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Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Defense closes; deliberations set for Monday
The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.
Ongoing updates in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Key Headlines
- Prosecution finishes rebuttal as court adjourns
- Prosecution refutes defense's characterization of so-called "freak offs" and Combs' generosity
- Prosecution swats defense's assertion that there was no evidence to support prostitution charge
- Defense concludes closing statements with plea for acquittal: 'Return him to his family'
- Defense says there is a 'gaping lack of evidence' that a criminal enterprise run by Combs existed
Sean Combs trial reaches an end with mixed verdict
The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has reached an end.
The jury found Sean Combs not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge.
The jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution (in connection with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura) and guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution (in connection with his ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym "Jane").
He was found not guilty of both charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with Ventura and "Jane."
Combs was accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak-offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking.
Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY."
Prosecutors give jurors 10 possible predicate acts to find Combs guilty of racketeering conspiracy
Federal prosecutors, discussing with the defense and Judge Arun Subramanian what instructions will be given to the jury, have afforded jurors 10 possible predicate acts to find Sean Combs guilty of racketeering conspiracy. To convict, they must unanimously agree on two of these so-called predicate acts.
Two of the predicate acts involve kidnapping and two involve transportation for purposes of prostitution. There is also arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor, sex trafficking and distributing controlled substances.
Prosecutors on Wednesday pruned the kidnapping and arson predicates, but they remain viable options for the jury.
For example, the jury will still consider whether the pattern of racketeering activity involved kidnapping, aiding and abetting kidnapping or conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Prosecutors earlier Wednesday removed attempted kidnapping as a theory of liability. Similarly, the jury will consider whether the pattern of racketeering activity involved arson, aiding and abetting arson or conspiracy to commit arson but will no longer consider attempted arson.
Prosecutors will still include in closing arguments the testimony of rapper Kid Cudi, which related to arson, and testimony by Combs’ former employee Capricorn Clark, which related to kidnapping.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecutors streamline racketeering predicates
Federal prosecutors are no longer including attempted kidnapping and attempted arson as underlying crimes in the alleged racketeering conspiracy charge against Sean Combs.
Prosecutors disclosed in a letter to Judge Arun Subramanian that they would “no longer proceed on these theories” when they deliberated closing arguments, which are scheduled to begin Thursday.
Instead, prosecutors signaled that they would push sex trafficking and forced labor as primary predicate acts that the jury could find to convict Combs of racketeering conspiracy.
Defense attorneys have argued that no evidence was presented directly tying Combs to the arson that damaged rapper Kid Cudi’s Porsche. Defense attorneys also argued that the alleged kidnapping of Combs’ former employee, Capricorn Clark, by Combs to confront Kid Cudi was far removed from the heart of the case.
Federal prosecutors did not elaborate on their decision in their letter.
Attorneys are scheduled to meet at noon today to discuss the judge’s instructions to the jury.
Attorneys to return to court on Wednesday, closing arguments set for Thursday
Court has concluded for the day.
Attorneys will return to court at noon on Wednesday for a charge conference with Judge Arun Subramanian to discuss the language of the judge’s instructions to the jury.
The jury will return to court at 9 a.m. Thursday to hear closing arguments from each side, beginning with the government, then the defense, and then a government rebuttal. The closings will likely last into Friday.
The judge will read his charge to the jury once summations are finished, after which deliberations will begin. It's not yet known whether that will occur on Friday as well.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey asked the judge to instruct the defense to avoid politics, current events or the “propriety of this prosecution” during summations. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge there was nothing to worry about in that regard.
Defense rests without calling any witnesses
The defense in the Sean Combs trial rested its case after calling no witnesses, electing only to read some items into the record.
Defense attorney Anna Estevao read several exchanges of text messages between Sean Combs and his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that the defense asserts expressed Ventura’s love for Combs, even after years of what federal prosecutors argued was coerced sex with male escorts.
“Bottom line, I love you. You are important to me, and I know I will never have a love like this in this lifetime,” Ventura wrote in a 2012 message that was read into evidence. “Besides making love, talking to you is my favorite thing.”
In another message, Ventura told Combs, “I miss you.” Combs responded, “So what you going to do.” Ventura replied, “Be your lil freak.”
Defense attorney Teny Geragos read notes from law enforcement meetings with several witnesses, including Daniel Phillip, an escort.
Phillip testified that after a sexual encounter at Ventura’s home, Combs threw a bottle toward her and “grabbed her by her hair and dragged her by her hair into the bedroom” after she did not immediately get up from a computer to go into the bedroom as Combs had instructed. Phillip said Combs emerged from the bedroom a while later to ask him, “are you guys ready to continue?”
Geragos also read law enforcement notes from a meeting with Phillip that the defense contends indicate Combs said something else. “In approximately 2013, Phillip saw Ventura get physically assaulted. Combs eventually came back out and said ‘Yo man I’m going to have to deal with this. You need to get the f--- out,’” Geragos read.
Federal prosecutors declined to put on a rebuttal case.
Judge Arun Subramanian sent the jury home until Thursday with instructions to avoid any news about the case.