Former Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs bodyguard, Joseph Sherman filed a civil suit Friday against Thalia Graves and her attorney Gloria Allred, among others. Sherman alleges defamation and emotional distress in his lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York. Sherman’s lawsuit is in response to a lawsuit filed by Graves and Allred on 9/24/24, naming Sherman a defendant alongside Diddy. Sherman alleges Graves sought to blackmail him, including pages of text messages from Graves in his complaint.
The Lawsuit: Blackmail Alleged
According to the lawsuit, Joseph Sherman claims he had stopped working for Combs in 1999, and was not around him in 2001 when Thalia Graves alleges he and Combs raped her. In fact, Sherman claims that he has never even met Graves. The suit goes on to detail how Graves seemingly attempted to blackmail him into providing false testimony against Sean Combs; “if you will be my witness against Diddy, then my attorneys will leave you out of any proceedings. … I will make sure the state does not pick up charges or rape charges against you.”
Pattern of Misconduct: Other’s Involved?
Critics have stated that this seems to be a pattern of misconduct by Gloria Allred, and may be part of a larger effort by her and others to cast doubt on Combs victims. Both Gloria Allred and her daughter Lisa Bloom, have been involved in lawsuits where their motives have been under question. At the time of publishing this article, Gloria Allred is the only plaintiff’s attorney suing Combs that has been sued back.
Many critics questioned the validity of the suit filed by Gloria Allred and her client Thalia Graves from the onset. Joseph Sherman had gone public almost immediately following the filing of the suit, denying the charges and bringing attention to the extortionary nature of the text messages sent to him by Graves.
Notably, critics have pointed out Allred’s close associations with Comb’s off-and-on again lawyer, Mark Geragos, and his daughter Teny Geragos, along with others in Comb’s orbit. Geragos and Allred have been referred to as ‘two sides of the same coin,’ both representing organized criminal interests. Mark Geragos is no stranger to controversy, being the subject of State Bar of California investigations, accused of stealing funds from Armenian genocide victims that he represented, and being named a central figure in Michael Avenatti‘s Nike extortion scheme, among other crimes.
Criminal Connections Alleged
This alleged legal scheming has been brought up both in the Michael Jackson molestation case in 2003, and the Scott Peterson murder trial of the same year, where Allred and Geragos represented seemingly opposite sides of the case. Both cases were plagued with allegations of witness tampering, evidence tampering, and juror misconduct.
Sources state that both lawyers also have another name in common: Anthony Pellicano. The disgraced convicted felon and ex-PI, allegedly worked for both Allred and Geragos in his capacity as a ‘fixer.’ Known for his proclivity to blackmail, physical violence, and ability to ‘make witnesses disappear,’ Pellicano has not been shy to brag about his connections and reach.
Analysts have pointed to Gloria Allred working with Anthony Pellicano both before and during the alleged time period of the alleged assault, as an important connection.
Pellicano’s former clients include Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, with connections to former Hillary Clinton and Diddy intern, Ben Meiseles, a partner of Mark Geragos’s law firm. Diddy witness Jonathan Oddi accused Mark Geragos and Ben Meiseles of paying him off in exchange for his silence, in an infamous police interrogation video recorded in 2018. In that video, Oddi detailed Diddy’s drug trafficking operation involving his private jet.
Pellicano‘s connection to the OJ Simpson case with names like Johnny Cochran and current Combs attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, have many scratching their heads. Pellicano not only worked for OJ Simpson prior to the murder, but was allegedly stalking Nicole Brown Simpson, and was present at the murder scene the night of. Sources have also stated that Pellicano was involved in tampering with witnesses and evidence during the criminal trial, amongst other crimes.
Pellicano had also stated on the record, that his client Michael Jackson, “did something far worse to young boys than molest them.” Pellicano has been accused of being part of a criminal racket that went after Jackson’s fortune for years, ending with his staged murder in 2009.
This trio, consisting of Gloria Allred, Mark Geragos, and Anthony Pellicano, according to our sources, “form an unholy trinity of organized criminal racketeering.”
Gloria Allred: RICO Allegations
This lawsuit is not the first time Allred has been accused of criminal acts. Allred has been the focus of several State Bar of California investigations, in which she has been accused of a litany of violations, including Moral Turpitude, Dishonesty or Corruption Irrespective of Criminal Conviction.
Allred and company have been linked to disgraced attorney Tom Girardi. Girardi was recently found guilty for embezzling tens of millions in client funds.
Billionaire Alki David has accused Gloria Allred of racketeering and setting him up in a series of lawsuits. Further, David alleges that Allred was involved in the murder of several of his attorneys: Mark Lieberman, Phil Kaye, Barry Rothman, Rebecca Rini, and investigator John Quirk.
Another former client of Gloria Allred’s, who asks to remain anonymous, has also accused her of racketeering against him. That client also points to the murders of his subsequent attorneys by Gloria Allred and company, following the filing of his lawsuit against Sony, AT&T, and others.
Many observers are calling for the investigation and prosecution of Gloria Allred and her accomplices.
Allred Strategy Backfires
Some have speculated that Allred’s filing in the Diddy case was made to cast doubt on other Diddy victims. A source commented, “It was a sacrifice play that backfired. Allred’s not as slick as she used to be.”
Joseph Sherman’s attorney, Darnell D. Crosland, stated:
“When we think of the [Me Too] movement we must not forget the thousands of men who have been falsely accused who are screaming [Me too]. Innocent victims of false claims that continue to suffer as a result. And these wrongly accused men aren’t the only victims of false claims, in fact, the thousands of women who are truly sexually assaulted are hurt by these financially motivated claims, because no one hears their cries.
“The defendants in this lawsuit need to be held responsible for their actions and they need to understand that a ‘cash grab’ based on false claims hurts more people than they can imagine in more ways than they can imagine.”
