SHUs are notoriously loud. You have people in there for psychiatric issues, for disciplinary reasons, and for withdrawal" from drugs, he said, adding: "So it is the loudest place in the jail — people are banging on their doors at all hours of the night."

Mangione is being held without bail on death-penalty-eligible federal charges in the December 4 ambush fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He has yet to be arraigned on New York charges of murder as an act of terror, which carries a top sentence of life without parole.

New, high-profile inmates are often monitored in solitary cells in the days before their units are assigned, said Mangel, who said he had been in communication with the defense team through Craig Rothfeld, a prison consultant.

Rothfeld, who was in the audience for Mangione's first federal court appearance on Thursday, declined to comment.

"It's a standard protocol," Mangel said. "This is especially true for a young man that, you know, might have some psychiatric concerns or his legal team or the BOP has concerns," he added, referring to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

"Even though it's called the 'SHU,' it's not for disciplinary reasons. It's strictly for administrative reasons," Mangel said.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson declined to comment, saying: "For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual including their housing assignments."

Karen Friedman Agnifilo told BI that neither she nor Marc Agnifilo, her cocounsel, had spoken to Mandel. They did not immediately comment on Mangione's jail conditions.

The husband-and-wife team's Manhattan firm, Agnifilo Intrater, also represents Combs, who is being held without bail while awaiting a trial scheduled for May 5 on federal sex-trafficking charges.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

In representing Combs, the firm complained about conditions at MDC throughout three unsuccessful bail applications, arguing that there were frequent random lockdowns and that inmates were deprived of basic trial-preparation materials, such as folders and notebooks. Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo called the conditions "horrific" in one court filing.

One former prosecutor described the federal jail as frequently too cold or too hot and crawling with cockroaches — basically, "hell on earth."

Mangione's solitary-confinement cell would be equipped with a metal bunk-style bed and a steel one-piece combination toilet and sink. If he's lucky, the cell has a small built-in writing desk.

"You're usually only allowed out for one hour a day, but it could be more restrictive due to staffing issues, where you're only allowed out three times a week to take a shower or walk in a small, enclosed area," Mangel said.

Mangione would also be allowed out of his cell for attorney calls and visits, Mangel said.

"The defendant is actually sitting in a cage during the call," he said. "It's like a fenced-in area that has a monitor, and it's behind plexiglass, and the defendant is able to talk and have an unmonitored legal call during that time, usually for one-hour blocks."

Defendants can find these calls canceled at the last minute "because there's lockdowns and staffing issues," Mangel said, adding: "You get everything arranged, and then we're on the call, waiting, and the defendant never shows up."

He said he expected Mangione would have better access to phones and visitors after he's moved to the jail's protective custody early next week.

Mangel said he had been a prison consultant for Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year sentence for stealing $8 billion from customers of his FTX crypto exchange. Bankman-Fried has remained at MDC's protective custody unit since his arrest last year.

Mangione's next federal court date was set for January 18. As of Friday morning, a date had not been set for his Manhattan arraignment on state murder charges.

This story has been updated to include responses from the BOP and Mangione's attorney.

Last fall, stars assembled in London at the over-the-top clubstaurant Lavo to celebrate one of their own. Janet Jackson smiled in a velvet booth with Idris Elba. The supermodel Naomi Campbell, the evening's host, posed in a black dress.

At the center of it all was Sean "Diddy" Combs in a leather jacket and Cartier sunglasses cutting into a bright red cake featuring artwork from his latest release. It was the mogul's 54th birthday party, as well as a celebration of his "The Love Album." As far as partygoers and paparazzi could tell, he was on top of the world.

Since his rise to fame in the late 1990s as a rapper and producer, Combs had built a business empire and become one of the richest and most well-connected entertainers of all time.

Behind the scenes that November, though, Combs' life was about to start crumbling. Negotiations were failing between Combs and the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, his ex who was on the brink of going public with details of their relationship.

Exactly one week after his star-studded party, the tensions bubbling under the surface boiled over when Ventura sued Combs. The lawsuit alleged a cycle of physical abuse, as well as rape by Combs, who Ventura also said forced her to have sex with sex workers.

Combs' lawyers alleged that her lawyers tried to extort $30 million in exchange for stopping a tell-all book about their 10-year relationship last year.

He eventually apologized to Ventura after CNN released surveillance footage of him physically abusing her at a hotel in 2016. He settled the lawsuit and, at the time, denied any wrongdoing — a stance he has maintained amid a flurry of subsequent allegations — but it marked the beginning of a year that turned his world upside down.

Over the next 12 months, Combs went from being one of the richest music moguls in history, known for his wide network in the entertainment industry and business savvy, to being behind bars, facing a criminal indictment, dozens of civil lawsuits, and an empire in decline.

Combs' freedom, reputation, and finances are all in jeopardy. If he's found guilty of criminal charges, it would mean one of the most celebrated entertainers is also a heinous criminal.

"He looked like he was the king of the world — as flossy as possible, blinged out, with the family, and everything's good," Kenny Hull, a reality show director who worked on the second iteration of "Making the Band," which featured Combs, told Business Insider about the last time he saw Combs, a few years ago at a park in Los Angeles.

"From the top to the absolute bottom," he added. "Canceled and done."

Combs has vehemently and consistently denied all accusations of sexual assault and sex trafficking since Ventura's lawsuit was filed, and each time a new allegation has been made against him.

"Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone — man, woman, adult or minor," lawyers for Combs told BI.

A birthday behind bars

Combs celebrated his 55th birthday not at a luxe international club but at the notorious Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, where, a person previously told BI, he was sharing a dormitory with the crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

Instead of flowing Champagne or DeLeón, a jailhouse dinner was served on Combs' November birthday, consisting of Salisbury steak or black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes, and green beans. There was no partying with A-listers, though he did receive a phone call from his kids.

Combs has been in jail pretrial since he was arrested in September, following a monthslong investigation that led to a grand jury indictment on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution for allegedly causing victims and paid sex workers to cross state lines.

The Bad Boy Records founder faces anywhere from 15 years to life in prison on a federal indictment alleging that for decades, he used violence, threats, and drugs to coerce women into sexual performances, including at elaborately planned, dayslong parties called "freak offs."

Combs has pleaded not guilty, insisting through his lawyers that the sex was consensual and that his accusers have financial motives to implicate him. His next court date is Wednesday.

And more criminal charges may be coming, as prosecutors have said grand jurors are weighing a new indictment that could include allegations of obstruction of justice. Prosecutors allege that Combs has used phone accounts belonging to other people held at the jail to contact family members and associates and enlist them to plant negative stories about his accusers and funnel payments to a witness.

They also say agents recovered three AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers when search warrants were executed in March at Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles and at a Florida airport. And in September, when Combs was arrested at the Park Hyatt, a five-star hotel in midtown Manhattan, they recovered bags of pink powder that prosecutors said in September they believed contained ecstasy and other drugs. Prosecutors have not revealed the results of a drug test they said was conducted in September.

Since his arrest, Combs has made three unsuccessful attempts to be released on bail ahead of his criminal trial, which is scheduled for May 5.

"No condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community," including of witnesses and prospective jurors, US District Judge Arun Subramanian wrote in the most recent bail denial, issued the day before Thanksgiving.

An avalanche of lawsuits

Just two weeks after Combs was arrested and subsequently locked up at the Brooklyn jail, the Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee held a press conference to announce that his firm was representing 120 people accusing Combs of sexual misconduct.

"We are going to follow this evidence wherever it takes us. We will find the silent accomplices. We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors," Buzbee said of his legal offensive.

Since Ventura's bombshell November 2023 lawsuit, more than 30 civil lawsuits have been filed accusing Combs of sexual abuse, including about 20 from Buzbee's clients, all listed as John Doe or Jane Doe.

"It feels really good to know he's behind bars," Adria English, who is not a Buzbee client, told BI. She worked as a dancer at Combs' famous white parties and filed a lawsuit in July accusing him of sex trafficking. "What we're having to speak of already sounds like we're lying — it already sounds like a movie because it's so horrible," she said. "It's so disgusting."

Attorneys for Combs pointed BI to a statement previously released in response to English's lawsuit, saying in part: "No matter how many lawsuits are filed it won't change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted, or sex trafficked anyone."

The "I'll Be Missing You" rapper has been accused by both men and women of rape, sexual assault, and lacing drinks with drugs. Over half a dozen of the lawsuits allege the abuse of boys and girls between 10 and 17 years old. Four lawsuits allege that sexual attacks happened at Combs' famed A-list white parties throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, and two of those four lawsuits allege teenagers were victimized.

Timeline of events

Earlier this month, a woman accused the rapper Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, of raping her with Combs when she was 13 years old at a party following the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards. An unnamed plaintiff originally filed the lawsuit in October, identifying Carter only as "Celebrity A."

Carter, in a statement through the X account of his entertainment company, Roc Nation, denied the allegations, calling them "heinous" and accusing Buzbee, the plaintiff's lawyer, of trying to "blackmail" him.

Attorneys for Combs continue to call all the lawsuits brought by Buzbee publicity grabs.

"Mr. Buzbee's lawsuit against Jay-Z and Mr. Combs and the recent extortion lawsuit Jay-Z brought against Mr. Buzbee exposes Mr. Buzbee's barrage of lawsuits against Mr. Combs for what they are: shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payments from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them, just as lies have been spread about Mr. Combs," attorneys for Combs told BI Thursday.

The accuser in the lawsuit filed against Combs and Carter said in a recent interview with NBC News that there were some inconsistencies in her story but that she stood by the allegations.

Combs' lawyers are challenging the claims in at least seven lawsuits, which are ongoing. He has not responded in court to the lawsuits brought by Buzbee, which were all filed after his arrest.

A Los Angeles entertainment attorney, Camron Dowlatshahi, who's not involved in the lawsuits against Combs, told BI that though the rapper is still considered wealthy, litigating each of these cases through trial and potentially being exposed to multimillion-dollar judgments "does not seem prudent."

"Each of the lawsuits piggy-back on the other, and witnesses will be plenty," Dowlatshahi, a partner at the law firm Mills Sadat Dowlat, said.

Dowlatshahi said that lawsuits typically settle before trial and that he anticipated the same in Combs' case.

"Diddy will have to be strategic, however, in which cases he settles first and for how much," Dowlatshahi said.

Down with Diddy's empire

As the allegations against Combs have piled up, so have his legal bills.

Combs was once estimated to be worth $820 million, according to Forbes. He'd created an assortment of lucrative revenue drivers that contributed to regular eight-figure annual paydays, including a deal with Diageo; his lifestyle brand, Sean John; a record label; and a music catalog.

One by one, those income streams have dried up.

When the civil lawsuits started, Combs was already engaged in a legal back-and-forth with Diageo, his most bankable partner.

Combs signed with the liquor giant in 2007, agreeing to be the face of Cîroc vodka in exchange for a cut of sales. The partnership became one of the most lucrative celebrity liquor deals in history, expanding further when Combs and Diageo launched DeLeón, a co-owned tequila line. Over 15 years, the company paid him nearly $1 billion, Forbes reported.

While Combs originally sued Diageo in May 2023, alleging the company did not support his ventures, the mounting sexual abuse lawsuits did him in, in the end.

"Mr. Combs is well-aware that these lawsuits make it impossible for him to continue to be the 'face' of anything," Diageo lawyers wrote in a letter to a judge in December 2023.

By January, the matter was resolved. Combs received $200 million for his stake in DeLeón tequila and not a penny for his longtime work with Cîroc.

It's a similar story for his other ventures.

Combs' lifestyle company, Sean John, had already slipped: In 2016, he sold a majority stake in the business, which at that point included fragrances and furnishings, to Global Brands Group for $70 million, Forbes reported. Just five years later, Global Brands Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and Combs bought back the business for $7.55 million, just over 10% of what it was once worth.

The clothing line's website has gone defunct, its Instagram scrapped, and it is no longer sold at Macy's, once the exclusive home of the brand's sportswear line — and one of its last remaining retailers. The department store, which was accused by one of Buzbee's clients of covering up a 2008 sexual attack by Combs, did not comment on whether the removal of his Sean John line had to do with the compounding lawsuits. Macy's didn't respond to the allegations of covering up a sexual assault in court or to a request for comment about them from BI.

The disintegration of Combs' entertainment businesses, though, was a direct reaction to his mounting legal problems.

Soon after Ventura filed her lawsuit, Combs stepped down as chair of Revolt, the cable network and media company he cofounded. By June, he'd given up his stake. A Hulu reality show that was supposed to follow Combs and his family was scrapped. Any chance of his being able to cash out and sell his music catalog is slim.

"There are so many lost opportunities," Clayton Durant, a professor who teaches music business at Long Island University's Roc Nation School, told BI in October. "There is no way a brand is touching Diddy — probably forever."

With no moneymaking on the table, Combs has taken to trying to sell the assets he does have.

Earlier this year, he listed his Los Angeles mansion in the tony Holmby Hills for $61.5 million. His private jet, LoveAir, is also listed for sale, and while he awaits a buyer, he's been renting it out.

It's not clear how much use he will have for it anyway, at least in the near future.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, Combs lost his third application to be freed on $50 million bail.

Subramanian ordered that he remain held pending his May 5 trial, citing the rap mogul's history of violence and of contacting and threatening prospective witnesses.

"Diddy's been the ultimate puppet master for the last 30 years, and people wanted to say something … they've been too afraid," English, the dancer who accused Combs in a lawsuit of sex trafficking, told BI. "But now because of the raids, everybody's about to be exposed, regardless, so it's going to come out."

UFC star Colby Covington wasted no time taking shots during a media appearance Wednesday, but he didn't target upcoming opponent Joaquin Buckley. 

Covington instead ripped into NBA superstar LeBron James. 

It wasn’t a question from a reporter that prompted Covington to launch into a rant about basketball’s all-time leading scorer. 

He started off his press conference by questioning James about an old video that resurfaced with James talking to disgraced music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs about his now-infamous "Diddy Parties."

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

"I’m gonna start this off, you know, since I’m the man of the hour, man of the show," Covington said. "I want to ask Lebron what does he mean by, ‘There’s no party like a Diddy party.’ I truly want to know. And not only that, LeBron, how many Diddy parties have you actually been to? I’m really curious to know. And is that the reason you left social media because all the backlash you were getting for going to so many Diddy parties?"

The comment Covington is talking about was an old Instagram Live of "P. Diddy" and James in which the basketball star said, "Ain’t no party like a Diddy party," which the music mogul loved. 

LEBRON JAMES SAYS HE'S ‘GETTING OFF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE TIME BEING’

It's a comment that didn’t age well since Combs was charged with racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution in a federal indictment unsealed Sept. 17. 

Authorities alleged Combs ran a criminal enterprise through his business, which includes Bad Boy Entertainment, and he would frequently have "Freak Offs," described as "elaborate produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded," according to an indictment.

James was recently confronted by an NFL fan who accused him of attending Combs’ parties until security intervened. It’s unknown whether James attended any of Combs’ parties in the past. 

"It’s pathetic, man," Covington added. "People think this guy is a role model. He wants to defund the police, the most patriotic people in America, serving and protecting our country. 

"LeBron, you’re a f---ing scumbag, and I hope you get locked up in the same cell with Diddy."

James wasn’t the only target of Covington, who also took shots at fellow fighter Jon "Bones" Jones, among other fighters in the sport. 

Covington has been vocal about James in the past, and he’s always been one to speak his mind and stir some controversy during media appearances.

The American fighter is 17-4 in his UFC career. He lost his last fight at UFC 296 against Leon Edwards. He’s 2-3 in his last five fights, with his last win coming against Jorge Masvidal in March 2022. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

• Jay-Z was named in an amended complaint to a lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, filed in October.
• The filing accuses Jay-Z and Combs of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000.
• Experts said that Jay-Z's response could have been stronger if it included an explicit denial of the claims.

Jay-Z's response to the rape accusations against him is missing something, according to one crisis-PR expert.

The "99 Problems" singer — whose real name is Shawn Carter — was accused in a civil lawsuit Sunday of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl at an MTV Video Music Awards after-party alongside Sean "Diddy" Combs in 2000.

Carter responded to the "heinous" allegations hours later in a statement posted on his company Roc Nation's X account, calling the accuser's attorney, Tony Buzzbee, "deplorable" and saying he engaged in "a blackmail attempt."

"Whoever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree?" the statement reads, in part. "These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case."

Still, the statement doesn't include "a flat unmistakable denial that he'd ever engaged in behavior like that in this case or otherwise," said Evan Nierman, the CEO of crisis-PR firm Red Banyan.

"I think Jay-Z was strong in pointing out the heinous nature of the crimes and that he views them as unconscionable," Nierman said. "But I would've liked to have seen a little bit more of a flat denial."

The allegations against Carter stem from one of the slew of civil sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs, who's in a Brooklyn jail while awaiting trial on separate criminal sex trafficking charges. Combs has denied the accusations against him.

In the original lawsuit, filed in October, the anonymous Jane Doe plaintiff from Alabama accused Combs of raping her at a party in New York City as two other unnamed celebrities watched. The stars were only identified in the civil lawsuit as "Celebrity A" and "Celebrity B."

The updated lawsuit filed Sunday identifies Carter as "Celebrity A."

The other celebrity was described as a "female" but has otherwise not been identified in court documents.

Attorneys for Carter and Combs did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. A day after Carter's statement was published, his lawyer, Alex Spiro, more forcefully denied the allegations in a court filing.

"For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Carter is entirely innocent," he wrote. "This is a shakedown."

A PR expert says Jay-Z's statement had 'bravado'

In his social media statement, Carter took aim at Buzbee, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, and said that his lawyer "received a blackmail attempt" to pressure him into settling out of court. He has separately filed an extortion lawsuit against Buzzbee.

Buzbee told Business Insider that he sent a letter to Carter requesting that Carter and the plaintiff mediate before Sunday's filing.

The amended complaint said Carter responded to the letter by filing a lawsuit and "orchestrating a conspiracy of harassment, bullying, and intimidation" to silence the accuser from naming him.

Camron Dowlatshahi, a partner at Los Angeles-based Mills Sadat Dowlat LLP, told Business Insider that the back-and-forth negotiations referenced by Carter are typical, "especially in a case involving a high-profile individual."

What caught peoples' attention was the more casual tone of Jay-Z's statement, which includes informally styled words in all caps and a sentence that ends with two exclamation points.

"He infused it with the kind of bravado that he's known for," Nierman told Business Insider. By reiterating his rough upbringing — "I'm a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn" — Nierman added that he's "saying, 'You misjudged me by trying to play with me the way you deal with other people.'"

Despite the informal tone, Dowlatshahi said it's highly likely that the statement was crafted with lawyers and publicists.

"I thought it was unorthodox but important to come from him," Dowlatshahi told Business Insider. "It personalizes everything that he's going through instead of being defensive."

Carter's statement said his accuser's lawyer should "file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!!" Still, only prosecutors representing the government, not individual accusers, can file criminal indictments.

Damian Williams, the US Attorney overseeing the criminal case against Combs in Manhattan, told Business Insider in October that the "investigation is very active and ongoing" when asked whether additional people would be charged.

Nierman and Dowlatshahi said it was nonetheless smart for Carter to point out that he was not charged with a crime.

"Something involving essentially a rape of a 13-year-old is not something that you have an afterthought about and amend your complaint about," Dowlatshahi said. "It's something that's at the forefront of a case, and typically a criminal case."

Experts don't think the allegations will tarnish Jay-Z's reputation if it's an isolated incident

Nierman and Dowlatshahi think Jay-Z is too rich and powerful for his reputation to ultimately be damaged by the suit.

He's "too big to cancel, and his brand is too strong to be destroyed by a civil lawsuit," Nierman said.

Dowlatshahi agreed. "Right now, this is a pretty contained isolated thing."

If more allegations against Carter surface or he faces criminal charges, indictments, or arrests, it could be career-ending.

"This is a civil lawsuit being filed by an attorney who's been very aggressive about his demand letters and going after celebs in the interest of securing financial settlements for his client," Nierman said. "So I don't see this as creating a permanent stain on Jay-Z's brand."

Nierman and Dowlatshahi said that Carter's mention of the allegations' impact on conversations with his kids, whom he shares with Beyoncé, also humanized him outside his celebrity persona.

Nierman said that Carter made his response "personal" by directly questioning Buzbee's integrity and values. "When you come out of the gates with such a strong statement like what Jay-Z made, and you make it so personal, both in his defense of himself and his attack on his accuser, he's already set," Nierman said. "It's going to be very hard to come back from that. So I expect him to be extremely aggressive in defending his reputation."

On Monday, Carter's lawyer filed a flurry of motions in federal court to dismiss the case or disclose the accuser's identity in the civil lawsuit.

"These claims are not about justice for victims. Nor are they about giving victims of sexual violence a voice," Carter's attorney Alex Spiro wrote in a filing. "Instead, they are merely the next chapter in Attorney Buzbee's sprawling extortion saga — a saga whose aim is base and measured in dollars."

Spiro didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Dowlatshahi said this is a common next step as Carter's team explores every possible option to defeat the claims. In Nierman's view, the aggressive strategy is working in the court of public opinion.

"Jay-Z is not going to be defined by these allegations," Nierman said. "I don't think that this is even going to be a footnote to his obituary."

• Rapper Jay-Z has been accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old with Sean "Diddy" Combs.
• 50 Cent appeared to react to the news by posting a photo from his appearance in HBO's "Entourage."
• Here's what his joke about the Super Bowl means.

50 Cent reacted to the accusations that Jay-Z sexually assaulted a 13-year-old with Sean "Diddy" Combs by posting a joke about the Super Bowl.

On Sunday, Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) was named in a civil suit that accused him of raping a 13-year-old girl with Combs in 2000 after the MTV Video Music Awards in New York.

Both rappers denied the allegations, and Carter called the allegations "heinous" in a statement posted on the X account of his company Roc Nation.

50 Cent (aka Curtis Jackson) was quick to react with a jab at Combs following their 20-year feud.

Jackson posted a photo on Instagram on Sunday that appeared to be a reference to the situation. The picture was of 50 Cent's appearance in "Entourage" season six, when he pulls up next to Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and insults his car before driving off in a scene that became an instant meme.

In the caption 50 Cent wrote: "Ok I don't know what's going on, but are we gonna still have the Super Bowl. I'm just asking for a friend!"

The Super Bowl reference reflects the role Roc Nation often plays in organizing the halftime show at the yearly NFL championship and implies that the allegations could affect the arrangement.

In October, Bloomberg reported that Roc Nation had extended its partnership with the NFL, and that Carter will continue to produce the halftime show.

50 Cent's post is his latest joke about allegations relating to Combs. The "Power" actor first started taunting Combs about the allegations in November 2023 when Cassie Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, filed a lawsuit against him for rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

Since then, 50 Cent confirmed that he's producing a documentary about the sexual assault allegations against Combs, with profits going to victims of sexual assault.

• Jay-Z has filed his first response to a lawsuit alleging he and Sean "Diddy" Combs raped a 13-year-old.
• He said he wanted to force the woman to proceed under her real name instead of Jane Doe.
• A lawyer for the woman said she fears retribution and harassment if she is named.

Rapper Jay-Z is fighting to quickly unmask the Jane Doe accuser who has sued him and Sean "Diddy" Combs over allegations that she was sexually attacked after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards when she was 13 years old.

The accuser, who lives in Alabama, alleges in her lawsuit that she was given a drugged drink at a party "at a large white house" somewhere in New York, and was then raped by both rap A-listers as a third, unnamed female celebrity watched.

In papers filed Monday, a lawyer for Jay-Z — given name Shawn Carter — complained that the accuser should not be allowed to tarnish his name while hiding her identity.

In a 29-page filing in federal court in Manhattan, Carter says that the woman had previously sought money from him and that he had refused to pay.

The filing is Carter's first formal response to the new accusations, and follows his strongly-worded denial from Sunday on his company Roc Nation's X account.

Carter's attorney, Alex Spiro, said in Monday's filing that the lawsuit is a good thing.

"Now, at last, the false, unfounded allegations that underlie this campaign of extortion are having judicial light shined on them," Spiro wrote. "Except that this Plaintiff is bringing them as a Doe, who would continue to hide under cover of darkness."

When the Jane Doe first filed her lawsuit, in October, she had named only Combs, his companies and his associates as defendants. On Sunday she filed an updated lawsuit that removed a reference to "Celebrity A" and added "Shawn Carter" as defendant.

"Another celebrity stood by and watched as Combs and Carter took turns assaulting the minor," the updated lawsuit reads, continuing to protect the identity of that third person.

The woman's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, confirmed to Business Insider on Sunday there had been previous contact between the Jane Doe and Carter. Buzbee said he had sent a letter to Carter requesting mediation before naming him in Sunday's updated lawsuit.

Carter responded to that outreach with a campaign of "harassment, bullying, and intimidation against Plaintiff's lawyers, their families, employees, and former associates in an attempt to silence Plaintiff from naming Jay-Z herein," the updated lawsuit alleges.

In fighting to keep his client's Jane Doe status as the lawsuit proceeds, Buzbee told a federal judge on Sunday that anonymity is necessary to protect all of his clients who are accusing Combs of sexual assault.

"My firm currently represents over 200 clients with claims against Mr. Combs," Buzbee wrote in a filing on Sunday.

More than 80 percent of these clients have said Combs threatened them or their family members in hopes of keeping them quiet, Buzbee wrote.

"For many of the clients referenced above, Mr. Combs' threats of violence were a primary reason why they did not speak out or file lawsuits earlier. Most of our clients still fear retribution and have conditioned moving forward on anonymity," he wrote.

Since mid-October, Buzbee has filed some 20 lawsuits in which men and women allege they were sexually assaulted by Combs.

Buzbee told Business Insider that he had anticipated Carter's move to unmask his client and said that he would be filing a response "in due course."

He also said that he believes Carter is the celebrity John Doe who sued him in November. "He sued me under a pseudonym but files a motion to reveal the victim," Buzbee said.

BI could not confirm that Jay-Z is the one suing Buzbee. The John Doe plaintiff's identity has not been revealed in court filings and would not have been disclosed in the documents Buzbee was served.

Spiro did not immediately respond to requests by phone and email for comment on this story.

In a separate filing on Monday, Spiro also asked US District Court Judge Analisa Torres to schedule a hearing "on an expedited basis" at which both sides would make their case for why the plaintiff should or should not remain anonymous.

"For the avoidance of doubt, Mr. Carter is entirely innocent," he wrote. "This is a shakedown."

He added, "Allowing Plaintiff to proceed anonymously would deny Mr. Carter the fundamental right to confront his accuser, while simultaneously enabling Plaintiff and her counsel to conduct a trial by media."

Combs remains held in a federal jail in Brooklyn on his September federal sex-trafficking indictment. Combs has pleaded not guilty and has promised to fight that indictment at a trial scheduled for May 5.

A woman who says Sean "Diddy" Combs and others gang-raped her in a recording studio when she was a minor was hoping to stay anonymous as the legal process played out. 

However, a judge ruled her name must be used in her lawsuit.

It has since been revealed Jane Doe is Anna Kane, the ex-wife of NHL star Evander Kane.

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"I had hoped to use a pseudonym in pursuing justice for what happened to me as a teenager," Anna said in a statement to multiple outlets, including TMZ. "Defendants’ demand that I use my name was an attempt to intimidate me, but I am not intimidated. I am prepared to proceed and hold accountable those who have harmed me."

Kane says Diddy and others gave her drugs and alcohol before forcibly having sex when she was still in high school at the age of 17, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

RANGERS MOVE ON FROM CAPTAIN JACOB TROUBA IN TRADE WITH DUCKS AMID RECENT STRUGGLES

Evander and Anna got divorced in 2021 after Anna accused Evander of domestic violence and sexual assault and alleging Evander had thrown NHL games he had played in after betting on them.

Evander admitted to having a gambling addiction, but the NHL found no evidence he had bet on games.

He has not played this season after hitting the ice for 77 contests last season.

Diddy was denied bail last week and is still being held in a federal prison in Brooklyn on sex trafficking and racketeering charges after his arrest in September.

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• 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.