What Happened in the Closing Arguments of the Sean Combs Trial
The federal government and Sean Combs's defense team presented their closing arguments this week after extensive testimony in which the music mogul's ex-girlfriends said they were pressured to have sex with male escorts in drug-dazed marathon sessions.
Mr. Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, and has pleaded not guilty, saying the sexual encounters were consensual. Jurors are expected to begin deliberating on Monday, which will mark the eighth week of the trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
Here are some key observations from the closing arguments:
The Charges
Sex Trafficking
The federal prosecutor who delivered the government's closing argument on Thursday, Christy Slavik, emphasized to jurors that convicting Mr. Combs of sex trafficking required only one example of him coercing his girlfriends into sex with prostitutes.
For examples of such coercion, Ms. Slavik pointed to Mr. Combs's 2016 assault on Casandra Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel that was captured on surveillance video, and a fight between 'Jane' and Mr. Combs in 2024 before he directed her to have sex with another man.
Jane, who was identified by a pseudonym, testified that she repeatedly said 'I don't want to' before Mr. Combs asked, 'Is this coercion?'
The next day, the defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo argued that Ms. Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, was a willing participant in the frequent sex sessions that Mr. Combs called 'freak-offs.'
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