Diddy trial updates: Sean Combs' alleged 'drug mule' Brendan Paul set to testify
Diddy trial updates: Sean Combs' alleged 'drug mule' Brendan Paul set to testify
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Former Diddy assistant gets immunity, expected to testify
Brendan Paul, one of Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistants, is expected to testify about obtaining drugs for the hip-hop mogul and his entourage.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
Another member of Sean "Diddy" Combs' alleged criminal enterprise will take the stand in his sex-trafficking trial.
Combs' former assistant Brendan Paul is set to testify against his ex-boss as the sweeping federal case resumes in Manhattan court on June 18. The 26-year-old former Syracuse University basketball player previously faced felony charges for drug possession when he was arrested on the same day as the raids of Combs' homes, but the case was later closed.
Paul's scheduled testimony comes after prosecutors probed Combs' alleged sex-trafficking enterprise with the help of unearthed personal messages, videos and other evidence. Jurors were shown roughly 20 minutes of what appeared to be video footage created between 2012 and 2014 of Combs' "freak offs," a series of elaborate sexual performances he's been accused of orchestrating.
U.S. attorneys plan on calling two to three more witnesses, including Paul, before resting their case on June 20. The trial will have a brief recess on June 19 in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.
Discover WITNESS: Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling case that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him.
Diddy on trial newsletter: Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of.
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Senate race turns nasty as Republicans target incumbent Bill Cassidy, who opponent says 'sucks'
Louisiana's 2026 U.S. Senate race is heating up with MAGA state lawmaker Blake Miguez joining the campaign by saying fellow Republican incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy "sucks." Miguez, a state senator from New Iberia, joins Republican state Treasurer John Fleming in targeting Cassidy, with both saying Cassidy committed an unforgivable political sin with his vote to convict President Donald Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial. They will compete next April in the state's first closed primary elections in decades. "I'm running for the U.S. Senate because Bill Cassidy sucks," Miguez said in an opening video announcing his candidacy. During a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Cassidy said he expects a flurry of attacks as the incumbent. "The more the merrier," Cassidy said about Miguez's entrance in the race. "It won't be the last attack ad." Cassidy said his voting record "has closely aligned" with Trump despite his 2021 vote to convict during the president's impeachment trial. Cassidy took credit for shepherding two of Trump's most controversial cabinet nominees — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — through confirmation. "(Trump) has got two cabinet secretaries he would not have unless I'd gotten them approved," said Cassidy, who has a massive $7.5 million campaign war chest to defend his seat. Miguez touts himself as the "MAGA choice," though Fleming said he was an architect of MAGA who was appointed by the president to three positions during Trump's first term. "Anybody who voted to impeach or convict Trump in a red state will all be gone when their terms are up," Fleming said in an interview with USA Today. More: Louisiana treasurer accuses Gov. Jeff Landry of Senate election scheme involving Julia Letlow Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Senate race turns nasty as Republican opponent says Bill Cassidy 'sucks'
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
50 years ago, ‘Jaws' scared us senseless. We never got over it.
50 years ago, 'Jaws' scared us senseless. We never got over it. Show Caption Hide Caption Top 3 scary moments in 'Jaws' 'Jaws' turns 50 this summer and USA TODAY film critic Brian Truitt celebrates with his favorite bloody moments. Name that theme song: Dunnn-dun. Dunnn-dun. Dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun dun-dun. Who are we kidding? That terrifying two-note John Williams creation of course conjures the opening shark strike in 'Jaws,' which turns 50 on June 20. That's a half-century of scaring the bejesus out of generations of movie- and beachgoers. Five decades of us all scanning the horizon for fins while Hollywood thrashes about trying to replicate Steven Spielberg's blockbuster, from 'Shark Week' to 'The Meg.' Full confession: Seeing 'Jaws' kept me not only out of the ocean for years but also out of a pool. I've even heard of people who were scared to get into a bathtub. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Irrational? Sure. Uncommon? Not really. That was the revelation provided by a deep dive into the realm of 'Jaws' fanatics, many of whom have long gotten over their fear of open water and swapped it for a churning mania for the movie. The terror roars back this summer, with "Jaws" and its three (admittedly lesser) sequels airing on Peacock starting June 15, and NBC's three-hour presentation of the original film on June 20, featuring an introduction from Spielberg. There's also a big screen re-release on Aug. 29. Is 'Jaws' the scariest film of all time? Watch it once or hundreds of times and the scare seems fresh every time, says Dawn Keetley, editor of the journal Horror Studies and professor of English and film at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. "Spielberg presents this shark as a pure animal force that we run into at our peril," Keeltey says. She notes that "Jaws" starts out a pure horror film, then morphs into a perilous and tense buddy film when the three protagonists head off in a boat in search of the beast that haunts them. "Sharks stand in perfectly for wild nature that's at the edge of where humans can go, and as humans, we always push at the border," she says. "Sharks mark where we can't go very easily, maybe where we shouldn't go. To the dangerous and the forbidden." Don't be scared of sharks − 'more people die from taking selfies' Among the first moviegoers to be frightened by "Jaws" was Christopher Shaw Meyers, nephew of Robert Shaw, who memorably played doomed shark hunter Quint. "While I'd read the book (by Peter Benchley), oh, my God, was it terrifying,' he says. Meyers was a senior in high school when he joined his mother, Joanna, Shaw's sister, in a darkened Philadelphia movie house crammed with theater owners who were considering showing the film. His favorite part? The haunting soliloquy by his uncle, who explains his hatred of sharks after they ripped apart fellow servicemen on a sinking Navy ship. In defense of Carcharodon carcharias (aka, the great white), sharks aren't looking for humans. 'More people die from taking selfies than from sharks,' says Taylor Chapple, co-director of the Big Fish Lab at Oregon State University. 'But it's the uncertainty of it. The fear of the unknown. You think maybe there's a shark down there.' 'Jaws' tapped into that very primordial fear, which is chillingly encapsulated by Quint's famous USS Indianapolis speech: 'So, eleven hundred men went into the water. Three hundred and sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest.' 'The story is that the speech was very long, and Robert asked Steven if he could cut it back,' says Meyers, author of 'Robert Shaw: An Actor's Life on the Set of 'Jaws' and Beyond.' When the actor delivered his version, 'there was dead silence in the room, and Steven said, 'We have our picture.' ' For Steven Spielberg, 'Jaws' was both his 'origin story' and almost his career killer That moment of glee was rare for Spielberg, who at 27 was helming a movie based on a bestselling novel. Studio executives wanted not only a hit, but they wanted it fast. Spielberg, who had made 'Duel' and 'The Sugarland Express,' feared the swift end of a promising career. He was over budget, shooting on open water and dealing with a mechanical shark nicknamed Bruce (after his lawyer) that kept malfunctioning. (Shaw's son, Ian, played his father in a Broadway show he co-wrote about the 'Jaws' debacle called 'The Shark Is Broken.') The degree to which 'Jaws' traumatized its young director is evident in 'Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story,' a National Geographic documentary airing July 11 on Hulu and Disney+. Spielberg sat for director and friend Laurent Bouzereau and confessed: 'There was nothing fun about making 'Jaws.' ' In the documentary, Spielberg relates that long after the problematic 1974 shoot was over and the 1975 movie was a box-office smash, he had nightmares about the experience. He found solace in sneaking into Universal Studios theme park and curling up on the leather bench inside the Orca, the boat used for much of the shoot. 'I underestimated how traumatic it was for Steven. But he never wanted to give up, and that's one lesson from 'Jaws': Don't give up," Bouzereau says. " 'Jaws' is his origin story. But in our interview, I could feel the weight of that experience still sitting with him.' Most 'Jaws' cast members were Martha's Vineyard locals, who still have stories to tell For all the hardship of making the movie, 'Jaws' bit the culture hard and never let go. Helped by a PG rating that admitted many youngsters who had no idea of the horror in store, the movie raked in $1.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. Matt Taylor summered on Martha's Vineyard as a kid, and at age 7 in 1979, he was deemed old enough to see 'Jaws.' Four years on, the line for the film still snaked around the block. 'It was probably one of the most exciting movie events of my life. My heart was pounding out of my chest,' he says. 'I love the water, but when I go in, I still have to face the horizon.' Taylor's love of 'Jaws' eventually led him to compile photographs and memorabilia collected by locals during the shoot into the book 'Jaws: Memories From Martha's Vineyard,' which is being re-released this summer. One of the crucial ingredients of 'Jaws' is the preponderance of islanders who had parts in the movie, which featured fewer than 10 Hollywood actors, including Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody and Richard Dreyfuss as shark expert Matt Hooper. Those non-actors lent a realism that shooting on a Hollywood lot with seasoned stars cannot replicate. Many of them still participate in "Jaws" meet-and-mingle events. For a long time, the islanders kept their memories of 'Jaws' to themselves, 'but it seems to me like the Vineyard has reacted to its own fame in the past decade or so,' says Taylor, himself a local now. 'These days there's 'Jaws' merchandise in every shop, 'Jaws'-themed food dishes, 'Jaws' tours of the island, and of course those locals who were in it who share their stories.' From fests to homemade 'Jaws' remakes, fans can't get enough of their favorite film Stephen Duncan trekked from Los Angeles to Martha's Vineyard for the first JawsFest in 2005, but he's not sure he'll be able to return this year, instead perhaps taking in a 'Jaws: The Exhibition' display at LA's Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. 'They've gotten wise, and it's gotten expensive" to attend the Martha's Vineyard confab, says Duncan, who works in the title insurance business but also runs a website dedicated to his passion for 'Jaws.' 'I've seen the movie maybe 300 times, enough so that if you said a line, I could say the next one,' he says. Well, here's an easy one: 'That's a 20-footer,' Hooper gasps as the great white swims past the Orca. 'Twenty-five. Three tons of him,' Quint adds. You know what's next − a catchphrase repurposed endlessly since 1975. Says a shell-shocked Brody: 'You're gonna need a bigger boat.' Such inspired dialogue (Scheider improvised the line) coupled with Spielberg's Hitchcockian use of point of view – in that opening shark attack, we never see a shark – is what keeps 'Jaws' fresh half a century on, says Ross Williams, who started the U.K. site The Daily Jaws. 'I saw it with my mum when I was 5, and it's been my favorite movie ever since,' he says. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Williams invited fans to co-create the "Jaws WeMake," a "Jaws" tribute of sorts featuring a pastiche of animation, Lego figures and home movie shoots of classic scenes. Fans from more than 200 countries contributed. 'In 1975, people thought they were watching a 'shark movie,' and they were,' he says. 'But 50 years on, we realize 'Jaws' is about family, home, duty, politics, the class system, the past, healing from trauma and so much more.' For Williams, all of life seems to be captured in the oversized mandibles of Spielberg's enduring cinematic masterpiece. 'Like all classics,' he says, ' 'Jaws' is the movie that keeps on giving.'
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Sean "Diddy" Combs trial delayed for the day after juror calls out sick
Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in New York City was adjourned for the day Wednesday due to a sick juror. The juror called out sick with vertigo symptoms and court was adjourned until Friday. There is no court Thursday in observance of Juneteenth. Prosecutors had indicated earlier this week that they would likely rest their case by Wednesday or Friday, which may now get pushed to next week. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five counts and faces up to life in prison if convicted. He is accused of coercing women to participate in sexual encounters with male sex workers during so-called "freak-offs." His lawyers claim the encounters were consensual. So far, jurors heard from Combs' ex-girlfriend and singer Cassandra Ventura, another ex-girlfriend who is testifying under the pseudonym "Jane," as well as several former employees and rapper Kid Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi. Earlier this week, a juror was dismissed over questions about where he lives. The 41-year-old Black man was replaced with a 57-year-old white alternate. Jurors in Sean "Diddy" Combs trial shown "freak-off" videos On Tuesday, the jury was shown nearly 20 minutes of explicit video recordings of those "freak-off" encounters from 2012 and 2014. Spectators were blocked from seeing or hearing the graphic evidence. As the recordings were played, one juror seemed to turn away from his video screen for most of the time, although he kept on earphones carrying the sound to jurors. Other jurors sat back in their seats as the recordings played on the screens in front of them. A day earlier, prosecutors had shown jurors about two minutes of snippets of the recordings. In her opening statement on May 12, defense lawyer Teny Geragos called the videos "powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion." "Some of you may find them hard to watch. Not because they are violent, not because they are non-consensual, but because they were never meant to be seen by people outside of that room. They are in one word — intimate. And they were always meant to remain that way," she said. She added: "These videos will feel invasive, but the government has charged him with sex trafficking, and the evidence of the alleged sex trafficking is on these videos. This is why you will have to see them." In her opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said Combs "used lies, drugs, threats, and violence to force and coerce, first, Cassie, and later Jane, to have sex with him in front of male escorts. The defendant insisted that the sex occur in a very specific, highly orchestrated way." contributed to this report.
