Latest news with #NXIVM
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Disgraced Smallville star Allison Mack gets MARRIED two years after sex cult recruiter was released from prison
Disgraced Smallville actor Allison Mack, who pleaded guilty over her role in a sex-trafficking case tied to the cult group NXIVM, tied the knot two weeks after being released from priso n. The 42-year-old actress married a man named Frank in an intimate ceremony in Los Angeles last week according to TMZ. has reached out to representatives for Mack and has yet to hear back. The publication's sources claim that the two had met at a dog park after she served her prison sentenced and were engaged around Christmas of last year. Back in July 2023, Mack was released from prison a year early. Mack, who began serving a three-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, in September 2021, was released on Monday, July 3, 2023 according to federal prison records. Best known for her role as a young Superman's close friend on Smallville, Mak pleaded guilty in 2019 to charges that she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for NXIVM leader Keith Raniere. Mack spent less than two years at FCI Dublin, a low-security women's prison perhaps most famous for holding actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman for their roles in a college admissions scandal. She avoided a longer prison term by cooperating with federal authorities in their case against Raniere, who was sentenced to 120 years in prison after being convicted on sex-trafficking charges. Mack helped prosecutors mount evidence showing how Raniere created a secret society that included brainwashed women who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him. In addition to Mack, members of the group included an heiress to the Seagram´s liquor fortune, Clare Bronfman, and a daughter of TV star Catherine Oxenberg of 'Dynasty'. Mack went on to attack the cult leader Raniere and expressed 'remorse and guilt' before her sentencing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. She started acting and modeling at the age of four but landed her first acting gig on a TV show when she was 15 and in 2001 went on to play Chloe Sullivan, the best friend of a young Clark Kent, in Smallville. The series ran from 2001 to 2011 and earned Mack two Teen Choice Awards and multiple TV award nominations. It was while Smallville was filming that Mack first attended a NXIVM meeting back in 2007. She eventually moved to New York City when Smallville finished airing in 2011. Mack regularly attended NXIVM seminars and would often travel to Albany where Raniere lived. In 2012, she chose to move to Albany to be closer to NXIVM and Raniere instead of pursuing an application to Yale Drama School. Raniere had started NXIVM in the 1990s in Albany as a purported self-improvement group that then expanded across the country. It first became known for its 'Executive Success Program' courses, which purported to give students the ability to achieve their goals in life by overcoming mental blocks. Raniere started a secret branch, known as the DOS, in about 2015 that was just for women. Mack, who was once part of Raniere's inner circle, had provided information to prosecutors about how he encouraged 'the use of demeaning and derogatory language, including racial slurs, to humiliate 'slaves'. She also gave them a recording of a conversation (above) she had with Raniere about the branding, which was used to bolster their case against him Prosecutors say the secret society was comprised of brainwashed female 'slaves' who were blackmailed into having sex with him, following dangerously restrictive diets and being branded with his initials. Mack became a master, as well as Raniere's slave, around 2016. In her role in the cult, Mack admitted that at Raniere's direction, she obtained compromising information and images of two unidentified women - called 'collateral' within the group - that she threatened to make public if they didn't perform 'so-called acts of love.' Prosecutors also said Mack ordered victims 'to perform labor, take nude photographs, and in some cases, to engage in sex acts with Raniere'. As an investigation into NXIVM was underway in 2017, Raniere and Mack were among those who fled to Mexico to try to reconstitute the group there. He was arrested at a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta and sent back to the US in March 2018. Mack was arrested a few days later in New York and charged with racketeering conspiracy, forced labor conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, sex trafficking conspiracy, sex trafficking and attempted sex trafficking. After being released on bond, Mack was ordered to cut all communication with NXIVM members including her wife and fellow NXIVM member Nicki Clyne. The pair married in 2017 but Mack filed for divorce in December 2022 After being released on bond, Mack was ordered to cut all communication with NXIVM members including her wife and fellow NXIVM member Nicki Clyne. The pair married in 2017 but Mack filed for divorce in December 2022. It was previously reported that the pair wed at the behest of Raniere in an effort to allow Clyne, who is Canadian, to remain in the US. Clyne was not charged in relation to the NXIVM case.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Yahoo
What is the RICO Act and why is Sean Combs charged with violating it?
To build a criminal case against Sean 'Diddy' Combs, federal prosecutors are employing the legal weapon once used to take down the country's notorious organized crime families. In a sweeping indictment that accuses Combs of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, prosecutors allege the same business empire that nearly made Combs a billionaire also enabled him to illegally coerce women into sex and conceal his illicit conduct to protect his reputation. Combs has pleaded not guilty to every one of the five counts in the indictment: charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. In dramatic fashion, his lawyers are arguing that Combs may well be a violent man – one who indulges in unconventional sexual conduct, abused illegal drugs and committed domestic violence – but he was not part of a broader criminal organization. MORE: Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates 'This case is about those real-life relationships, and the government is trying to turn those relationships into a racketeering case,' Combs' attorney, Teny Geragos, told jurors in her opening statement. 'The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual, but it will not show you a racketeer, a sex trafficker, or somebody transporting for prostitution.' Long removed from the days of using RICO to break the back of the Mafia, federal prosecutors in recent years have used RICO to target a diverse array of criminals: the R&B singer R. Kelly, convicted for sexually exploiting children; NXIVM Leader Keith Raniere, for sex trafficking; and Bill Hwang, the founder of a multi-billion-dollar investment firm now in prison for manipulating the financial markets. 'While it's typically been used to apply to in the past, to mob and street gangs, it can just as easily be used to apply to a totally otherwise legitimate business,' Rachel Maimin, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who led the largest gang prosecution in New York City history, said of the RICO statute. 'These are sort of more innovative, creative, broader uses of racketeering than we've seen before.' Statistics show that, in 2018-2022, federal prosecutors won convictions in more than 97% of the cases in which RICO was the most serious charge filed. For the jury of eight men and four women to convict Combs of racketeering conspiracy, they need to decide beyond a reasonable doubt that Combs knowingly worked with others to commit at least two underlying crimes – so-called 'predicate acts' – within 10 years of each other. MORE: Suge Knight speaks out about Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking case 'The prosecution has to prove this organization was an enterprise run by various people who had an agreement that they would engage in certain illegal behavior to further that enterprise, and they have to prove that there were various predicate acts that were committed,' said Michael Bachner, a white-collar criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. Neither Bachner nor Maimin are involved in Combs' case. Even if Combs is the only person indicted as part of a broader criminal scheme, prosecutors can still argue that he relied on the help of others, such as personal assistants, bodyguards, and business associates. Some of the witnesses against Combs have testified in return for immunity from prosecutors or have spoken with federal authorities during 'proffer' sessions, during which the statements they make cannot be used to prosecute them. Before deliberations in the case begin, Judge Arun Subramanian will issue a 'jury charge,' instructing jurors on the law and how to think about it in reference to the facts that were brought out during the trial, which has already lasted a month. In RICO cases, juries are generally instructed that they need to believe the defendant willfully engaged in a criminal scheme by working with others to commit the two related crimes, Maiman said. In the indictment, a federal grand jury charged that Combs used his 'employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire' to commit crimes including kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor, sex trafficking, prostitution, and narcotics distribution. Prosecutors allege that Combs used his businesses – including his famed record label, Bad Boy Entertainment – to run a criminal organization that served to 'to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.' 'The reason why they always did it with a mob and gangs is because they're very hierarchical,' said Maimin, explaining that Mafia families were notorious for crimes being committed by low-level street operators but at the direction of organization leaders like bosses or captains. 'But it makes sense to do a business like Diddy's business empire,' Maimin said, noting that the organized structure and hierarchy of Combs' business might help prosecutors demonstrate it could function like a criminal organization. According to prosecutors, the purpose of Combs' criminal enterprise was to not only secure his power and reputation as a musician and entrepreneur, but also to enable him and others in his orbit to commit crimes. They allege Combs and his associates 'wielded the power and prestige' of his business empire to 'intimidate, threaten and lure female victims into Combs' world,' where he allegedly used threats and coercion to force them into sexual activities, like escapades with strangers and prostitutes and even sex assaults, and then to keep the women silent. MORE: A timeline of the highs and lows of Sean 'Diddy' Combs: From Grammys to legal trouble At the center of the prosecution's case are the elaborate days-long, drug-fueled sex sessions orchestrated by Combs, where he allegedly made women have sex with male prostitutes while he watched, forcing them to participate with drugs, violence and threats. According to witness testimony, Combs' employees were required to help purchase supplies for the event, hire sex workers and coordinate their travel arrangements, and clean up afterward to reduce the chances hotel workers or the public learned about his illicit activity. Former prosecutors told ABC News that charging a defendant with RICO generally gives authorities more flexibility in presenting testimony and evidence to the jury and more stringent prison sentences if a defendant is convicted. 'It is a statute that can encompass a very broad range of criminal activity, and that's why it's very appealing,' said Maimin. According to Bachner, use of RICO sometimes allows prosecutors to introduce evidence of conduct from long ago, tie together multiple criminal acts if they all were connected to a similar purpose, and stiffen potential sentences for defendants. RICO carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years to life, depending on the underlying predicate act. The flexibility of the law sometimes gives prosecutors additional leverage to encourage witnesses to cooperate in their investigation, though the RICO statute does not rely on multiple co-conspirators being charged together. 'You don't have to charge every conspirator, you just have to prove that there was another conspirator,' Bachner said. 'It's not required under the RICO statute that there has to be other named defendants, just at least one other person with a guilty mind.' With jurors so far seeing more than 20 witnesses, they have started to hear about bits and pieces of the alleged broader criminal enterprise that prosecutors described in their opening statement. 'To the public, he was Puff Daddy, or Diddy – a cultural icon, a businessman, larger than life. But there was another side to him, a side that ran a criminal enterprise,' prosecutor Emily Johnson told jurors at the start. 'During this trial, you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes. But he didn't do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and helped him cover them up.' Jurors have so far heard testimony about five potential predicate crimes – including allegations of sex trafficking, arson, bribery, distribution of narcotics, and kidnapping – that prosecutors might use to try to convince the jury to convict on the racketeering charge. MORE: Sean 'Diddy' Combs rejects plea deal ahead of sex trafficking trial Combs' former assistant, Capricorn Clark, testified that Combs and his bodyguard 'kidnapped' her in an attempt to confront and threaten to 'kill' rival rapper Kid Cudi because he was dating Combs' ex-girlfriend. Kid Cudi – whose legal name is Scott Mescudi – also told jurors how he suspected Combs orchestrated the firebombing of his luxury sports car in an act of arson that Combs intended to send a message. 'Sean wanted Scott's friends to be there to see the car get blown up in the driveway,' Combs' ex-girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, told the jury. After Combs assaulted Ventura, following what she told jurors was a 'freak-off' sex session in an LA hotel in 2016, a security guard who responded to the incident testified that Combs offered him money to stay silent about the incident, an act prosecutors may use try to prove Combs committed bribery. The security guard testified that he did not take the money. Another hotel employee, Eddy Garcia, testified under an immunity agreement with prosecutors that Combs and his associates paid him $100,000 for the video footage capturing the assault. Multiple witnesses also told the jury about the process for setting up the "freak-offs," among them personal assistants who said they were sent to purchase illegal drugs for Combs, as well as Ventura, the prosecution's star witness, who testified she coordinated sex workers' travel across state lines so they could participate in the orgies. 'No one witness gives all the evidence to meet every element of every crime,' said Maimin, who clarified that the prosecution's case is like a puzzle now being assembled for the jury. 'People are impatient to hear everything all at once.' Trial experts say the jury might have begun linking together the evidence and testimony that prosecutors say formed a criminal enterprise, as Combs lawyers have tried to cast doubt on allegations central to the case. 'You're seeing now witness after witness come forward talking about his employees assisting in this,' ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams said on "Good Morning America" on Monday. 'Now you have the enterprise – the enterprise is the people working for him doing the things he's telling them to do. And then you have potential crime after crime after crime that's being alleged, everything from kidnapping and arson, to extortion.'
05-06-2025
What is the RICO Act and why is Sean Combs charged with violating it?
To build a criminal case against Sean 'Diddy' Combs, federal prosecutors are employing the legal weapon once used to take down the country's notorious organized crime families. In a sweeping indictment that accuses Combs of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, prosecutors allege the same business empire that nearly made Combs a billionaire also enabled him to illegally coerce women into sex and conceal his illicit conduct to protect his reputation. Combs has pleaded not guilty to every one of the five counts in the indictment: charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. In dramatic fashion, his lawyers are arguing that Combs may well be a violent man – one who indulges in unconventional sexual conduct, abused illegal drugs and committed domestic violence – but he was not part of a broader criminal organization. 'This case is about those real-life relationships, and the government is trying to turn those relationships into a racketeering case,' Combs' attorney, Teny Geragos, told jurors in her opening statement. 'The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual, but it will not show you a racketeer, a sex trafficker, or somebody transporting for prostitution.' Long removed from the days of using RICO to break the back of the Mafia, federal prosecutors in recent years have used RICO to target a diverse array of criminals: the R&B singer R. Kelly, convicted for sexually exploiting children; NXIVM Leader Keith Raniere, for sex trafficking; and Bill Hwang, the founder of a multi-billion-dollar investment firm now in prison for manipulating the financial markets. 'While it's typically been used to apply to in the past, to mob and street gangs, it can just as easily be used to apply to a totally otherwise legitimate business,' Rachel Maimin, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who led the largest gang prosecution in New York City history, said of the RICO statute. 'These are sort of more innovative, creative, broader uses of racketeering than we've seen before.' Statistics show that, in 2018-2022, federal prosecutors won convictions in more than 97% of the cases in which RICO was the most serious charge filed. What does it take to prove Combs engaged in a criminal enterprise? For the jury of eight men and four women to convict Combs of racketeering conspiracy, they need to decide beyond a reasonable doubt that Combs knowingly worked with others to commit at least two underlying crimes – so-called 'predicate acts' – within 10 years of each other. 'The prosecution has to prove this organization was an enterprise run by various people who had an agreement that they would engage in certain illegal behavior to further that enterprise, and they have to prove that there were various predicate acts that were committed,' said Michael Bachner, a white-collar criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. Neither Bachner nor Maimin are involved in Combs' case. Even if Combs is the only person indicted as part of a broader criminal scheme, prosecutors can still argue that he relied on the help of others, such as personal assistants, bodyguards, and business associates. Some of the witnesses against Combs have testified in return for immunity from prosecutors or have spoken with federal authorities during 'proffer' sessions, during which the statements they make cannot be used to prosecute them. Before deliberations in the case begin, Judge Arun Subramanian will issue a 'jury charge,' instructing jurors on the law and how to think about it in reference to the facts that were brought out during the trial, which has already lasted a month. In RICO cases, juries are generally instructed that they need to believe the defendant willfully engaged in a criminal scheme by working with others to commit the two related crimes, Maiman said. What do prosecutors allege Combs did? In the indictment, a federal grand jury charged that Combs used his 'employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire' to commit crimes including kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labor, sex trafficking, prostitution, and narcotics distribution. Prosecutors allege that Combs used his businesses – including his famed record label, Bad Boy Entertainment – to run a criminal organization that served to 'to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.' 'The reason why they always did it with a mob and gangs is because they're very hierarchical,' said Maimin, explaining that Mafia families were notorious for crimes being committed by low-level street operators but at the direction of organization leaders like bosses or captains. 'But it makes sense to do a business like Diddy's business empire,' Maimin said, noting that the organized structure and hierarchy of Combs' business might help prosecutors demonstrate it could function like a criminal organization. According to prosecutors, the purpose of Combs' criminal enterprise was to not only secure his power and reputation as a musician and entrepreneur, but also to enable him and others in his orbit to commit crimes. They allege Combs and his associates 'wielded the power and prestige' of his business empire to 'intimidate, threaten and lure female victims into Combs' world,' where he allegedly used threats and coercion to force them into sexual activities, like escapades with strangers and prostitutes and even sex assaults, and then to keep the women silent. At the center of the prosecution's case are the elaborate days-long, drug-fueled sex sessions orchestrated by Combs, where he allegedly made women have sex with male prostitutes while he watched, forcing them to participate with drugs, violence and threats. According to witness testimony, Combs' employees were required to help purchase supplies for the event, hire sex workers and coordinate their travel arrangements, and clean up afterward to reduce the chances hotel workers or the public learned about his illicit activity. What benefit does charging RICO give prosecutors? Former prosecutors told ABC News that charging a defendant with RICO generally gives authorities more flexibility in presenting testimony and evidence to the jury and more stringent prison sentences if a defendant is convicted. 'It is a statute that can encompass a very broad range of criminal activity, and that's why it's very appealing,' said Maimin. According to Bachner, use of RICO sometimes allows prosecutors to introduce evidence of conduct from long ago, tie together multiple criminal acts if they all were connected to a similar purpose, and stiffen potential sentences for defendants. RICO carries a maximum prison sentence of 30 years to life, depending on the underlying predicate act. The flexibility of the law sometimes gives prosecutors additional leverage to encourage witnesses to cooperate in their investigation, though the RICO statute does not rely on multiple co-conspirators being charged together. 'You don't have to charge every conspirator, you just have to prove that there was another conspirator,' Bachner said. 'It's not required under the RICO statute that there has to be other named defendants, just at least one other person with a guilty mind.' What have witnesses said so far to help the government's case? With jurors so far seeing more than 20 witnesses, they have started to hear about bits and pieces of the alleged broader criminal enterprise that prosecutors described in their opening statement. 'To the public, he was Puff Daddy, or Diddy – a cultural icon, a businessman, larger than life. But there was another side to him, a side that ran a criminal enterprise,' prosecutor Emily Johnson told jurors at the start. 'During this trial, you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes. But he didn't do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and helped him cover them up.' Jurors have so far heard testimony about five potential predicate crimes – including allegations of sex trafficking, arson, bribery, distribution of narcotics, and kidnapping – that prosecutors might use to try to convince the jury to convict on the racketeering charge. Combs' former assistant, Capricorn Clark, testified that Combs and his bodyguard 'kidnapped' her in an attempt to confront and threaten to 'kill' rival rapper Kid Cudi because he was dating Combs' ex-girlfriend. Kid Cudi – whose legal name is Scott Mescudi – also told jurors how he suspected Combs orchestrated the firebombing of his luxury sports car in an act of arson that Combs intended to send a message. 'Sean wanted Scott's friends to be there to see the car get blown up in the driveway,' Combs' ex-girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, told the jury. After Combs assaulted Ventura, following what she told jurors was a 'freak-off' sex session in an LA hotel in 2016, a security guard who responded to the incident testified that Combs offered him money to stay silent about the incident, an act prosecutors may use try to prove Combs committed bribery. The security guard testified that he did not take the money. Another hotel employee, Eddy Garcia, testified under an immunity agreement with prosecutors that Combs and his associates paid him $100,000 for the video footage capturing the assault. Multiple witnesses also told the jury about the process for setting up the "freak-offs," among them personal assistants who said they were sent to purchase illegal drugs for Combs, as well as Ventura, the prosecution's star witness, who testified she coordinated sex workers' travel across state lines so they could participate in the orgies. 'No one witness gives all the evidence to meet every element of every crime,' said Maimin, who clarified that the prosecution's case is like a puzzle now being assembled for the jury. 'People are impatient to hear everything all at once.' Trial experts say the jury might have begun linking together the evidence and testimony that prosecutors say formed a criminal enterprise, as Combs lawyers have tried to cast doubt on allegations central to the case. 'You're seeing now witness after witness come forward talking about his employees assisting in this,' ABC News chief legal analyst Dan Abrams said on "Good Morning America" on Monday. 'Now you have the enterprise – the enterprise is the people working for him doing the things he's telling them to do. And then you have potential crime after crime after crime that's being alleged, everything from kidnapping and arson, to extortion.'
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Diddy defense preview? His lawyer defended 'sex cult' leader in eerily similar case
NEW YORK ― A charismatic man coerced women into sex and silence. His inner circle transported victims, reaping financial rewards. Sleep deprivation abounded. Those are all allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs, whose sex-trafficking trial heads to opening statements on Monday, May 12. But they are also similar to the charges in a 2019 sex-trafficking trial against self-help guru Keith Raniere, the so-called NXIVM "sex cult" leader. And the similarities could offer an early window into Combs' defense. After all, the two men went to trial with the same lawyer: Marc Agnifilo. As a federal prosecutor in the 2000s, Agnifilo helped expand the government's use of a 1970 law designed to take down the mafia, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act or "RICO." Agnifilo helped broaden the use of RICO to also tackle street gangs. However, as a defense lawyer Agnifilo argued that using that law against Raniere was a bridge too far. The law is now being used against Combs to allege he ran a criminal enterprise that involved kidnapping, forced labor, and sex trafficking. Agnifilo, who lost Raniere's case, didn't respond to USA TODAY's request for comment on how he will be approaching Combs' defense and whether his strategy will mirror that defense. But Season 2 of HBO's "The Vow," in which Agnifilo let a documentary team follow him through the trial, offers clues to what the defense could look like. The prominent New York defense lawyer is also representing accused UnitedHealthcare CEO-killer Luigi Mangione along with his wife, Karen Agnifilo, who is leading that defense team. Marc Agnifilo also represented former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli and ex-International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in high-profile cases. To prove their sex-trafficking charges against Combs, prosecutors will have to show that Combs knew his alleged victims were participating in "freak off" parties that involved sexual activities as a result of force, fraud, and coercion. It's an element of the charges that's not just about whether the parties happened, but also about Combs' intent and whether he believed the women had freely consented. When Raniere faced similar sex-trafficking charges, Agnifilo approached that issue head-on, portraying Raniere as a man who lived an atypical sexual lifestyle, but who always had good intentions. "I don't have to defend everything to win this case, but one thing I am going to defend is his intentions," Agnifilo said in his opening statement at Raniere's trial. "I'm going to defend his good faith." Agnifilo has already dropped hints that he will pursue a similar strategy in Combs' case. At an April 25 pre-trial hearing, Agnifilo said he plans to tell jurors that there is a certain alternative sexual lifestyle – "call it swingers" – that Combs belonged to. He said being able to describe that lifestyle to jurors will be crucial to showing Combs didn't have the necessary intent to be guilty. More broadly, Agnifilo tried to humanize Raniere throughout his trial. "Keith undoubtedly believes that his work with NXIVM is good, and I think it's helped a lot of people," Agnifilo said at the time. It's a strategy that's in line with Agnifilo's general style, according to Mitchell Epner, a long-time litigator who worked in the New Jersey federal prosecuting office at the same time as Agnifilo. "His style is to make the jury believe that he is investing his personality in the defendant," Epner said. Epner described it in the following way: "I'm likable. You like me. I'm a charismatic guy. I like my client. I'm standing behind him, I'm putting my hands on his shoulders. I am investing whatever halo effect I have on my client. And therefore, you should think good things about my client." In Raniere's trial, Agnifilo appeared to conclude that the defense's Achilles' heel was evidence that practically any juror would see as morally abhorrent. That included sexual images of someone the jury concluded was a minor. Even though that evidence spoke directly only to charges that Raniere sexually exploited a child and possessed child sexual-abuse material, Agnifilo believed it damned the entire defense. "After Keith's sentencing I said, 'You know, Keith, this was a fascinating debate, and maybe even a debate that we win until you have allegations of, you know, underage sex and pornography,'" Agnifilo said in the documentary. "Then you don't get to be a participant in the debate anymore, and no one's going to listen to your viewpoint the same way." Combs is also going to be up against evidence that no juror is likely to countenance: a video that appears to show Combs dragging and kicking his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel hallway. Judge Arun Subramanian ruled April 25 that prosecutors will be able to show the video at trial, despite the defense's objections. Agnifilo's experience in Raniere's trial may cause him to think especially hard about how to challenge the evidence Combs faces. In court filings ahead of trial, the defense has suggested the video may have been doctored. CNN, which made the video public in its broadcast, has denied the allegations. Agnifilo's experience with the Raniere case could also give him food for thought when it comes to picking a jury that is going to see morally troubling evidence. Robert Hirschhorn, a lawyer and jury consultant, told USA TODAY ahead of jury selection that, if he were on the defense team, he might argue Combs is guilty of domestic violence, but he was overcharged with sex trafficking. Hirschhorn would test whether potential jurors could set aside the video by asking if they could work through and compartmentalize a significant other cheating. "Everybody that says, 'compartmentalize,' I don't care what else they say – Unless they say, 'I already think Diddy's guilty,' I'm putting them on the jury every day," Hirschhorn said. Another of Agnifilo's tactics to try to combat the case against Raniere was to use the words of his victims against them. "These women who are saying that they're victims, yet see, how do they speak to Keith?" Agnifilo asked rhetorically ahead of witness testimony. "That's when the jury's gonna start seeing what this case is really about, when we actually get to the evidence." It was a strategy he employed over and over as prosecutors put women on the stand who testified that Raniere coerced them. With one witness who testified that, at Raniere's direction, she started sending him nude images and entered into a "master-slave" relationship with him, Agnifilo pointed to her text messages to cast doubt on her claims of coercion. "You were asking to see Keith on a pretty regular basis?" Agnifilo asked. "I was just following the instructions of my master," the woman responded. "Have you told my client that you love him?" Agnifilo asked. "I tried to be the best slave I could be so that things would work out for me," the woman responded. When another woman, a Mexican citizen, testified that Raniere forced her to stay in a room for two years after she kissed another man, Agnifilo again pointed to what she wrote. "What you write here is, 'From my love for you and what is unfinished between us, I gathered the strength to go against my own momentum and be honest with myself,'" he said. "This is a very complex situation," she replied. "I have no money, no papers, and I was threatened with both being sent back to Mexico, and also threatened with being completely cut off from everyone I knew," she said. Agnifilo has experience with just how impactful an alleged victims' own statements can be. New York prosecutors dropped a sexual assault case against his client, former French politician Strauss-Kahn, based on statements they believed called her story into question. Just as with that woman in Raniere's case, prosecutors in Combs' case say he leaned on other members of his alleged enterprise to help him monitor women and keep them from leaving. They plan to introduce testimony from a psychologist on why victims might stay in abusive or violent relationships. In Raniere's case, Agnifilo also wanted to bring in witnesses who could testify to participating in an organization within NXIVM, "DOS," that prosecutors alleged was used to traffic women. "The only way to rectify it is to hear from these DOS women firsthand and set the record straight and say, 'Listen, I joined DOS for my own reasons,'" Agnifilo said as he was preparing for trial. "Even the power and might of the great federal government hasn't shaken these women from that belief." In practice, that strategy didn't work out for him. When it came time for the defense to present witnesses, nobody wanted to do it. "We went to several different countries and interviewed hundreds of people to be witnesses in this case, and we got what I think was good information," he said after the trial. "But when it came time to actually, you know, travel to Brooklyn, enter that courtroom, sit in the witness chair, not a lot of people wanted to do that." Agnifilo will likely be hoping witnesses for Combs will stay the course even as prosecutors present testimony and evidence over several weeks that could likewise paint Combs in a highly-negative light. In court filings ahead of the trial, the defense team and prosecutors have been arguing over whether Combs should be able to present that kind of testimony. Ultimately, Agnifilo's defense didn't work out for Raniere, who was found guilty on every charge he faced. Still, a recent development – Combs' decision to reject a plea offer – may indicate Agnifilo is optimistic for a better outcome this time. (The details of the offer – or what Agnifilo advised – weren't publicly revealed.) When Raniere was headed to trial, Agnifilo said, "If your client's guilty and the government can prove it, cut a deal and call it a day." Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison. His appeal is ongoing. Aysha Bagchi covers the Department of Justice for USA TODAY. She is an attorney, Harvard Law graduate, and Rhodes Scholar. You can follow her on X and Bluesky at @AyshaBagchi. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A look at Diddy lawyer's strategy in eerily similar 'sex cult' trial
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Opening statements begin in federal sex trafficking case
Opening statements in the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs began Monday in federal court in Manhattan, where the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. According to the indictment, Combs 'abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.' It contains a litany of shocking allegations. Federal prosecutors say that Combs used his business empire for decades to conduct 'freak offs,' drug-fueled sex performances in which women were allegedly coerced to participate. The indictment also alleges that Combs used guns, kidnapping and arson to control his victims. He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, Combs could face life in prison. He is being held without bail in a Brooklyn jail. A jury of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates will decide his fate. The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks. Follow the live blog below for the latest updates on the trial. The newly empaneled jury has received its instructions from Judge Arun Subramanian, and opening statements in the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs are now underway. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson is delivering the opening statement for the prosecution. 'This is Sean Combs,' Johnson says, gesturing to Combs at the defense table. 'To the public, he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Larger than life. But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise.' Combs's sprawling legal team is led by veteran criminal defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who has experience in high-profile cases, having previously represented NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere and 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli, among others. Combs's other lawyers include Teny Geragos, Alexandra Shapiro and Brian Steel, who represented rapper Young Thug in a racketeering case in Georgia and was the subject of a recent New Yorker profile. Also of note: Marc Agnifilo's wife, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, is lead counsel for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year. She was spotted in the courtroom Monday to hear opening statements in the Combs case. A team of eight U.S. attorneys are arguing the case for the government, including Emily Johnson, Madison Smyser, Mary Slavik, Meredith Foster and Mitzi Steiner, who are listed as the lead lawyers on the docket. The prosecution team also features Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. In 2022, she helped secure a conviction against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison. The judge overseeing the trial is Arun Subramanian, who was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and confirmed by the Senate in 2023. He is the first judge of South Asian descent to serve on the court's bench. Subramanian, a Columbia Law School graduate who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was previously a partner at the Manhattan law firm Susman Godfrey, where he specialized in commercial and bankruptcy law. The Diddy case is believed to be his highest-profile trial yet. The jury that will hear Sean "Diddy" Combs's sex trafficking case has been selected. Lawyers for both sides were allowed to issue peremptory strikes — excluding without any reason or explanation — to a pool of 43 prospective jurors on Monday morning before the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was finalized. The jury will be sworn in by Judge Arun Subramanian before opening statements. The Sean "Diddy" Combs federal sex-trafficking trial will not be televised, because broadcasting of federal court proceedings is generally prohibited under a rule adopted by U.S. judges in the 1940s. That means that the only images you'll see from inside the courtroom will be from sketch artists (like this one by Jane Rosenberg), and updates will be delivered via reporters in the courtroom. Relatives of Sean "Diddy" Combs arrived early at federal court in Manhattan Monday. His mother, Janice, and six of his children were among them. Last week, the prosecution and defense narrowed the pool of potential jurors to 45 and were expected to make their final selections on Friday. But two potential jurors were dismissed at the last minute — one for personal reasons, the other for not disclosing an ongoing lawsuit they were involved in — forcing Judge Arun Subramanian to delay the process of finalizing the jury until Monday. After jury selection is complete, the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates to be sworn in, followed by opening statements from both sides and testimony from the first witnesses called by the prosecution.
