On the final day of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial before jury deliberations, the hip-hop mogul’s attorney Marc Agnifilo enlivened the courtroom with an impassioned closing argument. In the coming days, the jury will determine whether Combs is guilty of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. A conviction could land him behind bars for life.
Agnifilo’s demeanor was animated and at times folksy, unlike the prosecution’s cold, formal tone. He paced around the courtroom, beginning his summations by gushing about Combs’ character and business acumen, saying he was a champion of diversity. “Sean Combs has become something that is very, very hard to be,” Agnifilo said. “He is a self-made, successful, Black entrepreneur.” He recounted some of the positive things Combs’ former employees said about him on the witness stand, adding, “Did they always like him? No way. Let’s not even go there. But they loved him. They didn’t want to leave him.”
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The defense put a spotlight on the presence of Combs’ children and mother in the courtroom, saying, “The man takes care of people.” Taking a swipe at one of Combs’ alleged victims, “Jane,” Agnifilo said, “I hope she’s having a nice day, but ya know where she’s doing it? In a house he’s paying for.”
Agnifilo argued that Combs is on a “false trial,” that he is not guilty of sex trafficking but is instead a member of the “swingers lifestyle” who participated in consensual “threesomes” with his ex-girlfriends and male entertainers.
“No one’s forcing her to do this,” Agnifilo said of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Combs’ ex who accused him of raping her and coercing her into hundreds of “freak-offs,” drug-fueled sex parties that lasted days on end. At the center of the trial is a 2016 surveillance video that depicts Combs beating Ventura in a hotel hallway and allegedly attempting to drag her back into a “freak-off.”
“We own the domestic violence,” Agnifilo said. Throughout the trial, the defense has admitted that Combs was violent with Ventura, but that the violence was not connected to the “freak-offs.” Agnifilo painted Ventura as a strong, smart woman who enjoyed her sex life with Combs. “She’s a woman who actually likes sex,” Agnifilo said. “Good for her! She’s beautiful, she should. She’s intense. She’s unafraid.”
Agnifilo referenced Ventura’s testimony about her brief love affair with the singer Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi. Ventura said she tried to keep her relationship with Mescudi a secret from Combs by purchasing a second cellphone. “Whoooaaa! A burner phone!” Agnifilo said, his voice jumping up an octave. “Cassie is keeping it gangsta!” He said Ventura “played” both Combs and Mescudi, implying she would not have had a secret relationship if she was actually “scared to death of Sean Combs.”
Addressing the kidnapping allegations against Combs, which pertain to his racketeering charge, Agnifilo referenced former assistant Capricorn Clark’s claim that she was held for five days in a Manhattan office building, forced to take a lie detector test about stolen jewelry. “A door-to-door kidnap,” Agnifilo said mockingly, emphasizing that Clark slept at home, and that one of Combs’ security guards drove her to and from the building each day. “You guys are here for long hours,” he told the jury. “Anyone here feel kidnapped?”
Agnifilo’s tone was incredulous: “He’s charged with kidnapping. That’s real!” And he told the jurors they “have the right” to question the government’s claims and disregard witness testimony.
The lawyer picked apart the allegations of bribery, witness tampering and obstruction — and focused heavily on the implication that Combs orchestrated an act of arson on Mescudi’s car. (Combs had allegedly said previously that he was going to blow up the vehicle, but an investigation at the time found no evidence leading to Combs.) “That’s not his style,” Agnifilo said, suggesting that Combs would prefer a man-to-man confrontation with Mescudi — “a good old-fashioned John Wayne, eight-in-the-morning Hollywood Hills fight.”
Throughout the closing argument, Combs nodded and listened intently, either leaning back in his chair or crossing his arms on the table. In the morning, one of his sons, Justin Combs, was wearing a shirt that read “Free Sean Combs,” which is not permitted in the courtroom. A court marshal approached him, and Justin left and re-entered the room without the message visible.
Agnifilo was theatrical in his summation — and often used sarcasm to drive home his arguments. He used a mocking tone when describing the raids on Combs’ properties, saying they made America “safe from Astroglide.” “Way to go fellas, you guys just do you. They took Astroglide and baby oil and that is the evidence in this case,” he said. When pooh-poohing the drug distribution racketeering charges, Agnifilo admitted “there’s no question” Combs “had a drug problem,” but that his drugs were for personal use only, and not part of a criminal enterprise. That when his staff picked up and delivered drugs like Xanax and ecstacy to Combs, they were not aware they were committing crimes — they were just carrying out personal assistant duties as is common in the entertainment industry. “I don’t suppose we’ll see Beyoncé at CVS,” Agnifilo said.
Addressing the racketeering charges, the attorney said there is a “gaping lack of evidence,” and with respect to the transportation to engage in prostitution charges, he repeated the defense’s stance that Combs paid male escorts for their “time,” not for sex.
Wrapping things up, Agnifilo leveled with the jury. “It takes a lot of courage to acquit,” he said. He said the concept of a jury is one of the great things about America, and that it is a difficult thing for a juror to rule against the federal prosecutors. “You guys are the United States of America,” he said, raising his voice. “You should feel bold, you should feel the courage that you will need to call this as you see it, and I am asking you to summon that courage and to do what needs to be done and to do the right thing.” He asked the jurors to acquit his client on all charges. “He sits there innocent. Return him to his family who have been waiting for him.”
Beginning her rebuttal, which is the last time the jurors will hear from the attorneys after seven grueling weeks of trial, prosecutor Maurene Comey sighed: “We’re almost done.” Comey delivered her most fiery remarks yet, taking the baton after fellow prosecutor Christy Slavik delivered a five-hour closing argument on Thursday. She laid into the defense, saying the notion that the male escorts were not paid for sex “doesn’t even pass the laugh test.” When Combs handed them wads of cash at the end of “freak-offs,” it wasn’t for their “scintillating conversation,” Comey said. She referred to an escort’s testimony that supported her argument. Despite what the defense posited, the escorts did not need to label themselves as prostitutes for their conduct to be considered prostitution.
Supporting the racketeering charge, Comey listed a handful of alleged crimes carried out by Combs’ employees on his behalf. “This is a guy who cannot get his own water bottle or plug in his own phone charger,” she said, implying that of course he would not commit his own crimes. “He’s the general. Not a foot soldier, not a lieutenant. He delegated. And his inner circle did the dirty work for him,” Comey added, pointing to his chief of staff Kristina Khorram as his primary alleged co-conspirator.
With respect to the drug distribution charges, Comey said, “There is no requirement that drugs be distributed for profit or in large quantities to be illegal.” In other words, Combs handing ecstacy pills to Ventura and Jane would still be considered distribution under the law.
The tone of her rebuttal intensified as Comey addressed the defense’s underlying argument: that Ventura, another rape accuser “Mia” and Jane are “lying.” She explored each alleged victim’s incentives to commit perjury. Ventura already won a $20 million settlement against Combs, so there’s no money grab there. Mia similarly already settled with Combs, and because she isn’t seeking fame or attention, she testified under a pseudonym. And Jane, who never sued Combs and has no plans to, testified that the defendant continues to pay her rent and legal fees. For that reason, if she had any incentive to lie, it would be in favor of Combs, Comey argued.
Since opening arguments back in May, the defense has painted Combs’ accusers as “strong” women with agency. “You know what, they’re right about that,” Comey said. “They were strong enough to survive what the defendant put them through and testify at this trial.”
Comey returned to what she called “the most clear-cut example of sex trafficking in this case,” when, in June 2024, Combs allegedly violently attacked Jane before giving her drugs and arranging a “freak-off” with a male escort. “Is this coercion?” Combs allegedly said 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 got away with his crimes. That ends in this courtroom,” she said. “The defendant is not a god. He is a person. And in this courtroom, he stands equal before the law. Overwhelming evidence proves his guilt. It is time to hold him accountable. Find him guilty.”
The jury could make its decision as early as next week.
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