NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Jurors on Monday started deliberating on whether Sean “Diddy” Combs used his celebrity, wealth and business empire to set up a decades-long criminal ring that allegedly saw him force women into drug-fuelled sexual performances with escorts.

After the judge completed his instructions, the jury in New York began the task of weighing evidence from phone and financial records, and 34 people who testified against Combs over the past seven weeks.

Combs, 55, faces life in prison if convicted on five federal charges that include racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation for purposes of prostitution.

The producer and entrepreneur, once one of the most powerful people in the music industry, denies the charges.

On Friday, his lawyer vied to skewer the credibility of his accusers — namely two women he dated for years — saying they were out for money, while rejecting any notion that the musician led a criminal ring.

But in their final argument, prosecutors tore into the defence, saying Combs’s team had “contorted the facts endlessly”.

Prosecutor Maurene Comey told jurors that by the time Combs had committed his clearest-cut offences, “he was so far past the line he couldn’t even see it”.

“In his mind, he was untouchable,” she told the court. “The defendant never thought that the women he abused would have the courage to speak out loud what he had done to them.”

“That ends in this courtroom,” she said. “The defendant is not a god.”

Defence attorney Marc Agnifilo scoffed at the picture painted by prosecutors of a violent, domineering man who fostered “a climate of fear”.

Combs is a “self-made, successful Black entrepreneur” who had romantic relationships that were “complicated” but consensual, Agnifilo said.