An aerial view of the home in Orinda where Ashley Parham alleges a sexual assault took place in 2018.
SAN FRANCISCO - The Orinda-based civil gang-rape allegations lodged against Sean "Diddy" Combs appear to be falling apart – and now, allegations are being lobbed against the woman and her lawyer who filed the original suit, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California.
Lawyers quit, false claims alleged
Lawyers have quit. False claims have allegedly been submitted to court. Defendants have been served. Alibis have been established.
And the attorneys representing Ashley Parham, who alleged that Combs and his entourage raped her in Orinda in 2018, including inserting a TV remote inside her vagina, as payback for her mentioning that he might have been involved in Tupac's murder years ago, told U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco that "certain conduct of plaintiffs" has made their "representation impossible to carry out effectively."
Separately, in his criminal case, Combs was sentenced to four years and two months in prison on Oct. 3 for two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted of more serious charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking. Combs is serving his sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey and has stated his intention to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Four days after Combs' criminal sentence was meted out, Parham's attorneys, Shawn Perez of Nevada and Ariel Mitchell of Florida, filed a motion to withdraw from the case.
Defendants haven't been served
Though they didn't specify exactly what "certain conduct" they were referring to as it related to Parham, Perez and Mitchell did write in their motion that the "breakdown in communication" had made it "unreasonably difficult…to carry out the employment effectively." They also admitted that after a year, none of the defendants named in Parham's case had been served.
Parham consented to her attorneys' withdrawal, according to the court motion.
Efforts to reach Parham by phone and email were unsuccessful.
KTVU also reached out to Perez and Mitchell, the latter of whom said she would agree to be interviewed, but then ignored phone calls, texts and emails to confirm the date and time of the interview.
Mitchell previously gave KTVU an interview saying that she only takes clients in sexual assault cases who agree to have their names be public.
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Bay Area woman accuses 'Diddy' of brutal rape
A woman filed a damning lawsuit alleging rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs and his entourage raped her in Orinda, including inserting a TV remote inside her vagina, as payback for her mentioning that he might have been involved in Tupac's murder years ago.
High-profile defendants named
In March, Parham filed an amended complaint, naming more people allegedly involved during the Orinda gang rape, which she said occurred on March 23, 2018.
Two of those new defendants named were NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. and comedian Drew Desbordes, aka Druski.
Beckham's attorneys Andrew Jablon and Stacey Knox of Los Angeles, however, are vehemently arguing that Parham's claims are "scurrilous" against their client, arguing that Beckham was in Los Angeles – not Orinda – at the time of the allegations.
And they call out that not only have Parham's two attorneys quit, but at least seven others have rejected "taking on this travesty" of a lawsuit.
"No reasonable attorney would have commenced this action," Beckham's attorneys wrote. "Let alone continue to litigate."
From the onset, Beckham denied knowing Parham or ever being in Orinda.
Desbordes' attorneys, David Grossman and Tyler Downing, went even further.
"This case is, and always has been, a fraud on this court," they wrote, specifically alleging that Parham's attorney – Mitchell – has "repeatedly lied" and is the subject of a pending Florida Bar disciplinary action. "This case involves demonstrably false allegations of a horrific nature, levied by Ariel Mitchell, and her co-counsel Shawn Perez, against well-known celebrities that have absolutely no relationship" to Parham.
Alibis established
Desbordes' attorneys also note that Parham's amended lawsuit contains "bizarre and inherently-incredible allegations regarding chaos, stabbing and gunfire in the sleepy town of Orinda."
Several defendants, these lawyers wrote, have now submitted sworn testimony proving they were nowhere near Orinda on the night in question.
In Desbordes' case, he was only 23 at the time and was not a celebrity when the sexual assault was alleged. His lawyers said he never met Parham and was nowhere near Orinda on the day in question.
Instead, he was living in Georgia with his mother and had photos as well as phone, bank and employment records from restaurants to prove it. KTVU reviewed those records, which were submitted to the court.
Judge Lin ordered Parham to have a new attorney by Dec. 8, or provide a statement that they intend to proceed without an attorney.