Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs' lawyer has revealed that the rapper is planning to testify in his own defense at his upcoming federal sex trafficking trial.
The 54-year-old rapper has been under scrutiny after he was arrested at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan, New York on September 16.
The 'I'll Be Missing You' musician has been charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
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According to Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo - who is a former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney - the Bad Boys Records founder is "eager" to take a stand in court.
“There is nothing that could keep him off the stand. He is very eager to tell his own story,” Agnifilo said in a preview of the TMZ Studios show, The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment.
It'll be a risky move for Combs as he'll most likely be cross-examined and questioned on various topics, including the civil complaint ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed last year, and the shocking footage that showed him physically assaulting her at a hotel.
Per the outlet, the entrepreneur's attorney acknowledges that it's a dangerous move but believes there's no one better to defend Combs than Combs himself.
"He has his story, and he has a story that I think only he can tell in the way he can tell it, in real time," he said. "It's a human story. It's a story of love. It's a story of hurt. It's a story of heartbreak."
The lawyer's revelation comes after an unsealed 14-page indictment revealed that the rapper, formerly known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, organized so-called “Freak Off” sessions.
These were drug-fulled parties in which women were allegedly coerced into sexual activities with male prostitutes while Combs watched and masturbated, per BBC. These orchestrated acts were allegedly recorded and directed by the rapper, and would sometimes last days.
The indictment also claims that Combs and the alleged victims "typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use," and that he used “violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion, and verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse” to achieve his sexual aims, per Fox News.
In addition to this, federal agents discovered 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lube after raiding Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles earlier this year. The items were used during “freak off” sex sessions, the indictment said.
Agnifilo defended the objects found in his client’s residence, saying: “I don’t think it was 1,000. I think it was a lot. I mean, there is a Costco right down the street. I think Americans buy in bulk, as we know,” per The New York Post.
“And you know these are consensual adults doing what consensual adults do, you know, we can’t get so puritanical in this country to think that somehow sex is a bad thing because if it was, there would be no more people," he added.
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The father-of-seven has been detained at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after pleading not guilty, and he has been denied bail twice.
He will be there until his trial. If he is found guilty, he faces a sentence of 15 years up to life in prison.
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