By Nathan Roper

The trial of the hip-hop superstar and entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is approaching its conclusion, with both the prosecution and defence making their closing arguments. 

Combs stands accused of engaging in a multitude of criminal activities and sexual misconduct over the course of his career. He is facing racketeering and trafficking charges, which could see him spending the remainder of his life in jail.

It seems the entertainment world has turned its back on him. No one wants to be implicated in this sordid drama.

The controversy first entered the limelight following raids by law enforcement on Diddy’s New York, Miami, and Los Angeles residences in March 2024. During these events, officers of the Department of Homeland Security discovered and seized multiple computers, illegal drugs, firearms, and over 1,000 bottles of ‘baby oil lubricant’, used in Diddy’s infamous “freak offs”.

In the ensuing months, Diddy was subject to increased scrutiny from the press, which began to uncover sensitive details about his private life. At the same time, several of his former associates and partners began to come forward, levying their own individual lawsuits. These include Rodney Jones, Diddy’s producer, former assistant Brendan Paul, singer Dawn Richard, and several others.

All of the aforementioned people levied accusations at Diddy, saying he engaged in abuse, assault, and sexual harassment against themselves or others close to them. However, these private cases all took a back seat on September 16th 2024, when Diddy was officially arrested at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan.

The following day, Combs stood before the Manhattan Federal Court.  An indictment alleged that the man who founded Bad Boy Records had masterminded and ran a criminal enterprise from 2008 to the present day, which involved coerced “freak off” orgies, drug abuse, and violence. Diddy pleaded not guilty to all charges, but was denied bail and was held in the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Centre.

In the months that followed, both the prosecution and defence began to prepare for the upcoming trial, set to begin in May 2025. Combs was able to gather a team, led by Marc Agnifilo. Other notable lawyers backing up the artiste include Teny Geragos, Alexandra Shapiro, Brian Steel, Xavier Donaldson, Anna Estevao, Jason Driscoll, and Linda Moreno.

The prosecution team was spearheaded by Maurene Comey, making up one of the eight other prosecutors brought forward by the United States Attorney’s Department. The rest of the prosecution consists of Emily Johnson, Christy Slavik, Madison Smyser, Meredith Foster, Mitzi Steiner, Jamie Bagliebter, and Jacqueline Kelly. In a twist of fate, the defendant accused of sexual violence and abuse against women faced a predominantly female prosecution team.

Judge Arun Subramanian was selected to preside over the Diddy trial, which began on the 5th of May. The prosecution and defence then proceeded to vet and decide on the jury. Of the over 100 jury candidates, only 19 jurors were selected. The actual opening arguments for the trial were to begin a week later, on May 12th.

Initial proceedings began on schedule, with Emily Johnson presenting the prosecution’s opening statements, and Teny Geragos doing so for the defence. The former continued to push the narrative that Diddy was a sexual deviant who abused and took advantage of women, whilst the latter conceded that though the accused had a temper, all his sexual activities were consensual and that he had not broken any law.

The argument was that what goes on in people’s bedrooms between consenting adults is nobody’s business.

During that first day, the prosecution brought forward their first witness, hotel security worker Daniel Phillip, who confirmed the authenticity of a 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-longtime partner, Cassie Ventura. The next day, Ventura herself arrived to take the stand and testify against her ex-boyfriend.

On the 13th, controversial Hip Hop artist and Rapper Kanye West made a brief appearance at court, in a show of solidarity for Combs. However, the big headlines were the testimonies of Ventura, who cited several cases of her being abused and coerced by Diddy. Ventura, 17 years younger than Combs, had first met the accused when she was 19. Combs recruited Ventura as a singer, with the two quickly becoming romantically and sexually involved. They remained a couple for 10 years, eventually breaking up in 2018.

Ventura was harshly cross-examined by the defence, who claimed that Combs had not forced her into anything, and that Cassie had freedom of action the entire time, as evidenced by multiple text messages showing Ventura expressing her love for Diddy and willingly participating in the freak offs. The prosecution particularly tried to unravel Cassie’s claim that she was raped by Combs during their final year together.

Additional witnesses affiliated with Sean Combs were also called forward. Ex-employee of Diddy, George Kaplan, stated that his former boss had been verbally abusive and often required his help in covering up the aftermath of his ‘freak offs’ at hotels. Kaplan claimed that he often had to work up to 100 hours a week, whilst routinely being threatened with the termination of his contract. Kaplan also mentioned multiple instances of Diddy supposedly buying drugs, baby oil, and parts for A-15 assault rifles.

Another damning testimony was provided by ‘Mia’, one of Sean Combs’ lovers who also worked for the R&B artist whilst secretly being sexually involved with him during his time with Ventura. Speaking under a pseudonym, she claimed that she was afraid of what Diddy was capable of. Mia claimed that Combs had stolen Ventura’s phone and gone through it, and had attached a tracker to her car for surveillance reasons.

Other key witnesses brought forward by the defence include Ventura’s mother, who declared that she had been blackmailed with a sex tape of her daughter, and rapper Kid Cudi, whom Combs allegedly tried to harm when the former entered into a brief fling with Cassie. Psychologist Dawn Hughes was also brought to the stand to explain Stockholm Syndrome and how several women affiliated with Diddy may have felt forced to remain with him in spite of sustained abuse. 

The defence hit back, continuing to state that all of Diddy’s sexual relations were consensual, and any other charges lacked proper evidence. Video footage of Mia showing her wishing Combs a happy birthday and acting provocatively was presented, as were pictures of the defendant standing by happily with all of the previous witnesses brought before the court, showing signs of ‘friendship’ and a ‘lack of animosity’.

On June 26th, the prosecution gave their closing arguments, which lasted only thirty minutes. The charges of Attempted Kidnapping, Attempted Arson, Aiding and Abetting Sexual Trafficking were all dropped. The defence maintained their arguments throughout, with Marc Agnifilo stating that all the evidence provided was greatly exaggerated. 

Over the last eight weeks, what has been heard is a case of willing participants engaged in depraved sexual acts, in many cases for money. It was said that this case would bring down some of the biggest names in the American entertainment world. That hasn’t happened. It was said that Jennifer Lopez would be drawn into this and may have some knowledge of what actually took place with these “freak-offs” and unsavoury behaviour by some of the world’s top entertainment stars. To date, there is no evidence that points to Jennifer Lopez having anything to do with Diddy’s sexual proclivities or having any unique insight into claimed racketeering and criminal activities.

What has come to light is a number of porn stars, escorts and other individuals were paid to engage in lengthy sex sessions with Diddy’s girlfriends which were filmed. Those girlfriends are on record as enjoying the experience and, in many cases, setting them up with the approval of Diddy.

It’s no secret that many women seek security and money from men with means and are prepared to do things to obtain just that. Is that the case here? Should Diddy spend the remainder of his life behind bars for consensual sexual depravity with willing adult women?

Given the Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, R. Kelly and Bill Cosby situation, there may be an element of moral censoriousness here which deems that society and the legal system cannot let this pass and that Diddy must be held up as what should never be allowed. He, therefore, should be made a pariah, locked away, unable to implicate or threaten the entertainment elite with dirty secrets.

Looking at it from a strict legal basis, do these acts warrant him facing the full brunt of the law? The women were willing participants and have said they wanted to please him. He didn’t hold a gun to their heads. The men brought in to have sex with them were well paid and all had a grand ole time, slipping and sliding in baby oil. If Diddy goes down hard for this, then why didn’t the now deceased head of Playboy, Hugh Hefner and others who engage in this sort of thing not pay a similar price?

The jury is set to begin deliberations on a verdict on June 30th and present it in early July.