{"id":5763,"date":"2025-05-12T17:06:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T17:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-sex-trafficking-trial-opens-with-claims-of-freak-off-parties\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T17:06:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T17:06:53","slug":"diddy-sex-trafficking-trial-opens-with-claims-of-freak-off-parties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/diddy-sex-trafficking-trial-opens-with-claims-of-freak-off-parties\/","title":{"rendered":"Diddy Sex Trafficking Trial Opens With Claims of ‘Freak Off’ Parties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tT<\/span>he sex trafficking trial of Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs<\/strong> kicked off Monday in a Manhattan federal courthouse, where federal prosecutors told jurors that the once-powerful mogul used his music empire for decades to \u201cfeed his every desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the first day of a trial expected to last two months, prosecutors painted a picture of a man who used \u201ccoercive and criminal conduct\u201d to force at least two women to engage in drug-fueled sex parties called \u201cfreak offs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor twenty years, the defendant, with the help of his trusted inner circle, committed crime after crime,\u201d prosecutor Emily A. Johnson<\/strong> told the jury during her opening statements. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re here about today. That\u2019s what this case is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tResponding for Combs was defense attorney Teny Geragos<\/strong>, who admitted that the star had a \u201ctoxic\u201d relationship with former girlfriend Cassie Ventura<\/strong> \u2014 including openly acknowledging that it included \u201cdomestic violence\u201d \u2014 but said he was simply not guilty of racketeering or sex trafficking.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case,\u201d Geragos told the jury. \u201cWe take full responsibility that there was domestic violence. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCombs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to \u201cfulfill his sexual desires.\u201d The case centers on elaborate \u201cfreak off\u201d parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star, once one of the music industry\u2019s most powerful men, is formally accused of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and violating a federal prostitution statute. If convicted on all of the charges, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt opening statements, prosecutors accused Combs of victimizing at least two women, including Cassie and an unnamed victim listed under a Jane Doe pseudonym. They said he used \u201clies, drugs, threats, and violence\u201d to coerce the women into routinely engaging in sex with male sex workers in \u201cdark hotel rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo keep both women silent, Johnson told the jury that Combs threatened to release videos of the encounters, one of many moves that she said kept them under his control: \u201cIt had the power to ruin her life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Geragos told a very different story, repeatedly stressing that Cassie and other alleged victims had consensually chosen to have relationships with Combs and partake in what she termed his \u201cswinger lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat may not be what you like to do in your bedroom,\u201d Geragos told the jurors. \u201cShe was not being trafficked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trial will continue Monday afternoon, potentially with testimony from Cassie herself. Billboard<\/em> will update this story with more details from the trial as it unfolds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sex trafficking trial of Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs kicked off Monday in a Manhattan federal courthouse, where federal prosecutors told jurors that the once-powerful mogul used his music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[300,296,4342,2757,4990,461,2338,342],"class_list":["post-5763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-claims","tag-diddy","tag-freak","tag-opens","tag-parties","tag-sex","tag-trafficking","tag-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}