The legal feud between Sean “Diddy” Combs and his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura has taken another dramatic turn. Nearly two years after settling a high-profile $30 million civil lawsuit filed by Cassie, Diddy is now demanding access to some of her most personal records — including her bank accounts, draft memoirs, and private journals.
According to new legal documents obtained by TMZ, Diddy’s legal team issued a subpoena on March 19, asking Cassie to hand over “all draft memoirs, autobiographies, narratives, diaries, journals or notes … and any communications about plans to publish or threaten to publish such a document.” He also wants her bank statements.
The move appears to tie back to Diddy’s longstanding claim that Cassie attempted to extort him. One of Diddy’s attorneys, Marc Agnifilo, previously alleged that Cassie had written a tell-all book about their relationship and had offered Diddy a chance to “catch and kill” it — meaning, buy the rights and bury the story — for $30 million.
Agnifilo claims that in September 2023, Cassie’s then-lawyer contacted Diddy’s legal team on a recorded line, stating she had a book ready for publication and that Diddy could stop its release, for a price. Agnifilo said Diddy declined the alleged offer. Soon after, Cassie reportedly switched attorneys, and in November 2023, her new legal representation allegedly told Diddy that the book was “no longer important” because a civil sex abuse lawsuit would be filed instead.
The lawsuit, which was settled just one day after it was filed, shocked fans and rocked the industry, bringing renewed attention to the couple’s long and controversial history.
Now, Diddy’s latest legal maneuver suggests he is looking to revive the extortion defense, using Cassie’s alleged book plans and personal writings as potential leverage.
But Cassie is pushing back hard.
She’s asked the court to quash the subpoena, calling Diddy’s requests premature and overly broad. Her legal team argues that demanding such a wide range of personal materials, especially memoir drafts and financial documents, is an invasion of privacy and unrelated to the already-settled civil case.
The subpoena raises big questions: Is Diddy laying the groundwork for a possible countersuit? Could he be trying to block future publications that might reveal more about their tumultuous relationship? Or is this an attempt to reframe the public narrative surrounding the prior settlement?
As the court decides whether to enforce or toss the subpoena, all eyes remain on the fallout from one of hip-hop’s most explosive legal sagas in recent memory. Whether this escalates further or ends with another behind-the-scenes resolution remains to be seen.
Stay tuned.