Sean Combs Attorney Steps Down, Says There Are “No Circumstances” In

Anthony Ricco, an attorney for Sean “Diddy” Combs, has filed a motion to step down from the mogul’s legal team.

In a filing in the Southern District of New York, Ricco did not provide an affidavit or evidence for why he could not continue in the case other than a short statement saying he would no longer be able to “effectively serve.”

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“Although I have provided Sean Combs with the high level of legal representation expected by the court, under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs, consistent with the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice,” the letter reads.

Ricco notes that his withdrawal from representing Combs would not delay the trial date, which is currently scheduled to begin in May. And Combs would still continue to be represented by five other attorneys, including Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos.

Combs was indicted in September and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering for directing a vast criminal enterprise through which it is alleged that he assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various businesses from at least 2008. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is awaiting trial in a Brooklyn jail.

On Tuesday, lawyers for Combs had filed a motion seeking to dismiss one of the sex trafficking charges he is facing. The charge, violating the Mann Act, prohibits transporting someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. In this case, the government alleges that Combs violated this by transporting male escorts across state lines to have sex with his girlfriends.

However, lawyers argued it was a legal male escort company and that the origins of the law are racist. The Mann Act was once called the White-Slave Traffic Act, and was enacted in 1910,. Combs’ lawyers argued the law’s historic purpose has been to “target Black men and supposedly protect white women from them,” as it had been used in the prosecution of Jack Johnson and Chuck Berry.

“This case is unprecedented in many ways, but perhaps most notably, and most disturbingly, no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution. Sean Combs is an extraordinarily successful artist, businessman, philanthropist and one of the most accomplished black people in this country,” the filing reads.

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