FBI files fake

Legal action mooted for LA Times

29 Mar 2008 - Rapper The Game's manager Jimmy Rosemond is to sue the Los Angeles Times over an article printed linking him to an assault on Tupac Shakur.

Rosemond was named in the same article that connected P-Diddy to a 1994 gun attack on Shakur. The writer's and editors have since publicly apologised.

But Diddy is still considering action and Rosemond has told Rolling Stone that he is intent on suing the Times for damages.

"We have no record of these documents" - FBI

The papers cited in the article, purporting to be FBI files, linking Rosemond and Diddy to the attack appear to be fakes, the agency said on Friday (28 March).

James Sabatino, a convicted con man who is serving a federal prison sentence for fraud, filed the documents last Autumn in Miami federal court as part of a $19 million lawsuit against Combs, claiming Combs never paid him for arranging a recording and video session by the late Notorious B.I.G.

"We have no record of these documents in our system," Agent Stephen Kodak said. "They don't appear to be legitimate." He said no decision has been made on whether to investigate the documents and their origin.

The Associated Press also quoted from the documents when they were filed, it issued a corrective Friday.

Sabatino's lawsuit against Combs remains pending. No trial date has been set.


Ruth Barnes