Aysha Bagchi
Appearances
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
Mark Ignifilo is Sean Combs' lead attorney in his upcoming sex trafficking trial. The trial has basically already started with jury selection over the past week, but it's really getting underway in terms of the meat of the trial with opening statements on Monday. Mark Ignifilo is a really prominent attorney.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
He's represented a lot of famous clients, and that includes a client in a case that had really similar charges to this one, the case of Keith Raniere. who was the head of what some people have labeled a sex cult, NXIVM. It was kind of a self-help group that Keith Ranieri helped run. But Mark Niflo is this famous attorney.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
He represented Dominique Strauss-Kahn years ago in a case where Strauss-Kahn was able to defeat charges that were brought against him involving sex-related allegations. And he's a former prosecutor. So he's a well-known attorney in New York City, and he's a big name that's taking on this case.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
That trial involved Keith Ranieri, this head of this large group, getting charged with sex trafficking among other types of crimes. He basically was charged with racketeering, which is this fancy legal word that has to do with the government trying to take down what they think is a criminal enterprise. And actually Mark Ignifilo, Sean Combs' attorney,
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
helped bring about that kind of expansion of this law targeting criminal enterprises. When he was a prosecutor in New Jersey, he brought it to cases involving street gangs. And in more recent years, we've seen prosecutors start to use it in cases that they say involve sex trafficking, sometimes with really famous people. That includes Keith Raniere in 2020. It also includes R. Kelly.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
a singer who was accused of sex trafficking as well. So Sean Combs' trial is another example of someone famous who is being charged with running basically a criminal enterprise that involved sex trafficking among other crimes.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
Time will tell, but we have had a preview of how Mark Ignifilo has approached a similar case when it came to Keith Raniere's trial. For that trial, he actually allowed a documentary team to follow him. So we got an up close and personal look at how he was thinking about the defense.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
And you could really see some features of his defense that legal experts have also told me fall into Mark Ignifilo's broader style. He really likes to try to humanize his clients and help the jury to kind of see them as full human beings in the way that they want the jury to see him. So basically tries to kind of convey this impression that I'm a charismatic guy. I'm a likable guy.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
Here I am putting my arm around my client. because he's a good guy too, and you should think the same thing about him. He's also someone who really thought about how to handle some allegations that involve someone living a lifestyle that is really different from how many people live their lives, especially when it comes to their sex lives.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
Mark Ignifilo talked a lot in that case about the idea that he needed to get the jurors comfortable with the notion that his client could have lived an alternative sexual lifestyle, had lots of sexual partners at the same time, and still not been guilty of any crime. And when it comes to Sean Combs' case, he said that he wants jurors to know that there's this alternative sexual lifestyle.
The Excerpt
US and China reach deal to slash trade tariffs
He told the judge in late April, call it swingers, this lifestyle that's really different from how some people live, but it's what Sean Combs did. And that's not a crime. He's really going to emphasize that Sean Combs had good intentions. He never meant to coerce someone. He said that at that hearing, and that was a big feature of his defense of Keith Raniere as well.