New York (AFP) – Sean “Diddy” Combs used “power, violence, and fear” as the head of a decades-old criminal enterprise, a prosecutor said Thursday in closing arguments in his high-profile trial. “He counted on silence and shame to keep his crimes hidden,” Christy Slavik told the jury as the government began wrapping up its case against the once-powerful music mogul. The 55-year-old Combs was seated behind the prosecutor as she delivered her closing arguments, passing an occasional message to his lawyers.
Slavik methodically walked the jury through the charges against Combs, which include racketeering and sex trafficking. “He used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” she said, and relied on a network of “loyal lieutenants” — none of whom testified at his trial — to cover up his crimes, which included forced labor, bribery and witness tampering. “He became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses,” she said. “This is Mr. Combs’s kingdom.”
Slavik told the jury the case was not about criminalizing unorthodox sex. “It’s not about free choices at all,” she said. The women involved were “drugged, covered in oil, sore, exhausted” as Combs made them have sex with escorts for hours, she said. The famed producer coerced two women — the singer Casandra Ventura and later a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane — into years of drug-addled sex with paid escorts, prosecutors say.
The most serious charge, racketeering — which includes the existence of a criminal enterprise that committed a pattern of offenses — could send Combs to prison for life. He faces two charges of sex trafficking and two more for transportation for purposes of prostitution. Combs denies it all. His lawyers have argued that the artist’s relationships were consensual and have sought to convince jurors that many of the witnesses who testified were doing so for financial gain or jealousy.
Along with alleged victims, government witnesses included former assistants and other employees, as well as escorts, friends and family of Ventura, and a hotel security guard who said he was bribed with $100,000 in a paper bag. Combs opted against testifying on his own behalf, a common strategy of defense teams who are not required to prove innocence, only to cast doubt on government allegations of guilt. The government’s evidence included thousands of pages of phone and text records, and hours of testimony involved meticulous readings of some of the most explicit and wrenching exchanges.
Many of those records appear to indicate distress on the part of the alleged victims. But a lot of the messages also show affection and desire — texts the defense underscored again and again. Jurors have seen video evidence of the sex parties prosecutors say were criminal, while the defense has exhibited exchanges they say imply consent. Also in evidence are reams of financial records — including CashApp payments to escorts — as well as flight and hotel records.
Since early May, the proceedings have gripped the Manhattan federal courthouse where they’re taking place. And though electronics are barred from the building, dozens of influencers and content creators have buzzed around the courthouse’s exterior every day, delivering hot takes to eager social media fans. Combs is incarcerated and does not enter or exit the courthouse publicly. But some of the high-profile attendees and witnesses do, including members of the music mogul’s family and figures like Kid Cudi, the rapper who testified that Combs’s entourage torched his car.
The closing arguments by the prosecution are expected to wrap up on Thursday and the defense is likely to start its closing on Friday. The jury of 12 New Yorkers could get the case as early as Friday afternoon.
© 2024 AFP
