THE prosecution will likely secure a conviction in its case against Sean “Diddy” Combs despite their failure to call the most crucial witness, a former federal prosecutor has said.
Closing arguments in Combs‘ high-profile racketeering and sex trafficking trial are expected to begin as early as Friday afternoon.
The prosecution called its final witness on Tuesday, capping off six weeks of emotional, explicit, and graphic testimony from more than 30 witnesses, including Combs’ former employees and ex-lovers.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor who is not involved in Combs’ trial, said the government’s sprawling case is enough to secure a conviction of the disgraced music mogul.
“I do believe the prosecution has done enough to convict Diddy, but it really depends on the crime,” Rahmani told The U.S. Sun.
“I think prostitution is in the bag. It’s pretty clear that the entertainers were paid and they were flown across state lines. There’s an interstate nexus.
“The next charge that I think they’ve proven is the racketeering, the RICO charge, and I think they’ve proven it because you can get to racketeering even if you lose on sex trafficking.
“You can show a criminal enterprise and we have Bad Boy Entertainment with Diddy at the head of the enterprise.”
Rahmani continued, “You need to show a pattern of racketeering activity, that can be sex trafficking, but could also be drug trafficking.
“It could be extortion. We heard about Diddy shaking down Regina Ventura. It could be bribery, paying a hundred thousand dollars for the hotel surveillance video.
“It could be obstruction of justice. It could be witness intimidation. So there are a lot of ways to get to racketeering.”
‘WILLING PARTICIPANTS’
However, Rahmani believes the prosecution faces an uphill battle to score a conviction on the sex trafficking charge.
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“I think sex trafficking is the hardest charge to prove and the reason it is is there are many emails and messages where Cassie and Jane seem to be setting up the freak-offs,” Rahmani, the co-founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, added.
“They seem like they’re willing participants and obviously the jurors have seen almost an hour of freak-off video and I’m guessing that parts of those videos at least seem to show that Cassie and Jane were willing participants in the sexual activity.
“Now, I believe this is consistent with the psychology of abuse and we had expert Don Hughes testify why someone may stay with their abuser, but when victims do it can be hard.”
I think sex trafficking is the most challenging count. I wouldn’t be surprised if the jurors hung or are even going to not guilty on that particular account.
Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor
Rahmani underscored the recent outcome of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s retrial.
The jury in Weinstein’s retrial reached a split verdict, convicting the Miramax founder, 73, of one of the two criminal sexual assault counts he faced and acquitted him of the other.
The judge overseeing Weinstein’s retrial declared a mistrial on the rape charge after the jury failed to reach a verdict on the crime.
“They’re in New York where the prosecution only got guilty verdicts on one of the three victims because again, they maintain their relationship with Harvey Weinstein,” Rahmani said, referring to the shamed movie mogul’s retrial.
“So, I think sex trafficking is the most challenging count. I wouldn’t be surprised if the jurors hung or are even going to not guilty on that particular account.”
‘RICO CONVICTION IN JEOPARDY’
Rahmani stressed that prosecutors weakened their case by not calling Kristina Khorram, Combs’ ex-chief of staff, and Damion “D-Roc” Butler, one of the music executive’s former bodyguard, to the stand.
Khorram, who was referred to as “KK” in several lawsuits and in the prosecution’s federal indictment of Combs, and Butler were mentioned by prosecutors throughout the trial and by nearly every witness that testified.
“I think it was a mistake for the government not to compel Kristina Khorram, D-Roc, and even ‘Gina,’ who was victim three, to testify,” Rahmani told The U.S. Sun.
“With respect to Kristina Khorram, KK, and D-Roc, they could’ve charged them as co-conspirators in the case.
“Normally, you would expect the prosecution to lean on people like KK and D-Roc to flip against their former employer.
“So, the fact that they didn’t do so is weak in my opinion.
“The fact that they’re not testifying in this trial that hurt the RICO charge against Diddy.”
The courtroom heard testimony from two of Combs ex-lovers, including singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman identified only as Jane.
Ventura delivered an impactful and emotional testimony, telling jurors about the years-long physical abuse and sex marathons she was forced to participate in at Combs’ direction.
Jane also wiped away tears as she told the court about how she opened “Pandora’s box” when she agreed to Combs’ proposal to engage in a “freak-off” with him and a male escort.
Jurors also heard testimony from roughly seven of Combs’ former employees and personal assistants, who all testified about their turbulent time working for the Bad Boy Records founder.
A third ex-girlfriend of Combs, who was only identified as Gina, was expected to testify at trial, but eventually did not.
‘THE BIG QUESTION’
Rahmani argued that the prosecution’s accusation of Combs related to Gina, who was mentioned in the federal indictment and throughout the trial more than 100 times, troublesome.
“It’s problematic for the prosecution to allege all these crimes related to Gina and then not have her locked down, in a way that she disappears before trial,” Rahmani told The U.S. Sun.
“So, if they lose on any of these counts, the question will be, was three victims enough, especially when those three victims stayed with Diddy, either as an assistant in Mia’s case or as lovers in Cassie and Jane’s case.
“That’s the big question, if they were abused they did they stay with their abuser.
“But I still think prosecution can prove RICO because they called six personal assistants to the stand to testify about buying drugs, buying lube, buying condoms, setting up the hotel rooms for the freak-offs, the hotel nights, or the king nights, cleaning them up afterward.
“So, there’s plenty of evidence that there was coordination and an agreement between Diddy and these personal assistants.”
Closing arguments in Combs’ federal trial are expected to begin on Thursday.
The jury could begin deliberation as early as Friday afternoon.
