Diddy parts with New York law firm over fee dispute
Sean 'Diddy' Combs is splitting from Sher Tremonte, the Manhattan firm that has defended him against more than 40 civil sexual misconduct lawsuits in New York since 2024. The break became public in court filings on Tuesday, Sept. 15, according to Billboard. It centres on unpaid bills and a breakdown in contact.
Sher Tremonte asked judges for permission to withdraw from several of the sexual assault cases. Withdrawal means a firm stops acting for a client once the court agrees. The firm filed a similar request in a defamation lawsuit that Combs himself had brought.
In the filings, founding partner Michael Tremonte said Combs had not paid legal fees for more than six months and owed the firm a substantial debt. He described a total breakdown in cooperation and communication. Combs had declined to make himself available for timely, substantive and direct discussions about his cases for over four months, the firm said.
Combs gives a different version. He said he made the decision to switch lawyers because of overcharging and bills he had not approved. Sher Tremonte rejected that account on Sept. 16. It said it was withdrawing because of long-overdue invoices and an uncooperative client, and denied overcharging him.
The firm is not involved in Combs' criminal prosecution. That matter sits apart from the New York civil cases. The filings therefore do not change his defence team on the criminal side.
For the New York civil litigation, Combs' representatives say Jonathan Davis will continue to represent him. Davis is already involved in those cases. A separate Los Angeles-based legal team is defending Combs against sexual assault lawsuits brought in California.
One of the affected cases is Combs' own defamation claim. He filed a $50 million suit against a man who claimed to possess videos of alleged sexual encounters, as reported by Rolling Stone. That filing dates to January 2025 and forms background to the current withdrawal request. Judges must still approve Sher Tremonte's requests to step down.
The change affects only who argues the civil cases. It does not resolve any of the claims. Those claims remain before the courts in New York and California.
