Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' lawyer seeks to undermine mogul's former assistant at NYC sex trafficking trial

Yahoo

30-05-2025

NEW YORK — Sean 'Diddy' Combs' defense team Friday sought to undermine claims by the mogul's former assistant that he raped, sexually assaulted and otherwise abused her throughout her employment.
Mia, the second of three alleged victims slated to testify at Combs' Manhattan federal court trial, under questioning by prosecutors Thursday, said he had habitually traumatized her after her hiring in 2009. She has taken the stand under a pseudonym, and the judge has ordered members of the press and public not to sketch her likeness.
The former assistant alleged Combs sexually assaulted her at his 40th birthday party at The Plaza hotel in Manhattan in 2009, raped her not long after at his Los Angeles home, forced her to perform oral sex at another one of his California properties, and targeted her on other occasions that her memory was foggy about.
Seeking to cast doubt on Mia's accounts on cross-examination, Combs' defense attorney Brian Steel on Friday pulled up several effusive social media posts she had published online, like saying that Combs inspired her and was one of her greatest friends in an Instagram post for his 40th, which also said, 'I love you.' Mia said the social media site was a place to make it look like she had a great life, even if it wasn't.
Of a 2013 image of Mia, Combs and Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura at a music festival, Steel asked, 'You're standing right next to and leaning toward him — the man who terrorized you?'
'Yes,' Mia said.
In addition to the alleged sexual assaults, Mia on Thursday further accused Combs of leaving her with PTSD by subjecting her to regular physical and emotional abuse, frequently berating her and hurling objects at her like a computer, a bowl of spaghetti and his phone. Mia said she'd seen Combs violently targeting Ventura many times and corroborated several such accounts the 'Me & U' singer told jurors when she took the stand.
'Weren't you living in fear of the man who took your innocence?' Steel asked Mia at another point in his cross-exam, pressing her on photos and social media activity.
'I was in fear anytime Puff was not happy, yes,' she said. 'Because I wanted to make sure I was safe.'
Later, asked how she could refer to her alleged assailant as a friend, Mia said the dynamic was complicated.
'He was vulnerable with me quite a bit, so I would feel responsible for helping him and then I would feel bad for him. I don't know,' Mia said. 'I mean, I can describe it, but I'm not a psychologist or a therapist.'
Steel notably represented Jeffery 'Young Thug' Williams in the Young Slime Life racketeering case, the longest criminal trial held in Georgia. The rapper's case resulted in him pleading guilty last year to drug, gun, and gang charges and effectively receiving a lenient term of time served.
Combs, 55, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, transporting individuals for prostitution and related offenses. He has pleaded not guilty. The entrepreneur's lawyers have acknowledged he committed domestic violence but say he's innocent of the crimes charged.
The Bad Boy Records co-founder, who launched the careers of iconic artists like the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, was long considered among the most influential figures in the hip-hop industry and amassed hundreds of millions of dollars through his various businesses, including his music and media companies and clothing brand Sean John.
Starting in the 1990s, his annual star-studded 'White Party' in East Hampton, Long Island, hosted some of the most famous names on the planet, and by 2017, Forbes estimated he was nearing billionaire status.
Prosecutors say that behind the veil, from 2004 to 2024, Combs' lifestyle was criminal and involved regularly coercing vulnerable women in his orbit into dayslong, dehumanizing sexual performances with random men found on the internet, recordings of which were used as blackmail. They allege a network of staff helped bring his twisted fantasies to life, keep victims compliant, and invoke fear in anyone who challenged him through sex trafficking, forced labor, bribery, obstruction of justice, kidnapping and arson.
In addition to Ventura and Mia, the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office is expected to call a single mom who alleges she was coerced into sexual performances by Combs. She will testify under the pseudonym Jane.
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