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

Sean Combs coerced "Jane" into drug-addled sexual marathons with male escorts by using payment of her $10,000 monthly rent as leverage, a federal prosecutor alleged during closing arguments.

“He’s reminding her that she owes him and that he can take things away from her if she doesn’t give him what he wants,” the prosecutor, Christy Slavik, said.

She reminded the jury about "Jane’s" text messages to Combs expressing anguish at how “one night of fun turned into the entirety of our relationship” and at how so-called hotel nights made her feel “dark, sleazy and makes me feel disgusted with myself.”

The jury heard Combs’ response in a voice message that suggested he would stop paying her rent. “I just wanted to just give you a heads up that I'm about to really disappear on you,” the message said.

“He knew that threatening to take away her home could turn a no into a yes. That’s coercion,” Slavik said.

Slavik also told the jury Combs trafficked "Jane" through fraud when he “tricked” her into coming to New York in September 2023.

“He knew that Jane wouldn’t come to New York for a 'hotel night.' He led her to believe that there wouldn’t be one. He lied,” Slavik said. “You know that he lied because of his communications.”

She showed the jury messages Combs sent to "Jane" promising a night of shopping and dinner. At the same time, she showed messages Combs sent to Cowboys 4 Angels arranging a male escort.

“As he’s telling "Jane" that there won’t be a hotel night, he’s setting up a hotel night,” Slavik said. “Instead of doing the things that he promised, he hired a new escort to have sex with her.”

She called "Jane’s" September 2023 New York trip “a completed act of sex trafficking” and “a blatant example of the defendant using fraud and coercion.”

“This trip alone makes the defendant guilty,” Slavik said.

Combs has denied all government charges against him.

During testimony, Cassie Ventura called them “freak-offs.” Combs’ ex-girlfriend known by the pseudonym "Jane" called them “hotel nights.” Combs' assistants knew them as “wild king nights.”

However they're referenced, those sex encounters are evidence of sex trafficking because Combs used force, threats, fraud and coercion to compel Ventura and "Jane" to participate, prosecutor Christy Slavik told the jury during the government’s closing argument.

“The charge is about the defendant’s use of illegal actions to get Cassie and 'Jane' to say yes,” Slavik said. “This is not an attempt to criminalize dysfunctional relationships or unconventional sexual conduct.”

The defense has argued that Ventura and "Jane" were not victims of sex trafficking, but long-term girlfriends who willingly participated in Combs’ “polyamorous” lifestyle.

Slavik told the eight men and four women in the jury box that they do not need to find that all the "freak-offs" were the products of force, fraud or coercion.

“You only need to find the elements of sex trafficking are met on one occasion,” she said. “So, if there was one time, one single 'freak-off,' when the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded that Cassie or 'Jane'" was participating because of his lies, his threats or his violence, that’s it.”

The jury was shown a collage of male escorts with whom prosecutors said Ventura and "Jane" were made to have sex in a “slow progression from masturbating and touching to oral sex to intercourse,” often multiple times over multiple nights.

“They were done when the defendant said they were done and not any sooner than that,” Slavik said.

The bribery predicate is satisfied by two episodes that followed the beating of Cassie Ventura captured on 2016 surveillance video taken at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, prosecutors said in their closing statement.

First, hotel security guard Israel Florez testified that Combs tried to hand him a stack of money.

“The defendant handing a fistful of cash to officer Florez was his first attempt at a bribe that day,” prosecutor Christy Slavik said. “He knew what he had done and he knew the consequences."

Secondly, hotel security guard Eddy Garcia testified that Combs promised to “take care” of him in exchange for the video footage. When Combs learned Garcia’s boss was willing to sell the video, Garcia testified that Combs called him “Eddy my angel.”

Garcia testified that Combs ran $100,000 in cash through a bill counter in $10,000 increments.

“The bribe is now complete,” Slavik said during her summation. “He bought the evidence."

Defense lawyers have previously argued that while Combs may have engaged in domestic violence and led an unconventional sex life, he didn’t commit a crime.

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.”