Diddy's 'righthand woman' comparison to Epstein's confidante is 'provocative but weak': expert
Closing arguments in Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal trial began Thursday, more than seven weeks after jurors were seated for the case. While the Bad Boy Records founder was the focus of the government's charges, his former chief of staff, Kristina (KK) Khorram, was brought up throughout witnesses' testimony, though she never testified nor was charged.
KK was previously compared to Jeffrey Epstein's righthand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, in a lawsuit brought against her and Diddy in March 2024. Music producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones claimed he witnessed KK ordering sex workers for Diddy. KK also had all the assistants keep drugs ready for Diddy at a moment's notice, according to Jones' allegations.
"From what we've seen so far, the comparison between Kristina Khorram and Ghislaine Maxwell isn't really a fair one, given that Epstein's victims were underage girls," John J. Perlstein explained to Fox News Digital. "Still, Khorram is an alleged co-conspirator in the Diddy case, so it makes sense that she wouldn't want to testify, as she would've likely had to plead the Fifth."
"While Ghislaine Maxwell was not originally charged in the Jeffrey Epstein case, charges were eventually filed against her," the Los Angeles-based litigator added. "That's likely what we see happening here with Khorram and the Diddy case. However, the criminal enterprise case against Diddy is extremely weak, and it's possible that the case against Khorram would be even weaker."
During Diddy's sex trafficking and racketeering trial, prosecutors claimed the music mogul was the leader of the alleged criminal enterprise. His inner circle included his chief of staff, assistants and security. Diddy's ex-girlfriend, Jane, testified KK was the rapper's "righthand woman." The government claimed KK lived in Diddy's home in Miami and knew what he was doing all the time. She even allegedly responded to people from his phones.
According to the prosecution, Diddy and his staff were involved in purchasing and distributing drugs. Jane testified that KK helped her transport drugs across state lines. KK was seemingly aware Diddy's assistants were purchasing drugs for the rapper. In texts shown during Brendan Paul's testimony, he asked KK for reimbursement.
KK was also allegedly involved in covering up Diddy's attack on Cassie Ventura at the InterContinental Hotel in 2016. According to testimony from a hotel security guard, KK facilitated the sale of the surveillance footage showing the attack.
Diddy's former chief of staff was brought up in testimony from Cassie; Diddy's ex, Jane; and each of his former personal assistants. Text messages from KK were also entered into evidence in the trial. However, she never actually took the stand.
WATCH: SEAN 'DIDDY' COMBS ASSAULTS CASSIE VENTURA IN 2016 LOS ANGELES HOTEL INCIDENT
KK likely wasn't called to testify because her narrative might not match the government's case against Diddy, criminal defense attorney Nicole Blank Becker told Fox News Digital.
"You never call a witness or ask a question that you don't know," Becker, who worked on R. Kelly's case, told Fox News Digital. "So, in this case, if no one was able to actually have these deep conversations with KK and know exactly what she was going to testify to, she could have actually been a thorn in the government's side."
To date, KK has not been charged with any crimes.
"It's very common in enterprise cases that you're going to want, as the government, to bring in as many witnesses as you can to show that this was, in fact, an organized organization. Now, the question becomes, 'Well, if KK is the one who was responsible for some of the very criminal activities that they're now putting on P. Diddy, why isn't she charged with the same types of crimes?'
"From a legal strategy standpoint, the big fish is who you go after," Becker added. "Who's the big fish that the public knows? Who is the hip-hop mogul that we all know of? Well, it's not KK. Who is it? It's the face. And so the government wants to be firm that the face of the enterprise is the individual who gets in trouble."
The government wanted to show that KK was only responsible for the alleged crimes because Diddy told her to do them, the lawyer noted.
"P. Diddy was the one in control," Becker said. "He was, for the government, they would like to say, the puppeteer, and that she, although she was the chief of his company, she still had strings that were attached. And those strings didn't move unless Sean Diddy Combs told them to move or had them moved."
However, the prosecution not charging KK with any crimes "doesn't mean she's innocent just yet."
"The prosecutors might not have enough evidence yet, or she could even be cooperating behind the scenes," New York-based civil attorney Nicole Brenecki explained to Fox News Digital. "These cases usually move slowly and with a specific strategy."
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It was Johnson who intervened on behalf of the brothers, who had been serving life prison terms for a drug-trafficking conspiracy, said Brittany Barnett, founder of the Buried Alive Project, a nonprofit advocacy group that took up the Sotelos' case. The brothers were freed late last month. Johnson 'knows firsthand the weight of a life sentence,' Barnett said. 'These men were serving the same sentence as the Unabomber — on drug charges.' Trump's open-mindedness has sent 'shock waves of hope through the prison walls for the thousands of people still serving extreme sentences,' Barnett said. No commutation seems out of the question in prisons like FCI Ashland, the Kentucky lockup where Scott, the former DEA agent, has been held nearly four years. Scott, 57, was exercising in March with Brian Kelsey, when the former Tennessee state senator received word he had been pardoned just two weeks into a 21-month sentence for campaign finance fraud. Kelsey called his release a 'victory for every American who believes in one impartial justice system for all.' Last month, the president pardoned another former Ashland prisoner, P.G. Sittenfeld, a former Cincinnati city councilman who not only won office as a Democrat but sharply criticized Trump. It is unclear why Trump pardoned Sittenfeld, who also seemed surprised by the grant of clemency. 'I was as stunned as I suspect you were,' he wrote supporters this month, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier. In his own application for a commutation, Scott sought to draw Trump's attention not only to his ear wound — sustained in a shooting that predated his law enforcement career — but also the prosecutor who handled his case. That prosecutor went on to work for special counsel Jack Smith , whose team twice indicted Trump. The charges were dropped after Trump won the November election. 'Though I do not claim to be a saint, I DID NOT commit the crimes for which I have been convicted,' Scott wrote to the president, even using all caps like Trump does on social media. Scott had been among the most prolific narcotics agents in the country during his 17-year career at the DEA and won several awards for his work. His downfall began in 2016, when two members of his New Orleans-based task force were arrested for stealing and using drugs, prompting a yearslong FBI inquiry. A federal jury convicted Scott in 2019 of orchestrating false testimony against a trafficker. He also was found guilty of falsifying DEA paperwork to acquire a pickup truck and, following a separate trial, stealing money and property from suspects. Scheduled for release in 2031, he has exhausted every possible appeal. Clemency from Trump, Scott told the AP, is his 'last resort.' By all accounts, Scott has been a model prisoner and has been awarded sought-after privileges. He spends his days as FCI Ashland's 'town driver,' chauffeuring newly released prisoners to bus stops, halfway houses, hospitals and doctors' offices in nearby cities. And he has participated in a program called Pawsibilities Unleashed, in which he raises and trains service and therapy dogs behind bars. He named one of his most recent canines, a Labradane, Trump. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of President Donald Trump at .
