“Diddy” defense will have difficulty undermining accusations, says expert

The singer Sean “Diddy” Combs 55, will argue in his trial for sex trafficking, which begins next week, that the women who participated in their elaborate sex parties did so voluntarily. Their lawyers, however, will face an arduous battle to try to undermine the credibility of the accusers who say the hip-hop tycoon forced them to participate.

Combs, a former billyland known for raising hip hop in American culture in the 1990s and early 2000s, declared himself innocent of five criminal accusations, including extortion and sexual traffic .

Prosecutors of the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan say that for two decades he has used his business empire to attract women to his orbit with promises of romantic relationships or financial support, and then used violence and threats to oblige them to participate in drug-driven, known as “freak offs” sex with men’s sex workers.

“The defense has a very difficult battle ahead,” said Heather Cucolo, a teacher at the New York Law School. “There was a clear dynamic of power, and this dynamic of power will be a main focus and a central question here.”

Comb lawyers, 55, said prosecutors are unduly trying to criminalize a consensual swinger lifestyle where he and his longtime girlfriends sometimes bring a third person to their relationships.

The jury selection for his trial began on Monday (5), with the initial allegations scheduled for May 12.

To persuade the jury, their lawyers will have to undermine the reports of at least four women who must witness that he coerced them to participate in unwanted sexual acts. Comb lawyers signaled that they intend to argue that women had financial incentives to falsely accuse abuse comb.

Other high -profile criminal defendants in sexual abuse judgment implemented similar strategies in an era #Metoo that encouraged victims to speak up. Many of these defendants, such as R&B singer R. Kelly and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, were condemned anyway.

Combs defense says it has evidence that the accusers are not being sincere. Defense attorney Teny Geragos said in a judicial hearing on April 14 that an accused, referred to in the court’s file as a victim-4, had “selected the finger” the material he chose to deliver to the promoters, omitting an important context.

At a judicial hearing on November 22, 2024, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said another woman, referred to in the prosecution as a victim-1, had her lawyer asking another $ 30 million fighter lawyer in exchange for not publishing an autobiography. When the money did not materialize, she sued Combs in November 2023 and resolved the case for an unclotted amount, said Agnifilo, without naming the accuser.

R&B singer Casandra Ventura, a longtime girlfriend of Combs who presents herself under the stage name Cassie, accused Combs sex trafficking in a process of 16 November 2023. The case was quickly resolved and the terms were not disclosed. Combs denied the allegations.

“Our defense against these accusations is that this was a toxic, loving relationship, 11,” agnifilo said at the hearing last November.

Beating video

Combs faces a major obstacle: a hotel surveillance video that prosecutors want to show the jury, showing Combs kicking and dragging a woman in a corridor. Prosecutors say the woman was trying to leave a Freak Off at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.

Combs defense can argue that the video showed a domestic dispute not related to any extortion conspiracy. Agnifilo said the woman in the video had caught the Combs belongings and left the hotel room after finding out he had another girlfriend.

“As the government says this is somehow evidence of sexual trafficking, it is evidence that Mr. Combs had more than one girlfriend and was caught,” agnifilo said in a judicial hearing on September 30, 2024.

Neither the promoters nor the defense named the woman in the surveillance video. THE CNN Last year he broadcast a video that seemed to show him attacking Cassie in 2016. Combs posted an apology on social networks days later.

Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a New York defense lawyer who tried sexual crimes, said the accusation lacked details about other specific actions that Combs had taken to compel women to participate in the “Freak Off”.

“The fact that he fought with his girlfriend seems weak evidence to accuse rich,” said Margulis-Ohnuma, referring to the law of corrupt organizations influenced by organized crime.

Prosecutors support Rico’s accusation by claiming that Comb companies have helped him to transport women to the freak offs, pay for sex workers and cover up the activity.

The Combs defense asked the US district judge Arun Subramanian to let them call a forensic video expert as a witness to witness that a version of the hotel’s surveillance video was distorted to make Combs look more dominant than he was.

But Combs’ allegation that the woman in the video was stealing her property is a “weak line of defense,” said Mark Zauderer, a partner at New York’s law firm Dorf Nelson & Zauderer.

“Even if the alleged victim had done something wrong, it would be, in my opinion, very unlikely that a jury considered the kind of violence shown in that video,” Zauderer said.

Sean Combs, P. Diddy: Understand the case involving the rapper

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Source: CNN Brasil