Rapper and producer Sean "Diddy" Combs is bringing on the same lawyer as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to defend him after being charged with racketeering and sex trafficking in New York.
In a notice of appeal filed on Monday, Alexandra Shapiro, partner at Shapiro Arato Bach, was named as defendant's counsel for Combs. If the name is familiar, that is because Shapiro has been representing Bankman-Fried ever since he was found guilty last year by a jury on all counts for his role in defrauding investors.
Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried orchestrated "likely the largest fraud in the last decade," making comparisons to Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Last month, Shapiro filed an appeal for Bankman-Fried and called for a new trial. Shapiro criticized New York District Judge Lewis Kaplan's handling of the case and said the former executive should not have been blocked from introducing certain evidence.
Both Bankman-Fried and Combs also share the same unit in a dormitory-like room at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, according to The New York Times.
Combs was charged on Sept. 17 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors say Combs "led a criminal enterprise" that abused and exploited women and involved sex trafficking, forced labor and kidnapping, among other crimes.
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