Jury set to deliberate ‘Diddy’ Combs’ fate

New York (AFP) — Jurors on Monday will begin deliberating whether Sean “Diddy” Combs parlayed his celebrity, wealth and business empire into a decades-long criminal ring that saw him force women into drug-fueled sexual performances with escorts.

The dozen New Yorkers tasked with deciding the music mogul’s future will began poring over thousands of phone, financial and other records along with the stories of 34 people who testified against him over seven painstaking, and at times excruciating, weeks.

Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted on five federal charges that include racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation for purposes of prostitution.

The producer and entrepreneur, once one of the most powerful people in the music industry, denies the charges.

On Friday his lawyer vied to skewer the credibility of his accusers — namely two women he dated for years — saying they were out for money, while rejecting any notion he led a criminal ring.

But in their final argument, prosecutors tore into the defense, saying Combs’s team had “contorted the facts endlessly.”

Prosecutor Maurene Comey told jurors that by the time Combs had committed his clearest-cut offenses, “he was so far past the line he couldn’t even see it.”

“In his mind he was untouchable,” she told the court. “The defendant never thought that the women he abused would have the courage to speak out loud what he had done to them.”

“That ends in this courtroom,” she said. “The defendant is not a god.”

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo scoffed at the picture painted by prosecutors of a violent, domineering man who fostered “a climate of fear.”

Combs is a “self-made, successful Black entrepreneur” who had romantic relationships that were “complicated” but consensual, Agnifilo said.

The defense has conceded that Combs at times beat his partners — but insist the domestic violence does not amount to the sex trafficking or racketeering he’s charged with.

Key to the prosecution’s case were witnesses Casandra Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane, both of whom described abuse, threats and coercive sex in wrenching detail.