Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.
On the contrary, the trial is a misguided overreach by prosecutors trying to turn consenting sex between adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case, Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos said.
“Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,” Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women. “There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.”
Geragos conceded that Combs' violent outbursts, often fueled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts. She told jurors they might think Combs' is a “jerk” and might not condone his “kinky sex,” but “he’s not charged with being mean. He’s not charged with being a jerk."
Combs, in a white sweater, entered the packed courtroom shortly before 9 a.m., hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs-up to family and friends. The case has drawn intense public interest, and the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs' mother and some of his children were escorted past the crowd and into the building.
Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could land him in prison for at least 15 years if he is convicted on all charges. He has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.
Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but not illegal.
Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters he called “freak offs,” “wild king nights” or “hotel nights,” then kept them in line by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair.
Johnson said a jealous Combs once kidnapped an employee at gunpoint to help find his one-time girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie. When he did, he “beat her brutally, kicking her in the back and flinging her around like a rag doll.”
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, was expected to testify Monday or Tuesday. Combs told Cassie that if she defied him again, he would release recordings of her having sex with a male escort, “souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life," Johnson said.
That was “just the tip of the iceberg,” Johnson said, telling jurors that Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.
The prosecutor said Combs last year brutally beat another woman — identified only as Jane — when she confronted him about enduring years of freak offs in dark hotel rooms while he took other paramours on date nights and trips around the globe.
Geragos argued that Combs and Jane had a “toxic and dysfunctional relationship” and she willingly engaged in freak offs because she wanted to spend time with Combs. Their fight a year ago started when Jane slammed Combs’ head down in a jealous rage, Geragos said, noting that she didn't want to justify Combs’ violence but that the fight wasn’t evidence of sex trafficking.
The sex parties are central to Combs' sexual abuse, prosecutors say. Combs’ company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the U.S. and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said. Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said.
Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a “freak off” without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson said. Combs threatened to ruin Cassie’s singing career by publicly releasing videos of her sexually involved with male escorts, the prosecutor said. “Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,” Johnson said.
Combs sat expressionless as he looked toward Johnson and the jury as the prosecutor described what she said was a pattern of violence, sexual abuse and blackmail.
Cassie sued Combs in 2023, and the lawsuit was settled within hours, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits making similar claims.
Geragos claimed Combs’ accusers were motivated by money. She told jurors that Cassie demanded $30 million when she sued him, and another witness will acknowledge demanding $22 million in a breach of contract lawsuit.
“I want you to ask yourself, how many millions of reasons does this witness ... have to lie?” she said.
After closing arguments, jurors were shown surveillance footage of an attack by Combs on Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016 that prosecutors say is a key piece of evidence in their case against him. The video depicts Cassie with a bag at the hotel elevators just before Combs rounds a corner, strikes her and throws her to the ground before kicking her and then dragging her back toward their room.
After CNN aired video of the attack last year, Combs apologized and said was "disgusted" by his actions.
The footage was shown during the testimony from the trial's first witness, Los Angeles Police Officer Israel Florez, who was working as a security officer at the hotel on the day of the attack. He testified that he encountered Combs along with a woman when he responded to a report of a “woman in distress."
Florez said he found Combs, wearing only a towel and slouching in a chair “with a blank stare ... like a devilish stare, just looking at me.” He said that as he was escorting Cassie and Combs to their room, Cassie indicated that she wanted to leave and Combs told her: “You’re not going to leave.” Florez said he told Combs, “If she wants to leave, she’s going to leave.”
Cassie left, and Florez said Combs called for him while holding a stack of money with a $100 bill on top and telling him, “Don't tell nobody.” Florez said he considered it a bribe and told Combs, “I don't want your money. Just go back into your room.”
Geragos also conceded that Combs is extremely jealous and “has a bad temper,” telling the jury that he sometimes got angry and lashed out when he drank alcohol or “did the wrong drugs.” But, she said, “Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done.
The trial is expected to last two months.
___
This story was updated to correct the spelling of Casandra Ventura's first name, which had been misspelled “Cassandra.”
___
Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP