{"id":25950,"date":"2025-06-30T01:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/25950\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T01:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T01:57:08","slug":"key-moments-from-the-closing-arguments-at-sean-diddy-combs-sex-trafficking-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/25950\/","title":{"rendered":"Key moments from the closing arguments at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A jury will begin deliberations on Monday over the fate of Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs<\/a> after hearing wildly differing views from prosecutors and a defense lawyer over whether he engaged in sex trafficking for two decades.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A defense lawyer then mocked the government\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Here are key moments from closing arguments on Thursday and Friday:<\/p>\n

Prosecutors showed they weren\u2019t withdrawing claims against Combs<\/p>\n

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\u2019s request to streamline the case for the jury. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government is no longer planning to proceed on these theories of liability so instructions are no longer necessary,\u201d prosecutors wrote in a letter to the judge.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last several weeks, you\u2019ve learned a lot about Sean Combs. He\u2019s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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 \u2014 sex trafficking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The arson claim stemmed from evidence that Slavik said showed Combs was behind the firebombing of rapper Kid Cudi\u2019s 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\u2019s home after learning the rapper was dating his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

A defense lawyer strikes back, belittling government\u2019s case<\/p>\n

Attorney Marc Agnifilo in an at-times folksy presentation spared few theatrics in mocking the government\u2019s case against Combs as overreach, saying hundreds of agents poured into Combs\u2019 residences in Miami and Los Angeles to seize hundreds of bottles of baby oil and Astroglide lubricant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it\u2019s 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,\u201d he said. \u201cThe streets of America are safe from the Astroglide!\u201d<\/p>\n

From the start, Agnifilo portrayed prosecutors as unjustly targeting Combs after a former girlfriend of nearly 11 years \u2014 Casandra \u201cCassie\u201d Ventura<\/a> \u2014 sued him in November 2023. She testified for four days in the trial\u2019s first week.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cfreak-offs\u201d<\/a> in which she alleged she was forced to perform sexually for days with male sex workers while Combs watched, filmed and directed the action.<\/p>\n

A woman who testified under the pseudonym \u201cJane\u201d also testified during the trial that she experienced \u201chotel nights\u201d similar to \u201cfreak-offs\u201d in a relationship with Combs from 2021 until his arrest.<\/p>\n

Agnifilo maintained the prosecution was an unjust attack on a prominent and wildly successful Black entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey took Astroglide and they took baby oil, and that ends up being the evidence in this case, because his businesses are outstanding. There\u2019s nothing about the businesses to find. There\u2019s nothing about the businesses to make into a criminal case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Defense personalizes the case for jurors, calling it attack on \u2018your bedroom\u2019<\/p>\n

Agnifilo tried to cast the case for the jury as an attack on everyone\u2019s bedroom and the secrets of one\u2019s sex life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey go into the man\u2019s bedroom. They go into the man\u2019s most private life. Where is the crime scene? The crime scene is your private sex life. That\u2019s the crime scene,\u201d he said as he stood before jurors, who were largely expressionless as they took occasional notes and watched the closings.<\/p>\n

The lawyer said it was not uncommon that Combs liked to film sexual events with his girlfriends, calling it \u201csort of typical, you know, homemade porn\u201d and adding that \u201cI don\u2019t think by any stretch of the imagination this is the only man in America making homemade porn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he said, investigators \u201ctake yellow crime scene tape, figuratively, and they wrap it around his bedroom. Crime scene \u2014 your bedroom, your hotel rooms, where you go with your girlfriends. Crime scenes. A lot of yellow tape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, he gave a nod to the 50th anniversary of the movie \u201cJaws,\u201d resurrecting a classic line from Hollywood history when he said: \u201cWe need a bigger roll of crime scene tape, because that\u2019s just not going to be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge agrees defense went too far saying prosecutors targeted Combs<\/p>\n

Just after Agnifilo told jurors that it \u201ctakes a lot of courage to acquit,\u201d he ripped the government\u2019s case a final time in stark terms, saying the trial was \u201cvery different\u201d from any other trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the evidence shows, and you can conclude, that the government targeted Sean Combs,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

After the jury left the room at the conclusion of Agnifilo\u2019s four-hour summation, his statement about targeting drew an outcry from the prosecutor, Slavik.<\/p>\n

When the jury returned, Judge Arun Subramanian noted the remark Agnifilo had made about targeting Combs and told jurors that \u201cthe decision of the government to investigate an individual or the decision of a grand jury to indict an individual is none of your concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

In rebuttal, a prosecutor tells jurors that Combs is \u2018not a god\u2019<\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey got the final word with a rebuttal presentation to jurors, telling them: \u201cThe defendant is not a god.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that Combs in his mind \u201cwas untouchable.\u201d She noted that one former personal assistant even described him as a \u201cgod among men.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 20 years, the defendant got away with his crimes. That ends in this courtroom,\u201d she said. \u201cHe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A jury will begin deliberations on Monday over the fate of Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8339,12587,15729,4219,171,57,9621,4228,12588,15730,22938,362,20229,405,403,404,406,349,12589,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-25950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-arson","9":"tag-arun-subramanian","10":"tag-cassie","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-human-trafficking","15":"tag-indictments","16":"tag-juries","17":"tag-kid-cudi","18":"tag-kidnapping","19":"tag-legal-proceedings","20":"tag-marc-agnifilo","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-city","23":"tag-new-york-city-wire","24":"tag-ny-state-wire","25":"tag-sean-diddy-combs","26":"tag-sexual-misconduct","27":"tag-u-s-news","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114769837712601426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}