{"id":5818,"date":"2025-05-15T08:31:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T08:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-trial-taylor-swift-subpoena-halle-bailey-restraining-order\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T08:31:59","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T08:31:59","slug":"diddy-trial-taylor-swift-subpoena-halle-bailey-restraining-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-trial-taylor-swift-subpoena-halle-bailey-restraining-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Diddy Trial, Taylor Swift Subpoena, Halle Bailey Restraining Order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tTHE BIG STORY<\/strong>: A little under 18 months after sexual abuse allegations against Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs were first made public \u2013 and 8 months after he was indicted over them \u2013 \u00a0the once-powerful rap mogul headed to trial this week on felony charges that could put him behind bars for life.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen things got underway in the courtroom Monday, I was sitting just rows behind the now-gray-haired superstar as prosecutors accused him of years of criminal conduct \u2013 centered on claims that he coerced longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura and other women to take part in drug-fueled, marathon sex sessions with male escorts called \u201cfreak offs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe start the trial, which is expected to run for eight weeks, was something of a circus. News crews filled the plaza outside the courthouse in Lower Manhattan as a line of spectators wrapped around the block \u2013 so many that they eventually filled the entire large courtroom and two overflow rooms. Professional \u201cline sitters\u201d were charging $350 for a spot closer to the door; one person waiting in line, there at the crack of dawn, told me that he didn\u2019t want to miss the \u201ctrial of the century.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo catch up after the first two days of the trial, go check all of Billboard<\/em>\u2019s coverage:<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2013On day one<\/strong>, both sides made their opening statements to the jury. Prosecutors said Combs had used his power for decades to \u201cfeed his every desire\u201d \u2014 and they almost immediately played an infamous video of him assaulting Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, said the women had consensually partaken in Diddy\u2019s \u201cswinger lifestyle\u201d and that the star cannot be convicted merely based on weird sex, a \u201ctoxic relationship,\u201d or even domestic violence: \u201cWe take full responsibility that there was domestic violence. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u2013On day two<\/strong>, Ventura took the stand. The star witness in the prosecution\u2019s case, Cassie told jurors that participating in \u201cfreak off\u201d sex performances \u201cbecame a job\u201d for her and left her feeling \u201chumiliated.\u201d But she said she felt she had no choice \u2014 at times because she was in love with Combs and wanted to please him, but also, later, because she feared blackmail, physical violence or other blowback: \u201cHe was a scary person. He would be violent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you need a general catch-up on the Diddy case before the trial goes any further, go read our explainer on everything you need to know \u2013 or our deep-dive analysis in which the prosecutors from R. Kelly\u2019s highly-similar case explain how this one might go. You can also read about the many, many<\/em> lawyers involved in the Diddy debacle.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tOther top stories this week\u2026\t<\/h4>\n

\n\tTAYLOR GETS SUBPOENAED<\/strong> \u2013 Taylor Swift was hit with a subpoena formally dragging her into the legal drama between her friend Blake Lively and Lively\u2019s It Ends With Us<\/em> director and co-star Justin Baldoni. The subpoena, filed by Baldoni\u2019s lawyers, is certain to be opposed by Swift\u2019s lawyers after her reps blasted the filing: \u201cThis document subpoena is designed to use Taylor Swift\u2019s name to draw public interest by creating tabloid clickbait instead of focusing on the facts of the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHER LAWYERS, TOO <\/strong>\u2013 Speaking of Taylor\u2019s lawyers: Her longtime outside law firm, Venable, was also hit with a subpoena from Baldoni\u2019s attorney. The filing specifically name-drops Douglas Baldridge, a Venable partner who\u2019s worked with Swift since 2013 and recently returned to the firm after a stint as her general counsel. In legal filings this week, the firm formally opposed a filing that it described as a \u201cfishing expedition\u201d by Baldoni and his lawyers: \u201cVenable had nothing to do with the film at issue or any of the claims or defenses asserted in the underlying lawsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLIL DURK DENIED BAIL <\/strong>\u2013 Days after federal prosecutors dropped Lil Durk\u2019s rap lyrics from his murder-for-hire case, his lawyers argued that the new \u201cwatered-down\u201d charges dramatically weakened the case against him and supported his push to be released from jail ahead of trial. But a federal judge then refused to release him, citing a report that Durk has been using other inmates\u2019 jailhouse phone calls, thereby showing a \u201cdisrespect for the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHALLE<\/strong> RESTRAINING ORDER<\/strong> \u2013 A Los Angeles judge granted a restraining order to Halle Bailey against DDG, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her 1-year-old son, after she claimed that he had attacked her multiple times. In legal filings seeking the order, Bailey alleged that in one incident, her ex (Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.) pulled her hair, slammed her face on the steering wheel and chipped her tooth.<\/p>\n

\n\tDRAKE v. UMG UPDATE <\/strong>\u2013 Weeks after Drake updated his libel lawsuit against UMG to add gripes about Kendrick Lamar\u2019s Super Bowl performance of \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d the music giant again asked a judge to dismiss the entire case. In doing so, UMG\u2019s lawyers said the new claims about the halftime show are what the case is really about: \u201cDrake\u2019s attack on the commercial and creative success of the rap artist who defeated him, rather than the content of Lamar\u2019s lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSMOKEY ROBINSON ALLEGATIONS<\/strong> \u2013 The legendary Motown singer and his wife were hit with an explosive new lawsuit, seeking $50 million in damages over claims that he repeatedly raped four housekeepers over nearly two decades. Robinson\u2019s lawyers strenuously denied the claims, calling them \u201cvile, false allegations\u201d and \u201can ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBAD BUNNY COPYRIGHT CASE<\/strong> \u2013 The reggaeton superstar was sued for infringement over allegations that a track from his chart-topping Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em> (\u201cEns\u00e9\u00f1ame a Bailar\u201d) featured an unlicensed sample from a song called \u201cEmpty My Pocket\u201d by a Nigerian artist named Dera. The lawsuit claims the issue was raised with Bunny\u2019s reps, but that they\u2019ve \u201cturned a blind eye\u201d and \u201cstonewalled\u201d efforts to properly clear the sample.<\/p>\n

\n\tANOTHER SAMPLE DISPUTE<\/strong> \u2013 British singer-songwriter Bakar and his viral track \u201cHell N Back\u201d \u2013 featured in millions of TikTok videos \u2013 were hit with a messy new lawsuit over the song\u2019s prominent use of a sample from Robert Parker\u2019s 1967 R&B track \u201cI Caught You In A Lie.\u201d The case claims Bakar and Sony Music cleared the sample, but did so with the wrong rightsholders who have been making \u201cfalse claim of ownership\u201d to Parker\u2019s song.<\/p>\n

\n\tDATA BREACH AT iHEART<\/strong> \u2013 iHeartMedia was hit with a proposed class action from subscribers after publicly disclosing that several of its radio stations were hacked months ago, exposing Social Security numbers, financial information and other personal details. The company says it \u201cimmediately implemented our response protocols\u201d to contain the hack, but attorneys for the subscribers say iHeart waited four months to tell subscribers about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tLIVE NATION AT SCOTUS <\/strong>\u2013 Live Nation asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling last year that said the concert giant couldn\u2019t enforce \u201copaque and unfair\u201d arbitration agreements against ticketbuyers. That ruling \u2013 a scathing critique of Live Nation\u2019s approach \u2013 showed improper \u201cjudicial hostility,\u201d Live Nation warned the justices, and will create \u201cmassive uncertainty\u201d over how such clauses can be used and enforced.<\/p>\n

\n\t(DIDN\u2019T) GET THEM TO THE GREEK<\/strong> \u2013 The Grammy-winning band The Kingston Trio sued a Los Angeles music attorney for fraud, claiming that he lied about having an \u201cinside track\u201d to book the folk group at the Greek Theatre last summer. The group says the lawyer, David A. Helfant, charged them high fees but didn\u2019t actually have any secret mojo to get them booked at the legendary venue. Helfant denied the allegations, saying they were \u201ccompletely without merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFLORIDA DRAG LAW ICED<\/strong> \u2013 A federal appeals court has upheld an injunction blocking the state of Florida from enforcing a law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis that would restrict drag shows in the state, ruling that the statute likely violates the First Amendment\u2019s protection of free speech: \u201cThe act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,\u201d the court wrote.<\/p>\n

\n\tWEEZER WIFE CHARGED <\/strong>\u2013 Author Jillian Lauren, the wife of Weezer bassist Scott Shriner, was officially charged with two felony counts following a bizarre shootout with police at her Los Angeles home last month. The charges are serious (discharge of a firearm with gross negligence and assault with a semiautomatic firearm) but less than she initially faced when booked on suspicion of attempted murder following the April 8 altercation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE BIG STORY: A little under 18 months after sexual abuse allegations against Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs were first made public \u2013 and 8 months after he was indicted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4757,296,5926,1574,1857,1211,3029,3028,342],"class_list":["post-5818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-bailey","tag-diddy","tag-halle","tag-order","tag-restraining","tag-subpoena","tag-swift","tag-taylor","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}