Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Cassie Ventura expected to testify in federal sex trafficking case

Yahoo

13-05-2025

Witness testimony in the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs continues in federal court in Manhattan, where the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Cassie Ventura, Combs' former girlfriend, is expected to take the stand Tuesday, a day after prosecutors showed jurors surveillance video of her being assaulted by him in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Two of the prosecution's witnesses were called to testify on Monday: Israel Florez, a police officer and former security guard who responded to Ventura's distress call at the hotel; and Daniel Phillip, a male revue manager who said he was paid by Ventura to have sex with her while Combs watched.
Federal prosecutors say that for decades, Combs abused, threatened and coerced women to participate in drug-fueled sex performances called "freak offs," and used his business empire, along with guns, kidnapping and arson, to conceal his crimes.
He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, Combs could face life in prison. He is being held without bail in a Brooklyn jail.
A jury of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates will decide his fate. The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.
Follow the live blog below for the latest updates on the trial, culled from various reporters and news organizations in the courtroom.
The first day of Combs's criminal trial wrapped for the day as scheduled at 5 p.m. ET. Judge Arun Subramanian instructed jurors not to discuss or read about the case after being dismissed.
Court will resume at 9:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday, and Daniel Phillip will take the stand again to continue testifying under cross-examination. Phillip is the prosecution's second witness. He has testified that he was paid by Cassie Ventura to have sex with her while Combs watched.
The court is back after a short break, and Combs's defense attorney Xavier Donaldson has begun cross-examination of Daniel Phillip, the prosecution's second witness.
The court is taking a quick break now that the prosecution has finished its direct examination of its second witness, Daniel Phillip, who testified that he was paid to have sex with Cassie Ventura while Sean Combs watched the encounters.
The defense will begin its cross-examination of Phillip after the break.
Daniel Phillip, a male revue manager who said he was paid to have sex with Cassie Ventura in the presence of Sean Combs, testified that Combs would direct the sexual acts between the two. Phillip said that on one or two occasions, Combs recorded them having sex on a phone and a camcorder device.
Phillip also testified that Combs took a picture of his driver's license for insurance purposes, which Phillip said he took as a threat.
The prosecution has called its second witness: Daniel Phillip, a former male stripper who says he was paid by Cassie Ventura to have sex with her in the presence of Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Under direct questioning, Phillip testified that in 2012 he was invited into a suite at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan by Ventura for what he thought would be a striptease for a bachelorette party. But when he got there, Ventura was alone and said her "husband" wanted to do "something special" for her.
Combs was in the suite wearing a white robe and baseball cap with a bandana from his nose down, Phillip said. He said he immediately recognized Combs's voice.
Phillip said that Ventura paid him a few thousand dollars to have sex with her while Combs sat in the corner masturbating.
He said Ventura subsequently texted him to return for several similar encounters with the couple over the next two years at hotels and as well as in their homes, and was paid between $700 and $6,000 each time.
Sean Combs's defense attorney Brian Steel wrapped up his cross-examination of the prosecution's first witness.
During direct questioning by the prosecution, Israel Florez, the former security guard, testified that Combs had a "devilish stare" when he first encountered the hip-hop mogul in the hallway of the hotel.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Brian Steel asked Florez why that detail was not included in the incident report he filed at the time. Florez said he felt it wasn't relevant to include in the report, but maintained, "It was my opinion then and now.'
Steel also pressed Florez on his testimony that Combs had offered him a wad of cash to keep quiet about the incident. Steel pointed out that Florez had told Combs that he would have to pay for any damages to the hotel, and asked Florez again if he believed Combs was offering him the money as a bribe.
'Definitely,' Florez said.
The prosecution has finished with its questioning, and now the defense is cross-examining Israel Florez, the former security guard who responded to Cassie Ventura's distress call at the hotel.
Israel Florez, who was a security guard at the InterContinental Hotel at the time of the March 2016 incident, said Cassie Ventura didn't respond to any of his questions after Combs assaulted her.
"She just said, 'I want to leave, I just want to leave,'" he testified.
Florez said he didn't call the police after the incident because "there was no victim there, obviously nobody was pressing charges."
The prosecution is now showing the jury footage from a 2016 surveillance video showing Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Calif.
The video shows Ventura with a bag by the hotel's elevators before Combs appears in a towel, throwing her to the ground, kicking and dragging her toward their hotel room. Ventura then returns to the hallway where she is seen using a phone connected to the wall. Combs is then seen pacing in the hallway before throwing a vase that shatters.
CNN aired clips of the same footage last year. Defense lawyers had argued that the clips were altered and edited by the network and should not be shown.
Prosecutors said they would play the hotel's footage for the jury, not the clips shown on CNN.
Florez said he filed a report following the March 2016 incident involving Combs and Ventura. Florez sent the detailed report at 3 p.m. local time that day describing what happened "from start to finish."
At the time, another man was in Combs's hotel room but did not engage with Combs or Ventura during the incident. Florez said he did not include that detail in the report because he felt it wasn't relevant.
Prosecutors have entered the report into evidence.
Israel Florez, the former security guard at the InterContinental Hotel, testified that when he arrived at the scene, Ventura was sitting on the floor with a hoodie pulled up, and Combs was sitting, wearing only a towel, and had a "devilish stare." Shards of a broken vase were scattered on the floor.
Florez said that he escorted them back to their hotel room and Combs offered him a stack of cash, which he understood to be a bribe.
"He was telling me, 'Don't tell nobody,'" Florez told the court. He said he did not take the cash.
"I don't want your money," Florez recalled telling Combs. "Just go back into your room."
The former security guard also testified that he approached Ventura as she was leaving the hotel with a "purple eye," and asked her if she wanted to call the police.
She repeated that she wanted to leave.
The prosecution's first witness, Israel Florez, testified that on March 5, 2016, he received a "woman in distress" call from the sixth floor of the Intercontinental Hotel, where he was the assistant director of security at the time.
Florez said that when he stepped out of the elevator, he saw Combs and a woman in the elevator lobby. The witness identified Combs in the courtroom as wearing a gray sweater.
Court has resumed after an hourlong lunch break, with the prosecution calling the first witness to testify in the trial: Israel Florez, an officer with the LAPD who formerly worked as a security guard at the Los Angeles hotel where Combs was seen assaulting Cassie Ventura in a 2016 surveillance video.
Courtroom sketches of Combs's criminal trial are the only images the public will see over the course of the next several weeks because the trial is not allowed to be televised. Below are the first sketches released from Monday morning's proceedings, which include opening statements from the prosecution and the defense and a thumbs-up from Diddy to his family.
The jury was excused for lunch after the prosecution and defense delivered their opening statements.
Court is in recess until 1:15 p.m. ET.
Combs's defense attorney wrapped up her opening statement by telling the jury that the accusers weren't forced into sexual relationships and were willing participants who could have left at any time.
Teny Geragos also suggested to the jury that those who will testify against Combs have a motive. "For many of them the answer is simple — money," she said.
In her opening statement, Geragos informed the jury that Combs and Ventura have not seen each other since the 2018 funeral of Kim Porter, the mother of several of Combs's children.
Ventura is expected to take the stand as a witness for the prosecution this week.
When she does, Geragos said, "We are all going to witness their closure."
Teny Geragos, Combs's defense attorney, talked about the hotel surveillance video from 2016 in which her client appears to violently assault his then girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
"What Combs did to Cassie on this videotape is indefensible. It's horrible. It's dehumanizing. It's violent," Geragos admitted during opening statements.
However, she went on to say that while the video may be evidence of domestic violence, it is not evidence of sex trafficking, which is what Combs is charged with in this case.
Combs's defense attorney addressed the extensive amount of baby oil seized by law enforcement during a search of his home last year.
"You may know of his love for baby oil," Geragos said during her opening statement. "Is that a federal crime? No."
She also told the jury that there might be times when they think Combs is a jerk or is being mean but reminded them that that's not what he's being charged with. "He is charged with running a racketeering enterprise," Geragos said.