Sean “Diddy” Combs has added a Black woman attorney to his team of high-powered lawyers — who in 2008 sued a well-known member of the hip-hop community after surviving a sexual assault — as the rap mogul braces for his New York trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges to begin in earnest next week.
Nicole Westmoreland, who runs her own firm, joined the rap mogul’s defense team this week with a notice of attorney’s appearance landing on the case docket Monday as jury selection was underway at the Southern District of New York court. Westmoreland is the second recent addition of a Black attorney after last week saw Xavier R. Donaldson joining the defense.
It’s notable since Combs’ case involves accusations and video evidence of the defendant abusing women; with Westmoreland, the embattled rap and fashion mogul has also added an outspoken survivor of a sexual assault that involved a member of the rap world. In 2001, Westmoreland went with some friends to a party at Atlanta’s Patchwerk Recording Studio after being invited by Bryan Christopher Williams, aka Birdman, the rapper and recording executive.
The studio party was also attended by Birdman’s brother, Alfred Cleveland, then-president of Cash Money Records. At one point, Westmoreland says, Cleveland accompanied her as she walked to a bathroom; once there, she says, he forced her inside and raped her as another man kept a lookout. Westmoreland says he planned to pass her off to his lookout man, but she begged him not to and was let go. Westmoreland was threatened not to report the rape, she says, but did anyhow, and Cleveland was arrested for rape; he later pled guilty. In 2008, Westmoreland also filed a suit against the brothers and their label for negligence and failure to keep the space safe.
On Wednesday morning, Westmoreland was seen walking into the downtown Manhattan court with Brian Steel, another late addition to Combs’ defense team. The two attorneys have more than their work on Combs’ case in common, as both represented different defendants in rapper in the lengthy YLS racketeering trial in Atlanta. Steel defended the rapper at the center of the case, and Westmoreland represented co-defendant Quamarvious Nichols, who took a plea deal to avoid charges of murder, participation in gang activity and illegal firearms possession charges; he was sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO statute.
Speculation about a Black woman being added to his legal team came in recent weeks after a report from TMZ indicated the rapper wanted an attorney of that demographic. Playing to Combs’ race is a card the prosecution seems ready to play, as they have already publicly accused federal investigators of trying to take down a rich, successful Black man. Meanwhile, Mark Gereagos, the celebrity attorney hovering around the trial as his daughter helps lead the defense, said on his 2 Angry Men podcast that race is likely to be an “undercurrent” throughout the trial.
Jury selection continued on Wednesday, and according to USA Today, by the end of proceedings the potential jury pool narrowed to the predetermined number of 45 perspectives. This was after 22 passed through questioning Wednesday. Attorneys will return May 9 to select the final jury ahead of opening statements next week.
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