Sean Combs trial updates | Defense closes; deliberations set for Monday

During testimony, Cassie Ventura called them "freak-offs." Combs' ex-girlfriend known by the pseudonym "Jane" called them "hotel nights." Combs' assistants knew them as "wild king nights."

However they're referenced, those sex encounters are evidence of sex trafficking because Combs used force, threats, fraud and coercion to compel Ventura and "Jane" to participate, prosecutor Christy Slavik told the jury during the government's closing argument.

"The charge is about the defendant's use of illegal actions to get Cassie and 'Jane' to say yes," Slavik said. "This is not an attempt to criminalize dysfunctional relationships or unconventional sexual conduct."

The defense has argued that Ventura and "Jane" were not victims of sex trafficking, but long-term girlfriends who willingly participated in Combs' "polyamorous" lifestyle.

Slavik told the eight men and four women in the jury box that they do not need to find that all the "freak-offs" were the products of force, fraud or coercion.

"You only need to find the elements of sex trafficking are met on one occasion," she said. "So, if there was one time, one single 'freak-off,' when the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded that Cassie or 'Jane'" was participating because of his lies, his threats or his violence, that's it."

The jury was shown a collage of male escorts with whom prosecutors said Ventura and "Jane" were made to have sex in a "slow progression from masturbating and touching to oral sex to intercourse," often multiple times over multiple nights.

"They were done when the defendant said they were done and not any sooner than that," Slavik said.

The bribery predicate is satisfied by two episodes that followed the beating of Cassie Ventura captured on 2016 surveillance video taken at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, prosecutors said in their closing statement.

First, hotel security guard Israel Florez testified that Combs tried to hand him a stack of money.

"The defendant handing a fistful of cash to officer Florez was his first attempt at a bribe that day," prosecutor Christy Slavik said. "He knew what he had done and he knew the consequences."

Secondly, hotel security guard Eddy Garcia testified that Combs promised to "take care" of him in exchange for the video footage. When Combs learned Garcia's boss was willing to sell the video, Garcia testified that Combs called him "Eddy my angel."

Garcia testified that Combs ran $100,000 in cash through a bill counter in $10,000 increments.

"The bribe is now complete," Slavik said during her summation. "He bought the evidence."

Defense lawyers have previously argued that while Combs may have engaged in domestic violence and led an unconventional sex life, he didn't commit a crime.

The prosecution's summation put Sean Combs squarely atop an alleged criminal enterprise that the government said relied on an inner circle of "loyal lieutenants."

"Those lieutenants were especially loyal. They were armed and ready," prosecutor Christy Slavik alleged.

Numerous assistants she called "foot soldiers" also operated within the enterprise, according to Slavik: "They were young. They didn't blink an eye."

Each member of the inner circle was paid by Combs' business, Slavik told the jury. "He was the boss of every member of his inner circle, and he was in charge. Over and over, the defendant and his inner circle agreed to commit crimes together," Slavik said.

Prosecutors say those alleged crimes included an agreement to distribute drugs, as well as kidnapping, arson, bribery, sex trafficking, obtaining labor by force and threats, arranging travel for the purposes of commercial sex, and helping Combs cover up other alleged crimes.

To find Combs guilty of racketeering, the jury must unanimously find he and another member of the alleged conspiracy agreed that two crimes would be committed.

"Here, though, you have far more than two acts," Slavik said, telling the jury that there were "hundreds" of drug distribution offenses alone that would be enough to convict on the racketeering conspiracy charge.

"Drugs -- an essential ingredient of every 'freak-off,' the way the defendant kept Cassie and 'Jane' awake and engaged," Slavik said.

She pointed to testimony from the former assistant known as "Mia," who also appeared under a pseudonym, who told the jury that Combs made her choose from an array of three powders. Slavik also noted testimony from Brendan Paul, a former Combs assistant who testified under immunity and told the jury that Combs allegedly made him try tusi, a powdery mix of drugs dyed pink, to see if it was good. Paul also testified that he sought reimbursement for "personal Gucci items" that were really hard drugs.

"It doesn't matter that the quantities were small and fit inside his Gucci pouch," Slavik said. "The defendant in his staff were all involved in distributing drugs."

Sean Combs, clad in khakis and a light-colored sweater, placed a hand over his heart as he entered the courtroom this morning, looking at his twin daughters who appeared in the family row for the first time since early in the trial.

The family and the jury heard a federal prosecutor deliver a closing statement that called Combs "the leader of a criminal enterprise" who "doesn't take no for an answer."

The prosecutor, Christy Slavik, said Combs "forced and manipulated Cassie Ventura and 'Jane' to have sex with escorts for his own entertainment," thinking he was above the law until the trial exposed his crimes.

"The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted," Slavik said, speaking from a podium directly in front of the jury box and with the aid of digital slides.

Slavik sought to link two distinct episodes, eight years apart and with two different women, to cast Combs as a serial sex trafficker.

The first alleged episode occurred in 2016 at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. "During a 'freak-off' with Cassie and an escort, the defendant got violent with Cassie," Slavik said, referring to former Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura. "You saw what happened. The defendant threw her to the ground. He dragged her back to the 'freak-off.'"

The second alleged episode occurred in 2024 at "Jane's" house, where Combs "kicked, choked and slapped 'Jane,'" Slavik said, referring to another former Combs girlfriend who testified under a pseudonym. "She couldn't get away. He dragged her back to the house by her hair and then he forced her into a 'freak-off.'"

Combs is the only defendant in the case but the prosecutor told the jury he did not act alone.

"He managed to do this for two decades because he used his money, his influence and his inner circle to cover up his crimes," Slavik said. "It's his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him."