By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs told the judge at his sex trafficking trial that he’s doing an “excellent job” as he confirmed Tuesday that he won’t testify.
Combs made the comment to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian after being asked about testifying.
The question was posed by the Manhattan jurist after the prosecution rested following a more than six-week-long presentation of evidence against the hip-hop maven. Later in the afternoon, the defense rested without calling any witnesses.
In a routine occurrence after prosecutors rest at criminal trials, Combs’ lawyers made arguments to toss out the charges, arguing the charges weren’t proven. The judge said he’ll rule at a later date.
Prosecutors have called 34 witnesses to try to prove sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges that resulted in Combs’ September arrest, including two ex-girlfriends of Combs who testified they felt coerced into marathon sex events with male sex workers that were called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”
Defense lawyers, though, say they were consensual sexual encounters consistent with the swingers lifestyle.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty and has remained incarcerated without bail in a federal lockup in Brooklyn after multiple judges concluded last fall that he was a danger to the community.
It is standard practice at federal criminal trials for the judge to directly question the defendant about the decision to testify or not, in part to ensure that the defendant knows it is his decision, regardless of what his lawyers have told him.
When it came time for Subramanian to question Combs after prosecutors rested, the judge asked him how he’s doing.
“I’m doing great, your honor,” the Bad Boy Entertainment founder answered, before volunteering a compliment to the judge before another question could be posed.
“I want to tell you thank you, you’re doing an excellent job,” Combs said.
Combs said he “thoroughly” discussed the matter with his lawyers before deciding not to testify.
“That is my decision, your honor,” Combs said, adding: “That is solely my decision.”
Prodded by the judge, he clarified further: “I mean, it’s my decision with my lawyers. … My decision to make. I’m making it.”
Since the trial began in early May, government witnesses have included former employees of Combs’ companies, but the bulk of its proof has come from the testimony of two former girlfriends: Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a model and internet personality known to jurors only by the pseudonym “Jane.”
Ventura, 38, testified for four days during the trial’s first week, saying she felt pressured to engage in hundreds of “freak offs” because the encounters would enable her to be intimate with Combs after performing sexually with male sex workers while he watched them slather one another with baby oil and sometimes filmed the encounters.
Jane testified for six days about the sexual performances she labeled “hotel nights,” saying that she was putting them into perspective after beginning therapy three months ago. She said she felt coerced into engaging in them as recently as last August, but did so because she loved and still loves Combs.
Ventura was in a relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018, while Jane was frequently with him from 2021 until his arrest, which canceled her plan to meet him at the New York hotel where he was taken into custody.
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done.
Throughout the trial, defense lawyers have made their case for exoneration through their questioning of witnesses, including several who testified reluctantly or only after they were granted immunity from any crimes they may have committed.
Combs has been active in his defense, writing notes to his lawyers and sometimes helping them decide when to stop questioning a witness.
He was admonished once by the judge for nodding enthusiastically toward jurors during a successful stretch of cross-examination by one of his lawyers. Prosecutors complained that his gestures were a form of testifying without being subject to cross-examination. The judge warned that he could be excluded from his trial if it happened again.
In the past week, prosecutors and defense lawyers have shown jurors over 40 minutes of recordings Combs made of the “freak offs” or “hotel nights.”
Several jurors occasionally seemed squeamish as they viewed and listened to audio of the encounters, but most did not seem to react.
In her opening statement, Geragos had called the videos “powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion.”
Closing arguments were scheduled for Thursday.