Aided by a network of staff and unlimited money, Sean “Diddy” Combs long believed he was untouchable — hiding behind his celebrity while heading a criminal syndicate that enabled him to brutalize and humiliate women sexually, a federal prosecutor said in closing arguments Thursday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Slavik told a Manhattan Federal Court jury that the evidence presented over more than seven weeks proves that in the decades before his September 2024 arrest, the rap mogul wielded his wealth like a mob boss.
“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” Slavik said, later concluding, “That stops now. It’s time to hold him accountable. It’s time for justice.”
The prosecutor said trial testimony and thousands of exhibits proved high-ranking members of Combs’ Bad Boy Records empire habitually committed crimes like kidnapping, arson, drug distribution, sex trafficking, bribery, transportation to engage in prostitution, forced labor and obstruction.
But to find Combs guilty of racketeering conspiracy — one of five counts he’s facing, which could result in a life sentence — Slavik said jurors only needed to find that one of those crimes was committed by members of his enterprise at least twice.
The prosecutor said evidence of drug distribution had yielded “hundreds” of examples, referencing allegations Combs’ staff procured and delivered drugs to his sordid sex parties to keep women submissive and awake for days at a time.
Slavik rattled off names the jury heard throughout the trial — Combs’ “right hand,” Kristina Khorram, or “KK,” and top lieutenants D Roc, Uncle Paulie, Bonds, Rube and Faheem — from women who described their constant presence as formidable.
“It was his kingdom and everyone was there to serve him,” Slavik said. “The enterprise’s purpose was to protect its leader.”
The prosecutor said instances of kidnapping jurors heard about from a former Combs assistant, Capricorn Clark, were elements of racketeering, as were countless instances of staff hiding Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, in hotel rooms or at his properties while she healed from his brutal assaults.
Graphic accounts of beatings jurors heard from Ventura and the anonymous witness “Jane” were “chapters of the same book,” Slavik said.
The prosecutor said weekly marathon sex parties that Combs dubbed “freak-offs,” “wild king nights,” or “hotel nights” — debauched events jurors heard extensively about from Ventura and Jane and watched footage of — demonstrated he was guilty of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.
Ventura and Jane described the drugged-up and baby oil-saturated sessions directed by Combs as dehumanizing and said they could run up to five days. Both said Combs often tasked them with sourcing cheap escorts to have sex with for his gratification and that he paid for their travel across the country and to Caribbean islands. Combs faces charges of transportation to engage in prostitution tied to the degrading sex sessions.
Slavik said Combs’ claims the “freak-offs” were consensual and that prosecutors were making a fetish a felony were disputed by the women’s testimony and reams of digital correspondence showing them telling Combs they did not want to sleep with other men. They testified he threatened to withhold paying their rent, ruin their reputations and publicly release videos of the “freak-offs.”
“Cassie and Jane did not want to have sex with escorts while the defendant watched, masturbated and filmed,” Slavik said.
To convict Combs of the sex trafficking count, which could also carry life behind bars, the prosecutor said the jury only needed to determine the crime was committed in one “freak-off.”
Slavik said Combs wielded his power to abuse the “moldable” young women.
Ventura, 17 years Combs’ junior, was 19 when she was signed to his record label in 2007 and 21 when they started dating. “Jane” was raising her child as a single mother when she first met Combs in 2020.
A third accuser tied to the crime of forced labor, a former live-in assistant for Combs who testified under the pseudonym “Mia,” alleged she was 26 when Combs first stuck his hand up her skirt at his 40th birthday blowout at the Plaza Hotel. She alleged he raped and sexually assaulted her during later encounters and refused to let her leave his house without permission.
Slavik said evidence made it “absolutely clear” Combs and his inner circle knew he was breaking the law, like when Khorram allegedly bribed security staff at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles to hand over damning video surveillance of him beating Ventura.
Slavik walked jurors through extensive testimony they had heard about Combs and his security guard, Rube, breaking into rapper Kid Cudi’s Hollywood Hills home in late 2011 after Combs learned he had dated Ventura.
Clark alleged that an armed Combs had kidnapped her in the night to help him hunt down the rapper, whose real name is Scott Mescudi. Ventura testified about Combs threatening to blow up Mescudi’s car while Combs was out of the country, a threat that Mescudi testified was realized weeks after the break-in.
Combs, 55, wore a light blue sweater to court Thursday, gestured to his kids in the gallery, and passed Post-Its to his lawyers. He pleaded not guilty to all counts. His attorney, Marc Agnifilo, is set to deliver his summation Friday.
Originally Published: June 26, 2025 at 12:07 PM EDT
