The ongoing Sean Combs trial has captivated the nation with its lurid tales of his now-infamous “freak-offs.” But behind the salaciousness is an important point about the critical role that domestic violence plays in gaining power and control over a partner, which then can be deliberately used to commit serious federal crimes like sex trafficking and forced labor.
In their opening statement, Combs’ defense team sought to cast his misconduct toward star witness Casandra “Cassie” Ventura as mere domestic violence and not sex trafficking, as if the two are mutually exclusive. Twice, they told the jury, “Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.” They conceded his extraordinary violence toward Ventura was “dehumanizing,” “terrible,” and “indefensible,” but then argued that — violence notwithstanding — he never coerced Ventura to engage in their freak-offs. The defense claims that Ventura freely and willingly participated in these events, and that his physical and emotional abuse were nothing more than drug-induced fits of jealousy.
However, sex traffickers routinely use physical and psychological abuse, planned and executed over months and years, to bend their victims to their will. Eventually, their victims accede to their abusers’ demands; victims know the consequences of refusing and will subject themselves to dehumanizing experiences just to avoid further violence. I saw this when I was a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn and prosecuted R&B musician R. Kelly for coercing women and girls to perform sexual services for his own gratification. Combs’ alleged behavior also fits this script.
In her courageous testimony, Ventura described the myriad means by which Combs achieved and maintained power and control over her during their decade-long relationship. They started dating when she was 21, sexually inexperienced and relatively new to the music business. Combs was 17 years her senior and already a superstar rapper, producer, and business mogul. Ventura testified that Combs controlled her “career,” “the way [she] dressed, like, everything. Everything.” She testified that he inflicted extreme violence on Ventura: he kicked her, stomped on her, and dragged her by her hair. Again and again and again. The jury has seen his brutality in the harrowing video at the InterContinental Hotel and photographs of her injuries. Prosecutors have called witnesses to describe Combs’ varied abuse, and we can expect to hear more confirmation of his behavior over the course of the trial.
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One vignette offered during Ventura’s testimony illustrates the link between violence, abuse, and trafficking. Ventura testified that she and Combs traveled to France for a film festival and stayed on a yacht belonging to a friend. According to Ventura, Combs demanded that she disembark from the yacht in response to a perceived slight. She complied, leaving the boat barefoot and without any of her belongings, not even her passport. She told the jury how Combs violently squeezed her thigh later that night at an event, painfully depressing her beaded dress onto her bare skin. When they flew back to the United States, she had her seat reassigned to avoid him, but he still maneuvered his way into the seat next to her.
In plain view of other passengers, Combs then played “freak-off” videos of Ventura and expressly told her that he’d release the videos to further humiliate her. When they landed, he told her that he wanted another freak-off. Unsurprisingly, she acquiesced. If the jury credits Ventura, it is hardly a leap for the jury to conclude that she acquiesced because she understood Combs’ deliberate, loud and clear message: Give me what I want, or you will face serious harm. That is how a pattern of abuse breaks a victim’s will. That is coercion. That is sex trafficking.
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His lawyers no doubt scored points with the jury when they highlighted text messages sent by Ventura seemingly expressing enjoyment of select freak-offs and being a willing participant. However, it is well known that victims of domestic abuse often seek out ways to please their abusers to stop the cycle of abuse. Ventura’s text messages may have been one example. Or perhaps her attitude toward these freak-offs changed over time.
Regardless, at the end of the trial, expect prosecutors to present the jury with compelling evidence of a pattern of abuse over a period of years showing that Combs engaged in a calculated plan to make Ventura believe that if she did not comply with his relentless requests for freak-offs, he would make her pay. By physically abusing her. By ensuring she never released another album. And by humiliating her through the release of sex tapes. In other words, sex trafficking. And also domestic violence.
