Diddy trial updates: Sean Combs' attorneys say case is about 'love,' 'jealousy'
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. As closing arguments inSean "Diddy" Combs'criminal trialwind down, attorneys for the embattled hip-hop mogul will offer their final defense before jury deliberations. Combs and his legal team were back in Manhattan court on June 27 to plead his case to jurors in the sweeping federal sex-crimes probe. Combs' lawyerMarc Agnifilokicked off the defense's closing arguments by framing the case as a "tale of two trials," claiming the government distorted the mogul'sconsensual sexual "lifestyle"into criminal acts while witnesses spoke of the "successful Black entrepreneur" as a respected and generous figure. Agnifilo praised Combs' past, suggesting the accusations against him paint a "false," "exaggerated" picture. Agnifilo argued the case is about love, jealousy and money, not trafficking or racketeering, and accused the government of putting on a show to target a wealthy celebrity. For the government to call this a racketeering enterprise, Agnifilo said, "Are you kidding me? That's the fake trial I'm telling you about." This comes after prosecutors kicked off closing arguments on June 26, whichlasted about six hours. Combs, 55, wasarrested in Septemberand charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He haspleaded not guilty. Diddy on trial newsletter:Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges. In court, Agnifilo discussed Combs' alleged 2018 rape ofCasandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine. Agnifilo said Ventura Fine's now-husband Alex Fine called when she was having sex with Combs, and she told him that she had been raped, so she had to stick with the story. "She's in a bind," Agnifilo said. "She has to do the oldest trick in the book. … She has to say he raped her," because her now-husband calls while they were having sex. "She doesn't want to give up on the rape because she already told that to her husband," Agnifilo said. Agnifilo cast doubt on the rape timeline, claiming Cassie wouldn't have had sex with Combs in September if he raped her in August. Agnifilo also talked about Ventura Fine's testimony about the pain she said she faced. "I was gripping my chair. Whoa! What is she gonna say?" Agnifilo said sarcastically, before quoting Ventura Fine, who said the most painful thing was the shame. Agnifilo said only someone in love can respond that way. In court, Agnifilo said that Combs and Ventura Fine arguing about"freak offs"was the same as some couples disagreeing over going to the beach or drinking strawberry lemonade, adding that "your likes become one" as a couple. Then, he invoked Ventura Fine's brief ex-boyfriend,"Sinners"starMichael B. Jordan. While seemingly attempting to describe Ventura Fine's sex appeal, Agnifilo said that she dated "Michael B. Jordan, who's the most handsome man in the world." Combs' attorneys previously scrutinized Ventura Fine's other relationships, saying thatCombs suspected that she was in a relationship with the Emmy-nominated actorafter the pair broke up in 2015. At the time of their split, the singer-actress was filming a movie in South Africa (Ventura Fine starred in the musical drama "Honey 3: Dare to Dance," which was set in South Africa and reportedly concluded filming in December 2015.) In his closing arguments, Combs' lawyer Agnifilo pushed back against the idea that the Bad Boy Records founder sex trafficked his ex-girlfriend Ventura Fine. "There's a lot more dirty talk in this case than most criminal cases by a long shot," Agnifilo said. He went on to say that it wasn't trafficking: "It's the sex that they're having. He's not making any money from this. They're swingers, it's their lifestyle. The evidence is overwhelming that Cassie wanted to do this." Sexual"swinging,"a consensual but nonmonogamous sexual behavior, takes place when singles or partners in committed relationships engage in intimate acts. During a court hearing April 25, less than two weeks before the trial began May 5, Agnifilo started laying the groundwork for his client's legal defense, suggesting behavior prosecutors have painted as illegal was simply the result of sexual swinging. At the time, Agnifilo said in court that it was "a lifestyle" that Combs had, adding to "call it swingers." Referencing an incident in whichVentura Fineallegedly stayed in a London hotel room for a week to hide the injuries Combs had inflicted, Agnifilo sarcastically said, it was "a one for the ages kidnapping." Saying that she wanted to go to Combs' house but was forced to stay at the hotel, Agnifilo told jurors: "When you wanna go to the house of the guy charged with the kidnapping, it's not a kidnapping." "They don't want bad press," he said of the former couple. Turning to the hotel coverup, in which Combs allegedly paid large sums of cash to make a video of him beating Ventura Fine go away, Agnifilo said: "They're not worried about police, they're worried about bad publicity." "It's a horrible video, it's a misdemeanor," he added, saying repeated calls from Combs to Ventura Fine after the incident were "just trying to get her attention." Discover WITNESS:Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more Agnifilo did not deny that Combs went over to rapperKid Cudi's house, noting they werefighting over a woman, Ventura Fine. "At the risk of sounding sexist, they were going to do what men do: Have a good old-fashioned fist fight. A good old-fashioned, John Wayne, 8 in the morning in the Hollywood Hills fist fight," he said. There were no weapons; they were going to settle it like men do, Agnifilo argued. "Blowing up a man's caris cowardly. He's going to fight him because that's who he is – he's not going to blow up his car," he said, adding that the Los Angeles Fire Department investigation into the alleged arson attack "stunk." The investigation leader "tried to track down Cassie. He tried to track down Capricorn. I wonder if that's a coincidence," he said to jurors. Kid Cudi takes the stand in Diddy trial:What he revealed, from car explosion to his dog Returning to aDecember 2011 incidentin which Combs is alleged to have shown up at Capricorn Clark's apartment with a gun, Agnifilo said: "I'm gonna go through five reasons why he didn't have a gun." One of those reasons, he suggested, was that Clark was obsessed with Combs. "She was probably waiting for him to come over at 5:30 in the morning for years. She loved him. He didn't need a gun," he told jurors, adding that Clark would go to the moon with Combs if he asked. Diddy trial recap:Capricorn Clark alleges Sean Combs kidnapped, threatened to kill her Another reason he cited was that Combs "had everything to lose and nothing to gain from having a gun." "There's no way on God's green earth" that Combs would show up with a gun, he said. "Capricorn would not have stayed employed if he had pulled a gun on her." Kid Cudi and Ventura Fine never testified that Clark had told them Combs had a gun, Agnifilo pointed out, noting that "gun" and "kill" are two of the most memorable words in the English language, and they would have remembered Clark saying that. Agnifilo reiterated that it "was not a kidnapping." "She doesn't want to say that she was there of her volition," he argued, "so she makes up 'gun.'" During the trial, Agnifilo zeroed in onVentura Fine's Instagram postfrom May 2024, where she said, "Domestic violence is the issue." The "Me & U" singer made the comments in a statement following public outcry afterleaked hotel security footage surfacedof Combs kicking, dragging and hitting her at a now-closed Los Angeles luxury hotel. "She could have said, 'Coerced sex with men is the issue.' She could have said 'Running away from freak offs is the issue.' No, domestic violence is the issue. Her words in an Instagram post," he said. "When she says domestic violence is the issue, I say believe her." As Combs' lawyer's closing arguments continued, he invoked race and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. "It was real. It was diversity," Agnifilo said about working for Combs. He brought up DEI, saying that Combs was "doing this in 1993 as a 24-year-old." "Not because some government told him to, but because that's just who he is," Combs' lawyer Agnifilo said. For the government to call this a racketeering enterprise, Agnifilo said, "Are you kidding me? That's the fake trial I'm telling you about." Still defiant, Agnigilo said the trial had been about multiple things – none of which are sex trafficking, racketeering or transportation to engage in prostitution, the charges that Combs is facing. The trial is about love, he said, noting the word has been said 881 times throughout the proceedings. The trial is about infidelity, and it is "so much aboutjealousy," Agnifilo added. He then turned toVentura Fine's testimony, noting that in their cross-examination of her, "We didn't ask her a single thing about being hit, being kicked, being dragged – we own it. It happened. That's not charged. That's part of the fake trial." Combs' defense team is hinging their success on the idea that jurors will decide that the music mogul may be a domestic abuser, but that does not make him a criminal kingpin. "We wouldn't all be sitting here because he would have pled guilty," Agnifilo said of the possibility of a trial on domestic violence charges. Instead, he said, Combs is going to "fight to the death to defend himself," against the racketeering and sex trafficking charges. During his comments, Agnifilo went on to call the trial "the false trial, the exaggerated trial," and effusively thanked the jurors for their attention. He said they are "a credit to the jury system and to our country." Agnifilo began by calling Combs a "successful Black entrepreneur," adding that he would like to think that there are thousands of them, but sadly, " I don't think there are." Agnifilo reiterated how many witnesses came into the courtroom and said they were moved by Combs, recounting how witnesses described working for him as "going to Harvard Business School. The single greatest experience of my life. He made my world so much bigger. He taught me to have a work ethic." Combs' lawyers have long stated that Combs may not be likable, but he is also not guilty of the federal sex charges against him. "Did they always like him? No way, let's not even go there. But they loved him, even the ones who are suing him, they love him. They didn't want to leave him," Agnifilo said. "The woman who testified asMia," Agnifilo continued, said she was suicidal after leaving Combs' employ. "Was it always easy? No, but sometimes the best things in life are hard. That is how you build character," Agnifilo said. As his closing statement continued, Agnifilo became more forceful, adopting an almost sarcastic tone with jurors. Mentioning one of the prosecution's key witnesses, Combs' ex-girlfriend anonymously identified asJane, he said: "I hope she's having a nice day. But do you know where she's doing it? In the house he's paying for." In her testimony, Jane alleged that Combs used the fact that he paid for her home to coerce her into sex acts, and confirmed that hestill pays her rent. Agnifilo then turned to the federal raids on Combs' various homes. "I guess that's all worth it," he said, "Boxes and boxes of Astroglide. They got it, the streets of America are safe from the Astroglide. Thank God for the special responses team. They got the baby oil, way to go fellas." In the photos of the hotel rooms and houses that federal agents had raided, Agnifilo suggested that the government was putting on a show with excessive yellow crime tape. "You know, it's the 50th anniversary of 'Jaws.' We need a bigger boat, we need a bigger crime scene tape," he continued, hammering home his point that the whole ordeal had been for show. "This isn't about a crime. It's about money," he said. "Cassie Ventura sued Sean Combs for $30 million because he has $30 million." In 2023, Ventura Fine filed a civil suit against Combs, which wassettled within a day. She later revealed on the stand that thelawsuit was settled for $20 million. As Combs' defense lawyers began to make their final arguments, Agnifilo characterized the proceedings as "a tale of two trials." There's one trial of evidence and "one from the mouths of prosecutors," he said. The prosecutors' version of events, he said, is "nothing like" what the evidence shows. He continued to describe Combs' behavior, which included days-long "freak-off" sex parties and heavy drug use, as "a lifestyle." "You wanna call it swingers, you wanna call it threesomes, whatever it is," he said, chastising prosecutors for trying to claim Combs' sex life was "one of the most serious, complicated, comprehensive" criminal acts. Ventura Fine was the victim of sex trafficking multiple times, Slavik told jurors on June 26, detailing three specific instances. The first was when Combsassaulted her at the Los Angeles InterContinental Hotel in 2016. Pointing to a text message Ventura Fine had sent Combs at the time that read "We can have fun, I don't want you thinking I don't want to," Slavik said: "She knows that the defendant won't take no for an answer." The prosecutor also noted the "freak off" did not need to have been completed for Combs to be found guilty of sex trafficking. The other two incidents, which Slavik said are not the only times Combs trafficked Ventura Fine, involved Combs payingDaniel Phillipto have sex with Cassie between 2012 and 2014, as well as an alleged incident at the Cannes Film Festival, during which Combs kicked Ventura Fine off a boat. Slavik alleged during the June 26 hearing that Combs is "the head of a criminal enterprise" as she walked jurors throughracketeering chargesagainst the mogul. She pointed to allegations that Combsphysically and sexually abusedVentura Fine and Jane over and over again — and worked with his staff to force the women into"freak offs." Slavik described racketeering as the act of committing a crime as part of a group. "Remember, it's his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him," she said, alleging Combs' staffers "made it their mission" to promote his power and stature. Diddy trial bombshells:What his inner circle said about baby oil, 'freak offs' No, a verdict has not yet been reached in Combs' criminal case. After more than a month of harrowing testimony from several of Combs' associates, the prosecution rested its case on June 24. Meanwhile, Combs' lawyers rested their case in less than half an hour, with the defense opting not to call any witnesses to the stand. Diddy trial is ending,closing arguments underway: What to expect Although the music mogul's alleged abuse is at the center of the trial, Combs told the court he would not be testifying. Closing arguments began Thursday, June 26, and are expected to conclude Friday, June 27. No, none of the charges from Combs' federal indictment have been formally dropped. But in a June 24 letter to Judge Arun Subramanian, prosecutors revealed they werewithdrawing some of their criminal allegationsahead of closing arguments. U.S. attorneys said they don't want jurors to consider their previous claims that Combs allegedly engaged in racketeering by attempting kidnapping in California and New York, attempting arson in California, and aiding and abetting sex trafficking. The move was made as part of an effort to "streamline" jury instructions. Despite the tossed allegations, Combs' indictment accused him not just of attempting arson and kidnapping, but also of committing these crimes outright as part of a criminal conspiracy. The disgraced music mogul is in custody, and despite repeated attempts at bail,has remainedconfined to the Special Housing Unit in Brooklyn'sMetropolitan Detention Center. He has been in jail since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024. Subramanian has said he's hopeful proceedings will wrap up by the July 4 holiday, and that schedule is still on track. Jurors will begin deliberating either Friday, June 27, or Monday, June 30. If convicted on all counts, the Bad Boy Records founder faces a minimum 15-year prison term and could be sentenced to life behind bars. Combs hasseven children. He had his first biological son,Justin Combs, 31, with fashion designer and stylist Misa Hylton. The rapper shared four children with longtime girlfriend Kim Porter, including Porter's son Quincy Brown, 34, whom she had with R&B singer-songwriterAl B. Sure!The couple's other children include sonChristian "King" Combs, 27, and twin daughters D'Lila and Jessie Combs, 18. Combs has two other daughters: 18-year-old Chance Combs, whom he shares with businesswoman Sarah Chapman; and 2-year-old Love from his relationship with model and cybersecurity specialist Dana Tran. 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 inSeptember 2024and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him. 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 attargeting multi-person criminal organizations,prosecutors allegethat 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. 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 newsletterfor 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) andHotline.RAINN.organd en EspañolRAINN.org/es. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call theNational Domestic Violence Hotlineat 800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Diddy trial updates: Mogul's attorneys deliver closing arguments
Diddy trial updates: Sean Combs' attorneys say case is about 'love,' 'jealousy' This story contains graphic descriptions...
