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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial opened in Manhattan on Monday, with prosectors wasting no time in portraying the music mogul as a predator and sharing alleged details of some of his most hideous crimes.
“During this trial, you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes,” prosecutor Emily A. Johnson told the jury in her opening statement. “But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and helped him cover them up.”
Combs faces federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and violating federal prostitution laws. If convicted on all counts, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
According to the New York Times, the prosecution focusing heavily on Combs’ relationship with his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, who was just 19 when they met in the mid-2000s. Johnson described several harrowing acts of violence committed against Cassie, including a 2009 incident in which Combs allegedly “threw Ventura to the floor of an SUV and stomped repeatedly on her face.” She also alleged that Combs forced a male escort to urinate into Ventura’s mouth during one of the rapper’s infamous Freak-Off parties. Ventura plans to take the stand and testify against Combs during the trial.
Another alleged victim, referred to as “Mia” by prosecutors, also plans to testify during the trial. Described as a former employee of Combs, she has said that he “forced himself on her sexually,” including sneaking into her bed to “penetrate her against her will.
In addition to the victims’ testimonies, prosecutors intend to prove their case with text messages in which Combs directed his staff to pay for prostitutes; surveillance footage of Combs assaulting Ventura (which he later allegedly attempted to purchase from a hotel in hopes of preventing its release); and video footage of his Freak-Offs.
In her own opening statement, Combs’ defense attorney, Teny Geragos, acknowledged her client is “flawed,” and was part of a “toxic, dysfunctional relationship” with Ventura that included “domestic violence.” However, she denied that Combs engaged in the crimes he has been charged with.
“Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case,” Geragos told the jury. “We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
The defense characterized Combs’ accusers as “willing” participants in his “swinger lifestyle,” emphasizing that these were “consensual” relationships involving “capable, strong” women who were “in love with him.”
“This case is about Sean Combs’s private, personal sex life,” Geragos argued, “which has nothing to do with his lawful businesses.”
“He is not charged with being mean. He is not charged with being a jerk. He is charged with running a racketeering enterprise,” Geragos added.
The trial is expected to last two months.
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