Diddy Case: Prosecution's Shocking Claims About Rapper's Freak Offs in Opening Statement

The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs on charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution has begun.

After the 12 jurors were seated, the prosecution and defense came out swinging with their opening statements.

The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson, went straight to the alleged “freak offs."

According to Johnson, Ventura was introduced to the freak offs early in their relationship. She said, “Half of every week, Cassie was in a dark hotel room, high and awake for days, performing sex acts she did not want to do on male escorts.”

Johnson painted a picture of Combs’ alleged violence, saying, “He beat her when she didn’t answer the phone when he called. He beat her when she left a freak off without his permission. He beat her when he thought she took too long in the bathroom.”

Combs allegedly forced Ventura to participate in a freak off while she “still had an open wound on her face from the defendant’s most recent assault,” Johnson claimed.

Johnson accused Combs of using the freak offs as blackmail, saying, “He told her he could destroy her career by releasing the videos of her performing sex acts on dozens and dozens of male escorts.”

Johnson also brought attention to the imbalance of power between Combs and Ventura. She stressed, “Only one of them had power. Only one of them had control. And that was the defendant. And with that power and with that control, he made Cassie do his bidding in those dark hotel rooms.”

Diddy has denied all charges against him, entering a not guilty plea on five counts.

Despite Diddy’s not guilty plea, Johnson alleged, “The defendant used lies, drugs, threats, and violence to force and coerce first Cassie and later Jane to have sex with him in front of male escorts. The defendant insisted that the sex occur in a very specific, highly orchestrated way. These sexual performances lasted multiple days, and they involved multiple escorts.”

Combs’ defense lawyer Teny Geragos led her opening statement by arguing, “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity, and money.”

“This case is about voluntary adult choices made by capable adults in consensual relationships,” Geragos emphasized. “At a time when everything in government can feel so uncertain one thing remains the same: the one thing standing between all of us and criminal conviction is a jury of our peers. There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the last year. It is time to cancel that noise and hear and see the evidence presented in this courtroom and it will be crystal-clear.”

According to Geragos, Diddy may have been guilty of domestic violence, but not sex trafficking. She told the jurors, “Domestic violence is a very serious matter. It is a bad and illegal problem. We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence in this case. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking, I want to say it again, domestic violence is not sex trafficking. Had he been charged with domestic violence or assault, we would not be here right now.”

Geragos described Diddy as a “very flawed individual,” saying, “Sean Combs has a temper and when he drank and took the wrong drugs, he got violent. My client is not proud of that. Sean Combs has a bad temper, and sometimes when he gets so angry or jealous, he sometimes gets out of control.”

She commented, “The hitting, the things we’re going to take responsibility for, it’s typically because of jealousy or drug use.”

Despite his tribulations, Geragos emphasized that they “still do not show you a racketeer, trafficker or somebody transporting for prostitution.”

Geragos noted, “He’s not charged with being a jerk or being mean — he’s charged with running a criminal enterprise.”

Geragos also brought up the infamous baby oil, which was found when the feds raided Diddy’s properties last year.

She stated, “You may know of his love of baby oil. Is that a federal crime? No.”

As for the video of Diddy beating Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel, Geragos argued, “That day, unfortunately, jealousy was on full display… What Combs did to Cassie on this video tape is indefensible. It’s horrible. It’s dehumanizing. It’s violent. It’s virtually every bad word you can think of. It is not evidence of sex trafficking.”

Geragos went on, “I’m not justifying the assault — not by a long shot — but I’m putting it in the proper context.”

According to Geragos, Ventura was willingly in a relationship with Diddy for 11 years, saying, “She made a choice, every single day for years — a choice to stay with him, a choice to fight for him, because for 11 years, that was the better choice. That was her preferred choice. So, she made the choice to stay with him until one day she decided she was going to break up with him, because that was her preferred choice.”

Geragos claimed that Ventura was “a willing participant in their sex life,” adding, “This was a voluntary adult choice by two capable adults.”

It is expected that Ventura will share her side of the story when she testifies.

If the jury convicts Diddy, he is facing life behind bars.

On the first day of trial, Diddy’s inner circle, including his kids Justin Combs, Christian Combs, D’Lila and Jessie Combs, Chance Combs, and Quincy Brown, were seen arriving to court to show their support.