NEW YORK (AP) 鈥 The public knew Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥 Combs as a larger-than-life cultural icon and business mogul, but behind the scenes, he was coercing women into drug-fueled sexual encounters and using violence to keep them in line, a federal prosecutor told a jury Monday during opening statements in Combs' sex trafficking trial.
鈥淭his is Sean Combs,鈥 Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the Manhattan jury as she pointed at Combs, who leaned back in his chair as she spoke. "... During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant鈥檚 crimes. But he didn鈥檛 do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and cover them up.鈥
Those crimes, she said, included: Kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.
The defense's opening statement will follow before testimony was to begin.
Combs, wearing a white sweater, entered the packed courtroom shortly before 9 a.m., hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs up to supporters seated behind him. Earlier, the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs' mother and some of his children were escorted past the crowd and brought straight into the building.
Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to that could land him in prison for at least 15 years if he is convicted on all charges. He in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.
Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but was not illegal.
Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters, then kept them in line through violence. He is accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging women, often by the hair.
Johnson started her opening statement by going right to the prosecution鈥檚 claim that violence was a critical tool for how Combs made people do his bidding.
She told jurors about a night when Combs allegedly kidnapped an employee and threatened his one-time girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, who is expected to be a key witness in the trial. Combs told Cassie that if she defied him again, he would release video of her having sex with a male escort 鈥 video that the prosecutor called 鈥渟ouvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life," Johnson said.
That was 鈥渏ust the tip of the iceberg,鈥 Johnson said, telling jurors that Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.
鈥淔or 20 years, the defendant, with the help of his trusted inner circle, committed crime after crime,鈥 Johnson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e here today. That鈥檚 what this case is about.鈥
Central to Combs鈥 sexual abuse, prosecutors say, were highly orchestrated, drug-fueled sex parties he called 鈥渇reak offs,鈥 鈥渨ild king nights鈥 or 鈥渉otel nights.鈥 Combs鈥 company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the U.S. and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said. Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said.
Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a 鈥渇reak off鈥 without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson said. Combs threatened to ruin Cassie鈥檚 singing career by releasing to the public videos of her engaging in sex with male escorts, the prosecutor said. 鈥淗er livelihood depended on keeping him happy,鈥 Johnson said.
Combs sat expressionless as he looked toward Johnson and the jury as the prosecutor described what she said was a pattern of violence, sexual abuse and blackmail.
Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, is expected to be among the trial's early witnesses. She saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled within hours of its filing, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits from people making similar claims.
Prosecutors plan to show jurors video a security camera video of Combs beating Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Johnson told the jury they will hear the lengths Combs鈥 inner circle went to help him hide the attack and get what they thought was the only video recording. She said a security guard was given a brown paper bag full of $100,000 in cash while Combs鈥 bodyguard and chief of staff stood by. 鈥淭his is far from the only time that the defendant鈥檚 inner circle tried to close ranks and do damage control.鈥
Jurors may also see recordings of the 鈥渇reak offs.鈥 The indictment said the events sometimes lasted days and participants required IV-drips to recover.
Combs鈥 attorney, Marc Agnifilo, has said that the Bad Boy Records founder was 鈥渘ot a perfect person鈥 and was undergoing therapy, including for drug use, before his arrest.
But he and other lawyers for Combs have argued that any group sex was consensual and any violence was an aberration.
After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie in the hotel aired on CNN last year, and said he took 鈥渇ull responsibility鈥 for his actions. "I was disgusted then when I did it. I鈥檓 disgusted now.鈥
The Associated Press doesn鈥檛 generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, has done.
The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.
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Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
