Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial recap: Witness testifies that Combs dangled her off 17th-floor balcony and threatened to kill her

Yahoo

2 days ago

The trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs continued Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, with two more witnesses — a forensic video expert and a woman who said Combs once dangled her off a balcony — taking the stand in the high-profile sex trafficking case.
Federal prosecutors say that for decades, Combs abused, threatened and coerced women to participate in marathon sexual encounters called "freak offs" and used his business empire, along with guns, kidnapping and arson, to conceal his crimes.
The 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Here are some key takeaways from Wednesday's testimony culled from various reporters and news organizations in the courtroom, including CNN, NBC News, and the Washington Post.
Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Combs's ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, was granted immunity to testify after invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
She told the court that during an altercation with Combs in 2016, he held her over a 17th-story balcony at Ventura's apartment before slamming her into the balcony's furniture.
Bongolan said that Combs came up from behind, picked her up and held her by her armpits over the balcony railing while repeatedly yelling, 'Do you know what the f*** you did?" She told him she had no idea what he was talking about.
She said her feet dangled above the balcony railing for 10 to 15 seconds before he threw her onto the balcony furniture.
Bongolan said the assault left her with bruises and neck pain, and caused her to have 'night terrors.'
Photos of Bongolan's injuries were shown in court.
Bongolan said she didn't report the incident to police because she was scared of Combs.
During cross-examination, the defense attempted to discredit Bongolan's memory of the incident while getting her to acknowledge that she did not remember some of the details surrounding the alleged attack.
Big picture: Bongolan included the allegation in a $10 million civil lawsuit she filed against Combs in November. Ventura mentioned the balcony incident in her 2023 lawsuit against Combs without naming Bongolan as the victim. Bongolan said Wednesday that Ventura asked if she could identify her in the suit, but she refused.
She also testified about the violence she witnessed in Ventura's relationship with Combs.
Bongolan said that she saw Ventura with a black eye multiple times, and witnessed Combs throw a knife at Ventura at Ventura's apartment in Los Angeles. Ventura picked up the knife and hurled it back at Combs, Bongolan said. Both of their throws missed each other. She said she did not report the incident to police because she feared Combs.
She also told the court that Combs once threatened her while she and Ventura were at the beach.
'He came up really close to my face and said something around the lines of, 'I'm the devil and I could kill you,'' Bongolan said.
According to Bongolan, Combs had likely taken cocaine before issuing the threat.
Big picture: During her direct testimony, Bongolan acknowledged she and Ventura often took drugs, including marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine — an admission that was seized upon by the defense.
Under cross-examination, Bongolan said they spent most of their time together getting high. 'Yeah, we had a problem,' she testified.
Frank Piazza, a forensic video expert, was the first witness called by prosecutors to testify on Wednesday.
Piazza told the court that surveillance video of Combs assaulting his then-girlfriend Ventura inside the InterContinental in Los Angeles on March 5, 2016, which has been shown to jurors multiple times during the trial, was not manually altered.
He said there were "no anomalies" in the footage, which showed Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in an elevator bank inside the hotel. Ventura said the attack took place when she tried to leave a 'freak off.'
Prosecutors also showed the jury a longer compilation of footage from the hotel around the time of the attack.
Big picture: The video is a key piece of evidence in the government's case as it seeks to prove that Ventura was forced by Combs to have sex with male escorts as part of 'freak-offs' held at various hotels. And prosecutors used the forensic video expert to authenticate it while refuting claims by the defense that the footage, which was first aired by CNN in 2024, had been doctored.
While Piazza was on the witness stand, the prosecution filed into evidence 10 "sex videos" involving Ventura which were recovered from a laptop that she turned over to the government.
Piazza testified that he enhanced the footage on most of them and the audio on one of them.
The videos, dated between 2012 and 2014, came from a user profile labeled "Frank Black," which is one of the aliases Combs used while traveling.
They were filed under seal, meaning only the jury will be able to see them.
Big picture: Ventura and other witnesses testified that Combs threatened to release videos of Ventura participating in "freak offs" to get her to do what he wanted.
Another one of Combs's accusers who has agreed to testify under a pseudonym, 'Jane,' is expected to testify on Thursday. 'Jane,' who is identified as 'Victim-2' in the indictment, alleges that she was forced to participate in 'freak offs' orchestrated by Combs.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey had said that direct examination of 'Jane' will take at least two days, followed by cross-examination that is expected to be of similar length.
'Mia,' a former assistant and the first accuser to testify against Combs under a pseudonym, concluded three days of testimony on Monday.
Big picture: Earlier this week, prosecutors asked Judge Arun Subramanian to order a news organization that revealed the identity of 'Mia' in a social media post to remove it. Subramanian said he would consider it if the government submitted a formal request. A YouTube streamer who captured and posted an image of her face has already been barred from the courthouse.