Celebrity Lawyer Discusses Diddy’s Racketeering Charges

[Source: CBS]

Celebrity lawyer and legal analyst Christopher C. Melcher, who is ranked as a best family law attorney in California, discusses Sean “Diddy” Combs’ racketeering charges in his federal sex trafficking & RICO trial.

Host:

We’re now entering the fifth week of the sex trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean Diddy Combs. Today, a witness under the pseudonym Jane, will return to the stand. Last week, she testified that her relationship with Combs was spent mostly in hotel rooms and was fueled by drugs and sex.

Federal prosecutors are charging Combs with one count of racketeering conspiracy, also known as RICO, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation for purposes of prostitution. If convicted on all the charges, he could face life in prison. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all those charges. Let’s bring in Chris Melcher now. He’s a celebrity lawyer, top family law attorney, and former sex crimes defense attorney. To help us kind of reset the case, Chris, great to have you with us.

The defense for Combs has filed for a mistrial twice now. What’s their reasoning and might it work this second time?

Diddy Case Unlikely a Mistrial

Christopher C. Melcher (00:57):

Well, I don’t think Errol, it’s going to work. It’s kind of common in these cases that the defense will note anything that it believes is unusual or unfair to it and claim a mistrial. But I don’t think anything that’s happened in the trial so far would rise to that level.

Host (01:12):

And the charges against Combs, as we just laid out, include this conspiracy to commit racketeering and these other crimes. Have we seen that proven yet?

Diddy’s Racketeering Charges Explained

Christopher C. Melcher (01:26):

Well, that’s the most confusing part of the charges, that their government is saying that he was involved in this criminal enterprise with one or more people. And it’s really, to me, more of an enterprise of one person. And this was all done for his own gratification. They have made though some connections between his record label. So Cassie Ventura, his former girlfriend, had been demanded to pay $20,000 to Combs to reimburse for expenses when she wanted to leave. And Cassie’s mom came up with the $20,000, paid it to Combs as record label. So there’s a connection there to kind of buy her silence, I guess, and connecting it with the record label. So there’s a couple things like that, but I think the jury’s going to struggle with saying is how is this really a criminal enterprise? It’s not like Combs was running a mob ring or a drug cartel, something like that, that we usually see racketeering charges brought.

Host (02:26):

Well, let’s drill into that a little more, because so much of the conversation around this case now seems to hinge on. We’ve heard some horrific things, but Diddy may go free if the jury isn’t convinced that he’s really guilty of the crimes against him. Some of the witnesses include the rapper Kid Cudi, Combs’ ex-girlfriend and singer Cassie Ventura, we’ve just mentioned. We also heard from a witness named Jane last week. What stands out about their testimony and what still needs to be proven to meet the kind of burden of proof for the prosecution?

Christopher C. Melcher (02:59):

Well, two of the charges seem to have been proven by these testimonies here about sex trafficking by force or fraud or the prostitution transportation charges, to me, seems like there is a through line for those charges to be established, but the racketeering one is the charge that’s going to bring the potential life sentence. And the jury would have to really think about this and say, okay, was he really engaged in this enterprise with other people to do this? Or was it really just for himself? And I think that’s really where the linchpin is. These other charges, even though it seems like there’s enough evidence for them, may only bring a few years of prison time. So the prosecution’s really relying on the racketeering charge to get that life potential sentence.

Host (03:50):

Wow. And we know that the trial is not finished yet. Still a lot to uncover and see. Chris, we appreciate you breaking it down for us as you see it so far. Chris Melcher is a partner at Walzer Melcher & Yoda LLP, which is ranked as a best family law firm in Los Angeles, CA. Thanks for your time. Make sure to follow Chris on Twitter at @CA_Divorce.