() – Some of the similarities between the cases filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs this week and Robert Sylvester Kelly several years ago are readily apparent: both are world-famous, powerful and influential musicians who were charged with sexual crimes by federal prosecutors in New York City.
But the Combs case echoes R. Kelly’s in another way: In each, prosecutors relied on a novel use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to charge them with using that power and fame to manipulate the resources, businesses and people who answered to them to commit crimes — and to try to cover them up.
“There are certainly parallels in these cases,” said Nadia Shihata, the former federal prosecutor who tried the 2021 case against Kelly in the Eastern District of New York, one of two that sealed the R&B singer’s downfall.
“Obviously the conduct in each case is a little different. But there is this idea that a superstar is using the employees and entourage at his disposal to facilitate really serious sexual violence crimes,” he told , “and using coercion and control of victims to force them to engage in sexual activity that they otherwise would not have engaged in.”
Kelly is now serving 30 years in prison for the New York case, following his conviction for crimes of extortion and sex traffickingand 20 years for another case in the Eastern District of Illinois, where he was convicted on charges of child pornography and enticement of a minor. Kelly has since appealed both convictions and in July asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his Illinois conviction, arguing that the charges should have been time-barred by the statute of limitations.
Meanwhile, Combs was charged in the Southern District of New York on three charges: conspiracy to commit organized crime, sex trafficking and transportation for the purpose of prostitution. He pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.
A key distinction between the two is that the cases against Kelly involved victims who were minors, while Combs has not been accused of wrongdoing against minors — and it’s possible that could become a defense strategy, experts said, with Combs’ attorneys arguing that his alleged victims were willing participants.
Still, the charges against Combs are “very, very serious charges,” said civil rights attorney and legal analyst Areva Martin, and bear “an eerie similarity” to those leveled against Kelly in New York — “another music icon, who is now serving a 30-year prison sentence on very similar charges that were brought against him in New York and then a final conviction at trial.”
Managing a business empire
The RICO law, which dates back to 1970was created to pursue organized crime affecting interstate commerce. Any organized crime case focuses on an alleged “enterprise” or the group carrying out the alleged misconduct, such as the Mafia.
But the Using RICO Law to Prosecute Kelly It was “a pioneering use of the RICO statute against a single individual,” and the Combs case “follows the same legal architecture,” according to John Miller, ’s chief intelligence and law enforcement analyst. Miller described the strategy as a “creative tweak to target individuals whose own wealth and business empires had been leveraged to allow them to get away with an ongoing pattern of serious crimes.”
“The R. Kelly case, the Homeland Security Investigations investigation, the prosecution as a RICO case was an unusual federal prosecution, with an unusual structure,” Miller said. “And it really became a model, not just for the P. Diddy investigation, but probably for the Southern District and how they set this whole thing up.”
When the Eastern District of New York charged Kelly under the RICO Act (the Illinois prosecution was not based on the statute), it placed him at the head of an enterprise comprised of the singer and his entourage, including his managers, bodyguards, drivers and personal assistants.
The company’s goal, according to the EDNY indictment, was not only to promote Kelly and his music, but also to “recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activities with Kelly.”
Specifically, EDNY prosecutors alleged that Kelly would select girls and women from the audience at his concert and then direct other people in the company to take them backstage. The company would then arrange for the girls and women to visit Kelly and that is when the sexual crimes, including the production of child pornography, would occur.
Now, across the East River, SDNY prosecutors contend that Combs was the leader of his own enterprise, which encompassed several businesses and employees, including security personnel and domestic staff and personal assistants. Some of his goals were legitimate: promoting Combs as a musician and operating his sprawling business empire, which the indictment alleges encompassed record labels, a studio, a clothing line, a marketing agency and a liquor business.
But the company also engaged in a variety of crimes, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, according to the indictment. And for a decade, Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others in his entourage to gratify his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.”
Combs’ company “facilitated” this conduct, the indictment says, by paying victims, manipulating their employment opportunities or obtaining drugs to maintain their compliance. Company members also witnessed acts of violence by Combs against victims, it says. Rather than intervening, they worked to cover them up.
One advantage of a RICO conspiracy is that it allows the SDNY to broaden the scope of its prosecution, said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.
He pointed to the 2016 video attack on Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, which was outside the statute of limitations for prosecution when published footage of the attack in May, and for which Combs apologizedIt was unclear whether Ventura reported any of the abuse allegations to police and a federal lawsuit was later settled.
The SDNY indictment describes an incident that appears to coincide with the assault and includes it as evidence to support the racketeering conspiracy charge.
“There’s a lot of conduct that can be included as relevant conduct, or predicate acts that are not federal,” Rahmani said, adding: “This includes a lot of evidence, it includes a lot of crimes, and frankly, it includes a lot of people.”
It remains to be seen whether anyone else will be charged in connection with the allegations in the Combs case.
Although Kelly’s victims included underage girls, SDNY prosecutors did not charge Combs with victimizing minors, a significant departure from their cases.
The indictment against Combs describes a number of alleged victims, including women and sex workers, but does not say how many there are. Combs’ attorney has claimed the case centers on a single victim — the sex trafficking charge is based on allegations involving a single, unnamed victim — while federal prosecutors have insisted there are multiple victims.
That distinction, the question of consent, could emerge as a key element of Combs’ defense, Rahmani said, describing it as “substantially the only defense.”
“He’s not going to argue that it didn’t happen or that it was someone else,” Rahmani said. “Obviously, consensual sex between adults is legal, as long as there’s no force, fraud or coercion — that’s what makes it trafficking — or any kind of commercial element — that’s what makes it prostitution.”
“The only chance he has of winning this case is if witnesses testify and jurors believe it was consensual.”
Miller agreed: Kelly’s underage victims could not consent, he noted, “while the crux of Combs’ defense will be that these were wild parties with willing participants engaged in sex, drugs and hip hop, and that everyone was having a good time until they stopped.”
‘s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
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