federal case

The federal case, now in its fourth week of testimony, followed dozens of civil lawsuits filed against him by men and women accusing him of abuse, including both Ms Ventura, who is Combs' ex-girlfriend, and Ms Bongolan.

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on why Essayli involved the Riverside County district attorney’s office in a federal case out of Lancaster.

“It's just not something that you typically see and, historically, there would be an exercise of prosecutorial discretion, not making a federal case out of something relatively minor.”

On Feb. 6, Michael R. Wilner, a former federal magistrate serving as a special master in a California federal case against State Farm Insurance, hit the two law firms representing the plaintiff with $31,000 in sanctions for submitting a brief with “numerous false, inaccurate, and misleading legal citations and quotations.”

Legal experts say the testimony is designed to build the federal case against Combs, even if on the surface it does not appear directly related to the charges he’s facing.