Diddy On Trial
Diddy’s defence: ‘He’s a swinger’, plus jury selection begins for trial
Thu, 01 May 2025
Lawyers for Sean 'Diddy' Combs preview his legal defence in his sex trafficking case, arguing that the rapper led the 'lifestyle' of a 'swinger' and was not a criminal.Jury selection gets underway on 5 May, with potential jurors asked a range of questions, including whether they watch crime shows.Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty goes through all the latest pre-trial news with criminal defence attorney Shaun Kent and Rolling Stone’s senior investigative reporter Cheyenne Roundtree.The Diddy on Trial podcast is here to investigate the rumours, confront the theories, and give you the answers that you need.We also want YOU to be part of the conversation. Have you any burning questions about the cases or the upcoming trial? Heard a theory that doesn’t sit right with you? Get in touch now via WhatsApp: 0330 123 555 1.Presenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Richard Hannaford Video producer: Daniel Raza Production Coordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Clare FordhamCommissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Assistant Commissioner: Will Drysdale Commissioning Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Assistant Producer: Rechmial MillerSean ‘Diddy’ Combs - who has also gone by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, and Brother Love - emerged into the hip-hop scene in the 1990s. He founded Bad Boy Records, which launched the careers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J Blige.His current legal issues began when he was sued by his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie, in late 2023. She accused him of violently abusing and raping her. That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount a day after it was filed, with Mr Combs maintaining his innocence.His controversial history with Ms Ventura resurfaced in 2024, when CCTV footage emerged showing Mr Combs kicking his former girlfriend as she lay on a hotel hallway floor in 2016.Multiple people have filed lawsuits accusing Mr Combs of sexual assault, with accusations dating back to 1991. He denies all claims.He is accused of the federal charges of kidnapping, drugging and coercing women into sexual activities, sometimes by using firearms or threatening them with violence. He denies the charges.
Chapter 1: What are the latest updates on Diddy's trial?
BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matanda-Doughty. 11 days till opening statements are expected in the trial of rapper Sean Diddy Combs. He is fighting for his freedom against federal charges of sex trafficking, transportation for prostitution, and racketeering with conspiracy, and Diddy denies them all.
Now, you already know we're going to be in New York bringing you the latest updates and you already know to turn on those push notifications and subscribe. But on the 25th of April, there was a pretrial court hearing in the Southern District of New York. And this gave us a really clear view of how Diddy's team are gearing up to fight those sex trafficking allegations.
In short, his lawyers told the court that he's a swinger and, quote, he thought it, it being the swinging, was appropriate because it was common. Also, later on, we'll be taking a look at the questions potential jurors are being asked, including ones you may not expect, like whether they're into crime shows. Don't forget you can send your questions in to WhatsApp at 0330 123 5551.
Chapter 2: What defense strategy is being used by Diddy's legal team?
That's 0330 123 5551. Joining me today is our resident Dream Team. We have criminal defence attorney, Sean Kent. Hi, Sean.
Hey, how are you doing?
And Rolling Stone's senior investigative reporter, Cheyenne Roundtree. Hi, Cheyenne. Hi, morning. Cheyenne, can you just explain to us a little bit more about what was decided at this hearing?
Chapter 3: What was discussed during the pretrial court hearing?
Sure. So this is one of the last hearings that we'll have before Diddy is in court. And so this hearing was to kind of hash out some last issues on the table. One of the big things was the CNN hotel video that I think everyone has seen where Diddy is seen kicking, dragging Cassie in a hotel as she was supposedly leaving a freak off.
Diddy's team had claimed that the video was deceptive, that CNN had sped up Certain aspects of the video that there was different camera angles that the sequences events weren't exactly accurate. So they didn't want the video to be included at trial.
However, the government said that they have cell phone footage of the camera that shows the events similarly, but it's not the full video and that they have witnesses that can testify to its authenticity. The judge did rule that this video will be allowed into evidence into court. We'll just see exactly how much will be shown.
And that was one moment we've all been waiting for to see whether the jury will be played this video. There was another sort of headline grabbing moment where Mark Agnifilo got up and made some comments about Diddy's sexual habits, practices, proclivities.
What did he say? He basically admitted that Diddy considers himself a swinger. And I think, you know, this whole case is boiling down to consent or what was happening in the bedroom between Diddy and these other alleged victims. And It seems that Diddy's defense is saying, you know, this is a swinging lifestyle. This is his lifestyle. This is what he thought was common.
You know, it is common to bring in sex workers for these events. And what he was doing was under what he thought was normal. He's a swinger. So it kind of grabs people's attention.
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Chapter 4: How is Diddy's lifestyle being portrayed in the trial?
And Mark Agniflo got up and said, there's a lifestyle, call it swingers or whatever you will. He thought it was appropriate because it was common. Sean, swinging is being offered as a defense to the sex trafficking charges. Is that really a robust argument against the charges, which alleged he forced people into sexual activity?
In and of itself, no. And so that's why two things that have happened kind of make sense. It's hard to find a defense to these charges based upon what other folks are saying. So good criminal defense lawyers are trying to find either creative ways or truthful ways, and hopefully they can be both.
So in this situation, by them saying that he is a swinger, he thought that this was okay, I didn't know this was basically against the law. Well, there's something specifically in the federal system called willful blindness. Willful blindness means, and the judge will tell the jury this,
just because you didn't think it was against the law or just because you turned a blind eye to crimes that were occurred, you are still just as guilty.
For example, if your husband is a drug trafficker and you get all the proceeds and you're living in this multimillion dollar home, but you never ask questions and he doesn't go to work and I've never seen him do drugs, but it is to be assumed, well, that's called willful blindness and you're just as guilty of drug trafficking. So the government can argue that.
The government filed notice against Diddy's team saying, you guys are trying to squeeze an expert in here, not necessarily about insanity, but about Diddy's mens rea. Mens rea is the mental status that is required to form criminal intent. So it specifically says...
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Chapter 5: What role does consent play in the allegations against Diddy?
The government respectfully submits this memorandum of law in support of its motion to preclude the opinion testimony of Dr. Ellie Owen. The notice testimony relates to the defendant's diminished capacity to form the mens rea required to commit the charged offenses. So they're going to try to bring in an expert that says Diddy could not form the necessary mens rea
the criminal intent to know what he was doing was committing a crime. And my assumption is it is their attempt to say basically, yes, I did it. But, and even if it's a crime, I didn't know it was a crime and I couldn't have formed the necessary mens rea to be convicted of it being a crime. That was a very convoluted answer, but I hope that makes sense. But it's,
Yeah, I see you all shaking your head like what in the world?
But Shane, we've heard testimony and through your reporting as well. You've spoken to alleged victims who say Diddy took some drugs and came out of the bathroom and he was a different person or I didn't recognize the man that was in front of me. Sean, could that play into this line of defense then if we've got people taking the stand saying, actually, yeah, I didn't recognize him.
He lost control, et cetera, et cetera.
Yes and no. There is something under the law called voluntary intoxication. You cannot voluntarily take drugs yourself and then say, I'm crazy and do crazy stuff if you voluntarily induced a drug. And so that's why I don't think they have offered anything of a true insanity defense.
They're trying to do some type of public policy that if all of your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you jump off of a bridge? I literally think that that is the defense that they're going with, that since everybody thinks swinging is acceptable, Then Diddy thought it was acceptable, might even get into the fact Diddy's childhood thought that this was acceptable.
So he could not form the necessary mens rea to form a criminal state of mind necessary for a conviction because you need a criminal state of mind unless the government argues willful blindness. He knew what he was doing. He was just turning his eye to it.
Another part of what the judge decided was, OK, you can say that Diddy was a swinger or he considered himself to be a swinger, but you cannot cite examples of other prominent swingers to sort of bolster the idea that this was common. Surely then, Sean, you're turning to the jury and you're saying it's common. Trust me. Just just trust me on that.
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Chapter 6: Was a plea deal offered to Diddy?
But that's the judge stopping that right now and say this has nothing to do with anything you've heard, anything outside of this courtroom. You focus on Combs.
And I thought this one was quite funny. So honourable mention to this one, which is, do you watch Law and Order or CSI or other police dramas?
I've asked that question every single jury questionnaire. Every single questionnaire I ask people, do they watch those type of legal shows?
You trying to get rid of people who think that they're like amateur detectives and stuff?
No. I don't know if y'all have watched Law & Order, but 90% of the times if you watch people watch Law & Order, there's always a conviction the government's always right. So people who are friends of Law & Order, there's almost always a conviction at the end of the trial. And there's other shows that people watch, there's almost always a defense. So you're trying to see what people's mindsets are.
If you're a big fan of Law & Order, and you watch it over and over again, that means you're watching for the end, potentially for a conviction. And sometimes you're like, I don't like those folks.
Cheyenne, do you watch Law & Order and CSI? Not too much. Not too much anymore.
I wouldn't put Cheyenne on. She would not get on my jury. You're off. I'm bouncing you immediately.
Well, thank you so much, both of you, for joining us again and keeping us up to date with this. That's criminal defense attorney Sean Kent. Thanks, Sean. Thank you for having me. And Rolling Stone senior investigative reporter Cheyenne Raunchy. Thanks, Cheyenne. Bye. Thank you. So it's jury selection from the 5th of May.
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