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

The defense summation returned to Cassie Ventura and asked the jury to question whether she was really trafficked because Combs desired watching her have sex with male escorts.

"It's the sex that they are having," Agnifilo said. "They're swingers. This is their lifestyle."

He asked the jury to consider what they are willing to adopt to please their own partners, sexual and otherwise. At one point he said some couples could be close "by drinking lemonade with strawberries" but Combs and Ventura preferred something racier.

"Cassie wanted to do this. This is how they're close," Agnifilo said. "This was her lifestyle choice also."

The defense cast Ventura as a beautiful woman who loved sex, seeking to undermine the government's portrayal of her as a victim of sex trafficking.

"When she wasn't with Sean Combs she was with [actor] Michael B. Jordan. He's the most handsome man in the world. She's not messing around," Agnifilo said. "She's a high level. She has sexual confidence. Good for her. She's not clutching her pearls."

The jury once again saw 2016 hotel security camera footage – though notably the defense did not show the moment Combs assaulted Cassie – as Agnifilo argued the jury could interpret the video differently than prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors argued the video showed Combs dragging Ventura back to a so-called "freak off." Agnifilo said it showed Ventura encouraging Combs to return to the room as he stood in the hall in a towel and socks.

"The room is not a scary place," Agnifilo said.

Sean Combs did not sexually assault his assistant "Mia," the defense argued in its closing, seeking to quash an aspect of the forced labor racketeering predicate.

"Mia" testified Combs assaulted her several times. She alleged he woke her when she was sleeping in his home and forced her to have sex with him.

"This was not unwanted sexual contact," defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said. "Something consensual happened."

He held up a poster-sized photograph "Mia" had given to him on his birthday that showed Combs with "Mia," assistants, bodyguards and other employees. The caption beneath the photo called Combs "coolest alien rock star unicorn pizza slice."

Agnifilo said the image is evidence of the love Combs engendered among his employees, not forced labor.

"This is a racketeering enterprise, folks," Agnifilo sarcastically said.

The defense lawyer conceded Combs had a drug problem and kept drugs in his homes, but he sought to cast doubt on drug offenses as a racketeering predicate.

"These were personal use drugs," Agnifilo said. "There's no allegation Sean Combs is selling drugs."

He reminded the jury that Cassie Ventura and many other people around Combs were doing drugs.

"It's doing what people in creative fields do and all of a sudden it's part of a racketeering conspiracy," Agnifilo said.

During a break, the judge admonished defense attorney Marc Agnifilo for inviting the jury to speculate on why federal prosecutors pursued certain charges against Sean Combs.

"Please don't do it again," Judge Arun Subramanian said. "That is a bridge too far."

Subramanian gave the jury a curative instruction, telling them not to speculate about the government's charging decisions.

"It would be improper for you to consider such matters during your deliberations," Subramanian said before Agnifilo continued his summation.

The idea Sean Combs had anything to do with firebombing Kid Cudi's car is "nonsense," defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said during his closing argument.

"There is no evidence, I mean no evidence, that he had anything to do with the Porsche," Agnifilo argued.

Federal prosecutors argued in their summation yesterday that "the evidence and basic logic" suggest Combs did have something to do with it, out of jealousy over Kid Cudi's relationship with Cassie Ventura. The defense told the jury Combs was more direct.

"They were going to do what men do. They were going to have a fistfight," Agnifilo said. "You messing with my girl, I'm coming to your house and we're going to fight."

In an email following the car's destruction, Ventura told her mother and Combs' assistant Capircorn Clark that Combs had threatened to release sex tapes of her and physically harm Mescudi. That the email did not mention firebombing Mescudi's car, Agnifilo argued, raised doubts about Combs' culpability for the racketeering predicate act of arson.

The defense also sought to raise doubt about the bribery predicate.

Federal prosecutors argued Combs and his associates were worried about getting arrested after the attack on Ventura was caught on 2016 hotel surveillance cameras and sought to bribe a security guard for the footage. Agnifilo said Combs had a different motive: distrust of hotel staff.

"Money is involved, and people want a payday," Agnifilo said, telling the jury hotel staff may have been willing to sell video of someone as famous as Combs. "They're not worried about the police."