The reason Diddy faces such legal peril over baby oil freak offs and why he could end up dying in jail

New York prosecutors seeking to arrest Diddy are using a similar process they used to jail other high-profile sex abusers, including R. Kelly and Keith Raniere.

The disgraced rap mogul was charged Tuesday with a series of crimes, including human trafficking and racketeering — the same charges that put R. Kelly and NXIVM cult leader Raniere behind bars.

In particular, allegations of extortion by the New York Times are equally useful against powerful defendants, as they allow prosecutors to build a case around an “enterprise” of accomplices that has existed for many years.

The federal charges allow prosecutors to pursue crimes that exceed the state statute of limitations. Diddy is accused of crimes dating back to 2008, including kidnapping, arson, bribery and drug distribution.

The charges against Diddy follow a similar playbook to that used by prosecutors to secure the convictions of powerful sexual abusers Keith Raniere (left) and R. Kelly (right).

The indictment against Diddy, made public this week, alleged that federal authorities raided his Miami and Los Angeles mansions and found more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.

It is alleged that the rapper coerced and manipulated victims into participating in days-long sexual performances, which he called “freak-offs.”

Diddy’s associates allegedly gave victims drugs to make them comply and threatened anyone who refused to comply, allegations similar to those made in a civil lawsuit filed last year by Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie.

These allegations were instrumental in prosecutors charging the producer with sex trafficking. Observers noted that authorities are increasingly expanding the law to make their cases against powerful suspects.

In 2000, Congress passed a tougher federal sex trafficking charge as a deliberate move to crack down on prostitution rings and pimps. The nature of the charge has changed, but more recently it has also been used to ensnare people like Raniere.

Diddy has hired the same attorney, Marc Agnifilo (pictured), that Raniere used in his 2019 trial, who has previously challenged the government’s increasing use of federal sex trafficking charges to target powerful defendants

Notably, Diddy has hired the same attorney, Marc Agnifilo, who previously fought the government’s escalating use of federal sex trafficking charges in the 2019 trial against Raniere, which resulted in a 120-year prison sentence.

Raniere was the leader of the NXIVM cult, a pyramid scheme that served as a front for his various crimes, including sexual abuse, sex trafficking, child pornography, and forced labor.

During his trial, the cult leader’s legal team attempted to argue that the federal sex trafficking charges were too far-reaching to support his case. It was the same argument Mr. Agifilo used during Diddy’s bail hearing this week.

He claimed the alleged “freak-offs” were simply about the way Diddy was “intimate” with people, and accused prosecutors of going too far and “entering this man’s bedroom.”

“Is it sex trafficking? No, not if that’s what everybody wants,” Agnifilo said during the hearing.

Raniere’s case was seen as a turning point in the expansion of charges prosecutors could bring, alleging that Raniere’s accomplices profited from the cult’s rising status by forcing his “slaves” to do forced labor.

Raniere was the leader of the NXIVM cult, a pyramid scheme that served as a front for his various crimes, including sexual abuse, sex trafficking, child pornography, and forced labor.

The cult leader was sentenced to 120 years in prison, in a landmark trial that demonstrated the expansion of federal sex trafficking charges that prosecutors could bring.

Another lawyer for the cult leader, Arthur Aidala, recalled that it was “somewhat bastardized to meet the needs of prosecutors to lock up people they feel need to be locked up.”

“Even if they didn’t violate the spirit of the law when it was passed,” he told The New York Times.

Moira Penza, the prosecutor in the Raniere case, admitted that his trial was a successful test case to show authorities how to handle a powerful defendant whose crimes took place behind closed doors and with close confidants.

“These crimes often went unpunished because prosecutors feared ‘he said, she said’ cases, especially against powerful individuals,” she said.

“It was one of the first attempts after the #MeToo movement that showed that it was really possible.”

R. Kelly was convicted of historic crimes against underage girls through a legal trick that allowed prosecutors to file charges that exceeded the statute of limitations, a similar tactic used to charge Diddy this week

The same can be said of the extortion charges against Diddy, which largely mirror the case filed against another discredited hip-hop icon, R. Kelly.

Kelly had been accused of abusing underage girls for years, but it wasn’t until the expanded RICO charges that prosecutors were finally able to bring a case against him.

Just as some of Diddy’s alleged crimes occurred before the statute of limitations, prosecutors were able to bring charges against R. Kelly on the grounds that his attacks on underage girls were “basic acts” that were part of his “criminal enterprise,” which fit the federal charges.

It was alleged that R. Kelly’s “enterprise” consisted of managers, drivers, bodyguards and personal assistants who helped him commit his crimes against young girls with impunity for decades.

Elizabeth Geddes, a former prosecutor who worked on the R. Kelly case, told The New York Times that convincing the jury that the powerful defendant used an “enterprise” to protect himself for years is the key to winning such cases.

Often the reason they were able to escape justice is because there was a group watching them,’ she said. ‘The law recognizes that individuals become more powerful when they have the support of a group.

“The racketeering law is intended to give the prosecuting authorities broad powers to bring these people to justice.”