Diddy’s lawyers and the prosecution trade blows during fiery closing arguments: ‘A tale of two trials’
The defense for Sean “Diddy” Combs described the “tale of two trials” as the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial is soon to enter jury deliberations.
Marc Agnifilo, Diddy’s lead attorney, paced in front of the jury box as he delivered an animated closing argument for the defense Friday, claiming the case against his client tells the “tale of two trials.” One trial relies on witnesses, text messages, videos and evidence; the other is “told from the mouths of prosecutors” and is “badly, badly exaggerated,” he argued.
The rapper faces five federal counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He’s pleaded not guilty.
The racketeering conspiracy charge exemplifies this exaggeration when it comes to Diddy’s alleged drug use and sex life, he argued. Every day of the trial, jurors have heard about — and even seen videos from — “freak offs,” which are days-long sex marathons involving drugs. The government charged his client with “one of the most serious, comprehensive” crimes by labeling “personal-use drugs and threesomes as racketeering,” Agnifilo told the court.
The defense attorney began by hailing his client as a “self-made, successful Black entrepreneur” who many love. Just to emphasize that point, he noted that the word “love” has been spoken 881 times throughout the trial. He then spent hours impeaching the credibility of government witnesses.
Diddy’s been accused of sex trafficking Cassie Ventura and his ex-girlfriend, who testified as ‘Jane’, from 2021 through 2024 .
He asserted that Ventura “won” because she received $20 million in a civil suit against Diddy. “Cassie is nobody’s fool,” Agnifilo repeated, taking direct aim at the prosecution who on Thursday called her “naive.” The couple fought about jealousy and infidelity, but not about sex, Agnifilo said. Texts between Ventura and Diddy show they were on the same page about sex, he said.
The government has argued Diddy’s violence and threats of violence toward Ventura are directly linked to his sex trafficking of Ventura. “We own the domestic violence,” Agnifilo added.
When Ventura left Diddy in 2018, she made an “adult choice.” Agnifilo told the court: “She was always free to leave but she stayed because she loved him and he loved her.”
Agnifilo also took digs at Jane. On the stand, Jane admitted that Diddy still pays for her house and is paying for her lawyer. “I hope he’s having a nice day. I don’t know what she’s doing but I know she’s doing it in a nice house he’s paying for,” the attorney said. He also brought up the dramatic June 2024 night in which Jane slammed Diddy’s head against a counter — only to later be kicked and punched by the mogul. “There’s so much about this evening that doesn’t make sense,” Agnifilo argued, like the timing of the night, why it escalated so badly, and why she seemed to provoke him not long after Ventura filed her civil suit.
He also spent some time questioning the credibility of Capricorn Clark, Diddy’s former employee who the government says was kidnapped twice by the mogul and his associates. One of these alleged kidnappings occurred in 2004 after three pieces of jewelry went missing. Clark testified that for five days in a row, a member of Diddy’s security drove from her house to a dilapidated building, where she took lie detector tests and a large man threatened to throw her in the East River if she failed, before she was driven home. Speaking to the jury, Agnifilo asked sarcastically: “You guys sit here for long hours and then you go home. Do you feel kidnapped?! You aren’t kidnapped and neither was she.”
Agnifilo then turned to Mia, a former employee who testified under a pseudonym. She comes into play with the forced labor and witness tampering acts of the racketeering conspiracy charge. Mia spoke very quietly and hardly looked up when describing to the court the times when the mogul allegedly sexually assaulted her.
“I think you have every reason to assume she put on a false persona in the courtroom,” Agnifilo told the jury. He then recalled her warm social media posts about Diddy, a scrapbook she made for him, and her “bubbly” appearance in a social media video. “That was the real her,” he argued.
As for the transportation to engage in prostitution, the attorney pointed out that both escorts who took the stand disavowed being prostitutes while neither of them traveled across state lines to attend a “freak off.” Still, the government chose these witnesses: “This is the most perfect example in the whole case of the tale of two trials.”
The defense attorney urged the jury to acquit his client: “He’s innocent. He sits here innocent. Return him to his family who have been waiting for him.” Toward the end of his remarks, Agnifilo claimed the government “targeted” Diddy. The judge later instructed the jury that “the decision to indict the individual is not of your concern.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey then made an ardent rebuttal. She argued the defendant is trying to “wiggle out” of the transportation to engage in prostitution charges. Not only did the escorts testify that they made more money when they were able to perform, but the law doesn’t require them to label themselves as “prostitutes.” Comey said common sense suggests Diddy was flying the men across the country “not for their scintillating conversation. It was for sex.” She quipped: “Maybe some of the men wanted to have sex for free in front of a mass masturbating celebrity.”
As for Agnifilo’s accusations that Ventura, Jane and Mia were lying, Comey said that would mean that they all perjured themselves. But there’s a problem with that theory, she said, because they have no reason to lie. Referring to Ventura, Comey argued: “This is not a woman out for vengeance or money.” She noted that Ventura already settled her civil suit and had to sit through “grueling testimony” that included reading through sexts and recounting embarrassing details of her private life.
Regarding Mia, Comey recalled her demeanor on the witness stand: “We all saw how she physically shrank when describing those assaults…No one’s handing out Oscars or Tonys for performances in this courtroom.” She also testified under a pseudonym, the prosecutor noted, so she clearly isn’t asking for fame or attention.
The defense was “desperate to convince you Jane copied Cassie.” But she never sued, like Ventura, and if anything, she has incentive to lie in favor of the defendant because he’s still paying for her rent and her lawyer, Comey said. “She was never trying to copy Cassie. She was just telling you the truth.”
The prosecutor then urged the jury to convict Diddy. The defendant got away with “crime after crime” for years and suffered no consequences, she argued. One of his former assistants described him as a “God among men,” Comey recalled: “And who would ever stand up to a god?” He didn’t expect his ex-girlfriends and former employees to testify against him, she believed. But the defendant “is not a god. He’s a person.”
Jury deliberations are expected to begin next week.
