Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Defense closes; deliberations set for Monday

The government’s summation turned to a second predicate act of the alleged racketeering conspiracy: kidnapping.

Prosecutor Christy Slavik reminded jurors about former Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura’s testimony, in which she told the jury Combs stomped on her face while she was curled up on the floor of an SUV, leaving her battered and bruised. Ventura testified Combs made her go to a hotel so no one would see her injuries.

“The defendant made her go to the hotel and stay there for about a week,” Slavik said. “The defendant told her she couldn’t leave.”

Slavik told the jury Ventura had seen guns in Combs’ home, had heard him make threats and understood that he was capable of violence.

“The defendant had instilled reasonable fear,” Slavik said. “This is kidnapping.”

Prosecutors said former assistant Capricorn Clark was also a victim of kidnapping. She had been holding expensive jewelry that went missing.

Clark testified that one of Combs’ bodyguards, Uncle Paulie, took her to an empty building under construction, the future headquarters of Bad Boy, and made her take lie detector tests for five straight days to attempt to find out what happened to the jewelry. If she failed the tests, Clark testified, the test administrator told her, “They’re going to throw you in the East River.”

“You know she didn’t consent to this,” Slavik said. “But what choice did she have?”

Slavik also asserted that jurors had seen ample evidence of the arson predicate act.

“The defendant had Kid Cudi’s car set on fire,” Slavik said.

The defense has suggested there is no direct link between the arson and Combs but the prosecutor said, “the evidence and basic logic suggest otherwise.”

Slavik said there is no reasonable doubt Combs used his enterprise to have Cudi's car firebombed out of jealousy after learning that the rapper had begun dating Ventura.

“He literally said he was going to blow up Kid Cudi’s car,” Slavik said. “The only person with any motive who was powerful enough and vicious enough to light another man’s car on fire. And you know why he did it: Cassie.”

The prosecution’s summation put Sean Combs squarely atop an alleged criminal enterprise that the government said relied on an inner circle of “loyal lieutenants."

“Those lieutenants were especially loyal. They were armed and ready,” prosecutor Christy Slavik alleged.

Numerous assistants she called “foot soldiers” also operated within the enterprise, according to Slavik: “They were young. They didn’t blink an eye.”

Each member of the inner circle was paid by Combs’ business, Slavik told the jury. “He was the boss of every member of his inner circle, and he was in charge. Over and over, the defendant and his inner circle agreed to commit crimes together,” Slavik said.

Prosecutors say those alleged crimes included an agreement to distribute drugs, as well as kidnapping, arson, bribery, sex trafficking, obtaining labor by force and threats, arranging travel for the purposes of commercial sex, and helping Combs cover up other alleged crimes.

To find Combs guilty of racketeering, the jury must unanimously find he and another member of the alleged conspiracy agreed that two crimes would be committed.

“Here, though, you have far more than two acts,” Slavik said, telling the jury that there were “hundreds” of drug distribution offenses alone that would be enough to convict on the racketeering conspiracy charge.

“Drugs -- an essential ingredient of every 'freak-off,' the way the defendant kept Cassie and 'Jane' awake and engaged,” Slavik said.

She pointed to testimony from the former assistant known as "Mia," who also appeared under a pseudonym, who told the jury that Combs made her choose from an array of three powders. Slavik also noted testimony from Brendan Paul, a former Combs assistant who testified under immunity and told the jury that Combs allegedly made him try tusi, a powdery mix of drugs dyed pink, to see if it was good. Paul also testified that he sought reimbursement for “personal Gucci items” that were really hard drugs.

“It doesn’t matter that the quantities were small and fit inside his Gucci pouch,” Slavik said. “The defendant and his staff were all involved in distributing drugs.”

Sean Combs, clad in khakis and a light-colored sweater, placed a hand over his heart as he entered the courtroom this morning, looking at his twin daughters who appeared in the family row for the first time since early in the trial.

The family and the jury heard a federal prosecutor deliver a closing statement that called Combs “the leader of a criminal enterprise” who “doesn’t take no for an answer.”

The prosecutor, Christy Slavik, said Combs “forced and manipulated Cassie Ventura and 'Jane' to have sex with escorts for his own entertainment,” thinking he was above the law until the trial exposed his crimes.

“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” Slavik said, speaking from a podium directly in front of the jury box and with the aid of digital slides.

Slavik sought to link two distinct episodes, eight years apart and with two different women, to cast Combs as a serial sex trafficker.

The first alleged episode occurred in 2016 at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. “During a 'freak-off' with Cassie and an escort, the defendant got violent with Cassie,” Slavik said, referring to former Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura. “You saw what happened. The defendant threw her to the ground. He dragged her back to the 'freak-off.'”

The second alleged episode occurred in 2024 at "Jane’s" house, where Combs “kicked, choked and slapped 'Jane,'” Slavik said, referring to another former Combs girlfriend who testified under a pseudonym. “She couldn’t get away. He dragged her back to the house by her hair and then he forced her into a 'freak-off.'”

Combs is the only defendant in the case but the prosecutor told the jury he did not act alone.

“He managed to do this for two decades because he used his money, his influence and his inner circle to cover up his crimes,” Slavik said. “It’s his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him.”

After more than six weeks of emotional, often graphic testimony about sex, drugs and violence, federal prosecutors on Thursday are set to summarize their case against Sean "Diddy" Combs, trying to convince a jury of eight men and four women, ages 30 to 74, that one of hip-hop’s most acclaimed figures coerced women into drug-fueled sexual marathons with male escorts.

Prosecutors also allege that Combs used an inner circle of advisers, assistants, bodyguards and other employees to carry out a pattern of criminal activity.

While the prosecution has pruned some of the alleged crimes that underpin the racketeering conspiracy charge – no longer pursuing attempted kidnapping or attempted arson as acts in Combs’ alleged liability – the arson of rapper Kid Cudi’s car is still included as a predicate act, with prosecutors arguing it arose out of jealousy when Cudi started dating Combs' girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. The defense has countered that there’s no direct evidence linking Combs to the arson.

In their closing argument, currently scheduled to begin Friday morning, defense attorneys are expected to deny Combs led the sprawling criminal conspiracy that prosecutors allege. They’re also expected to argue that his sexual partners were not victims of sex trafficking who were coerced into taking part, but were willing participants and girlfriends who stayed with Combs for years.

Christy Slavik will deliver the government’s closing statement, which is expected to last about four hours.

Marc Agnifilo will deliver the defense summation. He is expected to speak to the jury for about three hours, after which the prosecution will have the opportunity to deliver a rebuttal.