The trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs is expected to end soon, with closing arguments being presented by both sides over the next two days. The music mogul faces charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He denies all allegations and has pleaded not guilty. However, if he is found guilty he faces a life sentence.
The task of defending Diddy against the numerous, serious criminal allegations is not an easy one. He therefore enlisted the help of leading appellate lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, who is a partner and co-founder at Shapiro Arato Bach LLP.
Who is Alexandra Shapiro?
Alexandra Shapiro is one of the leading criminal defence lawyers in the United States. She was one of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's first clerks on the Supreme Court, served as a federal prosecutor in Manhattan, and later founded a litigation firm that handles many high-profile cases.
She is also an author and her novel, Presumed Guilty: A Novel, was published in March 2022.
Shapiro is a born and bred New Yorker and currently lives there with her husband, who is also a criminal defence lawyer, and their three children.
What has Alexandra Shapiro said about Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial?
Throughout Diddy's trial, Shapiro has been campaigning for his acquittal, filing several motions for the trial to be dismissed. She says the prosecution failed to show evidence that Diddy tried to bribe anyone regarding the 2016 CCTV footage of him violently beating up his then-girlfriend Cassie, which was leaked last May.
Shapiro said there was no police involvement at the time and no charges were pressed. She also argued that Diddy never threatened 'Mia', an anonymous ex-employee and alleged victim, after she told the court he sexually assaulted her several times.
The lawyer also argued that all Diddy's former employees that testified in court and described harmful and gruelling working conditions, such as Daniel Phillip, Capricorn Clark or 'Mia', could have left the job.
On 25 June, she also filed a motion for acquittal to Judge Arun Subramanian, saying the racketeering charges should be thrown out. 'There is insufficient proof to establish a single RICO charge in the indictment' and no evidence of a criminal "enterprise" has been shown.
'They say bodyguards and high-ranking employees but they fail to prove any individual actually conspired with him,' she says. Shapiro argued that staff carried out errands and made travel arrangements but were not involved in anything that went on with Diddy and his partners in their 'freak offs'.
Has Alexandra Shapiro worked on any other high-profile cases?
Shapiro has covered several high-profile cases throughout her career. As well as defending Diddy, she is also representing cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. In March 2024, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture for his orchestration of multiple fraudulent schemes. In September last year, Shapiro wrote to the appeals court asking them to overturn his conviction.
Diddy and Bankman-Fried are currently cellmates.
Shapiro has also won several high profile appellate reversals in criminal and civil cases. This includes two Supreme Court decisions narrowing the scope of the federal fraud statutes, Ciminelli v United States and Percoco v United States, as well as multiple Second Circuit rulings granting judgements of acquittal and new trials.
Nikki Peach is a writer at Grazia UK, working across entertainment, TV and news. She has also written for the i, i-D and the New Statesman Media Group and covers all things pop culture for Grazia (treating high and lowbrow with equal respect).