Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyer portrayed the hip-hop mogul on Friday because the sufferer of an overzealous prosecution that twisted his leisure drug use and swinger way of life right into a racketeering conspiracy cost that might put him behind bars for all times.
In a closing argument, protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo mocked the federal government’s case and belittled the brokers who seized lots of of bottles of Astroglide lubricant and child oil at his properties as he started a presentation anticipated to final a number of hours.
“Way to go, fellas,” Agnifilo mentioned of the brokers.
The lawyer mentioned prosecutors had “badly exaggerated” proof of the swinger way of life and threesomes to mix it with leisure drug use and name it a racketeering conspiracy.
“He did not do the things he’s charged with. He didn’t do racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking,” the lawyer mentioned.
Agnifilo additionally referred to as Combs’ prosecution a “fake trial” and ridiculed the notion that he engaged in racketeering.
“Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” Agnifilo requested. “Did any witness get on that witness stand and say yes, I was part of a racketeering enterprise — I engaged in racketeering?”
No, Agnifilo argued, telling jurors that these accusations have been a figment of the prosecution’s creativeness.
Combs’ household, together with six of his kids and his mom, have been within the viewers for the closing. As it was taking place, the rapper previously often known as Kanye West launched a track with Combs’ son, Christian “King” Combs, titled “DIDDY FREE.” West, who now goes by the title Ye, confirmed as much as court docket two weeks in the past to assist Combs.
All his life Combs has taken care of individuals, Agnifilo mentioned, together with the ex-girlfriend who testified beneath the pseudonym Jane, whose lease he’s paying.
“I don’t know what Jane is doing today,” Agnifilo mentioned. “But she’s doing it in a house he’s paying for.”
Referring to lawsuits filed by Combs’ accusers, he mentioned: “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money. This is about money.”
Agnifilo famous that Combs’ former longtime girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, sued him in November 2023. Combs settled along with her the subsequent day for $20 million, however the allegations within the lawsuit prompted federal regulation enforcement to open the prison investigation that led to his arrest.
“If you had to pick a winner in this whole thing, it’s hard not to pick Cassie,” Agnifilo mentioned.
Cassie and Jane each testified through the trial that they have been coerced repeatedly by Combs to carry out in drug-fueled dayslong intercourse marathons with male intercourse employees whereas Combs watched, directed, masturbated and typically filmed the encounters.
Prosecutors, he argued, have invaded Combs’ bed room and his most intimate private affairs.
“Where’s the crime scene? It’s your sex life,” Agnifilo mentioned.
He additionally mocked the prosecution’s assertion that Combs and his underlings had engaged in lots of of racketeering acts and their suggestion that a lot of his so-called freak-offs and “hotel nights” have been crimes.
If that’s so, he mentioned, “we need a bigger roll of crime scene tape,” a reference to a well-known line from the film “Jaws.”
Agnifilo reiterated that the protection “owns” the truth that Combs was violent, however he argued that conduct doesn’t justify the grave costs he faces.
He mentioned Combs and Cassie had a “loving, beautiful relationship,” albeit a “complicated” one.
“If racketeering conspiracy had an opposite, it would be their relationship … they were deeply in love with each other,” Agnifilo mentioned.
Echoing the prosecution’s closing argument on Thursday, the protection lawyer confirmed jurors a part of the now-infamous safety digital camera footage of Combs attacking Cassie at a Los Angeles resort in 2016.
Agnifilo acknowledged that the video clearly exhibits home violence, however he disputed the prosecution’s principle that the assault was proof of intercourse trafficking by pressure. Pausing the tape a number of instances, he insisted, Combs could have been indignant not that Cassie was making an attempt to flee a “freak-off,” however that she was taking his cellphone.
If convicted, Combs may face a compulsory minimal of 15 years in jail and a most of life.
He didn’t testify through the trial, which is in its seventh week.
After Agnifilo completes his closing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey was anticipated to ship a rebuttal summation earlier than the decide reads the regulation to the jury, which isn’t prone to start deliberations till Monday.
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