Sean ‘Diddy' Combs ‘might be cooked' on key sex crime charge, experts say, as jury preps for deliberation
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial came to a close after seven weeks on Friday as the rapper's defense team and prosecution completed closing arguments.
Both sides saw wins and losses throughout the trial, but experts claimed Diddy 'might be cooked' on one specific charge as the jury prepares to deliberate. After his arrest in September 2024, the 'Last Night' singer was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Former Danity Kane singer and Diddy protégé, Aubrey O'Day, has been following the trial and isn't sure what the outcome will be. While she personally believes the rapper is 'guilty of all the charges,' the musician isn't sold on the prosecution's case in court.
'The rational, justice side of me that leads a good amount of what I do nowadays says the answer should be what was proven by the prosecution, the law, and that's conflicting to what I want personally,' she told Extra.
5 The jury is about to deliberate on Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial.
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5 Experts claimed Diddy 'might be cooked' on one specific charge.
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She noted: 'I don't know if the prosecution proved [Diddy's crimes] without a doubt, though.'
During closing arguments, prosecutors argued that Diddy ran an alleged criminal enterprise with full control. They pointed out that the jury heard testimony, saw texts, viewed bank records and heard audio showing the rapper committing crime after crime for decades. According to the prosecution, the government showed that Diddy didn't take no for an answer. Up until today, Diddy was able to get away with crime because of his money and power, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Slavik said. 'That stops now.'
Here's where experts say things stand for each charge against Diddy with the jury about to deliberate.
5 Sean 'Diddy' Combs listens as prosecutor Maurene Comey makes her closing arguments during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City.
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Transportation to Engage in Prostitution
As to the transportation to engage in prostitution charge, an expert told Fox News Digital, Diddy might be in trouble.
'The sex workers were very clear about their role and their purpose for being transported across state lines; it was for sex and not something else,' criminal defense attorney Eric Faddis explained. 'Diddy might be cooked on this charge.'
However, the defense did find a way to show the jury a different explanation in an attempt to undermine the government's argument. 'Defense got an employee of one of the companies to say that Diddy was just buying the escorts' time and not any sexual performance, which the jury could use as a basis to acquit Diddy on the transportation charges,' Faddis, a founding partner of Colorado-based Varner Faddis, said.
5 Evidence photos depict Diddy's collection of lingerie.
Department of Justice
'Diddy might be cooked on this charge.' Eric Faddis, criminal defense attorney
Racketeering Conspiracy
The jury is unlikely to find Diddy not guilty of racketeering, criminal defense attorney John W. Day told Fox News Digital.
'The only thing Diddy and his team can hope for is a miracle where the jurors don't buy the government's claim that this was racketeering and that Diddy was the head of a criminal empire dedicated to fulfilling his desires,' the founder of New Mexico-based law practice, John Day Law, explained. 'A defense win is more likely if the jurors are conflicted on the racketeering charges and can't reach a unanimous verdict. That could lead to a hung jury on one or more of the charges. But the jurors spent the entire trial waiting to see how Diddy's lawyers rebutted the massive case against him, and they merely rested without putting on any witnesses. That leaves the jury picking through the government's case to see if this really rises to racketeering, and if not, they may hang or acquit on some of the charges – but it's unlikely.'
5 'The only thing Diddy and his team can hope for is a miracle where the jurors don't buy the government's claim that this was racketeering,' John Day Law, founder of a New Mexico-based law practice, said.
REUTERS
According to the legal expert, the prosecution 'presented overwhelming evidence' that Diddy 'presided over this little kingdom of criminal activity designed to make him happy – and made a compelling case to the jury that this met all the elements of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation for prostitution.'
'The prosecution can withstand an acquittal or a hung jury on some of the counts, but the prosecutors really need a conviction for racketeering to claim total victory,' Day added. 'Again, that can be a difficult charge to convict on if the jurors don't buy the theory that this entire business empire was engaged in sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. But the defense needed to have convinced at least one juror that the case wasn't there, and that witnesses were lying to save their own necks. And that's a tough sell to a jury that spent weeks listening to horrific testimony about Diddy and his empire.'
Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud or Coercion
Things aren't as clear-cut on the sex trafficking charge, one expert told Fox News Digital. Diddy was accused of sex trafficking two of his ex-girlfriends, Cassie Ventura and Jane, who testified under a pseudonym. The prosecution claimed the rapper transported both women across state lines and then forced them to have sex with male escorts while he watched.
'On cross-examination, both Cassie and Jane admitted to willingly participating in some of the 'freak offs,' which could cause the jurors to wonder if all of the romantic encounters may have been consensual,' Faddis noted.
'Both Cassie and Jane admitted to voluntarily ingesting drugs before the 'freak offs,' which may undercut the prosecution's coercion argument.'
The criminal defense attorney did note that Cassie and Jane both gave 'compelling, evocative testimony detailing physical abuse and financial coercion.'
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Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
Key moments from the closing arguments at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury will begin deliberations on Monday over the fate of Sean 'Diddy' Combs after hearing wildly differing views from prosecutors and a defense lawyer over whether he engaged in sex trafficking for two decades. Two prosecutors insisted that he had coerced, threatened and sometimes viciously forced two ex-girlfriends to have sex with male sex workers to satisfy his sexual pleasure. They cited multiple acts of violence he carried out against them as proof that they had no say. A defense lawyer then mocked the government's closing argument and warned that prosecutors were employing a novel approach to sex crimes that risked turning the swinger lifestyle that Combs and his girlfriends enjoyed into potential crimes for all Americans. Combs, 55, the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges in the trial, which continues Monday when the judge will read instructions on the law to jurors before they begin deliberations. Here are key moments from closing argument on Thursday and Friday: Prosecutors showed they weren't withdrawing claims against Combs Prosecutors triggered headlines last week that they had backed off or eliminated claims of arson and kidnapping against Combs when they said they were removing instructions on the law regarding them to be given jurors on Monday in response to the judge's request to streamline the case for the jury. 'The Government is no longer planning to proceed on these theories of liability so instructions are no longer necessary,' prosecutors wrote in a letter to the judge. But when Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik launched closings on Thursday, she gave the allegations of arson and kidnapping a starring role in her first sentences, naming them before any others. 'Over the last several weeks, you've learned a lot about Sean Combs. He's the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn't take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes the defendant committed with members of his enterprise: Kidnapping of one of the defendant's employees; arson by trying to blow up a car; forced labor, including of an employee the defendant repeatedly sexually assaulted; bribery of a security officer to keep damning evidence against the defendant buried; and of course, the brutal crimes at the heart of this case — sex trafficking,' she said. The arson claim stemmed from evidence that Slavik said showed Combs was behind the firebombing of rapper Kid Cudi's Porsche in 2012. The kidnapping allegation also related to Cudi. Slavik said Combs kidnapped an employee to join him when he broke into Cudi's home after learning the rapper was dating his girlfriend. A defense lawyer strikes back, belittling government's case Attorney Marc Agnifilo in an at-times folksy presentation spared few theatrics in mocking the government's case against Combs as overreach, saying hundreds of agents poured into Combs' residences in Miami and Los Angeles to seize hundreds of bottles of baby oil and Astroglide lubricant. 'I guess it's all worth it because they found the Astroglide. They found it in boxes, boxes of Astroglide taken off the streets. Whew, I feel better already,' he said, before adding: 'The streets of America are safe from the Astroglide!' From the start, Agnifilo tried to portray prosecutors as unjustly targeting Combs after a former girlfriend of nearly 11 years — Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura — sued him in November 2023. She testified for four days in the trial's first week. The lawsuit was settled for $20 million the next day but she touched off a criminal probe with her allegations of being subjected to hundreds of drug-fueled 'freak-offs' in which she alleged she was forced to perform sexually for days with male sex workers while Combs watched, filmed and directed the action. A woman who testified under the pseudonym 'Jane' also testified during the trial that she experienced 'hotel nights' similar to 'freak-off' in a relationship with Combs from 2021 until his arrest. Agnifilo maintained the prosecution was an unjust attack on a prominent and wildly successful Black entrepreneur. 'They took Astroglide and they took baby oil, and that ends up being the evidence in this case, because his businesses are outstanding. There's nothing about the businesses to find. There's nothing about the businesses to make into a criminal case,' he said. Defense personalizes the case for jurors, calling it attack on 'your bedroom' Agnifilo tried to cast the case for the jury as an attack on everyone's bedroom and the secrets of one's sex life. 'They go into the man's bedroom. They go into the man's most private life. Where is the crime scene? The crime scene is your private sex life. That's the crime scene,' he said as he stood before jurors, who were largely expressionless as they took occasional notes and watched the closings. The lawyer said it was not uncommon that Combs liked to film sexual events with his girlfriends, calling it 'sort of typical, you know, homemade porn' and adding that 'I don't think by any stretch of the imagination this is the only man in America making homemade porn.' Still, he said, investigators 'take yellow crime scene tape, figuratively, and they wrap it around his bedroom. Crime scene — your bedroom, your hotel rooms, where you go with your girlfriends. Crime scenes. A lot of yellow tape.' Then, he gave a nod to the 50th anniversary of the movie 'Jaws,' resurrecting a classic line from Hollywood history when he said: 'We need a bigger roll of crime scene tape, because that's just not going to be enough.' Judge agrees defense went too far saying prosecutors targeted Combs Just after Agnifilo told jurors that it 'takes a lot of courage to acquit,' he ripped the government's case a final time in stark terms, saying the trial was 'very different' from any other trial. 'I think that the evidence shows, and you can conclude, that the government targeted Sean Combs,' he said, noting that nobody complained to the government to instigate a probe, but investigators instead began their work a day after Cassie filed her lawsuit. After the jury left the room at the conclusion of Agnifilo's four-hour summation, his statement about targeting drew an outcry from the prosecutor, Slavik. When the jury returned, Judge Judge Arun Subramanian noted the remark Agnifilo had made about targeting Combs and told jurors that 'the decision of the government to investigate an individual or the decision of a grand jury to indict an individual is none of your concern.' In rebuttal, a prosecutor tells jurors that Combs is 'not a god' Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey got the final word with a rebuttal presentation to jurors, telling them: 'The defendant is not a god.' She said that Combs in his mind 'was untouchable.' She noted that one former personal assistant even described him as a 'god among men.' 'For 20 years, the defendant got away with his crimes. That ends in this courtroom,' she said. 'He is a person. And in this courtroom, he stands equal before the law. Overwhelming evidence proves his guilt. It is time to hold him accountable. Find him guilty.'
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Why Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Son Justin Was Taken Out Of Courtroom Before Trial's Closing Arguments
Sean "Diddy" Combs' high-profile sex trafficking and racketeering trial is ending on a dramatic note. The defense presented its closing arguments on June 27, when Combs' son, Justin, was escorted out of court upon arrival. CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister explains to Access Hollywood what happened, and how Combs' demeanor appeared to change throughout the day. And, trial attorney and legal analyst Misty Marris breaks down how the defense focused on Combs' relationships with Cassie Ventura and another witness known as "Jane." Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
