Benjamin Brafman
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Benjamin Brafman is a criminal defense attorney based in New York. He maintains a small firm (Brafman Associates) in a prominent NYC building and has handled cases for some high profile celebrity clients.
Ben Brafman's first such client was Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, who was ultimately acquitted from his 1999 illegal weapons and bribery charges. The criminal charges stemmed from a nightclub brawl, while accompanied by then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez and Combs' usual entourage, and witnessed by over 100 other people. Despite the numerous prosecution witnesses to Combs' culpability, and Combs' fame, Brafman's legal skills produced a unanimous 'not guilty' verdict.
Until replaced in April 2004 by Robert Blake attorney Thomas Mesereau, Brafman was an integral part of the Michael Jackson defense team—along with his co-counsel, Los Angeles celebrity attorney Mark Geragos—for the 2005 child molestation trial.
Brafman also represents Radio DJ Star, who was arrested by hate-crime unit detectives on charges of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated harassment, criminal possession of a weapon and failure to report a change of address on his gun permit after being tricked into going to a New York police station to surrender his 9mm handgun. The DJ was later released on $2,000 cash bail.
Brafman is a religious Jew.