After spending six weeks calling witnesses and presenting evidence against rap and fashion mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs at a lower Manhattan court, the team of six women federal prosecutors told the jury in the prosecution’s closing arguments that the onetime pop culture titan was, without a doubt, “the leader of a criminal enterprise.”
Combs faces five counts including one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty after his September arrest and has said that he has not committed any of the crimes of which he’s been accused.
On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik presented the government’s closing salvo on Thursday morning, focusing first on the racketeering conspiracy charge Combs faces and then moving into the sex trafficking charges, specifically regarding two of his ex-girlfriends, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and the pseudonymously named “Jane.”
On the racketeering charge, Slavik informed the jury that they must be unanimous in their voting that Combs knowingly and willfully agreed that he, or a co-conspirator, would commit two acts of racketeering. Slavik said there is evidence of multiple acts committed by Combs and his “enterprise”: drug distribution, kidnapping, an arson attack, bribery, facilitating sex trafficking, facilitating travel for commercial sex (for Ventura, “Jane” and several male sex workers), forced labor and covering up crimes. Slavik then laid out how they see each of these examples unfolding in what was discussed in testimony.
On the drugs accusation, Slavik told jurors it must be proven that a co-conspirator knowingly distributed drugs. Once drugs (meth, cocaine, ecstasy and other substances) were delivered by his staff, the court learned, “he gave them to Cassie and Jane,” Slavik said. “This is drug distribution, plain and simple.” the kidnapping allegations related to testimony from Capricorn Clark that Combs came to her late at night and forced her into a car at gunpoint. They then drove to rapper Kid Cudi’s Hollywood Hills home, where Combs and a staffer allegedly broke in. Later, reflecting Combs’ earlier threats, Kid Cudi’s Porsche was bombed with a Molotov cocktail (this incident being the arson attack charge).
“Of course, the defendant was behind this. Now it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that we’re not suggesting the defendant personally cut the hole in Kid Cudi’s Porsche,” Slavik said. “You heard the audio notes. The defendant didn’t even buy his own soup.”
The bribery charge related to the harrowing footage, shown over 10 times throughout the trial to jurors, of the moment in 2016 when Combs assaulted Cassie Ventura in an elevator lobby at the InterContinental Hotel. The defendant has previously admitted to and apologized for the incident. Nevertheless, the footage has become central to the case against him and severely damaged his public reputation when it leaked to CNN last year.
“The defendant knew what he had done and knew the potential consequence,” Slavik said. “He knew that he could be arrested if the police knew what he did to Cassie at that hotel.”
Kristina Khorram, Combs’ former chief of staff, and D-Roc, then his loyal lead security guard, allegedly led an effort to get the footage from a security guard. Ultimately, Khorram tracked down the video surveillance footage and found hotel personnel to speak with about buying the only copy — which they did, together, for $100,000, paid to a staffer in cash and ultimately split between three men working at the hotel. Deputizing Khorram and D-Roc is a prime example of how Combs operated with his staff, which prosecutors allege was a “criminal enterprise.” Slavik mentioned that Combs told the staffer who took the cash not to make any big purchases with it.
“That moment tells you everything you need to know about the defendant’s purpose in paying this bribe – think about why the defendant said that,” she told the jury. “[This incident shows] the defendant’s assault of Cassie during a “freak-off” and members of the Combs’ enterprise not stopping at anything to make sure the video wouldn’t fall into the hands of law enforcement.”
More to come.
