Sex-trafficking case against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs kicks off with first witnesses

The public knew Sean “Diddy” Combs as a larger-than-life cultural icon and business mogul, but in private he used violence and threats to coerce women into drug-fuelled sexual encounters that he recorded, a prosecutor said on Monday in opening statements at Combs’ sex-trafficking trial.

Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.

On the contrary, the trial is a misguided overreach by prosecutors trying to turn consenting sex between adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case, Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos said.

“Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,” Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women. “There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.”

Geragos conceded that Combs’ violent outbursts, often fuelled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts. She told jurors they might think Combs’ is a “jerk” and might not condone his “kinky sex”, but “he’s not charged with being mean. He’s not charged with being a jerk”.