Sean 'Diddy' Combsâ lawyer mocks sex trafficking case in closing, says charges 'badly exaggerated'
Sean âDiddyâ Combs' lawyer implored a jury on Friday to acquit the hip-hop mogul, arguing overzealous federal prosecutors twisted his drug use and swinger lifestyle into a sex trafficking and racketeering case that could put him behind bars for life.
âHe is none of these things. He is innocent,â defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said, glancing at Combs during a four-hour closing argument. "He sits there innocent. Return him to his family who have been waiting for him.â
Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Monday after the judge instructs them in the law.
Agnifilo repeatedly mocked the government's case, peppering his presentation with folksy quips and bawdy observations. He said prosecutors âbadly exaggeratedâ the evidence, and he belittled federal agents who seized hundreds of bottles of baby oil and lubricant in raids last year at Combsâ homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area.
"Way to go, fellas," he said of the agents.
Agnifilo accused the government of targeting Combs, irritating prosecutors and the judge, and questioned why no one else was charged in what the prosecution alleges was a racketeering conspiracy involving Combsâ personal assistants, bodyguards and other employees.
In a rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey said Agnifilo had spent âa whole lot of energyâ trying to distract from Combsâ âinexcusable behavior.â
âMake no mistake," Comey told jurors, "this trial was about how in Sean Combsâ world, ânoâ was never an option.â
Agnifilo called Combsâ prosecution a âfake trial" and a âtale of two trials" and ridiculed the notion that the âI'll Be Missing Youâ singer engaged in racketeering.
âAre you kidding me?â Agnifilo asked. âDid any witness get on that witness stand and say, âYes, I was part of a racketeering enterprise â I engaged in racketeering?ââ No, those accusations were a figment of the prosecutionâs imagination, he argued.
Combs, in a sweater and khakis, watched Agnifilo with rapt attention after looking down and slouching during Thursdayâs prosecution closing. He didn't testify during the seven-week trial, and his lawyers called no witnesses of their own.
Combsâ family, including six of his children and his mother, sat behind him.
As Agnifilo was speaking, Combsâ son Christian and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West released a song titled âDIDDY FREE.â West, who now goes by Ye, showed up to court two weeks ago to support Combs.
Combsâ ex-girlfriends R&B singer Cassie and a woman testifying under the pseudonym âJaneâ told jurors that Combs coerced them into participating in âfreak-offsâ or âhotel nightsâ â drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers while Combs watched, directed, masturbated and sometimes filmed them.
Agnifilo argued prosecutors had invaded Combsâ most intimate personal affairs, warning jurors: âWhereâs the crime scene? Itâs your sex life."
He also mocked the prosecutionâs assertion that Combs and his underlings engaged in hundreds of racketeering acts, as well as the governmentâs suggestion that many of the sex marathons at the heart of the case were crimes.
If thatâs so, he said, âwe need a bigger roll of crime scene tape,â a reference to a famous line from the movie âJaws.â
While Agnifilo fought to keep Combs from prison, he argued there's another factor at play in the allegations that women have lobbed against him: the prospect of draining him of his wealth through lawsuits.
âThis isnât about crime. Itâs about money. This is about money," Agnifilo said.
Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, sued Combs in November 2023 over abuse allegations. He settled with her the next day for $20 million, but the allegations prompted federal law enforcement to open the criminal investigation that led to his arrest. Dozens of other lawsuits followed.
âIf you had to pick a winner in this whole thing, itâs hard not to pick Cassie,â Agnifilo said.
Agnifilo reiterated that the defense âownsâ the fact that Combs was violent but argued that behavior does not justify the grave charges against him.
Combs and Cassie had a âloving, beautiful relationship,â albeit a âcomplicatedâ one, Agnifilo said.
âIf racketeering conspiracy had an opposite, it would be their relationship." Agnifilo said. "They were deeply in love with each other."
Echoing prosecutor Christy Slavikâs closing argument on Thursday, Agnifilo showed jurors part of the now-infamous security camera footage of Combs attacking Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Agnifilo acknowledged that the video clearly shows domestic violence, but he disputed the prosecutionâs theory that the assault was evidence of sex trafficking by force. Pausing the tape several times, he insisted Combs may have been angry not that Cassie was trying to flee a âfreak-off,â but that she was taking his cellphone.
In her rebuttal, Comey said: âBeing a domestic abuser is not a defense to sex trafficking.â