By James Fanelli

Sean "Diddy" Combs's defense team has painted an ugly portrait of their client during the first week of his sex-trafficking trial, as a terrible boyfriend with an explosive temper. That is no accident.

Faced with a mountain of video and photographic evidence of their client's violence toward women, the defense strategy is to own bad behavior rather than make excuses. At the same time, his lawyers are trying to make clear that domestic violence isn't the same as sex trafficking.

"He sometimes gets so angry or so jealous that he is out of control," his lawyer Teny Geragos said during opening statements in New York federal court.

Candidly acknowledging Combs's flaws might bear fruit in winning credibility with the jury, according to defense lawyers who aren't involved in the case.

"If you defend the indefensible, the jury isn't going to believe anything you say," said Moira Penza, a former federal prosecutor and partner at law firm Wilkinson Stekloff.

One challenge with the strategy, especially with high-profile clients, is they have to agree to take a reputational hit. "It's a tough sell because you are telling your client we effectively have to admit x, y, z, " said Steve Reynolds, a former federal prosecutor and partner at law firm Day Pitney.

Combs is charged with five criminal counts, including racketeering conspiracy, sex-trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Federal prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise relying on security guards and personal assistants to drug, threaten and coerce former girlfriends into participating in sex parties, which he called "freak offs." He would watch and film his victims having sex with male escorts, then use the videos as leverage to control them, prosecutors said.

Central to the prosecution's case is surveillance footage of Combs attacking and dragging his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in the hallway of a Los Angeles Intercontinental Hotel as, they say, she left a "freak off."

Ventura, the government's star witness, also took the stand this past week, testifying over four days about being beaten and forced into degrading sex acts during their decadelong relationship. She identified photos of herself with injuries she said she suffered from Combs's attacks.

Combs's lawyers have said the alleged victims were willing participants in the sex parties. At the same time, his defense team has condemned the abuse in the hotel video and other violence in his relationships.

Geragos, his lawyer, called the video "overwhelming evidence of domestic violence" but not proof of Combs being a sex trafficker.

Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor, said lawyers for Combs know they can't get around the video or Ventura's detailed testimony of her toxic relationship with him. The legal argument, she said: "Combs did bad things, but not these bad things."

Krissoff, a partner at law firm Cozen O'Connor, said the defense is taking advantage of their client's case not matching a typical sex-trafficking or racketeering prosecution given that his alleged victims were once his romantic partners.

"Combs's conduct may not fit precisely into what the jurors imagine when they hear the term 'sex trafficking,'" she said. "They are thinking of simpler scenarios, and this long-term, complex and abusive relationship is going to be a bit harder for them to grapple with." Still, she said that if jurors hate Combs, they will find a way to fit his conduct into the charges.

Prosecutors told the jury in their opening statements that as proof of the racketeering conspiracy they would show Combs committed kidnapping, arson and bribery. As one example, Combs bribed Intercontinental security staff with $100,000 in an attempt to keep video surveillance footage of his hotel hallway attack on Ventura under wraps, they allege.

Prosecutors will also likely point to Ventura's testimony as proof of the conspiracy charge, which involves showing that Combs and those in his inner circle agreed to commit crimes as part of a group. She told jurors that he had his security team take her to a plastic surgeon after she suffered a gash to her head during one of his attacks. On another occasion, she said, Combs ordered his security team to take her to a hotel to hide out for a week while she healed after he stomped on her head in the back of a Cadillac Escalade.

Former prosecutors said Combs's lawyers would likely try to argue that both instances were consistent with their defense by claiming he was just trying to cover up his domestic abuse.

Write to James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2025 08:55 ET (12:55 GMT)

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