Attorney for many Diddy accusers sued for alleged 'extortionate plot'
A personal injury attorney who recently gained national attention by unleashing a torrent of civil lawsuits against Sean "Diddy" Combs is now himself the target of a new lawsuit accusing him of an "extortionate plot."
An anonymous plaintiff sued Tony Buzbee and his firm, The Buzbee Law Firm, for "shamelessly attempting to extort exorbitant sums from him or else publicly file wildly false horrific allegations against him."
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles, was brought by an anonymous John Doe, who is somehow linked to Combs, according to the suit.
It alleges Buzbee and his firm have "threatened to unleash entirely fabricated and malicious allegations of sexual assault -- including multiple instances of rape of a minor, both male and female -- against Plaintiff if he refuses to comply with their demands" for money.
"These baseless accusations are nothing more than a weapon in a calculated plot to destroy Plaintiff's high-profile reputation for profit, despite the complete absence of any factual basis for such claims," the lawsuit said.
The plaintiff, who is represented by Michael Lifrak and Mari Henderson of the law firm Quinn Emanuel, said Buzbee sent Doe multiple written demands alleging "vile sexual misconduct committed by Plaintiff," including falsely accusing the plaintiff of raping minors who had been drugged at parties hosted by Combs.
Buzbee then threatened to "immediately file" a "public lawsuit" against Doe "repeating the same fabricated allegations unless Plaintiff agreed to resolve the matters through mediation for money," according to the lawsuit.
"Plaintiff presently faces a gun to his head -- either repeatedly pay an exorbitant sum of money to stop Defendants from the wide publication of wildly false allegations of sexual assault that would subject Plaintiff to opprobrium and irreparably harm Plaintiff's reputation, family, career and livelihood, or else face the threat of an untold number of civil suits and financial and personal ruin," the lawsuit said.
The suit seeks damages for extortion and intentional infliction of emotional distress and, taking a page from Buzbee's playbook, the lawyers are asking anyone with information on Buzbee to get in touch with them.
Buzbee slammed the lawsuit in a lengthy statement to ABC News, calling it "not only without legal merit" but also "laughable."
He denied demanding any money or making any threats, and described the letters he sent as "no different than the ones routinely sent by lawyers across the country in all types of cases."
"It is obvious that the frivolous lawsuit filed against my firm is an aggressive attempt to intimidate or silence me and ultimately my clients," Buzbee wrote.
In a court filing earlier this week, prosecutors accused Combs of trying to obstruct his own case while behind bars, alleging that "the defendant has, among other things, orchestrated social media campaigns that are, in his own words, aimed at tainting the jury pool; made efforts to publicly leak materials he views as helpful to his case; and contacted witnesses through third parties."
The filing cited notes from Combs' cell that were found during a sweep of the jail. The contents of the notes are redacted but the prosecutors said there is a "strong inference" that Combs paid off an unnamed witness who had posted a statement to Instagram.
The government filing also accused Combs of using the telephone accounts of at least eight other inmates at MDC-Brooklyn "seemingly to avoid law enforcement monitoring" and to make phone calls to people who are not on his approved contact list.
