SEAN COMBS - DIDDY'S LAWYER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT TIMES ARTICLE

LATEST: SEAN COMBS' lawyer has attacked the publisher of the Los Angeles Times newspaper for ignoring a letter he sent, warning against running an article that linked the rap mogul to a 1994 attack on slain star TUPAC SHAKUR. The attorney, Howard Weitzman, urged Times boss David Hiller to dismiss reporter Chuck Phillips' 17 March (08) article, which stated Combs - real name Sean Combs - had advance knowledge of an "ambush" of Shakur. The controversial article also offered up new information about Shakur's murder in 1996. Phillips has stood by his article, despite suggestions his report was based on fake documents, but now Weitzman has gone public with the warning letter he sent the publisher. The lawyer admits he tried to talk the Times out of publishing the article after reading it online, but they did so anyway. In his letter to Hiller, Weitzman reveals he asked the publisher to "refrain from reprinting" the article, calling for the "false accusation" to "immediately be retracted". Weitzman tells TMZ.com, "The Times completely ignored my letter, did nothing to correct their defamatory article, and never held the reporter, Chuck Philips, to the Code Of Ethics the paper supposedly had set for its writers. "We will continue to seek a retraction and to pursue appropriate remedies given the egregious and reckless conduct of Mr. Philips and the L.A. Times."