Music mogul Sean Combs, who, according to his criminal indictment is also known as “Puff Daddy,” “P.Diddy”, “Diddy,” “PD” and most curiously, considering the charges being brought against him, “Love” is now on trial for a wide variety of crimes including kidnapping, sex trafficking, prostitution and drug offenses, but the cornerstone of the charges is a RICO charge for operating a criminal enterprise.
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 and was enacted as a tool to fight organized crime, where it was successfully used to prosecute leaders of New York’s five organized crime families. However, since that time, the law has been used to prosecute insider trading, principals in the college admissions cheating scandal and most notably in relation to the charges against Combs, Nxvium sex cult founder Keith Raniere and R&B musician R. Kelly.
R. Kelly was convicted of RICO charges that he led a criminal enterprise of his bodyguards, accountants, drivers, personal assistants and others who recruited women and underage girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with him.
To prove a violation of RICO, prosecutors must prove that someone engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity connected to an ongoing criminal enterprise. The law requires proof that an enterprise existed and that a defendant committed at least two underlying criminal acts within a 10-year period; these offenses can range from murder and assault to extortion and money laundering. In this case Combs is charged with operating what prosecutors have called the “Combs Enterprise” between 2004 and 2024.
According to the indictment, “For decades Sean Combs… abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. To do so Combs relied on the employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled – creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Sex trafficking charges generally are limited for prosecution by a ten year statute of limitation, however when, as in this case the alleged crimes are part of an alleged continuing criminal enterprise the statute of limitations is extended such that the statute of limitations does not start to run until the last criminal act in the pattern of racketeering occurs, such that since some of the alleged acts occurred in 2024, prosecutors can include charges related to acts going back as far as 2009.
Specifically the indictment alleges that Combs’ sexual abuse of women included causing them to engage in frequent, days-long sexual activity with male prostitutes. According to the indictment, “These events were referred to as “Freak Offs” by Combs and consisted of elaborate sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, and often electronically recorded. To ensure participation in Freak Offs, Combs used violence and intimidation and leveraged his power over victims – power he obtained through obtaining and distributing narcotics to them, exploiting his financial support to them and threatening to cut off the same and controlling their careers. Combs also threatened his victims, including by threatening to expose the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of Freak Offs if the women did not comply with his demands. Combs’ effort to control women included repeated physical abuse. Combs assaulted women, by among other things, striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them. Combs similarly assaulted witnesses to his abuse.”
In a pretrial hearing on April 25th defense lawyers indicated that they will be using the defense that all of the alleged sexual acts were consensual acts by former long-term girlfriends of Combs and that they could be defined as “swinging” where singles or partners in relationships engage in non-monogamous sexual behavior.
If convicted of the RICO charge, Combs faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Combs was offered a plea bargain by which in exchange for pleading guilty he would receive a reduced prison sentence which he rejected in open court at his last pretrial hearing during which no specific terms of the plea bargain were indicated
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