What the key witnesses at Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial told the jury

Winnipeg Free Press

01-07-2025

NEW YORK (AP) — The jury deliberating at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial heard testimony from 34 witnesses over the last seven weeks.
They included Combs' ex-girlfriends Cassie and Jane, who said he forced them into drug-fueled sex marathons they called 'freak-offs' and 'hotel nights,' a sex worker they knew as 'The Punisher,' personal assistants who said they witnessed his violence and facilitated his sexual exploits, and other women who accused him of abuse.
All of the witnesses were called by the prosecution. Combs waived his right to testify — not unusual for criminal defendants — and his defense team declined to call any witnesses of their own. Instead, they sought to undercut the allegations via cross-examination during the prosecution's case.
Here are some of the key witnesses and what they said:
Cassie
Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, dated Combs from 2007 to 2018 after he signed her to his Bad Boy Records label. Over four days, she told jurors Combs beat her and ordered her to have 'disgusting' sex with male sex workers during multi-day 'freak-offs.' She also said Combs raped her after she said she was ending their relationship.
In 2016, security cameras captured Combs hitting, kicking and dragging Cassie as she left his room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles. The video was shown repeatedly throughout the trial. A hotel guard testified that Combs paid $100,000 to hide the video. It remained secret until CNN aired it in May 2024.
Jane
Jane, testifying under a pseudonym, dated Combs from 2021 until his arrest last September. The model said she repeatedly told Combs she didn't want to have sex with other men but that he kept pressuring her. She said she felt 'obligated' in part because he paid her rent.
Last year, Jane said, Combs put her in a chokehold, punched her in the face and forced her into an encounter with a sex worker. She said he told her: 'You're not going to ruin my night like this.' Both women said Combs threatened to release their sex videos if they refused his demands.
Kid Cudi
Rapper Kid Cudi testified that Combs broke into his home in late 2011 after learning he and Cassie were dating. His Porsche was firebombed a few weeks later. Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, said he knew Combs 'had something to do' with it, but Combs told him he wasn't involved.
Cudi said he thought Combs was lying when he claimed he knew nothing about the car.
Daniel Phillip
Daniel Phillip, an exotic dancer involved in 'freak-offs' from 2012 to 2014, said he was paid $700 to $6,000 to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and barked orders at them. He recalled the hip-hop mogul telling them: 'You need to rub more baby oil on each other. You don't have enough on.'
Another time, Phillip said, Cassie jumped into his lap — her body shaking — after it sounded like Combs was slapping and slamming her around an adjoining room. He said he stopped meeting the couple after seeing Combs throw a bottle at her before dragging her by her hair into a bedroom as she screamed.
'The Punisher'
Sharay Hayes, an exotic dancer known by the stage name 'The Punisher,' said Cassie used the ruse of a birthday striptease to lure him to his first 'freak-off.' He recalled seeing baby oil bottles in bowls of water and getting handed $800 in cash. Later, after Combs watched him have sex with Cassie, he said he was handed $1,200 more.
Combs kept his face hidden during their initial meetings, and Hayes said he didn't realize it was him until he saw a message on a hotel room TV screen that said: 'Essex House would like to welcome Mr. Sean Combs.'
Capricorn Clark
Ex-Combs employee Capricorn Clark said Combs came to her home waving a gun the day of the break-in and demanded she get dressed and go with him because 'we're going to kill Cudi.'
After the break-in, Clark said, Combs told her she had to convince Cudi 'it wasn't me.' 'If you don't convince him of that I'll kill all you,' he said, punctuating his threat with an expletive, Clark recalled.
Mia
A former personal assistant testifying under the pseudonym 'Mia' said Combs put his hand up her dress and forcibly kissed her at his 40th birthday party in 2009, forced her to perform oral sex on another occasion and raped her in 2010. His lawyers say the claims are false.
Confronted on cross examination with loving texts she sent Combs long after her employment had ended, she said: 'I was still brainwashed.'
Bryana 'Bana' Bongolan
Cassie's friend Bryana 'Bana' Bongolan testified that Combs dangled her over the railing of Cassie's 17th floor balcony and threw her onto patio furniture in September 2016, leaving her bruised and traumatized.
But defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland exposed holes in her story on cross examination, showing that Combs was on tour on the East Coast in 2016 when she said she suffered the bruises shown to jurors in a picture she had taken of her injuries.
George Kaplan
George Kaplan said he'd toss out liquor bottles and drugs and clean up baby oil from Combs' hotel rooms. He said he quit after seeing Combs fighting with Cassie but didn't report it to authorities. Kaplan said he still sends Combs birthday greetings and invited him to his wedding. Kaplan told jurors he was grateful to work for Combs and still has 'a great deal of respect' for him.
David James
David James testified that Combs had him stock hotel rooms with baby oil, condoms, Viagra and other supplies while he worked up to 20-hour days as a personal assistant from May 2007 to May 2009. James said he saw Combs with three handguns on his lap as they drove to confront Combs' record industry rival Suge Knight in 2008.
On another occasion, he testified, Combs asked him to bring his iPod from his residence to his hotel and, when nobody answered the door, he went in and saw Cassie on the bed in a white comforter and a 'completely naked' man he did not recognize who walked 'across the room and kind of scurried away.'
Brendan Paul
Brendan Paul, who worked as a personal assistant to Combs for about 18 months ending in March 2024, said he bought drugs for Combs including cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy and marijuana.
His employment ended when he was arrested at a Miami, Florida airport for possession of cocaine, which he testified came from Combs' room.
Deonte Nash
Combs' lawyers confronted celebrity stylist Deonte Nash with messages he sent expressing love for Combs. Some of them were from 2019 and 2020, two years after their professional relationship ended.
A reluctant witness for prosecutors, he nonetheless gave them insight into the relationship between Cassie and Combs, saying Cassie was 'quite often' left with bruises to her legs, arms and neck, besides an incident when Combs left her with a large, bloody gash above her eye during a beating.
Dawn Richard
Dawn Richard, a singer in the Bad Boy Records groups Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money, testified that she witnessed Combs acting violently toward Cassie, including swinging at her with a skillet and beating her in 2009. She says Combs made a threat, which she took as a death threat, if she didn't keep quiet.
Combs' lawyers contend Richard's story has been inconsistent and that she is motivated to speak against him because she is suing him