Diddy and Cassie Were Their ‘Best Selves When It Came to Sex,’ Says Lawyer

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Sean “Diddy” Combs’s team had one last opportunity Friday to argue that their client isn’t a sex trafficker or criminal conspirator — but the defense’s closing statement quickly devolved into a meandering discourse that touched on everything from DEI to loving “out loud” to congratulating an “attractive” woman on enjoying sex. Combs’s lead defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, started his closing statement by saying that this case was a “tale of two trials.” This wasn’t exactly surprising — many lawyers favor cliché as a rhetorical device — so for a few minutes, it seemed like it would just be a lengthy spiel on injustice. 

Whatever party drugs or sexual predilections Diddy enjoyed in his personal life were badly “exaggerated” by prosecutors, and partaking in them was not a federal crime, Agnifilo argued, adding that witnesses Cassie and “Jane” deeply loved Diddy. The prosecution’s evidence about Cassie and Jane’s sexual encounters with male escorts, at Diddy’s behest, was proof of a “lifestyle” — not trafficking or a racketeering conspiracy, Agnifilo said. “You want to call it swingers, you want to call it threesomes, whatever you want to call it, that’s what it is,” Agnifilo argued. But “the prosecutors have charged one of the most serious, complicated statutes on the books.” 

“Sean Combs has become something that is very, very hard to be,” Agnifilo said. “He’s a self-made, successful Black entrepreneur.” Diddy’s employees — even the ones called to testify against him — were “moved by him.” Working for Diddy was like “going to Harvard business school” and, from a business standpoint, “like drinking from a firehose,” Agnifilo said, referring to trial testimony. Staffers appreciated that Diddy pushed them to achieve more than they pushed themselves. Agnifilo referred to testimony from Bad Boy Records’ former CFO, “a handsome Black gentleman from the Bronx” with an Ivy League education. “‘There weren’t a lot of places hiring people like me, from my neighborhood,’” Agnifilo quoted the witness as saying. 

“It was real, and it was diversity,” Agnifilo said shortly thereafter. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion — he was doing this in 1993, as a 24-year-old, by himself.” Agnifilo, who walked back and forth in front of jurors, raising and lowering the volume of his voice, as well as his pitch and tone, talked about love several moments later. “The word ‘love,’ at this trial, has been spoken 881 times — 881 times!” he said. 

“This trial is about love, about jealousy,” he said. “It’s about infidelity. It’s about money.” Diddy’s relationship with Cassie, Agnifilo said, was “one of the great modern love stories.” 

“It’s complicated, as they say,” Agnifilo said. “But they are truly in love with each other … they loved out loud.” Cassie and Diddy’s words to each other were “some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read.” 

“They truly loved each other,” Agnifilo insisted, but “at some point, it just wasn’t gonna work.” When it was working between them, however, “They were their best selves when it came to sex … they match up when it comes to sex,” Agnifilo said. “She was a woman who actually likes sex. Good for her! She’s beautiful. She should!” 

At one point during Agnifilo’s closing statement, lead prosecutor Maurene Comey could be seen resting her head on her hand.