A millennial attorney whose father made his name defending celebrity defendants won a stunning victory as Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was found not guilty of the most serious charges against him.
Teny Geragos, 34, was one of Combs’ ‘dream team’ attorneys who convinced a jury to find him not guilty on Wednesday on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which could have seen him imprisoned for life.
Combs held Geragos’ hand as he was found guilty on the lesser charge of transportation to engage in prostitution, which carries a maximum of 20 years behind bars.
The result is by far the biggest victory of Geragos’ blossoming career, with some observers comparing the glamorous attorney to Johnny Depp’s former lawyer Camille Vasquez.
Vasquez became a famed attorney overnight after Depp won his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard in 2022, thanks to a brutal cross-examination of the Aquaman actress by Vasquez.
Before representing Diddy, Geragos had made her name in the legal world with her unorthodox methods of defending Diddy’s innocence on TikTok and primetime TV.
She published a series of short one-minute clips last September after the music mogul was arrested and charged in New York City.
Geragos spoke out after a number of people pursued civil lawsuits after criminal charges were levied against Combs, alleging that many were not legitimate victims and were filing claims ‘in the hopes of trying to get a payday.’
Teny Geragos, 34, was one of Diddy’s ‘dream team’ attorneys who convinced a jury to find him not guilty on Wednesday on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which could have landed him in prison for life
Geragos is a founding partner at Agnifilo Intrater LLP and works alongside veteran criminal defense attorney Marc Agnifilo, who has a history of representing high-profile clients.
The glamorous TikTok lawyer also appears close with her father Mark Geragos, best known for representing Susan McDougal, a former business partner of President Bill Clinton in the 1980s who was snared in the Whitewater scandal.
He went on to also represent former Congressman Gary Condit, convicted killer Scott Peterson, actor Jussie Smollett, singer Kesha and actress Winona Ryder.
Perhaps most notably, he also represented rapper Chris Brown in his assault case involving Rihanna.
In Diddy’s trial, Teny delivered an impassioned opening statement where she slammed prosecutors for overcharging the rap mogul.
She said that although her client could be violent, prosecutors overstepped as they tried to turn sex between consenting adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case.
‘Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,’ Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women.
‘There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.’
Combs seen in a court sketch watching Geragos deliver an impassioned opening statement where she slammed prosecutors for overcharging the rap mogul
The glamorous attorney appears close with her father Mark Geragos (pictured), who has represented former Congressman Gary Condit, convicted killer Scott Peterson, actor Jussie Smollett, singer Kesha and actress Winona Ryder
Some observers have compared Geragos to Johnny Depp’s former lawyer Camille Vasquez, who became a famed attorney overnight after Depp won his defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard in 2022
Geragos conceded that Combs’ violent outbursts, often fueled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts.
She told jurors they might think Combs is a ‘jerk’ and might not condone his ‘kinky sex,’ but ‘he´s not charged with being a jerk.’
She also admitted that Diddy is extremely jealous and ‘has a bad temper,’ telling the jury that he sometimes got angry and lashed out when he drank alcohol or ‘did the wrong drugs.’ But, she said, ‘Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.’
A graduate from Loyola Law School, Geragos also served as a judicial extern for a Supreme Court Justice in Kings County, New York while obtaining her law degree.
She was also an intern at the Brooklyn Defender Services and a judicial extern at a US district court in Los Angeles, before becoming a legal intern in 2015 for the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx.
Geragos was a law clerk at both the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office and Geragos & Geragos, APC, the firm at which her father Mark is the principal attorney.
After graduation, Geragos joined New York City based firm Brafman & Associates PC as a trial attorney, her LinkedIn profile states. She was licensed by both the New York and California state bars in 2017.
Geragos and her college sweetheart Ashwinn Krishnaswamy (pictured together) tied the knot at her parents’ home in Los Angeles in 2021 in a luxurious summer ceremony inspired by the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris
Geragos’ father pictured with actress Winona Ryder as the the verdict is read in her shoplifting trial in Beverly Hills, California in November 2002
She worked for Brafman & Associates for nearly eight years, before joining Agnifilo Intrater LLP as a founding partner.
Geragos and her college sweetheart Ashwinn Krishnaswamy married at her parents’ home in Los Angeles in 2021 in a luxurious summer ceremony inspired by the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris.
While she was pursuing her legal career, Krishnaswamy popped the question. He proposed in May 2020, while the pair were ‘still very much in quarantine’, The Clear Cut reports.
They met during their sophomore year at NYU while applying for visas to study abroad in the Czech Republic.
They developed a strong friendship during college, which reportedly continued well past graduation, but did not start dating until eight years after they met.
Geragos is a founding partner at Agnifilo Intrater LLP and works alongside veteran criminal defense attorney Marc Agnifilo (pictured together), who has a history of representing high-profile clients
They claim that their friendship naturally evolved into romance, so they never had a ‘hard and fast first “date”,’ Krishnaswamy told the outlet.
The couple often share snapshots of their life skiing and snowboarding out west, especially at resorts nearby his parents home in Utah, and also host a ‘cooking show’ together on Instagram, which he said ‘kept them and so many others entertained during quarantine’.
Geragos now resides in Manhattan in a luxury condominium complex in the NoMad neighborhood, according to records obtained by the Daily Mail.
A two-bedroom, two-bathroom 1,255 sf unit is currently listed on StreetEasy, a popular apartment rental website, for $13,000 per month.
