Tony Buzbee’s handling of the slew of federal sex abuse lawsuits he brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs has landed a fellow lawyer for the hip-hop mogul’s accusers in hot water.
A New York federal judge overseeing one of the lawsuits has issued a stern warning to a local attorney with whom Buzbee filed several cases in the Southern District of New York — after it came to light that Buzbee was not allowed to practice law in that court.
US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote in a Friday ruling that Buzbee “improperly filed and litigated this case” using the credentials for the court’s document filing system of local attorney Antigone Curis “whose apparent complicity in his improper conduct may be grounds for sanctions.”
The ruling rejected Buzbee’s already withdrawn motion to represent Combs accuser Candice McCray on a “pro hac vice” basis, a request to temporarily practice in a certain jurisdiction where a lawyer is not licensed.
“Plaintiff’s counsel is on notice that further failure to comply with the procedural rules that govern this Court and her ethical responsibilities will have grave consequences,” Vyskocil wrote.
Curis did not immediately respond to requests for comment by Business Insider.
The judge wrote in the two-page order that Buzbee “improperly filed numerous actions in this Court and scores of submissions in this case and other cases” using the attorney’s credentials “without having even applied for regular or pro hac vice admission to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.”
Buzbee denied using Curis’ Electronic Case Filing (ECF) system credentials improperly, telling BI in an email on Monday, “That’s just not at all true.”
“I do not have access to my local counsel’s ECF period,” Buzbee said.
Last week, Buzbee formally withdrew himself as the plaintiff attorney in the more than dozen federal lawsuits alleging sexual assault and rape that he filed against Combs in the Southern District of New York, a federal court district that includes Manhattan.
Combs, who remains locked up pretrial at a Brooklyn jail on federal sex trafficking charges, has vehemently denied the charges, as well as all sex abuse allegations against him.
Buzbee was not permitted to practice in the SDNY and only filed for admission to try cases in the court on January 29, months after he first filed lawsuits against Combs beginning in October, according to court documents reviewed by BI.
Buzbee previously told BI that Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has filed a court grievance against him in an attempt to try to keep him from getting admission to the SDNY. Buzbee accused the rapper — who had been targeted along with Combs in a now-dismissed lawsuit by one of Buzbee’s clients — of “using the grievance process as a weapon.”
Jay-Z’s attorney, Alex Spiro, did not respond to a request for comment.
In denying Buzbee’s admission to the SDNY in a February 13 order, the chair of the court’s Committee on Grievances wrote that Buzbee has “appeared in cases in this Court without seeking admission,” court papers show. “Therefore, the Petition is denied.”
Buzbee told BI in an email on Monday that he’s never had a grievance against him in more than 25 years.
“This all started because Shawn Carter, a party defendant, filed a grievance against me without my knowledge with the SDNY. The SDNY admissions committee didn’t give me notice of the grievance until the day my admission was denied. The basis of the grievance was that I had appeared and practiced law in the SDNY without formal admission,” the Houston-based lawyer said.
Buzbee said that he was advised by New York counsel that until the grievance issue was “cleared up,” he should formally withdraw from all of the federal cases he brought against Combs, which he said he has.
“Some of the federal judges granted the withdrawals without comment. At least two said the withdrawal motions were moot because I had never actually appeared — contrary to the allegations in the grievance,” Buzbee said.
He added, “It’s all over the board and super confusing. I’m just trying to pursue claims for alleged victims and want to do it correctly and professionally. I hope to get this all sorted so I can do so.”
In the meantime, Buzbee said that he’s focusing on the other wave of lawsuits that he’s filed against Combs in New York state court, where he says he is licensed.
“I’m continuing to push those zealously as required by my oath,” he said.
Buzbee told BI that his namesake firm is still representing the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuits against Combs, but that Curis will handle any formal appearances in the cases.
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