Stefon Diggs had to make things interesting the day before his arraignment.
Diggs appeared in court Friday after allegedly strangling and brutally attacking his personal chef, pleading not guilty, a day after he decided to change his lawyer a day before the hearing, TMZ reported.
He is now set for a pretrial hearing on April 1, according to the AP.
The Patriots’ receiver was set to be represented by Michael DiStefano. Instead, he’s switching teams to Sara Silva of Silva Kettlewell and Pignatelli LLP.
Silva was named the 2020 Massachusetts Lawyer of the Year by Boston University.
The hearing happened Friday at 9 a.m, and Diggs’ attorney, Mitchell Schuster, gave a statement after the arraignment, assuring his clients’ innocence.
“He is completely innocent of these false allegations that have been alleged against him. We’re confident that after the facts and evidence reviewed in this case, he will be completely exonerated,” Schuster said.
Diggs’ charges stem from an alleged incident in December in which the chef allegedly confronted him about missed payments while at his home. She said he refused to compensate her.
The chef added that Diggs then slapped her across the face and tried to choke her by putting “the crook of his elbow around her neck.”
“She said that she did feel like she had trouble breathing and that she felt like she could have blacked out. She said that as she tried to pry his arm away, he tightened his grip,” the police report read.
She claimed Diggs then tossed her onto a bed, per the report, and walked out of the room. The chef, who’d been working for Diggs since July, quit after the alleged interaction.
She decided to report the purported altercation to the police on Dec. 16 — two weeks after it initially was said to have occurred — and pressed charges on Dec. 23.
One of Diggs’ assistants allegedly agreed to pay her if she signed a non-disclosure agreement, while Diggs’ girlfriend at the time even called her to urge her not to file charges.
Diggs declined to comment on the situation due to it being an open investigation. However, his prior attorney, David Meier, released a comment on his behalf.
“Stefon Diggs categorically denies these allegations. They are unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, and were never investigated — because they did not occur,” Meier said in December.
Diggs was originally scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 23, but due to the Patriots’ run to Super Bowl 2026, it was moved to Friday.
This isn’t the first time Diggs has been involved in controversy.
A complaint was filed against him in November for sexual battery, and he was also seen over the summer dishing out a pink powder to women on a boat. He also had a recent falling out with girlfriend Cardi B, and it’s rumored that the two have broken up.
Diggs just wrapped up his 11th season in the NFL — his first of a three-year contract he signed with New England in the offseason. He hit the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the seventh time in his career in 2025, while adding four touchdowns.
But his arraignment Friday leaves the rest of his career up in the air. And a last-minute lawyer switch could affect the outcome.
