Live Updates: Sean Combs Used ‘Power, Violence and Fear' to Run Enterprise, Prosecutor Says

New York Times

4 days ago

Prosecutors called 34 witnesses over seven weeks to testify about the conduct of Sean Combs in a trial focused on sex, power and wealth.
The list included a retinue of Mr. Comb's former employees, investigators with access to years' worth of records and, most critically, two women who said they were compelled to taking part in drug-fueled sex marathons with male escorts.
The testimony was presented in an effort to prove charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy; Mr. Combs pleaded not guilty. Here are some of the key witnesses for the prosecution.
Casandra Ventura and 'Jane'
The government's sex-trafficking case against Mr. Combs centers on his sexual relationships with two women: Casandra Ventura, a singer known as Cassie, and another former girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym Jane.
Over a combined 10 days on the stand, the women told strikingly similar stories about Mr. Combs pressuring them into fulfilling his voyeuristic fantasies by having sex with male prostitutes in hotel rooms across the country and sometimes abroad. Mr. Combs watched, masturbated and sometimes filmed the encounters, which he called 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights.'
'It was his fantasy,' Ms. Ventura testified. 'He was controlling the whole situation. He was directing it. He was doing the lighting. He was telling us where to be, what to say, how to act in the room.'
The defense has argued that the women were willing participants in the sex nights, pointing to messages in which they conveyed enthusiasm for the events or took an active role in planning them.
Both Ms. Ventura and Jane said they were initially open to the idea but that, over time, they were left feeling humiliated and used. They said Mr. Combs was 'dismissive' when they expressed unwillingness or reluctance.
Ms. Ventura said Mr. Combs subjected her to domestic violence for years, said she continued to participate out of fear of his violent temper, as well as his past threats that he would release sex tapes of her and the escorts.
Jane said she felt obligated to engage in the sex nights because Mr. Combs repeatedly brought the $10,000-a-month rent he paid for her. Once, she testified, after an explosive physical fight left her with welts, he demanded that she give another man oral sex despite her protests.
'I just felt sick,' she testified. 'I just felt like I wasn't even in my own body.'
Witnesses to Mr. Combs's assaults on Cassie
Domestic violence was a main topic of questioning by prosecutors as they sought to prove that Ms. Ventura was under threat throughout her 11-year, on-and-off relationship with Mr. Combs.
Eight witnesses said they saw Mr. Combs physically abuse Ms. Ventura — including punching her, kicking her and pushing her to the ground — or said they witnessed the immediate aftermath of his attacks.
One of the most important observers of that relationship was Deonte Nash, a stylist and friend of Ms. Ventura's, who testified that Ms. Ventura expressed reluctance to him about the 'freak-offs.' He was also present, he said, when Mr. Combs, in a rage, threatened over a decade ago to release her sex tapes on the internet.
Ms. Ventura told him she was engaging in the sex with other men 'because Puff wanted her to,' Mr. Nash recalled, using a nickname for Mr. Combs.
Two of those hired men were called to testify, recounting nights of sex with Ms. Ventura while Mr. Combs watched that ended in cash payments.
One of the men, Daniel Phillip, said that during the time he spent with the couple, he witnessed two episodes of domestic abuse, including once when he heard what sounded like Ms. Ventura being slapped and yelling 'I'm sorry' in another room.
'Cassie came running into the living room and she literally jumped into my lap and she was shaking,' he testified, 'literally, like her whole entire body was shaking.'
Seeking to prove a racketeering conspiracy
Prosecutors called a succession of witnesses intended to establish that Mr. Combs's criminal behavior went beyond arranging sex between his girlfriends and prostitutes in hotel rooms — and that he did not act alone.
A key narrative in the trial focused on accounts of the fallout from Mr. Combs's jealous rage in 2011 over Ms. Ventura's relationship with the rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi.
Capricorn Clark, a former employee of Mr. Combs, testified that after Mr. Combs learned of the relationship, he kidnapped her, showing up at her apartment with a gun and telling her 'get dressed, we're going to go kill' Mr. Mescudi. She said she waited in the car as Mr. Combs and a bodyguard entered Mr. Mescudi's home when he wasn't there.
Mr. Mescudi, who also took the stand, testified that he believed Mr. Combs was responsible for someone torching his Porsche with a Molotov cocktail not long after the trespassing incident. Mr. Combs's lawyers have denied he was involved in the arson and have disputed that Ms. Clark's account amounts to kidnapping.
A half dozen former assistants to Mr. Combs took the stand and described working for Mr. Combs as highly demanding and at times intimidating, though often motivating. Several recounted purchasing drugs for Mr. Combs and setting up hotel rooms with baby oil and lubricant for nights with his girlfriends. Two, including Ms. Clark, recalled being subjected to lie-detector tests to prove they weren't responsible for thefts.
One former assistant testified under a pseudonym — 'Mia' — about having to endure sleep deprivation because of her job and violent outbursts from her boss. She recounted times when Mr. Combs threw a bowl of spaghetti and a computer because he was dissatisfied with her. She also testified that he forced himself on her sexually multiple times and she felt unable to say no, allegations that the defense has denied.
'I couldn't tell him 'no' about a sandwich,' Mia testified. 'I couldn't tell him 'no' about anything.'