Sean “Diddy” Combs claims several videos at the center of his federal racketeering and sex trafficking indictment show “fully consenting adults” engaged in the sexual encounters known as “Freak Offs.” Combs’ attorneys claims the videos confirm his “innocence” and must be turned over to his defense for independent analysis.
In a letter to the court filed Tuesday, Combs’ lawyers disclosed that nine Freak Off videos were previously handed over to prosecutors by “Victim-1,” widely known to be Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. They claim six videos “unambiguously” depict consensual sexual encounters where “Victim-1 is not only consenting; she is evidently happy, dominant and completely in control.”
Because the videos are currently under a protective order, his attorneys claim they have only been able to review the footage in-person while monitored by law enforcement. They argue that complete, unabridged electronic copies are necessary so they can retain their own experts to exploit the videos’ “full exculpatory value” ahead of trial. They say the videos constitute the heart of Combs’ defense, and considering they’re not highly classified material or child pornography, Combs has a constitutional right to review their undisclosed audio portions and metadata to build a “meaningful defense.”
“Any fair-minded viewer of the videos will quickly conclude that the prosecution of Mr. Combs is both sexist and puritanical,” the letter obtained by Rolling Stone reads. “The videos depict clearly consensual sex among willing adults in a decades-long relationship and fundamentally undermine the government’s case and Victim-1’s claims.”
It was Ventura’s November 2023 lawsuit against Combs that sparked the criminal investigation behind his charges. In her complaint, Ventura alleged that Combs subjected her to extensive violence and that she felt coerced into participating in choreographed sexual encounters with male sex workers called “Freak Offs.” She alleged Combs would ply her with “copious amounts” of drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, marijuana, and alcohol, and that the intoxicants would help her “disassociate during these horrific encounters.”
That lawsuit was settled within 24 hours, but it opened the floodgates to more than 40 subsequent lawsuits. Combs’ homes were raided in March, and in May, CNN obtained the harrowing hotel surveillance video showing Combs throwing, kicking, stomping, and dragging Ventura in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. After first denying Ventura’s claims against him, Combs issued a video apology, admitting his “behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
Combs, 55, was arrested and indicted in September and has pleaded not guilty. He’s currently housed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. His trial is set for May.
Attempts to reach Ventura’s lawyer were not immediately successful Tuesday. Prosecutors were expected to respond to Combs’ modification request in a follow-up filing of their own.
According to Combs and his team, nine videos of the so-called Freak Offs were handed over to prosecutors by Ventura. “These videos unambiguously show that the person alleged in the indictment to be ‘Victim-1’ not only consented but thoroughly enjoyed herself,” the letter from Combs’ lawyers reads. The attorneys say some of the videos are very dark and grainy with poor audio, so they want to hire their own defense experts to try to enhance the recordings and analyze the metadata. They said prosecutors could designate the videos as “attorney’s possession only,” meaning the material would be “maintained in a safe and secure manner by defense counsel.”