How charges against Diddy stack up to testimony in the government's case

Yahoo

3 days ago

After more than six weeks, dozens of witnesses and hundreds of bottles of baby oil presented as evidence, we are nearly at the end of Sean 'Diddy' Combs's federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial. After the prosecution and defense deliver dueling closing arguments, the jury will probably begin deliberating by the end of this week or Monday on charges that could put Combs, 55, in prison for the rest of his life.
Prosecutors have called to the stand Combs's former girlfriends, assistants, recording artists, stylists, hotel workers and federal agents to testify about crimes they allege Combs and a small, trusted inner circle orchestrated, executed and covered up, including sex trafficking, arson, bribery, kidnapping, illicit drug use and physical abuse. To help prove the government's case, some witnesses, most of them former Combs employees, were given immunity in exchange for their honest testimony.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. His attorneys have argued that the 'freak-offs' he directed when he was with two ex-girlfriends — model and singer Cassie Ventura and an influencer and model who testified under the pseudonym 'Jane' — were consensual sex acts.
Here are the charges against Combs and key testimony and evidence prosecutors have used to support each allegation.
The government called forward a broad array of witnesses to help build the case for their most sprawling charge against Combs, racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The prosecution alleges that Combs, protected and aided by staffers, conspired to commit and cover up crimes such as sex trafficking, kidnapping, arson and bribery. Based on the testimony and evidence presented, prosecutors have suggested that Combs's chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, and his head of security, Damion 'D-Roc' Butler, were heavily involved in this alleged enterprise. Neither Khorram nor Butler have been publicly charged with any crimes.
Former personal assistants said they would stock hotel rooms with lubricant, snacks and illicit drugs for freak-offs, which the government argued required trafficking women who couldn't and didn't consent to these acts and paying male escorts to have sex.
Some of Combs's former employees said they witnessed Combs abuse his girlfriends; several said Combs would get violent with them. One former Combs staffer, Capricorn Clark, said she was kidnapped by her boss twice. Clark alleged that, in 2011, Combs showed up at her home, disheveled and brandishing a gun, and ordered her to accompany him to the home of actor and musician Kid Cudi. When they arrived, Clark said, Combs and a security staffer broke into the home.
Kid Cudi, whose brief relationship with Ventura in 2011 enraged Combs, testified at the trial under his legal name, Scott Mescudi. Mescudi corroborated details about the break-in, as well as a separate incident a couple of weeks later, when Combs allegedly attempted to blow up the musician's car with a molotov cocktail.
Most of the ex-employees who testified expressed admiration for Combs, who they say inspired them and promised to advance their careers. But they also feared him, accusing Combs of using physical force, intimidation and threats to get his way.
Eddy Garcia, a security guard contracted with the InterContinental Hotel in 2016, said Combs and his chief of staff contacted him to secure hotel footage showing Combs brutally attacking Ventura. Garcia gave Combs a USB drive with the footage from the hotel camera in exchange for $100,000 in cash, which was split between Garcia, his manager and another employee.
The defense has pushed back at these allegations by attempting to distance Combs from some of the alleged crimes. Through vigorous cross-examination, they've also attempted to chip away at these witnesses' credibility, questioning their recollection of events and Combs's influence on their choices.
The government's sex-trafficking charges against Combs, which each carry sentences between 15 years and life in prison, center on Ventura and Jane, Combs's former girlfriends. Both women described freak-offs, also known as 'hotel nights' or 'king nights,' in graphic detail. According to their testimonies, freak-offs were closed affairs involving male escorts that sometimes lasted days. The women testified that Combs coerced them into freak-offs — which typically involved taking drugs to keep them compliant — and that he dictated how the sex acts would go and when they would end, all while watching and sometimes recording the encounters.
Ventura and Jane both described Combs as a charming figure.
But Ventura, who dated the hip-hop impresario on and off from 2007 to 2018 and was signed to his Bad Boy record label, alleged that Combs groomed her and threatened to stifle her career if she didn't meet his demands, including for freak-offs. Combs's physical abuse of Ventura — as was shown in the InterContinental Hotel surveillance video from 2016 — also compelled her to participate and, ultimately, plan freak-offs, the prosecution argued. Eventually, he used recordings of the freak-offs to blackmail her, Ventura alleged.
Witnesses who worked for Combs, as well as those in Ventura's inner circle, supported Ventura's account of Combs's abuse during their relationship.
Jane, who dated Combs from 2021 to 2024, testified that she felt 'obligated' to perform in freak-offs, especially once he began paying her rent, part of an informal 'love contract' where he agreed to give her a $10,000 allowance. (This went exclusively to her monthly rent, which Combs is still paying, she said.)
The government posited that Combs deceived Jane by enticing her with extravagant trips, expensive gifts and the promise of a real relationship, then pushing her to do freak-offs. Lengthy texts between the couple showed Jane had repeatedly voiced her frustration with Combs over the years. Combs responded by gaslighting her and threatening to end the relationship (and the financial support), according to her testimony and text and audio messages. Combs was violent with her only once, she said; after the fight, Combs ordered her to do a freak-off, she testified.
During cross-examination, the defense used sexually explicit text messages and comments from the women to suggest that they were willing participants in Combs's unorthodox sexual lifestyle. Combs's attorneys also highlighted the opportunities the women had to leave these encounters, or the relationship. The physical abuse was 'mutual' in these toxic relationships, but not evidence of sex trafficking, the defense has argued.
Related to the sex-trafficking counts, Combs also faces two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which each carry a 10-year maximum sentence. Combs's drug-fueled freak-offs allegedly involved sex acts with male participants and occurred in hotel rooms around the world, including in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Turks and Caicos, and Ibiza.
These male participants were recruited in a variety of ways, according to witness testimony, including from escort services such as Cowboys 4 Angels and adult films. Those not personally suggested by Combs were subject to Combs's approval, according to testimony and records obtained by the government. According to Jane and Ventura, an established network of men would have sex with them as Combs gave instruction and watched.
These men were typically paid between $1,500 and $6,000 at the end of the session. The money fluctuated depending on how pleased Combs was with their performance, according to Ventura's testimony: Those who didn't 'finish,' or instances where no sex took place, resulted in less or sometimes no money.
These charges are particularly controversial, with critics pointing to the racialized way the government has historically wielded the Mann Act.
Before trial, Combs tried unsuccessfully to get these counts dropped. His lawyers have since tried to argue that Combs paid these men for their time, not to have sex.
The jury does not have to convict Combs on sex-trafficking charges to find him guilty of violating the Mann Act, because these counts relate to the transportation and use of male escorts (the 'commercial sex workers' in the federal indictment) with the alleged victims.
Shayna Jacobs and Wesley Parnell contributed to this report.