Sean “Diddy” Combs was portrayed in his lawyer’s closing argument on Friday because the sufferer of an overzealous prosecution that attempted to show the leisure use of medicine and a swinger life-style right into a racketeering conspiracy that would put the music mogul behind bars for all times.
Legal professional Marc Agnifilo mocked the federal government’s case in opposition to Combs and belittled the brokers who seized tons 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 stated of the brokers.
He stated prosecutors had “badly exaggerated” proof of the swinger life-style 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 stated.
Agnifilo additionally known 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 had been a figment of the prosecution’s creativeness.
Combs’ household, together with six of his kids and his mom, had been within the viewers for the closing.
All his life, Combs has taken care of individuals, Agnifilo stated, together with the ex-girlfriend who testified beneath the pseudonym Jane, whose hire he’s paying.
“I don’t know what Jane is doing today,” Agnifilo stated. “But she’s doing it in a house he’s paying for.”
Referring to lawsuits filed by Combs’ accusers, he stated: “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money. This is about money.”
He famous that Combs’ girlfriend of practically 11 years — Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — sued him in a lawsuit that was settled for $20 million in a day in November 2023, triggering a federal probe the next day.
“If you had to pick a winner in this whole thing, it’s hard not to pick Cassie,” Agnifilo stated.
Cassie and Jane each testified throughout the trial that they had been coerced repeatedly by Combs to carry out in drug-fueled dayslong intercourse marathons with male intercourse staff whereas Combs watched, directed, masturbated and generally 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 stated.
He additionally mocked the prosecution’s assertion that Combs and his underlings had engaged in tons of of racketeering acts and their suggestion that lots of his so-called freak-offs and “hotel nights” had been crimes.
If that’s so, he stated, “we need a bigger role 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 habits doesn’t justify the grave costs he faces.
He stated 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 stated.
If convicted, Combs may face a compulsory minimal of 15 years in jail and a most of life.
He didn’t testify throughout the trial that’s in its seventh week.
After Agnifilo completes his closing, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Maurene Comey was anticipated to ship a rebuttal summation earlier than the choose reads the legislation to the jury, which isn’t anticipated to start deliberations till Monday.
Sources for victims of sexual assault can be found by means of the Nationwide Sexual Violence Sources Middle and the Nationwide Sexual Assault Phone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
