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Some similarities between the cases brought this week against Sean “Diddy” Combs and those brought several years ago against Robert Sylvester Kelly are obvious at first glance: Both are world-famous, powerful and influential musicians who were accused of sex crimes by federal prosecutors in New York City.

But the Combs case is similar to R. Kelly’s in another way: In both cases, prosecutors relied on a novel application of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to charge the two with abusing their power and fame to commit—and attempt to cover up—crimes through the resources, companies and people they reported to.

“There are certainly parallels in these cases,” said Nadia Shihata, the former federal prosecutor who tried the case against Kelly in the Eastern District of New York in 2021, one of two that sealed the R&B singer’s downfall.

“Of course, the behavior is a little different in each case. But there is this idea of ​​a superstar who uses the staff and entourage at his disposal to commit really serious sex crimes,” she told CNN, “and who uses coercion and control to force victims to engage in sexual activities they otherwise would not have.”

Kelly is currently serving a 30-year sentence for the New York case after being convicted of organized crime and sex trafficking, as well as a 20-year sentence for a separate case in the Eastern District of Illinois, where he was convicted of child pornography and enticement of minors. Kelly has since appealed both verdicts and in July asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his conviction in Illinois on the grounds that the charges should have been statute-barred.

Combs has since been indicted in the Southern District of New York on three counts: conspiracy to commit organized crime, sex trafficking and transportation for the purpose of prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

A key difference between the two trials is that Kelly’s case involves underage victims, while Combs is not accused of misconduct with minors. Experts say it’s possible this could develop into a defense strategy in which Combs’ lawyers argue that his alleged victims were willing participants.

Regardless, the charges against Combs are “very, very serious charges,” said civil rights attorney and CNN legal analyst Areva Martin, bearing “uncanny similarities” to those against Kelly in New York – “another music icon who is now serving a 30-year prison sentence for very similar charges that were brought against him in New York and then ultimately convicted at trial.”

The RICO Act of 1970 was created to prosecute organized crime that affects interstate commerce. In every case of organized crime, the focus is on what is known as an “enterprise” or the group that committed the alleged wrongdoing – think of the Mafia.

But the use of RICO to prosecute Kelly was “a groundbreaking use of RICO against an individual,” and the Combs case “follows the same legal architecture,” said John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. He described the strategy as a “creative adaptation to target individuals whose own wealth and companies they had exploited to get away with a series of serious crimes.”

“The R. Kelly case, the investigation by (Homeland Security Investigations), the prosecution as a RICO case, were unusual federal prosecutions with an unusual structure,” Miller said. “And it really became the model, not only for the P. Diddy investigation, but probably for the Southern District and how they organized the whole thing.”

When the Eastern District of New York indicted Kelly under the RICO law—the Illinois indictment was not based on that law—it made him the head of an enterprise consisting of the singer and his entourage, which included 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 said Kelly selected girls and women from the audience at his concert and then directed others within the company to bring them backstage. The company then arranged for the girls and women to visit Kelly, and that is when the sex crimes took place, including the production of child pornography.

Across the East River, SDNY prosecutors allege that Combs was the head of his own business, which included various businesses and employees, including security and housekeeping staff and personal assistants. Some of his goals were legitimate – promoting Combs as a musician and running his sprawling business empire, which included record labels, a studio, a clothing line, a marketing agency and a liquor store, according to the indictment.

But the company was also involved in a number of crimes, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, the indictment says. And for ten years, Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his behavior.”

Combs’ company “enabled” this behavior, the indictment says, by bribing victims, manipulating their career opportunities, or procuring drugs to ensure their willingness to cooperate. Members of the company also witnessed violent acts by Combs against the victims, it says. Instead of intervening, they tried to cover it up.

One advantage of a RICO conspiracy is that it allows the SDNY to expand the scope of its prosecutions, says Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers.

He pointed to the 2016 videotaped assault on Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, which had already passed the statute of limitations when CNN released footage of the attack in May – and for which Combs apologized. It was unclear whether Ventura had reported the abuse allegations to police, and a federal lawsuit was later settled.

The SDNY indictment describes an incident that appears to be consistent with the assault and is being used as evidence to support the charge of conspiracy to commit organized crime.

“You can include a lot of behavior as relevant behavior or predicate acts that are not federally relevant,” Rahmani said, adding, “It leads to a lot of evidence, it leads to a lot of crimes – and frankly, it leads to a lot of people.”

It remains to be seen whether anyone else will be charged in connection with the allegations in the Combs case.

While Kelly’s victims included underage girls, prosecutors in the SDNY have not accused Combs of abusing minors – a significant departure in their cases.

The indictment against Combs names a number of alleged victims, including women and sex workers, but does not specify how many. Combs’s attorney has claimed the case involves only one victim – the sex trafficking charge is based on allegations involving a single, unnamed victim – while federal prosecutors insist there are multiple victims.

That distinction, the question of consent, could prove to be a key element of Combs’ defense, Rahmani said, describing it as “substantively the only defense.”

“He’s not going to argue that it didn’t happen or that it was someone else,” Rahmani said. “Consensual sex between adults is of course legal as long as there is no force, fraud or coercion involved – that makes it human trafficking – or any kind of commercial component – that makes it prostitution.”

“He only has a chance of winning the case if the witnesses testify and the jury is convinced that it was consensual.”

Miller agreed: Kelly’s underage victims could not have consented, he noted, “whereas the core of Combs’ defense will be that these were wild, willing parties involving sex, drugs and hip-hop, and everyone was having fun until he wasn’t having fun anymore.”

CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.