Diddy Hires Sam Bankman-Fried’s (New) Lawyer

Sean “Diddy” Combs has hired Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, to appeal a New York judge’s decision to keep him locked up while he awaits trial for racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March for the collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX, hired Shapiro to handle his appeal shortly after his conviction. Last month, she filed a 102-page appeal in the Second Circuit, requesting a new trial for Bankman-Fried and accusing the judge overseeing his case of being unfairly biased against him.

Lawyers interviewed by CoinDesk are largely skeptical of the appeal’s chance of success.

The fraudster is currently six months into his sentence, and has chosen to remain in Brooklyn’s notoriously dangerous Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) while he awaits the outcome of his appeal, rather than be moved to a low-security prison near his family in California.

The unlikely result of Bankman-Fried’s decision to stay in MDC is that he’s now roommates with Diddy. According to a recent report from the New York Times citing sources familiar, Bankman-Fried and the rapper are both living in the same unit of the jail, sleeping in a “dormitory-style room” with other inmates.

On Sep. 12, New York prosecutors charged Diddy with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking of children by force, fraud or coercion and transporting for prostitution.

The sex trafficking charge alone carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, with minimum sentences of 10-15 years depending on the ages of the victims. The racketeering conspiracy charge and the transportation for prostitution charge carry maximum sentences of 20 and 25 years in prison, respectively.

Edited by Nikhilesh De.