Diddy trial updates: Closing arguments begin in Sean Combs' sex-crimes case
Before a verdict is reached, Sean "Diddy" Combs' legal team has one last chance to plead his case in the music mogul's criminal trial.
Prosecutors and attorneys for the embattled hip-hop mogul returned to Manhattan court on June 26 to begin closing arguments in the sweeping federal sex-crimes case. The prosecution is scheduled to kick off arguments, which have previously been estimated to last four hours for each side.
This comes after Judge Arun Subramanian met with U.S. attorneys and the defense during a June 25 charge conference, which was held to determine instructions for jurors before they begin deliberating either at the end of the week or beginning June 30.
Prosecutors called forward more than 30 witnesses over the course of nearly seven weeks of testimony. Several individuals in Combs' personal and professional orbit — from ex-girlfriends Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine and "Jane" to Danity Kane alum Dawn Richard and rap peer Kid Cudi — took the stand.
As testimony came to an end earlier this week, U.S. attorneys painted a picture of Combs and his employees being personally involved with organizing his alleged "freak-off" sex parties, working with escorts, Combs' partners and others to produce the elaborate sexual performances.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Diddy on trial newsletter: Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges
Is Diddy in jail?
The disgraced music mogul is in custody, and despite repeated attempts at bail, has remained confined to the Special Housing Unit in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. He has been in jail since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024.
Discover WITNESS: Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more
What is Diddy charged with?
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling case that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him.
What is a RICO? Racketeering meaning
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have on video.
How to stream the Diddy trial
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
17 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs jury reaches verdicts on sex trafficking and prostitution, deliberating racketeering
Jurors have reached a verdict on four of five counts against music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who is on trial in a New York federal courtroom, accused of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation for prostitution. The jury sent a note to the trial judge Tuesday afternoon stating they'd reached a verdict on several counts but were unable to reach a consensus on count one — racketeering. They will continue deliberating on that count in Manhattan Wednesday at 9 a.m. Combs, 55, is charged under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO, which requires a defendant to be part of an enterprise involved in at least two overt criminal acts out of 35 offenses listed by the government, among them murder, bribery and extortion. He is also charged on two counts each of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with two women — his former girlfriend Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and a woman identified in court only as 'Jane,' also a former girlfriend. The jury has reached a unanimous verdict on the four counts tied to Ventura and Jane but not on the racketeering count. Their verdict is not yet known. As Tuesday's deliberations concluded, Combs was seen praying in the courtroom and looking morose, according to the Associated Press. The impending verdicts are the culmination of a celebrity legal drama that has generated global attention and offered a graphic and often violent glimpse into the life of one of the nation's most powerful music figures and his near billion-dollar enterprise. Jurors heard from three women, two former girlfriends and a personal assistant, who described mob family-style racketeering with coercion, kidnapping, threats and beatings done to cover up a pattern of sexual assaults, sex trafficking and prostitution over decades. During the seven-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Combs and his associates as luring female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Once he had gained their interest, Combs allegedly used force, threats of force, coercion and controlled substances to get them to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes while he occasionally watched in gatherings that Combs referred to as 'freak-offs.' On the stand, witnesses testified that Combs gave the women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to 'keep them obedient and compliant' during the performances. Jurors deliberated for more than 12 hours before reaching verdicts on several of the counts against Combs. The racketeering charge alleged Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment was like a mob family and criminal enterprise that threatened and abused women and utilized members of his enterprise to engage in a litany of crimes over the years including kidnapping, sex trafficking, bribery, arson, forced labor and obstruction of justice. Though RICO cases are more typically associated with the mafia, street gangs or drug cartels, any loose association of two or more people is enough, like Combs' entourage, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahami. Prosecutors during the trial aimed to demonstrate a pattern of racketeering or two or more RICO predicate acts that occurred over 10 years. That's why the evidence of bribery, kidnapping, obstruction, witness tampering and prostitution became key to the case. Key to the government's case was the testimony of three women: Combs' onetime lover, Ventura, whose 2023 lawsuit set off the unraveling of Combs' enterprise and reputation; his most recent ex-girfriend, identified only as Jane; and his former assistant, only identified in court as Mia. In the trial, Ventura testified she felt 'trapped' in a cycle of physical and sexual abuse by Combs, and that the relationship involved years of beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape. She claimed Combs threatened to leak videos of her sexual encounters with numerous male sex workers while drug-intoxicated and covered with baby oil as he watched and orchestrated the freak-offs. One of those freak-offs led to an infamous hotel beating that was captured on hotel security cameras. Video footage from that March 2016 night shows Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to protect herself in front of an L.A. hotel elevator bank. He then drags her down the hall by her hooded sweatshirt toward their hotel room. A second angle from another camera captures Combs throwing a vase toward her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a fat lip and a bruise that prosecutors showed was still visible during a movie premiere two days later, where she donned sunglasses and heavy makeup on the red carpet. In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Atty. Christy Slavik told jurors Combs 'counted on silence and shame' to enable and prolong his abuse and used a 'small army' of employees to harm women and cover it up, according to the Associated Press. Combs, he said, 'doesn't take no for an answer.' When it came time for Combs' defense team to present their case, they opted to move straight to closing arguments without presenting a witness. Rahami, the former federal prosecutor, said the defense expected jurors would question why those on the stand did not report the behavior to authorities at the time it was occurring and, in some cases, chose to stay in Combs' orbit. Marc Agnifilo, one of Combs' lawyers in closing, told jurors that federal prosecutors 'exaggerated' their case and sought to turn the hip-hop mogul's swinger lifestyle into the most serious of federal offenses — racketeering and sex trafficking, without the evidence to back it up. In reality, Combs has a drug problem and his relationship with Ventura was a 'modern love story' where the mogul 'owns the domestic violence' that was revealed in the trial, Agnifilo said.
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Jury reaches verdict on 4 of 5 counts in Diddy trial but is told to keep deliberating
NEW YORK — The jury in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial said Tuesday that it has reached a verdict on four of five counts against the hip-hop mogul but was stuck on the top charge, racketeering conspiracy. But the outcome of any of the charges was not yet clear. The judge told the jury to hold off announcing its partial verdict and instead to continue weighing the remaining charge. Like prosecutors and Combs' defense team, Judge Arun Subramanian reasoned that after just two days of deliberations, it was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts. The development came late Tuesday afternoon, when the jury sent a note saying it was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge because there were jurors with 'unpersuadable views' on both sides. Subramanian noted that juries have a right to deliver a partial verdict, but he said that given that deliberations started only Monday, he'd rather they continue for now. The jury was eventually dismissed for the day. Combs' lawyers surrounded him at the defense table soon after the note was sent to the court. The hip-hop mogul appeared morose as they explained to him what was happening. At one point, lead defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo stepped away from the huddle, returned with a piece of paper and handed it to Combs, who read it solemnly. Combs' mother and several of his children returned to the courtroom after the judge announced that the jury had reached a partial verdict. Prosecutors, meanwhile, were at their table, glued to their phones and laptop computers. Jurors are weighing charges that Combs used his fame, wealth and violence to force two girlfriends into drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers known as 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights.' He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers contend prosecutors are trying to criminalize Combs' swinger lifestyle and that, if anything, his conduct amounted to domestic violence, not federal felonies. Combs, 55, could face 15 years in prison to life behind bars if he is convicted of all charges. Racketeering conspiracy — Count 1 on the jury's verdict sheet — is the most complicated of the charges against Combs because it requires the jury to decide not only whether he ran a 'racketeering enterprise,' but also whether he was involved in committing some or all of various types of offenses, such as kidnapping and arson. The charge falls under RICO — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — which is best known for being used in organized crime and drug cartel cases. Earlier Tuesday, the jury asked to review critical testimony from one of the prosecution's most important witnesses: the hip-hop mogul's former longtime girlfriend Cassie. The panel of eight men and four women asked for Cassie's account of Combs beating, kicking and dragging her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 — an assault captured on now-infamous security camera footage. They also asked to see Cassie's testimony about an incident in which she said Combs accused her of taking drugs from him and kicked her off of their yacht at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2013. On their way back to the U.S., she said, he threatened to release explicit videos of her having sex. In addition, the jury asked for Cassie and stripper Daniel Phillip's testimony about her jumping into his lap at a New York City hotel after, as Phillip testified, he suspected Combs had been slapping and slamming her around an adjacent room. 'Her whole entire body was shaking, like she was terrified,' said Phillip, who was at the hotel for a sexual encounter with Cassie sometime between 2012 and 2014. Phillip testified that he asked Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, why she was with Combs if he was hitting her and beating her. He said he told her she was in real danger. Cassie, he said, 'basically tried to convince me that it was OK: 'It's OK. I'm fine, I'll be OK.'' Phillip and Cassie were among the first witnesses who testified when the trial began last month. The jury's testimony request came soon after Combs' lawyers and prosecutors began the day haggling with Subramanian over a jury question left over from the end of the first day of deliberations on Monday. Jurors wanted clarification about what qualifies as drug distribution, an aspect of the racketeering conspiracy charge that will help determine whether Combs can be convicted or exonerated on the count. Subramanian said he would remind jurors of the instructions he gave them on that part of the case before they started deliberating on Monday. Combs' lawyers had pushed for a more expansive response, but prosecutors argued — and Subramanian agreed — that doing so could end up confusing jurors more. On Monday, the panel deliberated over five hours without reaching a verdict. Barely an hour into deliberations, the jury foreperson sent a note to the judge, complaining that there was one juror 'who we are concerned cannot follow your Honor's instructions. May I please speak with your Honor or may you please interview him?' The judge sent jurors a note reminding them of their duties to deliberate and obligation to follow his instructions on the law. After pleading not guilty, Combs chose not to testify as his lawyers built their arguments for acquittal mostly through lengthy cross examinations of dozens of witnesses called by prosecutors, including some of Combs' former employees who took the witness stand reluctantly only after being granted immunity. When jurors first left the room to begin deliberating on Monday, Combs sat for a while slumped in his chair at the defense table before standing and turning toward three rows of spectators packed with his family and friends. Sisak, Neumeister and Peltz write for the Associated Press.
Fox News
31 minutes ago
- Fox News
Criminal defense attorney ‘not surprised' by partial verdict in Diddy trial
All times eastern Special Report with Bret Baier Legends & Lies: The Real West FOX News Radio Live Channel Coverage WATCH LIVE: Attorneys speak after jury reaches partial verdict in Diddy trial
