NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs thought his “fame, wealth and power” put him above the regulation as he led a legal enterprise for twenty years, utilizing “power, violence and fear” to hold out brutal crimes, a prosecutor informed a jury on the music mogul’s intercourse trafficking trial throughout closing arguments Thursday.
“Over the last several weeks, you’ve learned a lot about Sean Combs,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional Christy Slavik started. “He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes he committed with members of his enterprise.”
She stated costs of intercourse trafficking and racketeering conspiracy have been supported by proof that over twenty years, Combs kidnapped certainly one of his staff, dedicated arson by making an attempt to explode a automotive, engaged in compelled labor, bribed a safety officer and carried out the “brutal crimes at the heart of this case.”
Combs “again and again forced, threatened and manipulated” former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and an ex-girlfriend who testified underneath the pseudonym “Jane” into “having sex with escorts for his own entertainment,” Slavik stated, talking from a lectern positioned between jurors and the tables the place prosecutors and protection attorneys sat.
“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” she stated. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”
Slavik stated Combs “counted on silence and shame” to allow and lengthen his abuse. He used a “small army” of staff — an internal circle that included private assistants and bodyguards — to hurt ladies and canopy it up, she stated.
The idea of racketeering regulation is that “when someone commits crime as part of a group, they’re more powerful and dangerous,” Slavik stated. “The defendant was a powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of his inner circle, his businesses — the enterprise.”
Combs and his internal circle “committed hundreds of racketeering acts,” she stated.
As Slavik spoke, jurors noticed images of key figures in Combs’ orbit, in addition to excerpts from associated testimony within the trial transcript and slides to categorize proof.
One slide listed crimes prosecutors allege as a part of the racketeering conspiracy, together with drug distribution, kidnapping, arson and witness tampering. One other slide listed medicine reminiscent of cocaine, meth, ketamine, Oxycodone and MDMA, that Combs’ aides stated they procured for him, or that federal brokers stated they discovered final 12 months in raids of Combs’ houses.
Combs sat together with his head down, his chair pushed again a couple of ft from the protection desk, as Slavik spoke. He was carrying a light-colored sweater over a white button-down shirt and khakis.
Since his arrest at a Manhattan resort final September, prosecutors have stated Combs coerced and abused ladies for years as he used his “power and prestige” as a music star to enlist a community of associates and staff to assist him whereas he silenced victims by way of blackmail and violence.
They’ve stated the Dangerous Boy Data founder induced feminine victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male intercourse staff in occasions dubbed “Freak-Offs.”
Protection attorneys have argued that Combs was concerned in home violence however dedicated no federal crimes.
They constructed their case for acquittal by way of prolonged cross-examinations of many of the authorities’s 34 witnesses. Some witnesses testified solely in response to subpoenas and made it clear to the jury that they did not wish to be there.
Combs’ attorneys contend there was no racketeering conspiracy as a result of none of his staff agreed to be a part of any conspiracy.
However in her closing, Slavik stated staff repeatedly agreed to commit crimes for Combs, reminiscent of delivering him medicine; accompanying him to kidnap his private assistant, Capricorn Clark; and locking his girlfriend in a resort room after he stomped on her face.
Earlier than Slavik started her closing, Choose Arun Subramanian informed the jury they might hear a closing argument from a protection lawyer on Friday and a rebuttal by a prosecutor earlier than he instructs them on the regulation and permits them to start deliberating as early as late afternoon.
