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

Sean Combs waved to his family, flashed a thumbs up and blew kisses on his way to the defense table to hear his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, deliver his closing argument to the jury.

Speaking from a podium in front of the jury box and sometimes pacing back and forth, Agnifilo sought to cast Sean Combs as a self-made entrepreneur committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“He was doing this in 1993 as a 24-year-old by himself,” Agnifilo said. “Not because some government told him to.”

He introduced the jury to Combs’ six grown children and his mother, who are seated in the gallery.

“The man takes care of people,” Agnifilo said, pointing to his ex-girlfriend, known by the pseudonym “Jane.”

“I hope she’s having a nice day. I don’t know what she’s doing but I know she’s doing it in a house he paid for,” Agnifilo said.

Responding to the prosecution's allegation that Combs is a racketeering kingpin, the defense attorney exclaimed, “Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” 

He mocked the government’s case.

“Thank goodness for the special response team. They found the baby oil. They found the AstroGlide,” Agnifilo said. “The only crime scene is your private sex life.”

The defense will deliver a closing statement to the jury Friday at the federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs, hoping to raise doubt about his guilt among the eight men and four women after federal prosecutors told them, “It’s time to hold him accountable.”

The defense is expected to argue that Cassie Ventura and a woman testifying under the pseudonym “Jane” were not trafficking victims but long-term girlfriends who willingly, sometimes enthusiastically, participated in drug-powered sexual marathons with male prostitutes.

In the government’s summation, a federal prosecutor, Christy Slavik, argued Combs “tricked” "Jane" into so-called "hotel nights" under the guise of a real relationship.

“He told her that they would go on trips; that they'd go shopping; that they'd go on a yacht, but only after she did a hotel night with him,” Slavik said. “They were just lies he told 'Jane' to make her keep participating in these hotels nights.”

Slavik argued Ventura took part in "freak offs" because Combs deployed force, threats of force or coercion. She told the jury it “shouldn’t be a surprise” they were not something Ventura wanted to do.

“Think about how she described them, hours and hours long, covered in baby oil, wearing uncomfortable outfits, sometimes when Cassie had her period and when she had UTIs. Sometimes the defendant told the escorts to urinate on her, and sometimes he did too,” Slavik said.

Prosecutors depicted Combs as the leader of a criminal enterprise who relied on an inner circle of “loyal lieutenants” to help get drugs for the "freak offs," cash to pay the escorts and to keep Ventura and "Jane" in line.

“The evidence showed you how he and his inner circle helped him carry out these crimes and how far they would go to cover them up,” Slavik said.

To find Combs guilty of racketeering conspiracy the jury must find he agreed to commit at least two underlying criminal acts, which could include sex trafficking, drug distribution, kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor and transportation for the purposes of prostitution.

Slavik argued drug distribution alone is enough to convict. She said Combs and his aides “participated in hundreds of acts of drug distribution” and it does not matter if the quantities were small or the drugs were for personal use.

“The defendant and his staff were all involved in buying and distributing drugs,” the prosecutor said.

Combs has denied all government charges against him.

The prosecution's nearly five-hour closing argument in the racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs ended with federal prosecutor Christy Slavik imploring the jury to convict the defendant as charged.

“Up until today, the defendant was able to get away with his crimes because of his money, power and influence,” Slavik claimed. “It’s time to hold him accountable. It’s time for justice. It’s time to find the defendant guilty.”

Slavik told jurors that a lot of the evidence presented during the trial was difficult to witness but, she argued, that evidence “proves to you that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

She asserted that Combs “ran his criminal enterprise with total control” and with the support of an inner circle whose “one job was to say yes to the defendant.”

Court is adjourned for the day. The defense closing argument is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. ET Friday morning.

The racketeering conspiracy predicate act of witness tampering in Sean Combs' trial occurred, according to prosecutor Christy Slavik, after Cassie Ventura filed her quickly settled civil lawsuit against Combs and Combs and Kristina Khorram recorded a phone call with the former Combs girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym "Jane."

Slavik told the jury that Combs reached out to "Jane" because he was concerned about a criminal investigation into his conduct with her.

Slavik played excerpts of two phone calls in which she alleged Combs was attempting to get a recording of "Jane" saying she was a willing participant in so-called "hotel night" sexual encounters he allegedly had with her, but "Jane" wouldn't do it.

“He tried to corruptly persuade her to adopt his lies,” Slavik told the court.

Similarly, Slavik alleged, Combs and his bodyguard, D-Roc, reached out to former Combs assistant "Mia." Appearing under a pseudonym, "Mia" testified that the outreach “terrified” her.

“D-Roc and the defendant worked together to neutralize the 'Mia' threat. She knew too much,” Slavik told the court. “The defendant is attempting to corruptly persuade 'Mia' to stay silent while fully aware of the likelihood of a criminal investigation.”