NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors say lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs are trying to “smudge” the music mogul’s criminal record from them, asking a judge to force the early disclosure of evidence, including the identities of his accusers.

In papers filed late Wednesday, prosecutors asked the judge to deny the requests, saying the effort to reveal the identities of potential witnesses, in particular, was “grossly improper.”

They said it was inappropriate for defense attorneys to seek disclosure of victims’ identities and details of other evidence that would advance the government’s case.

Defense lawyers also asked for a gag order to prevent the accusers’ lawyers from commenting publicly and argued that government leaks to the media threatened the rapper’s chance for a fair trial.

Prosecutors said the pleas were “a thinly veiled attempt to restrict the Government’s evidence at this early stage of the case and to divert the criminal proceedings so that the defendant can respond to the civil lawsuits. This request should be categorically rejected, especially in light of the risk it poses to the safety of witnesses.”

Prosecutors added: “As the defendant well knows, there is no legal authority for his attempt to co-opt this criminal proceeding to defend against civil litigation.”

Combs, 54, has since remained in a federal prison in Brooklyn his arrest on September 16pending a trial scheduled to begin May 5.

Part of the reason a judge rejected a bail package suggested by his lawyers was that it was a danger of obstruction of justice and engaging in witness tampering.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges he made coerced and abused women for years, helped by associates and employees.

Prosecutors said that since at least 2008, Combs engaged in a racketeering conspiracy, using his power and prestige in the entertainment industry to force women to engage in extensive sexual acts with commercial male sex workers, in what they were known as “Freak Offs”.

They said he used videos of the attacks as collateral to threaten the victims and said he also physically assaulted women and others, punching, kicking, dragging and hitting them.

Prosecutors said the defense claims the government leaked a video of Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel lobby on March 5, 2016, on CNN were not true.

They said defense lawyers were engaged in a “cold-blooded attempt to suppress damning evidence against him – a video of him violently beating a victim”.

In May, Combs posted a video statement saying he takes “full responsibility” for his actions in the video against Cassie, an R&B singer whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. She sued him last November, alleging years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. The lawsuit was settled the next day.

“I was disgusted when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” Combs said in the video.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were sexually abused unless they come forward, as Ventura did.

Combs also faces civil lawsuits from several men and women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Combs over the past quarter-century after being drugged.

Combs’ lawyers asked that their accusers and attorneys be ordered not to make public statements, saying they have already made “numerous inflammatory out-of-court statements aimed at character assassination of Mr. Combs in the media.”

More than a dozen lawsuits filed in federal court in Manhattan were assigned to different judges, leading to different early rulings on whether the allegations were sufficiently made.

In one case, a judge ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee woman who claims Combs raped her in 2004 when she was 19 must proceed with little or no anonymity. The judge wrote that defendants have a right to investigate those who sue them, and the public has a right to know who is suing the courts.

An attorney for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.