Bruises, Threats And Obama-Shaped MDMA: 7 Shocking Revelations From Diddy's Trial

Yahoo

15 hours ago

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial is well underway, with witnesses painting a picture of a violent and controlling Combs.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have accused the media mogul of using his money and prestige to run a criminal enterprise since at least 2004. He was indicted on five federal charges: 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' apparent downfall comes after his ex, R&B singer Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura filed a damning lawsuit against him in November 2023. The lawsuit was settled quickly and quietly the following day, but additional accusers came forward alleging that Combs had abused and/or sexually violated them. Some of the accusers were minors at the time of the alleged events.
He has denied the allegations against him and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He also rejected a plea deal shortly before the trial started. Combs' attorneys have attempted to downplay the case against him as an attempt to bring down a thriving Black man.
In the months that followed, federal authorities raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami, and CNN released a video showing Combs attacking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Combs, who was once celebrated as a beacon of Black male success, has been held at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest in September.
The trial, which is not being televised or recorded, is expected to last around two months. Jury selection began on May 5. Opening statements occurred the following Monday.
Many of the witnesses who have taken the stand essentially described Combs as evil. Kid Cudi called him a 'marvel supervillain;' Ventura said his 'eyes [would] go black;' and Bryana Bongolan, a friend to Ventura, said he called himself the 'devil.'
If convicted, Combs could spend the rest of his life in jail.
Here's a look at some of the most explosive and jarring moments from the trial.
'There was a line of questioning where your client was nodding vigorously and looking at the jury,' Judge Arun Subramanian told Combs' attorneys on June 5, according to NBC News. 'There should be no efforts to have any interactions with this jury.'
The nodding the judge referred to came while Bongolan was on the stand.
The judge said that Combs would be removed from the courtroom if he continued.
Combs' lead attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge that the interaction is 'not going to happen again.'
'This cannot happen again,' Subramanian reiterated.
A pregnant Ventura took the stand for about a week at the beginning of the trial. At one point, she described what Combs called 'freak-offs.'
'It basically entails the hiring of an escort and setting up this experience so that I could perform for Sean,' Ventura said. The freak-offs allowed for Combs to 'watch me with the other person and actually direct us on what we were doing,' she added.
'Eventually it became a job for me, pretty much,' she claimed, adding that she had to personally reach out to the male escorts and had to participate in the freak-offs even if she was menstruating.
She also claimed that he recorded the performances and used them as blackmail against her.
Ventura described Combs during sexual encounters: 'His eyes go black. The version of him I was in love with was no longer there,' she said, according to The New York Times.
Ventura also discussed being physically abused by Combs. Prosecutors showed the jury images of Ventura's injuries. Some of those images included bruises on her face, back and thigh, and a gash on her eyebrow, USA Today reported.
Within two weeks of testifying, Ventura gave birth to her third child with her husband, Alex Fine.
Kid Cudi, born Scott Mescudi, briefly dated Ventura in 2011. Mescudi testified on May 22 that Combs broke into his home when he was with Ventura and that he believes he set his luxury vehicle on fire with a Molotov cocktail.
'I'm going to be very candid,' Mescudi said while describing the break-in, according to Rolling Stone. 'I was like, 'Motherfucker, are you in my house?' And he said, 'I just want to talk to you.' I was like, 'I'm on my way over right now.' He was like, 'I'm here.''
But Mescudi did not find Combs when he arrived. He did, however, find that his dog was locked in a bathroom and that Christmas presents had been opened.
He said Combs wanted to talk to him, but Mescudi said he responded by telling him, 'You broke into my house. You messed with my dog... Like, I don't want to talk to you.'
Mescudi and Ventura stopped seeing each other in late December of 2011.
'The drama, it was just getting out of hand,' Mescudi testified. 'I kind of wanted to give her some space … for my safety, for her safety…'
He also told the courtroom that he believed Ventura was 'playing' both him and Combs.
Combs' former personal assistant from 2007 to 2009, David James, testified on May 19 that he personally acquired drugs for Combs before. James claimed that Combs used to take opiates during the day and ecstasy at night, according to CNN. Some of the ecstasy pills were shaped like former President Barack Obama, according to James.
James also described Combs' drug use in more depth, including informing the jury of a 'medicine bag' that Combs brought around with him, according to Business Insider.
'There were probably 25 to 30 different pillboxes or pill bottles,' James said, according to BI. 'Some were like Advil, Tylenol. He had water pills to help him lose weight. He had Viagra in there. He had some pills that helped increase his sperm count, for example.'
'He did have ecstasy and Percocets in there, as well,' James added.
Former member of the music groups Danity Kane and Diddy—Dirty Money, Dawn Richard, testified on May 16 that Combs compelled people in his orbit to stay quiet because 'where he comes from, people who say something can end up missing.'
Richard described watching Combs beat Ventura when she took too long to cook his dinner, Business Insider reported.
'He took the skillet with the eggs in it and tried to hit her in the head, and she fell to the ground,' Richard testified.
The next day, Combs told Richard and Ventura that 'what we saw was passion, and it was what lovers in a relationship do.' He also told them 'he was trying to take us to the top, and that, where he comes from, people go missing if they say things like that, like, if people talk. And then he gave us flowers,' according to Business Insider's report.
Richard filed her own lawsuit against Combs in September 2024. She accused him of sexual assault, retaliation, threatening to end her life and refusing to pay her.
Capricorn Clark had an on-and-off working relationship with Combs between 2004 and 2018, at one point working as his former assistant and as the marketing head for Sean Jean at another. She testified on May 27 that Combs kidnapped her at gunpoint in 2011 to kill Mescudi when he learned that Ventura was dating him.
According to Clark, Combs came to her home in the early morning with a gun out, told her to get dressed, and said, 'We're going to go kill [Mescudi],' according to NPR. They went inside of Mescudi's house while he was not home, which Mescudi described in his own testimony.
Clark claimed that Combs threatened to kill her if she informed the authorities.
In a separate instance, Clark said Combs locked her in a building in Manhattan and subjected her to numerous lie detector tests when some of his jewelry went missing, NPR also reported.
She said the man testing her told her that she would be 'thrown into the East River' if she failed.
'I was petrified,' Clark said.
Mia, the pseudonym for a former assistant for Combs who he tasked with keeping an eye on Ventura, while taking the stand on May 29, described an instance in which Combs attacked Ventura at Prince's house in 2011 or 2012, according to The New York Times.
'Cass and I debated like little kids if we should sneak out of the house,' Mia reportedly said. But Combs showed up at the party.
'Oh, crap,' Mia recalled thinking when she saw her then-boss. 'Me and Cass just booked it.'
When Combs caught them, he beat Cassie until a security guard for Prince interfered, according to USA Today. Mia claimed she was fired the next day for 'being insubordinate.'
While on the stand, she also testified that Combs sexually assaulted her on more than one occasion.
'I couldn't tell him no about a sandwich — I couldn't tell him no about anything,' she said, according to the Times. 'There was no way I could tell him no, because then he would know that I thought what he was doing was wrong and then I would be a target.'
Need help? Visit RAINN's National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center's website.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
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