Latest news with #NeamaRahmani
The Sun
02-07-2025
- The Sun
Diddy may only get TIME SERVED after disastrous prosecution in most expensive prostitution case in history, says lawyer
SEAN 'DIDDY' Combs' criminal case has been blasted as a 'total failure' for the prosecution and he will likely only get time served or a few years, legal experts believe. The rap music mogul fell to his knees on Wednesday when the verdict was read out in a Manhattan courtroom. 6 6 6 The jury decided to only convict Combs of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which each carry a maximum 10-year prison sentence and no minimum. He has been acquitted of racketeering conspiracy, which carried a life sentence, and two counts of sex trafficking, the most serious crimes. Combs was arrested in September 2024 and has been behind bars ever since after multiple requests for bail were denied. While the star and his family celebrate, his accusers will not after a grueling seven-week trial including harrowing testimony from over 30 witnesses, including his former girlfriends and employees. A judge will decide whether or not he will be granted bail late on Wednesday, July 2. However, prosecutors look set to argue that detention is mandatory following a conviction of this kind. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Lawyers, who has been following the case since the beginning spoke to The U.S. Sun about the outcome. He said, "Today's verdict is nothing less than a complete and total failure by the prosecution in what will go down as the most expensive prostitution trial in American history. "Even though the Mann Act carries a potential 10-year maximum sentence, Diddy is going to get time served or close to it. His sentencing guideline range may be as low as 15-21 months. "The jury has spoken and prosecutors in the prestigious Southern District of New York should take this very embarrassing loss and move on." The U.S. Sun obtained a letter from the prosecution sent to Judge Arun Subramanian following the verdict on Wednesday. They say the guideline sentence for him is just 51 to 63 months [five and a half years maximum], and he has already been behind bars for nine months. It reads, "The Government notes, however, that the Guidelines applicable at sentencing may be higher than this preliminary calculation. "The Government has not had adequate time to carefully consider all potentially applicable Guidelines provisions." He believes that the sex trafficking charges appeared weak because of the "evidence of consent" the jury was told throughout the trial. "The prosecution's only real chance of a victory was racketeering and to prove a non-sex related predicate act like kidnapping, arson, extortion, or bribery," Rahmani continued. "The fact that the jury even rejected that argument shows the many flaws in the prosecution's case. "They failed to lean on and flip key members of Diddy's inner circle like KK and D-ROC." The prosecution also didn't call any of the alleged sexual assault victims who have filed civil lawsuits against Combs, who did not have a romantic or professional relationship with him. Many celebrities who showed the alleged victims support throughout the trial have expressed their disappointment at the outcome of the trial. Rosie O'Donnell shared on Instagram on Wednesday, "I guess a jury just never wants to believe that a woman stays because of power and coercion - wow - they just think women stay because what? money - fame - 'they love the abuse' - what a fucking joke - this decision got me angry #cassie." New Mexico-based criminal defense attorney John W. Day also told The U.S. Sun he felt the verdict was a "major loss for the prosecutors." He said, "They presented a tsunami of evidence against Diddy over many weeks, and the jurors did not buy their story. "The government was trying to convince the jury that RICO — which was designed to go after the Mafia and mob organized crime families — should be applied to baby oil and Diddy's high-flying lifestyle in the music business, and the jury just was not convinced. "The prosecutors believed that Cassie Ventura and Jane — the girlfriend who testified under an alias — would tell a story of victimization that the jury would feel empathy for, but they most likely just saw these witnesses as willing participants in the glamorous world of Diddy. "In retrospect, the prosecutors aimed too high with the RICO charges. "He's likely to get some time in federal prison — maybe more than three or five years, but not the full 20 years he's facing after convictions on the two counts. "At the end of the day, the prosecutors need a black box, like we have in airplanes to tell us what went wrong after a crash, to find out what failed with their case." Combs' legal team has written a letter, obtained by The U.S. Sun, to Judge Subramanian outlining the reasons why they say he should be released from custody. They argue he is not a flight risk and has been a model inmate and shown up to all court hearings, adding that "reasonable conditions would ensure" he would not have the ability to arrange to meet with escorts in the future. His defense also says the jury "unambiguously rejected the government's allegations that Mr. Combs ran a years-long criminal enterprise or engaged in sex trafficking - the core of the government's case." 6 6 6
Al Jazeera
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Jazeera
US won't retry Diddy case 'just to get racketeering'
US won't retry Diddy case 'just to get racketeering' Quotable Neama Rahmani, a former US federal prosecutor, explains what could happen in the trial of music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs if the jury doesn't come to a decision about his racketeering charges. Video Duration 01 minutes 06 seconds 01:06 Video Duration 01 minutes 06 seconds 01:06 Video Duration 01 minutes 13 seconds 01:13 Video Duration 00 minutes 56 seconds 00:56 Video Duration 01 minutes 04 seconds 01:04 Video Duration 01 minutes 29 seconds 01:29 Video Duration 01 minutes 19 seconds 01:19
CTV News
01-07-2025
- CTV News
Former prosecutor explains key legal hurdles as jury weighs charges in Diddy trial
Watch As the jury deliberates, ex-federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explains how charges against Sean 'Diddy' Combs are weighed and which may be easier to prove.
New York Post
01-07-2025
- New York Post
DOJ takes down sick $14.6 billion healthcare fraud scheme that saw patients given ‘unecessary' procedures
WASHINGTON — Hundreds were charged Monday in connection with a $14.6 billion healthcare fraud scheme that supplied millions of opioid pills to drug dealers and saw elderly patients given 'unnecessary' wound grafts, the Department of Justice announced. The operation, which the department called the largest healthcare fraud takedown in its history, collared 324 defendants, including members of transnational criminal groups and American doctors and pharmacists. The sick scheme sought to bilk the federal government out of $14.6 billion, with the actual loss to the US government totaling about $2.9 billion, officials said. Advertisement 6 Hundreds were charged Monday in connection with the largest health care fraud in history that involved $14.6 billion in potential schemes, the Department of Justice revealed Monday. Getty Images The feds seized as much as $245 million 'in cash, luxury vehicles, cryptocurrency, and other assets' in the sweeping crackdown, the DOJ said, and stopped $4 billion from going out the door to the health care fraudsters. Another $48.6 million in alleged civil fraud charges and civil settlements related to the schemes were also disclosed. Advertisement Of the nearly 200 federal cases and 90 state cases involved, almost $3 billion in funds were actually swindled from US taxpayers. 'Make no mistake — this administration will not tolerate criminals who line their pockets with taxpayer dollars while endangering the health and safety of our communities,' Bondi added. DOJ Criminal Division head Matthew Galeotti said that some of the ill-gotten gains came at the cost of exacerbating the nation's opioid epidemic and harming those fighting against drug addiction. One scheme involved the trafficking of more than 15 million prescription opioid pills — including oxycodone, hydrocodone and carisoprodol — from pharmacists to street drug dealers to users. Advertisement 'Health care fraud isn't just theft — it's trafficking in trust. Today's announcement shows that when doctors become drug dealers and treatment centers become profit-driven fraud rings, DEA will act,' said Acting Administrator Robert Murphy of the DEA. 6 Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Post that the crackdown appeared to be politically motivated, as President Trump has asked Republicans to root out 'waste, fraud and abuse' in Medicaid. Department of Justice) Another scheme involved US-based defendants conspiring to take $1.1 billion from Medicare recipients by pressuring them to undergo amniotic wound allografts, in some cases when the procedure was 'unnecessary' since the patients were in hospice and just days or weeks away from death. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Post that the crackdown appeared to be politically motivated, as President Trump has asked Republicans to root out 'waste, fraud and abuse' in Medicaid through his 'big, beautiful bill' working its way through Congress. Advertisement The most bogus medical claims — around $10.6 billion — were submitted to Medicare by transnational crime organizations that had foreign straw owners from Estonia, Russia and elsewhere buy up dozens of medical supply firms to needlessly purchase urinary catheters and other medical equipment. The plot involved the theft of more than 1 million Americans' identities nationwide to submit the claims. 6 The plot involved the theft of more than 1 million Americans' identities nationwide to submit the claims. AP Proceeds were then laundered through cryptocurrency exchanges and later into foreign shell companies. At least 12 culprits were arrested for participating in the scheme, dubbed 'Operation Gold Rush' by the DOJ, four of whom were apprehended in Estonia and seven of whom were taken at US ports of entry. Additionally, a Pakistan-United Arab Emirates national owned a billing company that tried to charge Medicaid treatment center owners in Arizona roughly $650 million for substance abuse services. 6 'These criminals didn't just steal someone else's money. They stole from you,' Galeotti told reporters Monday. Getty Images The treatments were often poor or not provided at all — and the treatment center owners allegedly paid kickbacks for patients 'recruited from the homeless population and Native American reservations,' DOJ officials said. Advertisement The foreign owner of the billing company nabbed $25 million before the feds got wind and used the money to buy a $2.9 million home at a golf club in Dubai. 6 Genetic testing and telemedicine fraud also bilked taxpayers contributing to Medicare programs by more than $1.1 billion. Getty Images Genetic testing and telemedicine fraud also bilked taxpayers contributing to Medicare programs by more than $1.1 billion. Scores of other defendants bilked Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers in schemes amounting to $1.84 billion in false claims for medical testing, treatments and visits that involved alleged kickbacks and bribes. Advertisement 6 A Pakistani-United Arab Emirates national nabbed $25 million through bogus claims before the feds got wind and used the money to buy a $2.9 million home at a golf club in Dubai. Christopher Sadowski 'These criminals didn't just steal someone else's money. They stole from you,' Galeotti told reporters Monday. 'Every fraudulent claim, every fake billing, every kickback scheme represents money taken directly from the pockets of American taxpayers who fund these essential programs through their hard work and sacrifice.'
Fox News
27-06-2025
- Fox News
Bryan Kohberger could escape death penalty because of leaked evidence aired during TV episode: fmr prosecutor
Idaho quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger might avoid the death penalty if convicted because of leaked evidence, a former prosecutor suggested. Kohberger is accused of killing Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20. On May 9, a television episode featured leaked information relating to the case, which Kohberger's attorney has argued will taint the jury pool. Included in NBC's "Dateline" special on the University of Idaho murders was surveillance video from a neighboring house, which caught a car similar to Kohberger's driving in the King Road area several times in the hours and minutes before the four college students were killed. The episode also featured alleged evidence from a nearby FBI cellphone tower, which claimed to show that Kohberger's phone pinged nearly a dozen times near a tower providing coverage to an area within 100 feet of 1122 King Road, where the students were killed. The phone allegedly pinged near the tower on multiple occasions between July 2022 and mid-August 2022. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital that the leak has the potential to remove the death penalty as a punishment. "The media leak could help Bryan Kohberger on appeal or potentially take the death penalty off the table. If the leak results in prejudicial pretrial publicity that taints the jury pool, especially if the leak was of inadmissible evidence, that's a constitutional violation," Rahmani said. Rahmani brought up the Lori Vallow Daybell case, where the judge ruled that prosecutors couldn't seek the death penalty after they didn't comply with discovery rules. Vallow Daybell was found guilty after prosecutors alleged that she worked with Alex Cox, her brother, to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, to receive money from a $1 million life insurance policy. "The other basis for appeal or to strike the death penalty would be prosecutorial misconduct or a violation of a judicial order. In a recent high-profile Idaho capital case, Lori Vallow Daybell, the court ruled that prosecutors could no longer seek the death penalty because they failed to comply with their discovery obligations," Rahmani said. On May 15, Judge Steven Hippler said a violation of the gag order was "likely" committed by someone involved in the case. He ordered the prosecution and Kohberger's defense team to preserve all communications and data relating to the case, including law enforcement officers who worked on the case. Hippler said the following pieces of evidence were revealed during the episode: "Such violations not only undermine the rule of law, potentially by persons charged with upholding it, but also significantly impede the ability to seat an impartial jury and will likely substantially increase the cost to be borne by the taxpayers of Latah County to prosecute this case by extending the time it will take to seat a jury and potentially requiring lengthy period of juror sequestration," Hippler wrote. Kohberger's lawyer, Anne Taylor, asked Hippler to delay the trial because the jury pool could be tainted by information aired during the "Dateline" episode, in addition to other reasons. Prosecutors argued in a court filing that the airing of information relating to the case should not be a reason to delay August's trial start date. "Like the court in the Vallow-Daybell trial, this Court is well-equipped to select a jury, to handle ongoing media coverage, and to conduct a fair trial in the Ada County courthouse," prosecutors wrote. An amended scheduling order filed in Idaho's Fourth Judicial District Court on Thursday indicated that the trial will be pushed back one week. Jury selection will begin on Aug. 4, but opening statements are now expected on Aug. 18, one week later than the previously anticipated start date on Aug. 11. A court spokesperson said the updated timeline was not the result of any attempt by the defense to delay the proceedings, but rather an internal scheduling adjustment by the court. Fox News Digital reached out to Kohberger's lawyer, prosecutors and NBC for comment.
