as alleged combms used Force threats of force and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers some of whom he transported or caused to be transported over state lines Holmes allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances which he called freak offs freak offs it's a term you might not have heard before a year ago but today if you've been following the Shawn Diddy Colmes legal Saga you know exactly what it is and it is these sex performances that are at the center of the rappers criminal allegations we're going
to break down the times freak offs were mentioned in various legal documents to make sense of what they are and what role they play in Shan col's case welcome to sidebar presented by law and crime I'm Jesse Weber let's talk about the freak offs okay so these are at the center of sha col's New York criminal case where he's facing federal charges of racketeering conspiracy sex trafficking transportation to engage in prostitution and the freak offs are what could essentially send sha comes to prison for potentially the rest of his life and it is the freak
offs that will make or break this case if the prosecution can properly prove how they are illegal that they happened that they were not consensual as the defenses claimed that is how they win their case and it's that that term freak off that has made its way into a number of legal documents since this whole Saga began and that is what we're going to get into that's what we're going to explore each time freak offs were mentioned and how it fits into the overall case against sha combms because every time they are mentioned we learn
a little bit more details hey so I want to take a quick minute to thank upside for sponsoring today's lawn crime YouTube takeover so upside is awesome it is a free app that gets you cash back on gas groceries food this is real cash back it's money that appears in your upside app that you can then transfer straight into your bank account is so simple and easy to use once you have the upside app you claim an offer for whatever you're buying you pay as usual using a debit or credit card you follow the steps
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members and Associates of the coms Enterprise wielded the power and Prestige of com's role at the com's business to intimidate threaten and lure female victims into com's orbit often under the pretense of a romantic relationship coms then used Force threats of force and coercion to cause victims to engage in extend Ed sex acts with male commercial sex workers that combms referred to as among other things freak offs freak offs were elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged directed masturbated during and often electronically recorded in arranging these freak offs Combs with the assistance of members
and Associates of the Combs Enterprise transported and caused to be transported commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally freak offs occurred regularly and some times lasted multiple days and often involved multiple commercial sex workers during freak offs combms distributed a variety of Controlled Substances to victims in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant sometimes unbeknownst to the victims coms kept videos he filmed of victims engaging in sex acts with commercial sex workers after freak offs Combs and the victims typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use so a
bunch of things to break down here aside from the idea of how intense these sessions were that you need IV fluids first what makes these alleged freak off sessions different from orgies or group sex is the idea that this wasn't consensual that Force threats coercion they were used to cause people to participate in these performances it was against their will it was done at com's pleasure that's the allegation second the commercial sex workers is what also makes this illegal prostitution transporting the sex workers for the freak offs that makes up its own individual Federal charge
that comes is facing third the idea of comes and his alleged co-conspirators using his businesses and his power and his wealth to facilitate these freak offs that is an element of the racketeering conspiracy charge and a legal agreement to violate racketeering laws that there is a criminal Enterprise that combms directed that engaged in all kinds of illicit activities and actually let's continue with that because the indictment also reads members and Associates of the comes Enterprise including high-ranking supervisors security staff household staff personal assistants and other com's business employees facilitated the freak offs by among other
things booking hotel rooms for the freak offs stocking the hotel rooms in advance with the required freak off supplies including Controlled Substances baby oil lubricant extra Linens and lighting cleaning the hotel rooms after the freak offs to try to mitigate room damage arranging for travel for victims commercial sex workers and combs to and from Freak offs resupplying Combs with requested supplies delivering large sums of cash to Combs to pay the commercial sex workers and scheduling the delivery of IV fluids now what's interesting about all of that is that according to prosecutors comes didn't and couldn't
have done all of this alone right and what's interesting is he is the only one named as a defendant in this case well at least currently and it makes you wonder if these supervisors the security staff the household staff the assistants are they all cooperating Witnesses who have provided information to prosecutors will they be called as Witnesses are they going to potentially be charged themselves we shall see but again this is like a network these freak offs couldn't have happened without Combs and a network of support staff and when you think about how elaborate all
these alleged freak offs are including the travel the booking of the hotel rooms there's a paper trail there and prosecutors have indicated that during the course of this federal investigation they have the receipts they have the records to prove these freak offs happened the indictment goes on to say that in about March of 2024 during searches of com's residences in Miami Florida and Los Angeles California these are of course the infamous militarized raids on com's properties that we all saw prosecutors say law enforcement seized various freak off supplies including narcotics and more than a thousand
bottles of baby oil and lubricant so now we're talking about potential physical evidence of the freak offs and what could be a defense to having so much baby oil and lubricant well can't say this is going to necessarily be the defense that Sean legal team will run with a trial which by the way is currently scheduled for May of 2025 but what we remember is that his lawyer Mark agnifilo told TMZ right after com's arrest and indictment he has a big house he buys in bulk I think they have Costco in every place he has
a home well Costco actually came out and said we don't sell baby oil so again I don't think that's going to be a defense that they run with but I've said this before I'll say it again I think that Sean col's legal team is going to own up to the freak offs they're going to say yeah he had group sex yeah he called it freak offs yeah he had a thousand bottles of baby oil and lube for the freak offs but everything was consensual everything was on the up and up everybody agreed to this may
be weird to you and me may be weird to you jury but a freak off is not a crime there has to be something more there but as I mentioned there are elements alleged by prosecutors that make it a crime although defense attorneys will say that none of that took place there was no Force there was no threats there was no coercion but with all this in mind prosecutors also allege in their indictment with respect to freak offs com subjected victims to physical emotional and verbal abuse to cause the victims to engage in freak offs
Colmes maintained control over his victims through among other things physical violence Promises of career opportunities granting and threatening to withhold financial support and by other coers of means including tracking their whereabouts dictating the victim's appearance monitoring their medical records controlling their housing and supplying them with Controlled Substances during and separate from Freak offs Combs among other things hit kicked threw objects at and dragged victims at times by their hair these assaults often resulted in injuries that took days or weeks to heal Combs also threatened victim's careers and livelihoods including if they resisted participating in freak
offs victims believe they could not refuse com's demands without risking their financial or job security or without repercussions in the form of physical or emotional abuse comes also used the sensitive embarrassing and incriminating recordings that he made during freak offs as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and Silence of the victims this is what makes the freak offs illegal if these allegations are true and by the way going back to the evidence that these freak offs actually happened let's actually turn now to a letter the government filed with the court when they were opposing Shan
col's bail when he was arrested they write this letter quote for example victim testimony regarding freak offs is at times corroborated by other witness testimony Communications with the defendant and Commercial sex workers so you have to imagine there might be text messages there travel records Hotel records videos of the freak offs and Records reflecting or indicating payment not only do they say they have videos of the freak offs but prosecutors say they have quote dozens of video recordings created by the defendant of freak offs with victims so we always wondered what was collected from the
electronic devices belonging to sha comes and others and perhaps the surveillance footage from com's properties because prosecutors say the freak offs happened at did's homes now you're getting a sense of it by the way what also the bail letter revealed which was interesting is that prosecutors say the freak offs they have been going on for a long time that they were happening regularly since at least 2009 they also alleg that sometimes hotel rooms where the freak offs happen it would get so wild that the rooms would sustain significant damages and they alleged that quote in
approximately 2012 in Manhattan the defendant paid over $ 46,000 to cover damages to a penthouse hotel room following a freak off and if there are records of those damages and payments or transaction history to cover the costs that is going to be key for the prosecution's case by the way in this letter they also describe another aspect of the freak offs that I want to mention the defendant ensured the victims would participate in freak offs through cersion and violence for instance the defendant provided Controlled Substances including ketamine ecstasy and GHB two female victims so that
they could and would continue to engage in freak offs despite fatigue physical and emotional exhaustion and pain and possession Andor distribution of these drugs is actually listed as an underlying crime as part of the racketeering conspiracy charge that comes faces but again the drugs kept participants of these freak offs essentially compliant that's again what makes this a crime now I have to highlight something else that prosecutors point out they write in March of 2016 the defendant was captured on video surveillance striking kicking and dragging a woman in a public area of a hotel in an
apparent attempt to prevent her from leaving a freak off when a member of hotel hotel security staff intervene the defendant attempted to offer the hotel security officer a stack of cash to ensure his silence after the security guard refused the defendant's bribe and after coordination between the defendant and his employees the defendant's staff contacted other members of hotel security at the same time staff members were in close communication with the victim of the assault as well all in an effort to cover up the defendant's assault and to prevent the incident from being publicly disclosed within
days of the incident the surveillance video disappeared appeared from the hotel server and of course we all know this is a direct reference to Shan col's ex-girlfriend Cassandra ventur who initially filed that sexual assault and sex trafficking lawsuit against Shan comes back in November of 2023 and of course we all saw this episode play out in front of our very own eyes in video that was published by CNN back in May and what it shows is comes back in 2016 purportedly attacking Cassandra Ventura in a hallway at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles literally chasing
after her and beating her up all while he's wearing a robe and comes even apologized for this on an Instagram post two days after this video was published but the key here for prosecutors is they say ventur was trying to escape a freak off when comes caught up with her and there has been the allegation that there was even a sex worker in that hotel room that she ran from now after Shan com's bail was denied the first time the issue then went up to another judge and the prosecution submitted a new bail letter to
the court and in that letter they revealed a shocker they wrote quote indeed since at least in or about January 2024 when the defendant was unquestionably aware of the criminal investigation the evidence shows that he is engaged in multiple freak offs some involving the interstate transportation of individuals to participate he's continued to use narcotics and has contacted multiple Witnesses so so let's just put a timeline on this real quick they are saying that Shawn Colmes allegedly still engaged in freak offs after he had already been hit with multiple sexual assault lawsuits and after they say
he knew the feds were looking into him and this is why they argued he's a danger to society he cannot be controlled he shouldn't be allowed bail or pre-trial releasee but to be clear about something Sean com's arrest and his indictment this was not the first time we heard the term freak off no if we go back to November of 2023 when Cassandra Ventura filed her sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit against Shan Colmes that lawsuit by the way got the whole ball rolling on all the other lawsuits and seemingly launched the criminal case against Sean
Colmes but that was the first time that I know I heard the term freak off I imagine that's when all of you heard the term freak off because let's get into Ventura's complaints because it provided a more personal account of the Freak off it read quote Mr Colmes began to call the arrangement a freak off or fo he would repeatedly tell Miss Ventura at random moments that he wanted an fo and Miss Ventura was eventually expected to facilitate the location and the hiring of male sex workers at certain points during Miss Ventura and Mr com's
relationship he would insist on an fo weekly Mr Colmes would repeatedly tell Miss ventur that this practice was our thing and our secret fos would often take place in hotel suites including at the Trump International Hotel in Columbus Circle theage Beverly Hills the London hotel in Los Angeles the Intercontinental Century City the Intercontinental Atlanta the Intercontinental New York City the one hotel in New York and in Miami the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York and Miami the fountain blue in Miami the Beverly Hills Hotel and Shutters on the Beach in Los Angeles so this level
of description this firsthand account the similarities with the indictment this is what leads me to believe that this whole criminal case was built on Cassandra Ventura and why she seems to be the star witness I mean after all when Shan Colmes is charged with that individual count of sex trafficking using Force fraud or coercion they mention victim one in the indictment they don't name who this person is but by all accounts victim one is Cassandra Ventura even though this person isn't identified you can put two and two together and SRA Ventura claims that comes instructed
her to arrange the freak offs including using websites and escort services to find the male sax workers and pay for their travel and like prosecutors say she claimed that com's assistance would set up the freak offs including getting baby oil and Astroglide and also in her complaint like we heard from prosecutors she alleges that an fo at the Intercontinental Hotel in New York City back in 2013 got so wild that it damaged the room and she alleged that com's Chief of Staff Tony Fletcher paid the invoice again if there's a record of that that will
be key now ventur also alleged that com supplied her with copious amounts of drugs to keep her compliant during these freak offs and she also provided more details too writing quote Miss ventur was required to dress up in lerie for an fo and Mr combes insisted she wear white nail polish to contrast her nails with the skin of the black men he hired to have sex with her during the fo Mr Colmes would instruct Miss Ventura to pour excessive amounts of oil all over herself Mr Colmes would then instruct Miss Ventura and the sex workers
to speak to each other and then would specifically tell Miss ventur where to touch the sex workers Mr Colmes would say things like how does it feel as he directed her to perform for him and talking about recording the fos ventur alleged the following during the fos in addition to directing Miss Ventura and masturbating Mr Colmes would use his phone laptop and tablet to film Miss Ventura having sex with the hired sex worker he treated the forced encounter as a personal art project adjusting the candles he used for lighting to frame the videos he took
while miss Ventura quickly deleted any photographs or video of sex acts if they were taken on her phone Mr comes repeatedly made clear that he retained many videos of Miss Ventura during Foos even even when she deleted the videos Mr combms would tell Miss Ventura that he was able to recover deleted videos from her devices on one occasion he sat next to her on a flight and made her watch a video she thought she had deleted reinforcing her inability to escape and the immense power he held over her she also alleged that Combs hit her
in front of the male sex workers she also recounted that 2016 Hotel attack verbatim with what that tape showed that we all saw and she also alleged that she became so anxious before a freak off that she would get physically sick but she claims Colmes forced her to perform nonetheless the complaint reads she knew firsthand that telling Mr comes that she did not want to engage in fos was met with anger and violence but it wasn't just Cassandra Ventura's lawsuit that we heard about freak offs before the indictment and arrest rather in com's former music
producer Rodney little Rod Jones lawsuit against sha Colmes we heard about them too and this is the lawsuit where Jones accused sha Colmes of sexually trafficking and assaulting him but in Jones suit he actually named names for example he alleged that DJ music producer Stevie Jay had attended and participated in freak offs and what was really disturbing is that he alleged com's own son Justin engaged in freak offs too for example he wrote for example Jones alleged on or about January 2023 Justin Colmes engaged in a freak off session on a yacht with his father
and sex workers and then Jones leaves this little nugget Mr Colmes possesses compromising footage of every person who has attended his freak off parties and his house parties if that's true that sentence should actually be reverse now to the government the prosecutors possess the footage which again not not only as a key piece of evidence but could lead to charges against other people or at the very least could be used as leverage to get these other people to cooperate in Shan com's criminal case now there of course have been other references to freak offs and
other documents here and there but really what we just went through are the main ones that we need to address so we have a better understanding of how these episodes will play a role in Shan com's criminal case that's all we have for you right now here on sidebar everybody thank you so much for joining us and as always please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcasts I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak to you next time [Music]
