Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a “fake trial” in which his unusual sexual preferences have been unfairly criminalised and his “private sex life” turned into a “crime scene”, his defence team has argued in the final day of closing arguments.
At the end of week seven in the sex-trafficking trial, Combs’s lead counsel, Marc Agnifilo, told the court Combs was the victim of an overzealous prosecution, who had portrayed his “swinger” lifestyle as a racketeering conspiracy.
Combs listens as his lawyer Marc Agnifilo makes his closing arguments. Pic: Reuters
Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two charges of sex trafficking, and two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has strenuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse. If found guilty, he could face being put behind bars for life.
Diddy trial: As it happened
Frequently adopting a sarcastic tone, Agnifilo mocked the government’s case against Combs, belittling the agents who seized hundreds of bottles of Astroglide lubricant and baby oil at his properties last year.
Commenting that America’s streets were now “safe from Astroglide”, he went on, “Way to go, fellas”, before adding, “you do you”.
He said prosecutors had “badly exaggerated” the evidence against Combs, presenting “threesomes as racketeering”, arguing that he is not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
The defence also highlighted the prosecution’s decision to indict Combs on a racketeering conspiracy charge alone, flagging that no alleged co-conspirators have been indicted alongside him.
The defence’s closing arguments lasted for just over four hours, with members of Combs’s family, including six of his children and his mother, watching on in the public gallery.
A court sketch of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Pic: Reuters
Agnifilo said Combs has “taken care of people”, including Jane, a former girlfriend who testified under a pseudonym, paying for her rent and for her legal representation.
The defence lawyer said: “I don’t know what Jane is doing today, but she’s doing it in a house he’s paying for.”
He went on: “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money. This is about money.”
Presenting the trial as a zero-sum game, he described his former girlfriend of almost 11 years Cassie Ventura as the “winner in this whole thing”, noting that she settled her civil case with Combs for $20m (£14m) in November 2023, as well as a $10m (£7.3m) from the InterContinental Hotel.
Cassie and Jane both gave evidence during the trial that they were coerced repeatedly by Combs to perform in drug-fuelled, days-long sex marathons with male sex workers, while Combs watched, directed, masturbated and sometimes filmed the encounters.
But the defence accused prosecutors of having invaded Combs’s bedroom and his most intimate personal affairs.
Agnifilo asked: “Where’s the crime scene? It’s [Combs’s] sex life.”
Continuing his line of sarcastic quips, he joked, “We need a bigger roll of crime scene tape”, referencing a line from the classic movie Jaws.
Agnifilio’s sarcasm irked the prosecution, who later complained to the judge that he was using “improper arguments”.
Diddy and Cassie in 2016. Pic: zz/JMA/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
What we learned from Cassie’s testimony
The defence characterised Combs’s relationship with Cassie as “a great modern love story”, going on to describe her as a “gangster” for cheating on him with rapper Kid Cudi.
They also characterised the “freak offs” as “beautiful”, saying the videos showed “everyone smiling”, eating and listening to music, and commenting that Combs was “not the only man in America making homemade porn”.
The defence admitted Combs was a domestic abuser, but said such behaviour did not justify the grave charges he faces.
Agnifilo advised the jury to “Call this as you see it,” asking them to “acquit Sean Combs of all the counts” and “return him to his family”, who he said has been waiting for him.
Combs, who has been in a New York jail since his arrest in September last year, did not give evidence during the trial.
Following the defence’s closing argument, assistant US attorney Maurene Comey delivered a rebuttal summation in which she said the defence’s argument that Cassie, Jane and Mia, a former employee who also testified under a pseudonym, all “wanted sex” was a lie, telling the court none of the women had reason to speak anything other than the truth.
She also said the “freak off” videos tell only “part of the story”.
Comey said Combs had spent the last 20 years believing himself to be “above the law”, seeing himself as “untouchable” and “a god among men”.
She said his impunity would end now in this courtroom, before urging the jury to “find him guilty” and “hold him accountable”.
On Monday, the judge will read the law to the jury, after which deliberations will begin.
To convict Combs, the 12 jurors must vote unanimously.
