What the important thing witnesses at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial advised the jury

They included Combs’ ex-girlfriends Cassie and Jane, who mentioned he pressured them into drug-fueled intercourse marathons they known as “freak-offs” and “resort nights,” a intercourse employee they knew as “The Punisher,” private assistants who mentioned they witnessed his violence and facilitated his sexual exploits, and different ladies who accused him of abuse.

All of the witnesses have been known as by the prosecution. Combs waived his proper to testify — common for legal defendants — and his protection crew declined to name any witnesses of their very own. Instead, they sought to undercut the allegations through cross-examination throughout the prosecution’s case.

Here are a few of the key witnesses and what they mentioned:

Cassie, the R&B singer whose actual identify is Casandra Ventura, dated Combs from 2007 to 2018 after he signed her to his Bad Boy Records label. Over 4 days, she advised jurors Combs beat her and ordered her to have “disgusting” intercourse with male intercourse staff throughout multi-day “freak-offs.” She additionally mentioned Combs raped her after she mentioned she was ending their relationship.

In 2016, safety cameras captured Combs hitting, kicking and dragging Cassie as she left his room on the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles. The video was proven repeatedly all through the trial. A resort guard testified that Combs paid $100,000 to cover the video. It remained secret till CNN aired it in May 2024.

Jane, testifying beneath a pseudonym, dated Combs from 2021 till his arrest final September. The mannequin mentioned she repeatedly advised Combs she didn’t wish to have intercourse with different males however that he stored pressuring her. She mentioned she felt “obligated” partially as a result of he paid her hire.

Last yr, Jane mentioned, Combs put her in a chokehold, punched her within the face and compelled her into an encounter with a intercourse employee. She mentioned he advised her: “You’re not going to destroy my night time like this.” Both ladies mentioned Combs threatened to launch their intercourse movies in the event that they refused his calls for.

Rapper Kid Cudi testified that Combs broke into his dwelling in late 2011 after studying he and Cassie have been courting. His Porsche was firebombed a number of weeks later. Cudi, whose authorized identify is Scott Mescudi, mentioned he knew Combs “had one thing to do” with it, however Combs advised him he wasn’t concerned.

Cudi mentioned he thought Combs was mendacity when he claimed he knew nothing in regards to the automotive.

Daniel Phillip, an unique dancer concerned in “freak-offs” from 2012 to 2014, mentioned he was paid $700 to $6,000 to have intercourse with Cassie whereas Combs watched and barked orders at them. He recalled the hip-hop mogul telling them: “You must rub extra child oil on one another. You don’t have sufficient on.”

Another time, Phillip mentioned, Cassie jumped into his lap — her physique shaking — after it seemed like Combs was slapping and slamming her round an adjoining room. He mentioned he stopped assembly the couple after seeing Combs throw a bottle at her earlier than dragging her by her hair right into a bed room as she screamed.

Sharay Hayes, an unique dancer identified by the stage identify “The Punisher,” mentioned Cassie used the ruse of a birthday striptease to lure him to his first “freak-off.” He recalled seeing child oil bottles in bowls of water and getting handed $800 in money. Later, after Combs watched him have intercourse with Cassie, he mentioned he was handed $1,200 extra.

Combs stored his face hidden throughout their preliminary conferences, and Hayes mentioned he did not notice it was him till he noticed a message on a resort room TV display screen that mentioned: “Essex House want to welcome Mr. Sean Combs.”

Ex-Combs worker Capricorn Clark mentioned Combs got here to her dwelling waving a gun the day of the break-in and demanded she dress and go along with him as a result of “we’re going to kill Cudi.”

After the break-in, Clark mentioned, Combs advised her she needed to persuade Cudi “it wasn’t me.” “If you don’t persuade him of that I’ll kill all you,” he mentioned, punctuating his risk with an expletive, Clark recalled.

A former private assistant testifying beneath the pseudonym “Mia” mentioned Combs put his hand up her costume and forcibly kissed her at his fortieth celebration in 2009, pressured her to carry out oral intercourse on one other event and raped her in 2010. His legal professionals say the claims are false.

Confronted on cross examination with loving texts she despatched Combs lengthy after her employment had ended, she mentioned: “I used to be nonetheless brainwashed.”

Cassie’s good friend Bryana “Bana” Bongolan testified that Combs dangled her over the railing of Cassie’s seventeenth ground balcony and threw her onto patio furnishings in September 2016, leaving her bruised and traumatized.

But protection legal professional Nicole Westmoreland uncovered holes in her story on cross examination, displaying that Combs was on tour on the East Coast in 2016 when she mentioned she suffered the bruises proven to jurors in an image she had taken of her accidents.

George Kaplan mentioned he’d toss out liquor bottles and medicines and clear up child oil from Combs’ resort rooms. He mentioned he give up after seeing Combs preventing with Cassie however did not report it to authorities. Kaplan mentioned he nonetheless sends Combs birthday greetings and invited him to his wedding ceremony. Kaplan advised jurors he was grateful to work for Combs and nonetheless has “an excessive amount of respect” for him.

David James testified that Combs had him inventory resort rooms with child oil, condoms, Viagra and different provides whereas he labored as much as 20-hour days as a private assistant from May 2007 to May 2009. James mentioned he noticed Combs with three handguns on his lap as they drove to confront Combs’ file trade rival Suge Knight in 2008.

On one other event, he testified, Combs requested him to convey his iPod from his residence to his resort and, when no one answered the door, he went in and noticed Cassie on the mattress in a white comforter and a “fully bare” man he didn’t acknowledge who walked “throughout the room and type of scurried away.”

Brendan Paul, who labored as a private assistant to Combs for about 18 months ending in March 2024, mentioned he purchased medication for Combs together with cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy and marijuana.

His employment ended when he was arrested at a Miami, Florida airport for possession of cocaine, which he testified got here from Combs’ room.

Combs’ legal professionals confronted superstar stylist Deonte Nash with messages he despatched expressing love for Combs. Some of them have been from 2019 and 2020, two years after their skilled relationship ended.

A reluctant witness for prosecutors, he nonetheless gave them perception into the connection between Cassie and Combs, saying Cassie was “very often” left with bruises to her legs, arms and neck, in addition to an incident when Combs left her with a big, bloody gash above her eye throughout a beating.

Dawn Richard, a singer within the Bad Boy Records teams Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money, testified that she witnessed Combs performing violently towards Cassie, together with swinging at her with a skillet and beating her in 2009. She says Combs made a risk, which she took as a dying risk, if she didn’t preserve quiet.

Combs’ legal professionals contend Richard’s story has been inconsistent and that she is motivated to talk in opposition to him as a result of she is suing him

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