


NEW YORK >> Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyer portrayed the hip-hop mogul Friday as the victim of an overzealous prosecution that twisted his recreational drug use and swinger lifestyle into a racketeering conspiracy charge that could put him behind bars for life. In a closing argument, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo mocked the government’s case and belittled the agents who seized hundreds of bottles of Astroglide lubricant and baby oil at his properties as he began a presentation expected to last several hours.
“Way to go, fellas,” Agnifilo said of the agents.
The lawyer said prosecutors had “badly exaggerated” evidence of the swinger lifestyle and threesomes to combine it with recreational drug use and call it a racketeering conspiracy. “He did not do the things he’s charged with. He didn’t do racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking,” the lawyer said.
Agnifilo also called Combs’ prosecution a “fake trial” and ridiculed the notion that he engaged in racketeering.
“Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?” Agnifilo asked. “Did any witness get on that witness stand and say yes, I was part of a racketeering enterprise — I engaged in racketeering?”
No, Agnifilo argued, telling jurors that those accusations were a figment of the prosecution’s imagination.
Combs’ family, including six of his children and his mother, were in the audience for the closing. As it was happening, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West released a song with Combs’ son, Christian “King” Combs, titled “DIDDY FREE.” West, who now goes by the name Ye, showed up to court two weeks ago to support Combs.
All his life Combs has taken care of people, Agnifilo said, including the ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym Jane, whose rent he is paying.