Sean Combs trial updates | Defense closes; deliberations set for Monday

Sean Combs did not sexually assault his assistant "Mia," the defense argued in its closing, seeking to quash an aspect of the forced labor racketeering predicate.

"Mia" testified Combs assaulted her several times. She alleged he woke her when she was sleeping in his home and forced her to have sex with him.

"This was not unwanted sexual contact," defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said. "Something consensual happened."

He held up a poster-sized photograph "Mia" had given to him on his birthday that showed Combs with "Mia," assistants, bodyguards and other employees. The caption beneath the photo called Combs "coolest alien rock star unicorn pizza slice."

Agnifilo said the image is evidence of the love Combs engendered among his employees, not forced labor.

"This is a racketeering enterprise, folks," Agnifilo sarcastically said.

The defense lawyer conceded Combs had a drug problem and kept drugs in his homes, but he sought to cast doubt on drug offenses as a racketeering predicate.

"These were personal use drugs," Agnifilo said. "There's no allegation Sean Combs is selling drugs."

He reminded the jury that Cassie Ventura and many other people around Combs were doing drugs.

"It's doing what people in creative fields do and all of a sudden it's part of a racketeering conspiracy," Agnifilo said.

During a break, the judge admonished defense attorney Marc Agnifilo for inviting the jury to speculate on why federal prosecutors pursued certain charges against Sean Combs.

"Please don't do it again," Judge Arun Subramanian said. "That is a bridge too far."

Subramanian gave the jury a curative instruction, telling them not to speculate about the government's charging decisions.

"It would be improper for you to consider such matters during your deliberations," Subramanian said before Agnifilo continued his summation.

The idea Sean Combs had anything to do with firebombing Kid Cudi's car is "nonsense," defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said during his closing argument.

"There is no evidence, I mean no evidence, that he had anything to do with the Porsche," Agnifilo argued.

Federal prosecutors argued in their summation yesterday that "the evidence and basic logic" suggest Combs did have something to do with it, out of jealousy over Kid Cudi's relationship with Cassie Ventura. The defense told the jury Combs was more direct.

"They were going to do what men do. They were going to have a fistfight," Agnifilo said. "You messing with my girl, I'm coming to your house and we're going to fight."

In an email following the car's destruction, Ventura told her mother and Combs' assistant Capircorn Clark that Combs had threatened to release sex tapes of her and physically harm Mescudi. That the email did not mention firebombing Mescudi's car, Agnifilo argued, raised doubts about Combs' culpability for the racketeering predicate act of arson.

The defense also sought to raise doubt about the bribery predicate.

Federal prosecutors argued Combs and his associates were worried about getting arrested after the attack on Ventura was caught on 2016 hotel surveillance cameras and sought to bribe a security guard for the footage. Agnifilo said Combs had a different motive: distrust of hotel staff.

"Money is involved, and people want a payday," Agnifilo said, telling the jury hotel staff may have been willing to sell video of someone as famous as Combs. "They're not worried about the police."

In a theatrical closing argument, Sean Combs' lead defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, paced in front of the jury, shouted his disbelief at the prosecution's case and gestured in mock outrage at the amount of lubricant found in Combs' garage.

"Boxes of AstroGlide! Take him off the streets!" Agnifilo sarcastically told the jury.

Other defense attorneys suppressed laughter at the defense table, while prosecutor Maurene Comey rested her head in her palm.

Agnifilo argued sex played a positive role in Cassie Ventura and Sean Combs' relationship, suggesting she could not have been a victim of trafficking.

"She's a woman who actually likes sex," Agnifilo said. "Good for her. She's beautiful."

Agnifilo spoke in more staccato when he questioned former Combs employee Capricorn Clark's account of submitting to a five-day lie detector test, which the government said amounted to kidnapping.

"She went home. Everyday. So, what is the government alleging?!" Agnifilo half shouted. "I have no doubt that she was unsettled. She was not kidnapped."

The defense similarly doubted Clark was kidnapped at gunpoint when Combs came to her home early one morning on the way to confront Kid Cudi.

"He doesn't need a gun. He didn't have a gun," Agnifilo said.