In the last days of P. Diddy’s trial for sexual trafficking, his lawyer attacked the alleged victims, accusing them of being motivated by “money”.
The alleged victims of P. Diddy are women motivated by “money”, supported the lawyers of the hip-hop magnate on Friday during their final argument at his trial for sexual traffic marked by weeks of overwhelming testimonies.
Marc Agnifilo swept through the jurors of the Manhattan court, in New York, the table presented by the accusation, namely that of a violent, domineering man, who used his power and his fortune to fuel a “climate of fear” and forcing women to submit to humiliating sex marathons.
The 55 -year -old rap star is a “black entrepreneur who succeeded without the help of anyone” and who has maintained “complicated” relations with his accusations but in the end of the “love stories” made, argued the lawyer.
“This is not a question of justice. It is not a crime. It is a question of money,” he said, the defense arguing that the accusers had benefited from their relationship with P. Diddy, of his real name Sean Combs.
“Drug addicts, brushed with oil, exhausted”
The singer of R&B Casandra Ventura, by her artist name Cassie, and “Jane”, a woman who remained anonymous, told in detail how they had been forced to engage in marathons named “freak-offs” with prostituted men, in choreographed stages, in order to satisfy the desires of the rapper who masturbated or filmed.
“It was absolutely no free choice,” had repeated, five hours for Thursday, the prosecutor Christy Slavik, adding that the alleged victims “were drugged, brushed with oil, exhausted and had badly”.
P. Diddy “did not accept the ‘no’ as a possible answer,” she insisted, recalling the control he exerted on his ex-partner “Cassie” and the rents paid for his other ex, Jane, who became financially dependent on the rapper.
“Cassie is anything but silly. His fortune is around 30 million dollars. If there is a winner in this case, it is her,” said Mr. Agnifilo on Friday before the jurors who will have to determine the fate of the founder of the Bad Boy Records label.
“She loves sex”
Ex-partner of P. Diddy for a decade, Cassie had filed a complaint against him in civilian in 2023, a litigation which gave rise to an amicable agreement in less than 24 hours but had opened the valves of a real accusations against the rapper and therefore the way to this criminal trial.
“She (Cassie) has always been free to leave. She had chosen to stay because she was in love with her and that she was in love with her (…), she loves sex and great good her,” added the lawyer, calling her “beautiful” and “sexy”. He also described the relationship of Cassie and P. Diddy as “a great love story Morderne”.
P. Diddy pleaded not guilty and chose not to testify, a current defense strategy in the United States. His lawyers do not have to prove the innocence of their client, but rather to sow a reasonable doubt among the members of the jury regarding the accusations of the prosecutors.
During the trial, the rapper’s lawyers did everything to discredit the control witnesses one by one with muscular counter-examines. Cassie was subjected to a rolling fire of questions, aimed at making her conceded that she participated of her own free will in the sexual parts with other men.
“I’m still ready” for a “freak-off”, she wrote to her companion in 2009. The singer did not dispute, while explaining that she was in the grip of Sean Combs.
Cassie and “Jane” admitted that their respective relationship involved love, but that they were at the same time subject to threats linked to their reputation, their financial situation and their physical integrity.
The accusation will have the last word, the prosecutor Maurene Comey having to refute the defense thesis one last time. The judge will give his instructions on Monday to the jurors who will withdraw to deliberate.
“Collective rape”
In parallel with this trial, the deluge of accusations targeting P. Diddy, who emanates from more than a hundred people, was further increased this week.
The rapper is targeted by three new complaints for sexual assault filed in court in Los Angeles, which AFP was able to consult on Friday.
They emanate from a woman from Louisiana (south), who accuses the son of the rapper, Justin, of having attracted him to Los Angeles so that his father submitted her to collective rape in 2017.
Two men also accuse the rapper of having drugged them to rape them during evenings going back in 2021 and 2023.
“Regardless of the number of legal proceedings brought, that will not change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sexually exploited anyone,” reacted his defense in the American media.
