On the ultimate day of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial earlier than jury deliberations, the hip-hop mogul’s legal professional Marc Agnifilo enlivened the courtroom with an impassioned closing argument. Within the coming days, the jury will decide whether or not Combs is responsible of intercourse trafficking, racketeering and transportation to interact in prostitution. A conviction might land him behind bars for all times.

Agnifilo’s demeanor was animated and at instances folksy, not like the prosecution’s chilly, formal tone. He paced across the courtroom, starting his summations by gushing about Combs’ character and enterprise acumen, saying he was a champion of variety. “Sean Combs has turn out to be one thing that could be very, very arduous to be,” Agnifilo stated. “He’s a self-made, profitable, Black entrepreneur.” He recounted a few of the optimistic issues Combs’ former staff stated about him on the witness stand, including, “Did they at all times like him? No method. Let’s not even go there. However they liked him. They didn’t need to depart him.”

The protection put a highlight on the presence of Combs’ youngsters and mom within the courtroom, saying, “The person takes care of individuals.” Taking a swipe at one in all Combs’ alleged victims, “Jane,” Agnifilo stated, “I hope she’s having a pleasant day, however ya know the place she’s doing it? In a home he’s paying for.”

Agnifilo argued that Combs is on a “false trial,” that he’s not responsible of intercourse trafficking however is as an alternative a member of the “swingers life-style” who participated in consensual “threesomes” along with his ex-girlfriends and male entertainers.

“Nobody’s forcing her to do that,” Agnifilo stated of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Combs’ ex who accused him of raping her and coercing her into tons of of “freak-offs,” drug-fueled intercourse events that lasted days on finish. On the heart of the trial is a 2016 surveillance video that depicts Combs beating Ventura in a lodge hallway and allegedly making an attempt to tug her again right into a “freak-off.”

“We personal the home violence,” Agnifilo stated. All through the trial, the protection has admitted that Combs was violent with Ventura, however that the violence was not related to the “freak-offs.” Agnifilo painted Ventura as a powerful, good lady who loved her intercourse life with Combs. “She’s a lady who really likes intercourse,” Agnifilo stated. “Good for her! She’s lovely, she ought to. She’s intense. She’s unafraid.”

Agnifilo referenced Ventura’s testimony about her transient love affair with the singer Scott Mescudi, aka Child Cudi. Ventura stated she tried to maintain her relationship with Mescudi a secret from Combs by buying a second cellphone. “Whoooaaa! A burner telephone!” Agnifilo stated, his voice leaping up an octave. “Cassie is maintaining it gangsta!” He stated Ventura “performed” each Combs and Mescudi, implying she wouldn’t have had a secret relationship if she was really “scared to demise of Sean Combs.”

Addressing the kidnapping allegations in opposition to Combs, which pertain to his racketeering cost, Agnifilo referenced former assistant Capricorn Clark’s declare that she was held for 5 days in a Manhattan workplace constructing, compelled to take a lie detector check about stolen jewellery. “A door-to-door kidnap,” Agnifilo stated mockingly, emphasizing that Clark slept at house, and that one in all Combs’ safety guards drove her to and from the constructing every day. “You guys are right here for lengthy hours,” he instructed the jury. “Anybody right here really feel kidnapped?”

Agnifilo’s tone was incredulous: “He’s charged with kidnapping. That’s actual!” And he instructed the jurors they “have the fitting” to query the federal government’s claims and disrespect witness testimony.

The lawyer picked aside the allegations of bribery, witness tampering and obstruction — and targeted closely on the implication that Combs orchestrated an act of arson on Mescudi’s automobile. (Combs had allegedly stated beforehand that he was going to explode the car, however an investigation on the time discovered no proof resulting in Combs.) “That’s not his model,” Agnifilo stated, suggesting that Combs would like a man-to-man confrontation with Mescudi — “an excellent old school John Wayne, eight-in-the-morning Hollywood Hills battle.”

All through the closing argument, Combs nodded and listened intently, both leaning again in his chair or crossing his arms on the desk. Within the morning, one in all his sons, Justin Combs, was carrying a shirt that learn “Free Sean Combs,” which isn’t permitted within the courtroom. A courtroom marshal approached him, and Justin left and re-entered the room with out the message seen.

Agnifilo was theatrical in his summation — and infrequently used sarcasm to drive house his arguments. He used a mocking tone when describing the raids on Combs’ properties, saying they made America “secure from Astroglide.” “Strategy to go fellas, you guys simply do you. They took Astroglide and child oil and that’s the proof on this case,” he stated. When pooh-poohing the drug distribution racketeering costs, Agnifilo admitted “there’s no query” Combs “had a drug drawback,” however that his medicine had been for private use solely, and never a part of a legal enterprise. That when his workers picked up and delivered medicine like Xanax and ecstacy to Combs, they weren’t conscious they had been committing crimes — they had been simply finishing up private assistant duties as is widespread within the leisure business. “I don’t suppose we’ll see Beyoncé at CVS,” Agnifilo stated.

Addressing the racketeering costs, the legal professional stated there’s a “gaping lack of proof,” and with respect to the transportation to interact in prostitution costs, he repeated the protection’s stance that Combs paid male escorts for his or her “time,” not for intercourse.

Wrapping issues up, Agnifilo leveled with the jury. “It takes plenty of braveness to acquit,” he stated. He stated the idea of a jury is likely one of the nice issues about America, and that it’s a tough factor for a juror to rule in opposition to the federal prosecutors. “You guys are the US of America,” he stated, elevating his voice. “You need to really feel daring, it’s best to really feel the braveness that you will want to name this as you see it, and I’m asking you to summon that braveness and to do what must be achieved and to do the fitting factor.” He requested the jurors to acquit his consumer on all costs. “He sits there harmless. Return him to his household who’ve been ready for him.”

Starting her rebuttal, which is the final time the jurors will hear from the attorneys after seven grueling weeks of trial, prosecutor Maurene Comey sighed: “We’re virtually achieved.” Comey delivered her most fiery remarks but, taking the baton after fellow prosecutor Christy Slavik delivered a five-hour closing argument on Thursday. She laid into the protection, saying the notion that the male escorts weren’t paid for intercourse “doesn’t even cross the snicker check.” When Combs handed them wads of money on the finish of “freak-offs,” it wasn’t for his or her “scintillating dialog,” Comey stated. She referred to an escort’s testimony that supported her argument. Regardless of what the protection posited, the escorts didn’t have to label themselves as prostitutes for his or her conduct to be thought of prostitution.

Supporting the racketeering cost, Comey listed a handful of alleged crimes carried out by Combs’ staff on his behalf. “This can be a man who can not get his personal water bottle or plug in his personal telephone charger,” she stated, implying that after all he wouldn’t commit his personal crimes. “He’s the overall. Not a foot soldier, not a lieutenant. He delegated. And his internal circle did the soiled work for him,” Comey added, pointing to his chief of workers Kristina Khorram as his major alleged co-conspirator.

With respect to the drug distribution costs, Comey stated, “There isn’t a requirement that medicine be distributed for revenue or in massive portions to be unlawful.” In different phrases, Combs handing ecstacy tablets to Ventura and Jane would nonetheless be thought of distribution underneath the legislation.

The tone of her rebuttal intensified as Comey addressed the protection’s underlying argument: that Ventura, one other rape accuser “Mia” and Jane are “mendacity.” She explored every alleged sufferer’s incentives to commit perjury. Ventura already gained a $20 million settlement in opposition to Combs, so there’s no cash seize there. Mia equally already settled with Combs, and since she isn’t in search of fame or consideration, she testified underneath a pseudonym. And Jane, who by no means sued Combs and has no plans to, testified that the defendant continues to pay her lease and authorized charges. For that motive, if she had any incentive to lie, it might be in favor of Combs, Comey argued.

Since opening arguments again in Could, the protection has painted Combs’ accusers as “robust” girls with company. “You already know what, they’re proper about that,” Comey stated. “They had been robust sufficient to outlive what the defendant put them by and testify at this trial.”

Comey returned to what she known as “essentially the most clear-cut instance of intercourse trafficking on this case,” when, in June 2024, Combs allegedly violently attacked Jane earlier than giving her medicine and arranging a “freak-off” with a male escort. “Is that this coercion?” Combs allegedly stated to Jane, mocking the federal investigation looming over him.

The trial reached an explosive climax as Comey rested her rebuttal. “For 20 years, the defendant acquired away along with his crimes. That ends on this courtroom,” she stated. “The defendant isn’t a god. He’s an individual. And on this courtroom, he stands equal earlier than the legislation. Overwhelming proof proves his guilt. It’s time to maintain him accountable. Discover him responsible.”

The jury might make its choice as early as subsequent week.