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Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sean Combs Prosecutor Says ‘It's Time for Justice' in Closing Argument
Follow all of our Sean Combs trial coverage Sean Combs acted as the all-powerful kingpin atop a racketeering conspiracy that used violence, silence, and 'shame' to trap two women in episodes of sex trafficking where they had no choice but to perform drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts for his voyeuristic fantasies, a federal prosecutor told jurors Thursday. More from Rolling Stone Sean Combs' Son Releases New Song 'Diddy Free' With Help From Kanye West Sean Combs' Lawyer Calls Cassie Relationship 'Great Modern Love Story' in Closing Argument Sean Combs' Longtime 'Right Hand' Looms Large at Trial Despite Absence During closing arguments at Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik walked jurors through the government's five felony charges against the music mogul that have been the subject of his closely watched, seven-week trial in lower Manhattan. Slavik called Combs the 'leader of a criminal enterprise' who refused to 'take no for an answer' and always got what he wanted. 'The defendant was a very powerful man, but he became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses — the enterprise,' Slavik said. She told jurors Combs made it clear to his alleged victims that he commanded an 'armed and ready' security staff willing to 'protect' him against any perceived threats. 'It's his kingdom,' she said of Combs. 'Everyone was there to serve him.' Tying together the government's case after weeks of sometimes disjointed testimony, Slavik told jurors they could find Combs guilty of racketeering conspiracy if they determine he and just one other alleged co-conspirator agreed to two of the eight so-called 'predicate' acts listed in his indictment. She said the acts could be two separate instances of the same crime, such as drug distribution or instances of bribery, arson, kidnapping, sex trafficking, forced labor, witness tampering or transportation to engage in prostitution. Slavik meticulously laid out testimony related to each option, including the time Combs allegedly handed a hotel security guard a $100,000 cash 'bribe' for what he believed was the only copy of surveillance video showing Combs beating Ventura at Los Angeles' InterContinental Hotel in March 2016. She said forced labor could include the 'grueling' sex marathons that Combs allegedly forced his ex-girlfriend Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and a more recent ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym 'Jane' to endure over multiple days in darkened hotel rooms. Slavik also clarified that Combs could be found guilty of sex trafficking if jurors decide he coerced the women into just one unwanted sex act with a paid male escort. 'This is not an all-or-nothing situation,' she emphasized. Slavik noted that it doesn't matter if the women previously expressed some level of enthusiasm for the encounters. If there was just 'one instance' where Ventura or Jane felt coerced into a freak-off through 'force, threats of force, fraud or coercion,' that's enough, she said, 'Mr. Combs should be found guilty of sex trafficking.' At the end of her nearly five hour presentation, Slavik said Combs committed 'crime after crime' over a span of two decades, and he should face consequences. 'It's time to hold him accountable. It's time for justice,' she concluded. 'It's time to find the defendant guilty.' The defense will begin their closing argument on Friday ahead of the government's final rebuttal, with the jury set to begin deliberations on Monday. The 55-year-old Bad Boy Records founder, who faces up to life in prison if convicted as charged, has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. (Combs' lawyers said his relationships may have been 'toxic' and sometimes physically abusive, but not criminal.) On Thursday, the courtroom's rows reserved for Combs' family were packed with his mother, three sons and three eldest daughters. In the final days of the trial, Combs appeared to be pleased with his all-star legal team's handling of the case — evident in the hugs he gave to his attorneys after they rested their defense within 25 minutes on Tuesday. But the start of closing arguments was markedly different. Combs appeared nervous, steadying his hands while pouring himself a cup of water. He sat mostly still, facing straight ahead and taking occasional glances at the jury. Speaking to jurors while members of Combs' family watched on, Slavik pointed to both Ventura and Jane's tearful testimony where they told jurors they felt 'obligated' to participate in, and sometimes facilitate, the sexual encounters with male escorts to keep Combs happy. Slavik said Combs personally paid the escorts and sometimes flew them cross-country to join the days-long sex marathons. The women said they came to know these highly degrading, ecstasy-induced nights by a variety of names. For Ventura, they were freak-offs, but for Jane, they were known as 'hotel nights' and 'debauchery.' But Slavik said domestic violence was a key factor in Combs' multifaceted coercion of Ventura in order to keep her under his control and for her to continue to give Combs his sexual fantasy. She said for Ventura, the idea she would pay a price for any defiance — whether in the form of a beating or threats to release her sex tapes — became her 'new normal.' 'It became her job,' Slavik said, referring to Combs' demands Ventura dress up in sky-high platform heels, slather herself in baby oil, have sex with strangers for days at a time, then spend the rest of the week recovering from the come down of drugs. 'It became her shame.' The prosecutor said Combs expected 'total compliance,' and if he didn't get it, he would lash out with aggression. 'She's knew that when he was happy, she was safe,' Slavik said. 'If the defendant wanted a freak-off, it was going to happen.' Slavik pointed to a 2023 cross-country trip to New York that Jane initially refused because she didn't want to have a freak-off, but eventually agreed to when Combs insisted it would be a romantic weekend together. Unbeknownst to Jane, text messages show that Combs was still organizing a freak-off for that night. Slavik said Combs 'tricked' Jane into making the trip, pulling the 'rug out from under her.' In that moment, 'before the plane even lands,' Slavik added, 'that is a completed act of sex trafficking.' Slavik also zeroed in on one night last June when Combs allegedly choked, kicked, and punched her in a fight at her house and forced her into a subsequent freak-off. Referencing Jane's testimony, Slavik said when Jane protested, Combs even leaned in and whispered, 'Is this coercion?' – an alleged nod to his awareness he was already under investigation for the alleged sex trafficking of Ventura. Slavik said Combs was 'taunting' Jane and 'brazenly acknowledging that he was breaking the very same law, the very same law that he'd broken repeatedly before.' In her arguments Thursday, Slavik said Combs coerced Ventura and Jane through both threats and violence and making them turn down work so they became financially dependent on him. She added that he would ply them with drugs that made them helpless to resist. She said with Ventura, a then 37-year-old Combs took a 'moldable' 19-year-old aspiring singer and took advantage of her naiveté, grooming her for freak-offs amid a relationship with a clearly skewed power dynamic. She said Ventura also understood Combs was a danger to others around her. Ventura watched as Combs allegedly assaulted her friend Deonte Nash when he once stepped in to protect her, Slavik said, and she was present the day Combs allegedly dangled designer Bryana Bongolan off her 17th-story balcony. Ventura also knew Combs paid her friend Kerry Morgan after allegedly choking and chucking a wooden hanger at Morgan's head. (The three friends all corroborated the alleged attacks in testimony.) Prosecutors said on Thursday that Ventura knew that Combs broke into Kid Cudi's house with a gun and explicitly threatened the rapper's life, Slavik said. Combs also allegedly told Ventura he planned to blow up Mescudi's car. Days later, Kid Cudi's Porsche exploded in his driveway in broad daylight, she said. 'Of course the defendant was behind this,' Slavik said. In yet another point of clarification, Slavik told jurors that Combs' alleged criminal enterprise was separate from his highly public, billion-dollar business empire. She said the enterprise operated in the shadows, only known to a trusted group of handsomely paid co-conspirators. One chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, was paid $600,000 per year, Slavik said. The prosecutor said the evidence provided by the government's 34 witnesses proved beyond a reasonable doubt that whenever Combs' relationships with Ventura or Jane needed attention or were on the brink of collapse – or worse yet, dreaded public exposure – the mogul and his minions did whatever was necessary to fulfill his desires and ward off bad publicity. She said while the defense claims Combs purchased the hotel video solely to safeguard Combs' reputation, that was an obvious goal that wasn't mutually exclusive from keeping his enterprise afloat. Though the high-powered defense lawyers declined to call any witnesses of their own, they focused their cross-examinations on undermining the credibility of key government witnesses and amplifying details they say showed Combs keeping personal details of his sex life separate from his employees. But prosecutors claim that even if Combs tried to keep his hiring of male escorts hidden, there were several people on his payroll — outside of his most trusted inner circle — who had seen a naked man scurrying away in a hotel room, a stranger entering Combs and Ventura's suite late at night, and an explicit video of an unknown man having sex with Jane while Combs watched. 'If all these people figured it out, it defies logic' that Combs' co-conspirators weren't aware of the hiring of male escorts, Slavik said. Some staffers testified they were aware of Combs' capacity for violence. One former assistant said witnessing a dispute between Combs and a girlfriend identified as Gina was the last straw that led him to quit. But they said working for the mogul was an all-consuming proposition, and they soon became so isolated and desensitized, they became convinced that walking away from the tight-knit Bad Boy family and what many considered a dream job would be a grave mistake. Prosecutors allege that security guards and even Khorram sent confusing signals, making them think they had allies and that things would improve. But Slavik said Thursday that the bodyguards and Khorram's loyalty was with Combs, reminding jurors that Khorram allegedly kept close tabs on Ventura for her boss and purportedly helped broker the purchase of the hotel video. Slavik reminded jurors of Combs' extreme willingness to use violence and fear 'to get what he wanted' in any situation. 'He doesn't take 'no' for an answer,' she told the jury. 'Up until today, the defendant was able to get away with these crimes because of his money, his power, his influence. That stops now.' Best of Rolling Stone Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked
Mint
29-06-2025
- Mint
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 urges. 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 arguments on Thursday and Friday: 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 one of his employees to join him when he broke into Cudi's home after learning the rapper was dating his girlfriend. 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. 'The streets of America are safe from the Astroglide!' From the start, Agnifilo portrayed 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-offs' 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. 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.' 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 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.' 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.'
San Francisco Chronicle
29-06-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
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.'
Winnipeg Free Press
29-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free 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. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 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.'
Hindustan Times
29-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
Key moments from the closing arguments at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial
NEW YORK — 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. Key moments from the closing arguments at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial 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 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. 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. 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.' 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.' 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.' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
