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Sean Combs acted because the omnipotent kingpin atop a racketeering conspiracy that used violence, silence, and “disgrace” to entice two girls in episodes of intercourse trafficking the place that they had no selection however to carry out drug-fueled intercourse acts with male escorts for his voyeuristic fantasies, a federal prosecutor instructed jurors Thursday.
Throughout closing arguments at Combs’ intercourse trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial, Assistant U.S. Legal professional Christy Slavik walked jurors by the federal government’s 5 felony prices in opposition to the music mogul which have been the topic of his carefully watched, seven-week trial in decrease Manhattan. Slavik known as Combs the “chief of a felony enterprise” who refused to “take no for a solution” and all the time bought what he wished.
“The defendant was a really {powerful} man, however he turned extra {powerful} and extra harmful due to the assist of his interior circle and his companies — the enterprise,” Slavik mentioned. She instructed jurors Combs made it clear to his alleged victims that he commanded an “armed and prepared” safety workers prepared to “defend” him in opposition to any perceived threats.
“It’s his kingdom,” she mentioned of Combs. “Everybody was there to serve him.”
Tying collectively the federal government’s case after weeks of generally disjointed testimony, Slavik instructed jurors they may discover Combs responsible of racketeering conspiracy in the event that they decide he and only one different alleged co-conspirator agreed to 2 of the eight so-called “predicate” acts listed in his indictment. She mentioned the acts might be two separate cases of the identical crime, equivalent to drug distribution or cases of bribery, arson, kidnapping, intercourse trafficking, compelled labor, witness tampering or transportation to interact in prostitution.
Slavik meticulously laid out testimony associated to every possibility, together with the time Combs allegedly handed a resort safety guard a $100,000 money “bribe” for what he believed was the one copy of surveillance video displaying Combs beating Ventura at Los Angeles’ InterContinental Lodge in March 2016. She mentioned compelled labor may embody the “grueling” intercourse marathons that Combs allegedly compelled his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a more moderen ex-girlfriend who testified beneath the pseudonym “Jane” to endure over a number of days in darkened resort rooms.
Slavik additionally clarified that Combs might be discovered responsible of intercourse trafficking if jurors resolve he coerced the ladies into only one undesirable intercourse act with a paid male escort. “This isn’t an all-or-nothing state of affairs,” she emphasised. Slavik famous that it doesn’t matter if the ladies beforehand expressed some degree of enthusiasm for the encounters. If there was simply “one occasion” the place Ventura or Jane felt coerced right into a freak-off by “power, threats of power, fraud or coercion,” that’s sufficient, she mentioned, “Mr. Combs must be discovered responsible of intercourse trafficking.”
On the finish of her five-and-a-half hour presentation, Slavik mentioned Combs dedicated “crime after crime” over a span of 20 years, and he ought to face penalties.
“It’s time to carry him accountable. It’s time for justice,” she concluded. “It’s time to seek out the defendant responsible.”
The protection will start their closing argument on Friday forward of the federal government’s remaining rebuttal, with the jury set to start deliberations on Monday.
The 55-year-old Unhealthy Boy Information founder, who faces as much as life in jail if convicted as charged, has pleaded not responsible to 1 depend of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of intercourse trafficking, and two counts of transportation to interact in prostitution. (Combs’ legal professionals mentioned his relationships might have been “poisonous” and generally bodily abusive, however not felony.)
On Thursday, the courtroom’s rows reserved for Combs’ household have been packed along with his mom, three sons and three eldest daughters. Within the remaining days of the trial, Combs seemed to be happy along with his all-star authorized group’s dealing with of the case — evident within the hugs he gave to his attorneys after they rested their protection inside 25 minutes on Tuesday. However the begin of closing arguments was markedly completely different. Combs appeared nervous, steadying his palms whereas pouring himself a cup of water. He sat largely nonetheless, dealing with straight forward and taking occasional glances on the jury.
Chatting with jurors whereas members of Combs’ household watched on, Slavik pointed to each Ventura and Jane’s tearful testimony the place they instructed jurors they felt “obligated” to take part in, and generally facilitate, the sexual encounters with male escorts to maintain Combs pleased. Slavik mentioned Combs personally paid the escorts and generally flew them cross-country to affix the days-long intercourse marathons. The ladies mentioned they got here to know these extremely degrading, ecstasy-induced nights by a wide range of names. For Ventura, they have been freak-offs, however for Jane, they have been often known as “resort nights” and “debauchery.”
However Slavik mentioned home violence was a key consider Combs’ multifaceted coercion of Ventura with a view to preserve her beneath his management and for her to proceed to present Combs his sexual fantasy. She mentioned for Ventura, the thought she would pay a worth for any defiance — whether or not within the type of a beating or threats to launch her intercourse tapes — turned her “new regular.”
“It turned her job,” Slavik mentioned, referring to Combs’ calls for Ventura costume up in sky-high platform heels, slather herself in child oil, have intercourse with strangers for days at a time, then spend the remainder of the week recovering from the come down of medicine. “It turned her disgrace.”
The prosecutor mentioned Combs anticipated “complete compliance,” and if he didn’t get it, he would lash out with aggression. “She’s knew that when he was pleased, she was protected,” Slavik mentioned. “If the defendant wished a freak-off, it was going to occur.”
Slavik pointed to a 2023 cross-country journey to New York that Jane initially refused as a result of she didn’t wish to have a freak-off, however finally agreed to when Combs insisted it might be a romantic weekend collectively. Unbeknownst to Jane, textual content messages present that Combs was nonetheless organizing a freak-off for that night time. Slavik mentioned Combs “tricked” Jane into making the journey, pulling the “rug out from beneath her.” In that second, “earlier than the airplane even lands,” Slavik added, “that may be a accomplished act of intercourse trafficking.”
Slavik additionally zeroed in on one night time final June when Combs allegedly choked, kicked, and punched her in a battle at her home and compelled her right into a subsequent freak-off. Referencing Jane’s testimony, Slavik mentioned when Jane protested, Combs even leaned in and whispered, “Is that this coercion?” – an alleged nod to his consciousness he was already beneath investigation for the alleged intercourse trafficking of Ventura. Slavik mentioned Combs was “taunting” Jane and “openly acknowledging that he was breaking the exact same regulation, the exact same regulation that he’d damaged repeatedly earlier than.”
In her arguments Thursday, Slavik mentioned Combs coerced Ventura and Jane by each threats and violence and making them flip down work so that they turned financially depending on him. She added that he would ply them with medicine that made them helpless to withstand. She mentioned with Ventura, a then 37-year-old Combs took a “moldable” 19-year-old aspiring singer and took benefit of her naiveté, grooming her for freak-offs amid a relationship with a clearly skewed energy dynamic.
She mentioned Ventura additionally understood Combs was a hazard to others round her. Ventura watched as Combs allegedly assaulted her buddy Deonte Nash when he as soon as stepped in to guard her, Slavik mentioned, and he or she was current the day Combs allegedly dangled designer Bryana Bongolan off her Seventeenth-story balcony. Ventura additionally knew Combs paid her buddy Kerry Morgan after allegedly choking and chucking a wood hanger at Morgan’s head. (The three associates all corroborated the alleged assaults in testimony.)
Prosecutors mentioned on Thursday that Ventura knew that Combs broke into Child Cudi’s home with a gun and explicitly threatened the rapper’s life, Slavik mentioned. Combs additionally allegedly instructed Ventura he deliberate to explode Mescudi’s automobile. Days later, Child Cudi’s Porsche exploded in his driveway in broad daylight, she mentioned. “After all the defendant was behind this,” Slavik mentioned.
In yet one more level of clarification, Slavik instructed jurors that Combs’ alleged felony enterprise was separate from his extremely public, billion-dollar enterprise empire. She mentioned the enterprise operated within the shadows, solely recognized to a trusted group of handsomely paid co-conspirators. One chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, was paid $600,000 per 12 months, Slavik mentioned.
The prosecutor mentioned the proof supplied by the federal government’s 34 witnesses proved past an inexpensive doubt that every time Combs’ relationships with Ventura or Jane wanted consideration or have been getting ready to collapse – or worse but, dreaded public publicity – the mogul and his minions did no matter was obligatory to meet his needs and thrust back dangerous publicity. She mentioned whereas the protection claims Combs bought the resort video solely to safeguard Combs’ repute, that was an apparent objective that wasn’t mutually unique from conserving his enterprise afloat.
Although the high-powered protection legal professionals declined to name any witnesses of their very own, they centered their cross-examinations on undermining the credibility of key authorities witnesses and amplifying particulars they are saying confirmed Combs conserving private particulars of his intercourse life separate from his workers.
However prosecutors declare that even when Combs tried to maintain his hiring of male escorts hidden, there have been a number of folks on his payroll — exterior of his most trusted interior circle — who had seen a unadorned man scurrying away in a resort room, a stranger coming into Combs and Ventura’s suite late at night time, and an express video of an unknown man having intercourse with Jane whereas Combs watched. “If all these folks figured it out, it defies logic” that Combs’ co-conspirators weren’t conscious of the hiring of male escorts, Slavik mentioned.
Some staffers testified they have been conscious of Combs’ capability for violence. One former assistant mentioned witnessing a dispute between Combs and a girlfriend recognized as Gina was the final straw that led him to stop. However they mentioned working for the mogul was an all-consuming proposition, they usually quickly turned so remoted and desensitized, they turned satisfied that strolling away from the tight-knit Unhealthy Boy household and what many thought of a dream job can be a grave mistake.
Prosecutors allege that safety guards and even Khorram despatched complicated alerts, making them suppose that they had allies and that issues would enhance. However Slavik mentioned Thursday that the bodyguards and Khorram’s loyalty was with Combs, reminding jurors that Khorram allegedly saved shut tabs on Ventura for her boss and purportedly helped dealer the acquisition of the resort video.
Slavik reminded jurors of Combs’ excessive willingness to make use of violence and concern “to get what he wished” in any state of affairs. “He doesn’t take ‘no’ for a solution,” she instructed the jury. “Up till immediately, the defendant was capable of get away with these crimes due to his cash, his energy, his affect. That stops now.”
From Rolling Stone US.