Can Diddy Beat the Expenses? Authorized Consultants Weigh In (Excl)

Over the course of 4 weeks, witnesses for the prosecution within the trial towards Sean “Diddy” Combs have painted an image of a monster — an abusive determine fixated on energy and management, keen to do no matter it takes to bend victims to his will. His ex Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, then eight months pregnant, tearfully recalled being overwhelmed and compelled to have intercourse with male escorts for days on finish. A former assistant claimed Diddy raped her a number of instances. One other former worker mentioned he kidnapped her at gunpoint, and rapper Child Cudi testified that Diddy broke into his home and set his Porsche on hearth after discovering he’d been concerned with Ventura.

There’s little doubt the allegations are surprising and disturbing. Nevertheless, it’s much less sure whether or not or not they’re sufficient to convict the disgraced music mogul, 55. Diddy was arrested in September and faces 5 federal expenses: one depend of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a most sentence of life in jail; two counts of intercourse trafficking by power, fraud or coercion, which carries a most sentence of life in jail and a minimal sentence of 15 years; and two counts transportation to interact in prostitution, which carries a max sentence of 10 years in jail. (He has denied all expenses.) Upon Diddy’s arrest, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo advised Us Weekly in a press release that the daddy of seven “is an imperfect particular person however is just not felony.”

Is There Enough Evidence to Convict Diddy Why Legal Experts Arent Sure

The prosecution has to show past a shadow of a doubt that Diddy is the chief of a felony enterprise whose members engaged in intercourse trafficking, pressured labor, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice by means of using violence, threats and coercion. It’s going to be a heavy raise, says felony lawyer Joshua Ritter. “Every thing that’s been described by Cassie is deviant and appalling, nevertheless it’s not essentially felony,” he tells Us. TV journalist and lawyer Megyn Kelly expressed related ideas throughout an look on commentator Ben Shapiro’s present on Might 31, saying partially, “We’re actually rising to detest [Diddy] progressively daily, however that doesn’t essentially imply these are crimes.”

Ventura, 38, was the prosecution’s star witness, and she or he delivered searing testimony detailing her poisonous 11-year on-and-off relationship with Diddy whereas on the stand in Might. She shared graphic particulars of “freak offs” wherein she claimed she was pressured to have intercourse with male escorts whereas Diddy watched. She additionally described ruthless beatings by the hands of Diddy, and on Might 14, jurors have been proven video footage from 2016 of the rapper kicking and dragging her in a resort foyer after she tried to flee a freak off.

However authorized consultants word Diddy isn’t on trial for home violence. “Either side agree there was home violence,” says human trafficking lawyer Kelly Hyman, host of true-crime podcast Unresolved – The Diddy Instances, “however Diddy hasn’t been charged with that.” Hyman tells Us the protection claims that whereas it did happen, Ventura and Diddy’s relationship was “jealousy-fueled” and “consensual” and that his conduct doesn’t meet “the fees of racketeering co-conspiracy [or] intercourse trafficking.”

The protection is making an attempt to show that many witnesses who testified towards Diddy consented to his actions. A former private assistant of Diddy’s, going by the pseudonym “Mia,” alleged he sexually assaulted her a number of instances between 2009 and 2017. Throughout cross-examination, Diddy’s legal professionals identified that Mia had shared a number of glowing social media posts about her boss and despatched him texts saying Mia beloved him (she advised jurors she’d been “brainwashed” by Diddy and she or he was terrified of “his energy and wrath.”)

One other former worker, Capricorn Clark, claimed Diddy took her towards her will to rapper Child Cudi’s residence to “kill” Cudi over his romance with Ventura. Clark mentioned Diddy threatened to “kill” her if she advised authorities that he’d been inside Cudi’s residence. Attorneys for Diddy portrayed the kidnapping ordeal as consensual, with Agnifilo stating she advised him throughout a 2024 assembly that she voluntarily selected to accompany Diddy to forestall him from doing “one thing silly.” (Clark claimed she didn’t recall saying that.) Beneath cross-examination, Cudi acknowledged that he had left his door unlocked and that his residence was not broken.

The protection additionally pointed to Ventura remaining with Diddy for greater than a decade and famous texts and emails wherein she expressed enthusiasm about freak offs. On Shapiro’s present, Kelly mentioned the protection “is making an attempt to indicate [Cassie] was a keen participant … and that one of many causes she didn’t go away … was she loved the approach to life.” Says Ritter: “If these people have been keen members, then we actually don’t have the weather of a criminal offense right here.”

Authorized consultants say the prosecution has but to make a lot headway on the depend of racketeering. “Primarily based upon Cassie’s testimony,” says Ritter, “we don’t actually see the weather of the racketeering, which might contain a felony enterprise.” Each Ritter and Hyman say that can doubtless be the main target as the trial continues (it’s anticipated to final eight weeks).

For these expenses to stay, there must be a predicated crime, like arson, intercourse trafficking or extortion. Ventura’s mother, Regina Ventura, testified that she paid Diddy $20,000 after he threatened to launch a intercourse tape of her daughter, and on June 3, Eddy Garcia, a former safety officer on the resort the place Diddy assaulted Ventura, mentioned Diddy gave him $100,000 in money in alternate for footage of the altercation.

In earlier courtroom appearances, one former worker testified that he purchased medication for Diddy and drove the rapper — who was armed with weapons on the time — to confront his rival Marion “Suge” Knight. “They’re positively going to need to produce other witnesses testify to how others have been collaborating on this felony enterprise,” Ritter predicts. “Thus far, nobody has taken the witness stand and mentioned, ‘Diddy ordered me… to go in there and commit arson,’ ” says Hyman, “however there are [many] extra weeks to go. The prosecution is constructing their case brick by brick.”

Whatever the verdict, Diddy will nonetheless need to deal with over 70 civil sexual assault lawsuits which were filed towards him since November 2023. His authorized group has constantly denied the allegations.

In December, a supply advised Us Diddy was spending a lot of his time on the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Middle “getting ready for his protection and making an attempt to remain optimistic.” Even now, he seems hopeful. An eyewitness who’s been attending the trial tells Us the rapper gave the impression to be in good spirits on Might 27. Upon strolling in, he instantly appeared on the two again rows of public attendees — consisting primarily of followers and journalists — barely bowed and put his hand on his chest in a sign of gratitude. “This gesture,” says the eyewitness, “has turn out to be a commonplace behavior.”

If you happen to or somebody you already know has been sexually assaulted, contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you happen to or somebody you already know is experiencing home violence, please name the Nationwide Home Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential assist. If you happen to or somebody you already know is a human trafficking sufferer, contact the Nationwide Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.