Sean 'Diddy' Combs refuses to testify as his trial enters its final stage

With no witnesses in his favor and refusing to testify himself, Sean “Diddy” Combs and his lawyers allowed the sex trafficking and racketeering trial against the music mogul to move into its final stage on Thursday, after just 20 minutes of arguments in his defense.

Asked by investigating judge Arun Subramanian, Combs said the decision not to testify had been his own, although he had reached it after consulting with his legal representatives, and added to the magistrate, "I wanted to tell you, thank you, you’re doing an excellent job."

As the onus of proving guilt rests with the prosecution, it is not unusual for the defense to refuse to have its defendant testify or to present witnesses, although it did present documentary evidence such as chats. The prosecutors, for their part, presented 34 witnesses.

After Tuesday's hearing, the closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday.

With the support of testimony, phone records and travel bookings, the prosecution has been trying since early May to prove that Combs was the head of a company in which his closest employees helped him pay bribes, provoke fires and kidnap people to impose his power and satisfy his sexual desires, AFP reports.

According to the indictment, the artist and businessman trafficked women and men to carry out sexual encounters, known as "freak-offs" thanks to an old complaint against the musician in 2023: sex orgies that could last for days, fueled by drugs and with hired prostitutes.

Through bribery, arson and kidnapping, Combs employees helped organize and hide traces of these sexual events, according to the prosecution. Jurors were even able to view videos of some of these encounters. They also heard the accounts of three women who claim to have been physically and emotionally abused by the founder of Bad Boys Records.

A key witness was Casandra Cassie Ventura, Combs' partner for more than a decade. The singer first sued the rapper in a civil suit less than three years ago, and although the lawsuit was settled out of court in less than a day, it opened the door to more complaints against the music mogul.

Combs denied all charges. His lawyers argued that the sexual encounters were consensual: "Being a willing participant in your own sex life is not sex trafficking." They showed messages from female accusers to the defendant or other men with whom they had had sex writing texts such as "baby you really do make me happy" or "tonight was amazing." In another they claimed that one of the complainants took the initiative to organize the evening.