Benjamin Brafman and Sean Combs Image by Getty Images/Forward Montage

By Ari Feldman May 31, 2018

Benjamin Brafman, the New York criminal defense attorney representing Harvey Weinstein, has had his fair share of famous clients, from mafia members to Martin Shkreli. But only one ever tried to get him to break Shabbat.

At a 2015 conference, Brafman, a religious Jew, told some fellow lawyers about a time when Sean Combs, the rapper, producer and vodka maven, called his house “a thousand times” on a Friday evening. The phone calls occurred, Brafman said, shortly after he agreed to represent Combs alongside legendary criminal defense attorney Johnnie Cochrane after Combs had been a nightclub where a shooting had taken place.

In Brafman’s recollection, he had stressed to Combs that he wasn’t available 24/7, and to only call his home on Shabbat if it was a real emergency.

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“I said, ‘24/6,’” Brafman said. “Don’t call me Friday night, and if it’s important I’ll give you people to call.”

That Friday night, Brafman’s home phone began ringing off the hook. On Monday, he called Combs to confirm that it had been him. Combs said it was, but not because there had been an emergency.

Brafman recently told reporters that one of the women accusing Weinstein of raping her was in a long term romantic relationship with him.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

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