By Jack Queen
(Reuters) -Two weeks into the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, witnesses have accused the hip-hop mogul of everything from breaking into a rival’s home to taking ecstasy and attempting to intimidate or pay off witnesses in the case.
Combs is not charged with any of these alleged crimes, but legal experts say these allegations could provide powerful fodder for the prosecution’s use of a sweeping mafia-busting law that has widened the scope of the case against Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records who helped turn hip-hop mainstream.
Known as the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, “RICO” allows prosecutors to introduce evidence of crimes that are not charged in the indictment or even tied directly to the defendant, known as predicates or “bad acts.”
That has allowed the prosecutors in Combs’ case to show jurors evidence they would not have seen if he was charged only with sex trafficking, helping prosecutors paint a more compelling picture of his alleged criminal activity, said Bobby Taghavi, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor.
“RICO allows you to bring in the bigger picture,” Taghavi said. “His lifestyle, his power, his anger issues the way people had to obey him — the 360-degree view of his conduct.”
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The trial, which could last two months and will enter its third week of testimony on Tuesday, has drawn intense media attention.
The jury of 12 must vote unanimously to convict on any of the charges. If convicted, Combs faces 15 years to life in prison.
Manhattan federal prosecutors allege Combs violently coerced and blackmailed women and paid for male escorts to participate in drug-fueled sex parties he called “Freak Offs.” An indictment against Combs last September alleges he did this through the “Combs Enterprise,” a group of businesses and employees engaged in a pattern of prostitution, forced labor and a half-dozen other crimes dating to 2008.
Combs’ lawyers have conceded the rapper abused his ex-girlfriend but have argued prosecutors are trying to criminalize consensual sex and his “swingers’ lifestyle.”
Combs will be able to call his own witnesses after the prosecution rests.
‘A BAD ACT FREE-FOR-ALL’
RICO became law in 1970 and was aimed at taking down organized crime bosses by tying them to crimes committed by their underlings. To prove RICO charges, prosecutors must show that members of a so-called enterprise, or group of people engaged in a common purpose, committed or planned to commit two other crimes in connection with the enterprise within a ten-year period.
The Combs case is an unusual application of RICO, according to legal experts, who say the law is not typically used in cases that primarily concern things like sex trafficking and prostitution.
During four days of testimony, the prosecution’s star witness, Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura testified that Combs was a domineering serial abuser prone to fits of jealous rage.
“I’d expect the defense will ask the jurors at closing, “Did you see a criminal organization? A racketeering enterprise? Or is this really a domestic violence case dressed up to look like an organized crime case?” said Mark Chutkow, a defense lawyer and former prosecutor with experience trying RICO cases.
But prosecutors have called several witnesses to try to back their theory that crime was central to Combs’ empire.
The rapper known as Kid Cudi told the jury Combs broke into his home and likely had a role in the torching of his car. An ex-employee said Combs regularly took opiates and ecstasy. And a hotel security guard recalled Combs offered him a stack of cash to buy his silence after he saw Combs beat Ventura.
Combs’ lawyers have argued that evidence of this kind is irrelevant.
Prosecutors have countered that it is admissible because it is related to the so-called means and methods of the Combs Enterprise.
For example, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo objected to Combs’ former personal chef testifying about a time Combs allegedly assaulted her.
“I think we’re just getting very far afield, and I think this is becoming sort of a bad act free-for-all,” Agnifilo told U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian outside the presence of the jury on May 19.
Subramanian said he would allow the testimony.
There is legal precedent for applying RICO in sexual abuse cases from the case of rapper R. Kelly, who argued in an unsuccessful appeal of his 2021 conviction that allegations of assault were unrelated to racketeering.
And evidence in the Combs’ case suggests that his business empire was riddled by illegal acts, according to Michelle Simpson Tuegel, an attorney following the case.
“That could show he was not just an abusive person and a bad guy but the leader of a criminal enterprise carrying out commercial sex using weapons and blackmail,” Simpson Tuegel said.
(Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen.Editing by Noeleen Walder and Diane Craft)
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