Sean “Diddy” Combs is a criminal offense boss who abused his standing as a strong hip-hop mogul to drive his ex-lovers into humiliating, drug-fueled sexual escapades, the feds charged on the shut of a bombshell Manhattan trial Thursday.
Federal prosecutors painted the disgraced Unhealthy Boy Information founder as a terrifying tycoon who used his fame and fortune — and his circle of trusted workers — to cowl up his alleged monstrous acts for many years.
“He thought that his fame, wealth and energy put him above the regulation — however over the course of this trial, his crimes have been uncovered,” Assistant US Legal professional Christy Slavik instructed jurors in closing statements.
The feds spent greater than 4 hours painstakingly detailing proof of Combs’ alleged slew of crimes — urging the jury to convict him of sex-trafficking and racketeering costs that might land him behind bars for all times.
Slavik described for jurors how Combs allegedly handed a safety guard $100,000 in a brown paper bag in a failed bid to coverup the notorious footage of him brutally assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles lodge.
Combs additionally plotted to set rapper Child Cudi’s Porsche on hearth in a jealous rage, prosecutors stated.
And he trafficked Ventura and one other ex-lover — who testified utilizing the alias “Jane” — by forcing them into “freak-off” intercourse periods with male escorts, after beating them and threatening to launch specific tapes of them, Slavik stated.
“The defendant used energy, violence and worry to get what he wished,” she stated. “Dozens of witnesses agreed – he doesn’t take no for a solution.”
The jailed “I’ll Be Lacking You” rapper’s trusted interior circle — together with his “loyal lieutenant,” chief of employees Khristina Khorram — allegedly “aided and abetted” his schemes, whereas his safety guards had been “armed and prepared” at his aspect for a few of Combs’ “most violent acts.”
“It’s his kingdom — everyone seems to be there to serve him,” Slavik stated.
Combs, who has been held with out bail at a Brooklyn lockup since his September 2024 arrest, didn’t betray a lot emotion as he sat on the protection desk through the closing argument, wearing a child blue sweater.
He pushed his chair just a few toes away from the desk and infrequently shot a glance over on the jury of eight males and 4 ladies that can determine his destiny.
However Combs slumped his shoulders and stared down at his palms, along with his head bowed, when the prosecutor talked about Ventura’s emotional trial testimony that he had raped her in 2018 after their break-up.
The R&B singer was amongst greater than 30 witnesses who testified in opposition to Combs over the course of the seven-week trial.
To convict on the racketeering rap, jurors might want to discover that Combs was the kingpin of a crew that plotted not less than two alleged crimes. They’ll have a number of selections: the automobile arson, intercourse trafficking of Ventura and Jane and the alleged bribe to the safety guard.
Prosecutors stated Combs must be discovered responsible on every of the 2 sex-trafficking counts — which carry a minimal 15-year jail sentence — even when solely one of many numerous intercourse periods described by Ventura and Jane was coerced.
The March 2016 lodge episode caught on digital camera — the place Combs was seen shoving, kicking and attempting to dragging Ventura again to their room after she tried to go away a freak-off early — was only one instance of a pressured or coerced sex-trafficking incident, Slavik stated.
“That is what occurred when Cassie stated no,” she instructed jurors, whereas enjoying the sickening footage.
Ventura and Jane additionally each testified that Combs threatened to launch tapes of the degrading intercourse periods if they didn’t comply along with his calls for.
“He held these intercourse tapes over her head as collateral,” Slavik stated, talking about Ventura. “The freak-offs themselves turned a option to coerce her into doing freak-offs.”
The embattled entrepreneur, who has pleaded not responsible, maintains that the freak-off encounters had been consensual.
His three 18-year-old daughters, who had not been seen at his trial for weeks, returned Thursday and sat sitting within the third row of the gallery behind him, alongside Combs’ mom and different supporters.
Combs’ protection attorneys are set to ship their very own closing statements Friday.
— Extra reporting by Kyle Schnitzer
