Sean 'Diddy' Combs' attorneys make closing arguments to jurors

[ad_1] Madeline Halpert & Sakshi Venkatraman BBC Information, New York

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0eb5/live/e5d9c660-53a1-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Reuters Sean "Diddy" Combs listens as his lawyer Marc Agnifilo makes his closing arguments during Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters Mr Agnifilo framed Combs' victims as keen contributors in so-called freak-offs

The intercourse trafficking and racketeering case in opposition to hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was "badly, badly exaggerated", his lawyer advised a panel of 12 New York jurors on Friday.

In his closing, Marc Agnifilo argued for 4 hours that the federal government was criminalising Combs and his girlfriends' "swingers life-style" in what amounted to a "pretend trial".

His 55-year-old shopper pleaded not responsible to costs of intercourse trafficking, racketeering and transportation to interact in prostitution.

"The federal government focused Sean Combs," Mr Agnifilo advised the courtroom, resulting in an objection - later sustained - from prosecutors.

Warning: This story accommodates particulars some readers could discover distressing

Lawyer Christy Slavik spoke to jurors for five-and-a-half hours within the prosecution's closing arguments on Thursday, telling them that Combs abused his energy and enterprise empire to intercourse visitors ladies and commit different crimes.

The prosecution claimed Combs plied his ex girlfriends with medication, and used violence and different means to coerce them into so-called "freak-offs" - Combs' identify for occasions the place he watched and filmed whereas that they had intercourse with male escorts.

Whereas Ms Slavik was calm and methodical throughout a guided digital presentation, Mr Agnifilo was animated - pacing forwards and backwards, and steadily cracking jokes.

He started by attacking the credibility of Combs' ex-girlfriends who testified in opposition to him, Casandra Ventura and nameless witness "Jane".

He referred to as Combs' 11-year-relationship with Ms Ventura - wherein she alleges he beat her repeatedly - "one of many nice fashionable love tales". She was a keen participant of their intercourse lives, he stated.

"She's a lady who truly likes intercourse - good for her," Mr Agnifilo stated. "She's stunning, she ought to."

He argued Ms Ventura was no sufferer, as Combs was now in jail and she or he settled a civil lawsuit in opposition to him for bodily abuse and sexual coercion for thousands and thousands of {dollars}.

"When you needed to choose a winner on this entire factor, it is exhausting to not choose Cassie," he stated.

The issues of their relationship amounted to home violence - and never intercourse trafficking, Mr Agnifilo stated. He tried to solid doubt on prosecutors' argument that the rapper used violence to coerce Ms Ventura into taking part in freak-offs.

The federal government has targeted on a 2016 surveillance video of Combs beating Ms Ventura within the hallway of a Los Angeles lodge, allegedly after she tried to go away a freak-off.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/bf9b/live/ed4206a0-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Court sketch of Sean "Diddy" Combs listens as his lawyer Marc Agnifilo makes his closing arguments" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Taking part in the video for jurors once more, Mr Agnifilo argued it couldn't have been an occasion of intercourse trafficking as a result of Ms Ventura appeared to gesture Combs again to their room when a safety guard arrived on the scene.

There was "nothing scary within the room", he stated, including that freak-offs had been "stunning evenings" with good music and well-decorated rooms.

Mr Agnifilo additionally tried to chip away at Jane's testimony, citing one night time the place she alleges the rapper was violent together with her earlier than a freak-off.

"Her story actually is senseless," he stated.

Combs' lawyer attacked the federal government's racketeering case, the allegation that Combs relied on his loyal workers to assist him commit intercourse trafficking and different crimes, then cowl them up.

There was a "gaping lack of proof" that Combs and his workers ran some form of legal enterprise, and that there have been any co-conspirators, he stated.

Combs' former chief-of-staff, Kristina Khorram, whom prosecutors have pointed to as a co-conspirator, is a "useful" lady who everybody liked, Agnifilo advised the jury.

An actual co-conspirator, he claimed, would have helped kick the door down when Combs is alleged to have tried to interrupt into his ex-girlfriend's residence.

In response to the transportation to interact in prostitution cost, Mr Agnifilo argued that male escorts the hip-hop mogul and his girlfriends employed had been paid "for his or her time" with the couple, and never for intercourse.

On the finish of his arguments, Combs, carrying an off-white sweater, hugged his legal professional. His household, together with his twin daughters and mom, had been seated behind him for the second day in a row.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/867f/live/802c2730-53a2-11f0-adff-0f242f45f6e4.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Courtroom sketch of Sean "Diddy" Combs' family, including his children and mother" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Sean "Diddy" Combs' household, together with his kids and mom, sits within the courtroom on Friday in New York Metropolis.

In a rebuttal to the defence's closing on Friday, prosecutor Maurene Comey took a extra aggressive tone than Ms Slavik's, slamming Combs' attorneys for suggesting his ex-girlfriends had been mendacity and that they needed to interact in freak-offs after being crushed.

"There isn't any separating the violence from the intercourse," Ms Comey stated. "They had been trapped emotionally, bodily and financially."

She famous Ms Ventura's lawsuit settlement, asking, "why danger all of it by perjuring herself at a federal trial?"

Jurors will reconvene on Monday for the decide's directions on tips on how to weigh the case in opposition to the hip-hop mogul. Deliberations are anticipated to start quickly after.

Combs is dealing with life in jail over essentially the most critical costs of racketeering and intercourse trafficking.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7a60/live/bd5c0590-53a1-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="A banner reads "DIDDY ON TRIAL" and includes a photo of the rapper " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Get all the most recent trial updates on the BBC Sounds 'Diddy on Trial' podcast accessible wherever you get your BBC podcasts.