A lawyer representing Sean “Diddy” Combs began delivering the defense’s closing arguments on Friday morning in the music mogul’s federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial, telling jurors that the government’s case against Combs was “false” and “exaggerated”.

The defense’s closing argument presented by Marc Agnifilo, the lead lawyer of Combs’s defense team, marked the final phase of a seven-week trial that has drawn global attention.

On Friday morning, Agnifilo urged the jury to reject the prosecution’s case against Combs and pushed back against the government’s accusations that Combs used violence, threats, money, drugs and power to coerce women into participating in drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers and disputed the claims that he ran a criminal enterprise that engaged in crimes such as sex trafficking, drug distribution, kidnapping, forced labor, arson and bribery.

Combs, who was arrested in September, faces one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

If convicted on all counts, he could face up to life in prison.

Throughout the trial and again in closing arguments, Combs’s legal team acknowledged past incidents of domestic violence, but maintained that all sexual encounters were consensual and part of what they described as a “swingers lifestyle” . The defense has denied that Combs committed sex trafficking and have said that no criminal conspiracy existed.

“We own the domestic violence, I hope you guys know that,” Agnifilo told the jury on Friday. “It happened. That’s not charged. He did not do the things he is charged with.”

Framing Combs as a successful businessman, Agnifilo described his client as a “self-made, successful, Black entrepreneur” who built “wonderful, sophisticated, real businesses that have stood the test of time”.

Throughout the trial, the defense has sought to portray two women at the heart of the case – singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman testifying under the pseudonym “Jane” – as willing and consenting participants in the sex parties, which were often referred to as “freak-offs”.

Both Ventura and Jane testified during the trial that they were coerced by Combs to participate in the drug-fueled “freak-offs” that they said Combs directed, watched, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.

They also described instances of physical abuse, and alleged that Combs would threaten to release explicit videos of them or cut off financial support if they defied him.

In his closing, Agnifilo cast Ventura, the government’s star witness, as a woman with agency, rather than a victim.

He pointed to the $20m settlement she received from Combs in 2023 after filing a civil lawsuit accusing him of abuse, which triggered the federal investigation. He also pointed to the $10m Ventura is expected to receive from the owner of a hotel in Los Angeles where she was assaulted by Combs in 2016.

“If you had to pick a winner in this whole thing, it’s hard not to pick Cassie,” Agnifilo said. “This isn’t about a crime, this is about money.”

At one point during closing, Agnifilo seemed to mock the government’s 2024 raids on Combs’s homes, during which investigators reportedly seized more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.

“Boxes of Astroglide, taken off the streets, whoo! I feel better already,” Agnifilo said sarcastically. “Way to go, fellas.”

Agnifilo is expected to take roughly four hours to make the defense’s closing argument. Afterward, prosecutors will deliver a one-hour rebuttal before the case goes to the 12-member jury to decide Combs’s fate.

Combs’s six adult children were present in court on Friday, as was his mother.

The government presented its own closing argument on Thursday, with Christy Slavik spending nearly five hours outlining the government’s case against the music mogul.

The US attorney described Combs as “the leader of a criminal enterprise” who refused to “take no for an answer” and as someone who wielded “power, violence and fear to get what he wanted”.

“The defendant was a very powerful man,” she said. “But he became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses – the enterprise.”

Slavik walked the jury through the weeks of testimony and evidence the government presented over the course of seven weeks.

“Up until today, the defendant was able to get away with these crimes because of his money, his power, his influence,” she said. “That stops now. It’s time to hold him accountable. It’s time for justice. It’s time to find the defendant guilty.”

Jurors also heard for the first time on Thursday about allegations that Combs engaged in witness tampering and obstruction – part of the broader racketeering charge – with regards to “Jane” and another woman, who testified under the pseudonym “Mia”.