The Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial got underway on Monday morning in Manhattan where the onetime music mogul is charged with forcing women into marathon, drug-fueled sex sessions. A jury of 12 New Yorkers is hearing the case to decide whether Combs operated his Bad Boy Records label as a criminal racket, orchestrating and covering up a series of crimes, including having his romantic partners participate in so-called ‘freak-offs’; days-long sex romps with male escorts. Prosecutor Emily Johnson told jurors that while the disgraced music producer was a "larger than life" businessman, he committed crimes "again and again." Combs has pleaded not guilty on all counts, which include a racketeering charge alleging he was the leader of a sex crime ring that included drug-fueled sex parties by use of force, threats and violence. ."Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money, this case is about voluntary adult choices made by capable adults in consensual relationships," his defence attorney Teny Geragos said in her opening statement. "We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence in this case," Geragos told jurors. "Domestic violence is not sex trafficking. I want to say it again. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking." Geragos added testimony about Combs' "swingers" lifestyle and "kinky sex," doesn't make him a criminal. "You might hear about kinky sex, which may make you uncomfortable," said Geragos. "It may not be what you do in your bedroom, but you are here to judge whether the government actually proved what they charged him with." Investigators found 1,000 bottle of baby oil and lube that were used during ‘freak-off’ sex sessions at Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles, according to the indictment. “You may know of his love of baby oil,” said Geragos. “Is that a federal crime? No." .Geragos said videos Combs allegedly recorded of ‘freak-off’ sessions will prove the women he's accused of coercing actually consented to take part in the sex marathons. "These videos are powerful evidence that it was consensual," Geragos said. Johnson said Cassie Ventura, Combs on-and-off girlfriend, was subjected to ‘freak-off’ sessions, where he forced her to take part in sex with male escorts while pleasuring himself and recording it on video. Johnson described one ‘freak-off’ where Ventura felt like she was choking when Combs made an escort urinate in her mouth. The jury was shown a video from a 2016 hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting Ventura. The video shows Combs wearing just a towel around his waist tossing her to the floor, kicking her and then dragging her out of the hallway. Israel Florez, a security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles testified he was in the hotel in Century City during the March 15, 2016, assault. “I received a call, saying there’s a woman in distress on the sixth floor,” he said. When asked by prosecutors whom he saw on the floor, he said he observed a man and woman in the elevator lobby. “Mr. Combs, Sean Combs,” he said, before identifying Combs in the courtroom. Florez said Combs offered him a bribe of “a stack of money, topped with a $100-bill, saying “here, take care of this, don’t tell anyone.” The trial is scheduled to run until July 4.
