Music

Sean Combs Dropped by Attorneys Over Six Months of Unpaid Fees

Sean Combs' legal representation has withdrawn from his case, citing six months of outstanding payments. Combs stated he would not allow himself to be exploited by unapproved and excessive billing.

Rolling Stone·Sep 16, 2026·via Rolling Stone

Sean Combs Dropped by Attorneys Over Six Months of Unpaid Fees

Courts

Sean Combs’ Attorneys Drop Him, Citing Six Months of Unpaid Fees

I won't let anyone take advantage of me by overcharging me and running up bills that were never approved," Combs said

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September 16, 2026

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Sean Combs ’ civil attorneys have dropped him as a client, citing six months of unpaid legal fees and an increasingly strained relationship with the Bad Boy founder, which court papers describe as a “total breakdown in cooperation and communication.”

Lawyers from the New York firm Sher Tremonte filed paperwork on Monday requesting to withdraw as legal representation for Combs in adefamation case against the parent company of NewsNation and two individuals. Combs sued Nexstar Media, lawyer Ariel Mitchell and her client Courtney Burgess over 2024 allegations made on the NewsNation show “Banfield” that claimed Combs mixed drugs with baby oil. (Combs vehemently denied the claim.)

The attorneys claimed that Combs — who is currently serving a 50-month sentence after being convicted on prostitution offenses last summer — was in “substantial arrears” in paying his legal fees to the law firm and that “his last payment related to fees and expenses that were incurred in late 2025,” according to the four-page submission obtained by Rolling Stone .

Additionally, the law firm claims that their representation of Combs had been “rendered unreasonably difficult by Mr. Combs’s lack of cooperation” and that Combs had declined to make himself “available for timely, substantive, and direct communications about his cases for over four months.”

In a statement provided to Rolling Stone through his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, Combs suggested it was a mutual decision to part ways, citing charges he disagreed with. “I made the decision to switch lawyers because I won’t let anyone take advantage of me by overcharging me and running up bills that were never approved,” Combs said. “This is strictly a business matter, and any talk about unpaid fees is just part of our dispute over those unapproved charges.”

Michael Tremonte, a partner at Sher Tremonte, said in a statement to Rolling Stone that the firm had “represented Mr. Combs zealously and very efficiently under challenging circumstances. As stated in our court filings, we are withdrawing from representing him because he has not paid his long-overdue invoices and has become uncooperative. Any suggestion that we overcharged him is simply false.”

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Sher Tremonte attorneys also represent Combs in several civil sexual assault lawsuits filed against the music mogul. It is unclear whether the firm will withdraw from those cases as well.

Combs’ spokesperson said attorney Jonathan Davis is already representing Combs and his companies in several other civil cases and “has encountered no resistance from the client in defending him.”

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