Diddy's New Lawyer Defending Him in High-Profile Case Says She Survived Rape at 19

The latest addition to Sean "Diddy" Combs' star-studded legal defense team, Nicole Westmoreland, is reportedly a rape survivor, claiming she was sexually assaulted at 19 while looking into a business opportunity in the music business.
Westmoreland, who officially came on as the rapper's attorney this week, says the traumatic incident happened in 2001 when she was working for a business that helped people get their suspended driver's licenses back, according to the Bloomfield-based attorney.
Per TMZ, Bryan Williams—better known as Birdman and the then-vice president of Cash Money Records—approached her alongside a man named "Stone" and invited her to deliver a sales pitch at Patchwerk Recording Studio in Atlanta.
She later came back to the studio with three female friends one night when the club was packed, Westmoreland said. It was there that she encountered Alfred Cleveland, reportedly a friend of Ronald "Slim" Williams, Bryan's brother, and then-president of Cash Money Records.
Recalling the trip, Westmoreland said that at one point, she excused herself to use the restroom, and Cleveland offered to show her where it was. When they were alone, she said he pushed her into the bathroom and raped her. She added that during the attack, a man arrived at the door, and Cleveland told him to keep watch. She also claimed that Cleveland attempted to sell her to the other man, who refused after she begged him not to.
Westmoreland said she reported the incident despite being threatened with calling the police. Cleveland was eventually arrested and charged. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with intent to rape.
Now a well-established lawyer, Westmoreland is among those on Diddy's dream team of flashy defense attorneys representing the embattled music mogul ahead of a federal trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Her actual violent history adds a strange twist and a complex emotional layer to the high-profile legal showdown.
Diddy was on the hunt to find a black woman lawyer to help him win his case.
— she_dreadzme (@She_DreadzMe) May 7, 2025
Well Today! He found one !
Nicole Westmoreland
But plot TWIST!!!!!
She’s a victim of SA!! And her perpetrator was arrested & pled guilty !! #DiddyTrial pic.twitter.com/kNxQGvcXzj
Legal Heavyweights Form Star Defense Lineup
Westmoreland is part of a defense roster that features veterans like Marc Agnifilo, Teny Geragos, Brian Steel, Alexandra Shapiro, and Xavier R. Donaldson.
Agnifilo has also represented former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a rape case that was dismissed, and Keith Raniere of the NXIVM sex cult.
Steel had recently represented rapper Young Thug in a high-stakes RICO trial in Georgia.
Shapiro, a former clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, specializes in white-collar defense and recently defended FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Donaldson, another Howard University graduate who came up through the Bronx district attorney's office, is completing the team.