P Diddy trial latest: Sean Combs 'lied about arrest' after hotel incident, Cassie tells jury; photos of 13 escorts shown in court

Sky News

14-05-2025

16:12:43
'Combs blackmailed me with freak off sex videos'
The court is hearing about more texts exchanged between Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura, this time from January 2016.
"I want to have a successful FO," read one message from Combs, the court hears, and included the letter "K".
Prosecutor Emily Johnson asks what "K" is. Ms Ventura says it is ketamine, which was her preferred drug as it was "most dissociative".
Discussion then moves on to a night celebrating her birthday.
After dinner, Ms Ventura says she was going with friends to a club but Combs said he wanted to have a freak off. She says she told him she didn't want to at that time so went with her friends.
However, she says Combs "pulled me out so many times I gave up".
Ms Johnson also asks about "blackmail materials" and the times that Combs mentioned them.
"Sex videos, things that made me look not great," Ms Ventura says. Combs would "remind" her of them if he was angry or upset about something, she says. "It was a common thing."
She tells the court she was worried it would damage her career and hurt her family.
"It is embarrassing, it is horrible and disgusting, no one should do that to anyone," she says. "It could ruin everything I worked for, make me look like a slut. I wasn't supposed to be on those videos, I didn't want to be in them."
15:55:59
Court shown pictures of 13 escorts who took part in freak offs
Yesterday, Cassie Ventura told the court she had a film premiere coming up around the time of the hotel incident, which happened on 5 March 2016.
A photo of her and Combs from a premiere is now shown in court. She says she has a lot of make-up on covering bruises on her face.
She says she thought at the time that the rapper was "sick" to think that it was okay to do that to her and wanted him to stay away.
This photo below is one that comes up on news agencies but it is not clear exactly which picture was shown to jurors.
The court is then shown photographs of 13 escorts who took part in the freak offs that have been described throughout the trial.
Ms Ventura told the court yesterday that these sex sessions with male escorts could last for hours - with the longest going on for four days - and that Combs liked to "direct" them as he watched and masturbated.
Ash, Tommy, Jake, Greg and Jonathan are among the names of the escorts being shown in court, jurors are told, but Ms Ventura does not remember all of them.
She tells the court that she contacted these men, "based on who Sean wanted - that was my job, it was expected of me by Sean".
Asked if she had sex with all the men, she says yes. She's not sure if they were all paid, she adds, but those who were were paid with Combs's money.
15:36:16
Diddy lied and told Cassie he had been arrested after hotel 'assault', court told
Jurors are shown text messages exchanged by Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura on 5 March 2016, after the alleged attack at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles.
The court also sees a photo of Ms Ventura wearing dark glasses and a hoodie.
"That is me with a fat lip," she says. The lawyer asks why she is wearing sunglasses, and she tells the court she had a black eye.
Yesterday, she told the court that Combs hit her during a freak off at the hotel.
In the text exchange detailed in court, Combs tells Ms Ventura to "call me now", and then again asks her to call, saying "the cops are here".
Ms Johnson asks what Ms Ventura's reaction was to this. She says she wanted to be alone and didn't care at that time.
Combs told her he was "getting arrested", but this wasn't true, the court hears.
Police did go to her apartment, and Ms Ventura says she answered a few questions, but did not say who she was talking about as she didn't want to hurt Combs. She says there was "too much going on, it was a lot".
Asked if she wanted to protect him, she replies: "Yes, of course."
Jurors hear that Combs went to her apartment later on. Ms Ventura says there was "chaos" outside the door - "kicking, yelling and banging".
15:21:22
Hotel 'attack' video shown in court - with Combs dressed in socks and towel
Prosecutor Emily Johnson resumes her questioning of singer and model Cassie Ventura, who is the key witness for the case against Sean Combs.
The pair were in an on-off relationship for about 10 years from 2007-2008 and yesterday Ms Ventura told the court he had subjected her to years of physical and psychological abuse through "freak offs" with male escorts, when Diddy would watch on as she had sex with them.
Ms Johnson asks her if there were ever times when she tried to fight back and she says yes, mainly in the earlier stages of their relationship.
Jurors are now being directed once again to the incident at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016. Footage of Combs running down a hotel hallway and then appearing to beat Ms Ventura outside a lift - wearing only socks with a towel around his waist - has been played in court. The video was first made public in May 2024.
Ms Ventura said yesterday that she was trying to leave a freak off when Combs caught up with her.
Now, she tells the court that during the incident he threw a vase. "I just remember it coming towards me," she says. "It hit the wall."
She says Combs was yelling her at her but she doesn't remember his exact words.
Watch: Diddy apologised when hotel video was made public last year
14:52:01
Cassie walks in to court without looking at Sean Combs
Both Sean Combs and star prosecution witness Cassie Ventura are in the courtroom, and the jury is also being brought in.
For the second day in a row, Ms Ventura, 38, walks into the courtroom without looking towards her former partner at the defence table.
She is wearing a light grey dress with a jacket.
Combs, 55, is wearing a grey sweater over a white shirt.
14:36:08
Court is now in session
Today's hearing has started and the lawyers are involved in some legal discussion with the judge before questioning begins again.
Cassie, 38, will return to the witness stand shortly to continue answering questions from the prosecution.
This is expected to be followed this afternoon by cross-examination from Anna Estevao, who is one of the defence lawyers for Sean Combs.
14:19:33
Defence requested yesterday to limit explicit material in open court
Before yesterday's hearing got under way, lawyers for Sean Combs asked Judge Arun Subramanian to carefully edit what kind of explicit material is shown in open court, saying much of it amounts to pornography.
"There is no aspect to any of the videos the government is looking to put into evidence that is not adult pornography - that is what it is, people who are nude having sex or about to have sex," defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said. "It's a privacy issue and it's pornography, what would the press do with it if they had it?"
Robert Balia, an attorney for news organisations covering this trial, said that "our preference is for videos to be shown in open court"
"Testimony is not a substitute for this videos," Mr Balia said. "The people in the press should be able to see justice being done and to see if these people were being coerced."
14:08:17
Cassie's husband arrives at court
Singer Cassie is due to continue giving evidence today.
While she is likely using a more private entrance to the court, as we haven't seen her arriving or leaving, her husband Alex Fine has been pictured heading into the building to support her.
Cassie, 38, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, is eight months pregnant with their third child.
13:55:19
In pictures: Cassie's lawyer and Diddy's family arrive at court in the rain
With day three set to begin within the next few hours, we're starting to see more activity outside the court in New York.
Sean Combs's family have arrived, huddling under umbrellas.
Douglas Wigdor, who is Cassie's lawyer, has also arrived, while people are also waiting in the rain to make their way in.
13:43:46
What Diddy is on trial for
Sean "Diddy" Combs faces five felony charges:
Racketeering conspiracy
Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion
Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution
The hip-hop producer was initially charged with three offences - racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Two extra counts - one each of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution - were added earlier in April.
Combs denies all charges.
Racketeering broadly means engaging in an illegal scheme or enterprise, and the charge falls under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO) in the US.
According to the US justice department's definition of RICO statute, it is also illegal to "conspire to violate" the laws.
The indictment against Combs alleges that between 2008 and 2024, he "led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes", the US attorney's office for the Southern District of New York said following his arrest in September.