They puffed it up.
Federal prosecutors overplayed their hand in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bombshell federal trial by building a case based “more on sensationalism” with “mobster-like charges” than a solid legal basis — ultimately leading to his stunning acquittal Wednesday on the most serious charges he faced, legal experts told The Post.
Jurors found Combs, 55, not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering charges, while convicting him on lesser prostitution counts.
The outcome didn’t surprise veteran defense attorney David S. Seltzer, managing partner at Seltzer Mayberg, LLC, who said the feds proved that Combs abused women and enjoyed voyeuristic sex, but failed to prove that the mogul’s sins and kinks were part of a Mafia-like criminal enterprise.
“The government’s case was weak from the start,” Seltzer, who wasn’t involved in the case, told The Post.
“They tried to put a square peg in a round hole, using mobster-like charges, when all they had were glorified State Court charges.”
Prosecutors pursued a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — or RICO — case against the Bad Boy Records mogul, alleging he used his business empire to conceal sordid crimes, including forcing his girlfriends into degrading, drug-fueled sex romps he dubbed “freak-offs.”
Defense attorney and former prosecutor Neama Rahmani agreed that the outcome hinged on how prosecutors could prove he ran a criminal enterprise.
“Like I’ve said all along, this case will come down to racketeering,” Rahmani predicted ahead of the verdict.
“If the government doesn’t get a RICO conviction, this will be a huge loss and the most expensive prostitution trial in American history.”
During the sensational two-month trial, Combs’ former girlfriends Cassie Ventura and a woman only identified as “Jane” testified they were coerced into disturbing “freak-offs” with escorts.
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But Nicole Brenecki, a New York trial attorney, said the testimony indicated that Combs’ ex-girlfriends appear to have “willingly taken part in ‘freak-offs.’”
“Voluntary participation, no matter how controversial, doesn’t equal organized crime,” Brenecki said.
The prosecution’s case fell apart because it was “built more on sensationalism than a solid legal basis,” Brenecki opined.
“RICO charges require proof of an ongoing criminal enterprise with coordinated activity by multiple actors, not just deviant parties and disgruntled ex-girlfriends,” she said.
“Add to that the lack of paper trails, cooperating witnesses inside the alleged ‘enterprise,’ or any clear hierarchy of criminal role, and you’re left with smoke, but no fire — and a not guilty verdict follows.”
David Schwartz, a New York City-based trial attorney and former prosecutor, agreed that the prostitution charges were the strongest.
“The case was overcharged and the jury got this one exactly right,” Schwartz said.
Combs’ defense team, by contrast, “owned” the bad facts in the case and it “paid off” for the hip-hop mogul, said Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School.
“This trial was a major gamble and Combs won that bet,” she said.
“Everything is stacked against the defendant going into a federal case, in particular one like this. His attorneys were smart and they owned the bad facts. They fought on the things that mattered and it paid off.”
The federal prosecution office that oversaw the Combs case released a statement Wednesday that “sex crimes deeply scar victims” — without commenting directly on the verdict.
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“Sex crimes deeply scar victims, and the disturbing reality is that sex crimes are all too present in many aspects of our society,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton and Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations Ricky Patel wrote.
“Victims endure gut-wrenching physical and mental abuse, leading to lasting trauma,” the statement added. “New Yorkers and all Americans want this scourge stopped and perpetrators brought to justice.”
The statement did not directly address the jury’s decision to acquit Combs on more serious racketeering and sex trafficking charges and convict him only on lesser prostitution raps.
