Federal prosecutors on Monday painted a dark portrait of music mogul Sean Combs as the leader of a criminal enterprise that arranged what they called “freak-offs” and coerced women into sex as his racketeering trial began in Lower Manhattan.
“During this trial, you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes,” prosecutor Emily A. Johnson told the newly empanelled jury in Federal District Court. “But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and helped him cover them up.”
Combs, 55, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, sat in the courtroom as prosecutors accused him of a series of violent acts, including abuse of his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie.
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The music mogul’s defence claims that the consensual relationships are being mischaracterised as sex trafficking.
Defence attorney Teny Geragos acknowledged that “there was domestic violence in this case” but vigorously denied that Combs ran a racketeering enterprise. “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case,” Geragos said, arguing that the government was attempting to reframe consensual sexual relationships as sex trafficking. “It will not work,” she added.
The trial is being overseen by Judge Arun Subramanian, who is relatively new to the federal bench and is the first judge of South Asian descent at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
A jury consisting of eight men and four women was selected and sworn in Monday morning, with an additional six alternates – two women and four men. Following standard federal court procedures, no video or photography will be permitted in the courtroom.
Combs, who played a pivotal role in popularising hip-hop globally and helped launch the careers of artists like the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, faces serious allegations that stand in stark contrast to his public image as a music industry pioneer.
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