By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs went on trial on Monday on sex trafficking charges, with prosecutors telling a jury that the Bad Boy Records founder used his fame and fortune to abuse women and the defense expected to counter that there is nothing criminal about a “swingers” lifestyle.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson said in her opening statement that Combs ran a two-decade criminal conspiracy with the help of an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees.
“To the public he was Puffy, Puff Daddy or Diddy: a cultural icon, a businessman, larger than life. But there was another side of him – a side that ran a criminal enterprise. During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes,” Johnson told jurors.
Combs’ mother, Janice Combs, sat in the front row of the courtroom along with six of her son’s children. Combs wore a beige sweater over a white collared shirt and khakis. He smiled at his family and blew them a kiss before taking his seat with his lawyers.
On Monday morning, the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was finalized ahead of opening statements by the government and then the defense. The prosecution would then call its first witness. The case has drawn intense media coverage because of Combs’ fame.
Over the course of a two-month trial, jurors are expected to hear testimony from three and possibly four of the rapper’s female accusers, as well as his former employees who prosecutors say helped arrange and cover up his actions.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted on all counts, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and could face life in prison.
Combs’ defense lawyers were expected to argue that the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual, and say there was nothing illegal about a “swingers” lifestyle in which Combs and his girlfriends occasionally brought a third person into their relationships.
Allegations of sexual abuse in the criminal charges brought against Combs by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office last year made him the latest powerful man in the entertainment industry to be accused of sexual misconduct in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to speak up about abuse.
Combs is known for turning rap and rhythm and blues artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige into stars, and in the process elevating the mainstream appeal of hip-hop in American culture in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Born in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood and raised by a single mother, Combs went on to live in mansions in Miami and Los Angeles and host lavish parties for the cultural elite in destinations like the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez.
Prosecutors say his success concealed a dark side. Over two decades, Combs used violence and threats to force women to take part in days-long, drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers known as “Freak Offs,” according to the indictment.
Combs would often watch the performances, masturbate and film them, sometimes using the recordings as blackmail to ensure his alleged victims did not report his abuse, prosecutors say. In one 2016 incident that was captured on hotel surveillance footage that prosecutors plan to show the jury, Combs was seen kicking and dragging a woman as she was trying to leave a “Freak Off,” prosecutors say.
CNN last year broadcast footage that appeared to show Combs attacking his former girlfriend, the rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura, in 2016 in a Los Angeles hotel hallway. Combs apologized after the video aired.
CASSIE AMONG FIRST WITNESSES
Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, is among the first witnesses expected to testify against Combs.
Combs’ defense strategy at trial will hinge on undermining the credibility of the women who testify against Combs, including by arguing they were motivated by money to accuse him of wrongdoing and have unreliable memories.
Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lead lawyer, has said the 2016 hotel incident depicted the aftermath of a dispute over infidelity and was not evidence of sex trafficking. In a court hearing on Friday, Agnifilo said Ventura had a history of domestic violence, undercutting prosecutors’ argument she was a victim.
Ventura’s lawyer declined to comment.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jack Queen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller and Nick Zieminski)
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