Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyers say ex-assistant's social media posts undercut her rape allegation

Hindustan Times

2 days ago

NEW YORK — Sean 'Diddy' Combs ' lawyers confronted his rape-alleging former personal assistant on Friday with her social media posts praising the hip-hop mogul as a mentor, 'my brother' and 'friend for life' for years after she says he assaulted her.
Defense attorney Brian Steel quizzed the woman about some of the dozens of posts she made about Combs in the wake of the alleged rape, portraying the warm messages as contradictory to her claims that working for him was often toxic and terrifying.
The woman, testifying under the pseudonym 'Mia" for a second day at Combs' federal sex trafficking trial, read some of the messages aloud as they were displayed for jurors.
Mia told the jury that the posts were a facade: 'Instagram was a place to show how great your life was, even if it was not true.'
Steel highlighted a post from 2013 celebrating Combs' 44th birthday, showing a still image from a comedy video featuring Combs as a doctor helping Mia give birth to a fake baby. Below it, Mia wrote: 'Shout out to my mentor. Thank you for always letting me give birth to my dreams.'
'Here, you have posted on your personal account your rapist delivering the baby,' Steel said.
Mia testified Thursday that, just months after Combs forcibly kissed her at his 40th birthday party in 2009, he woke her up then raped her in a bunk bed in his Los Angeles home.
The ex-assistant said sexual assault continued sporadically enough that she thought it wouldn't happen again. She is the second of three women expected to testify at the federal trial in Manhattan that they were sexually abused by Combs.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges that could put him in prison for life if he is convicted.
President Donald Trump on Friday didn't rule out pardoning him, if asked.
In other posts Steel presented, Mia praised Combs for 'continuing to inspire me every day.' She wrote 'love you" and joked about the rapper and entrepreneur buying her a vanilla latte at Starbucks after he was named to a top spot on a Forbes list of wealthy individuals.
Steel also showed jurors a handwritten letter Mia gave Combs with the words 'Happy 45th Birthday Puff Daddy' in large, red letters, along with her gift to him: a scrapbook of magazine articles that chronicled the early years of his rise to fame.
Throughout his cross-examination, the lawyer struck an incredulous refrain, asking: 'Why would you promote the person who has stolen your happiness in life?'
Mia said it was only natural to post about the good times, and has previously testified that the 'highs were really high and the lows were really low.'
She acknowledged Friday that she referred to co-workers as 'family' and used the word 'love' in correspondence with Combs — even after she alleges he sexually assaulted her.
'That's how we all talked to each other,' Mia said.
Mia worked for Combs from 2009 to 2017, including a stretch as an executive at his film studio. However, she said she hasn't held a job since then because of post-traumatic stress.
Mia said she would misinterpret emails asking 'where are you?' as scolding because of how Combs treated her. She said someone calling her name would cause her alarm, even if it was an innocent attempt to get her attention.
She recalled throwing her phone across a room in terror when Combs' number popped up as an incoming call days after his former girlfriend, the singer Cassie, sued him in November 2023.
'It was just so triggering,' Mia said.
After leaving Combs' employment, Mia said, she received a little more than $200,000 of a $400,000 settlement to reimburse her for bonuses and overtime that weren't paid. The rest, she said, went to her lawyers, whom she never told about the alleged sexual assaults.
Mia said one of Combs' former bodyguards also reached out to her in the days after Cassie filed her lawsuit.
At first, she said, she was elated to hear from D-Roc, whose real name is Damion Butler, until she realized he was at Combs' house and trying to reconnect her with her former boss.
Mia testified that she felt 'terrified, threatened, scared, nervous" that Combs was using an intermediary to reach her. She said she 'wanted to play dumb' and needed a gameplan to protect herself.
'I didn't want my life to be in danger,' Mia said.
Combs settled with Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, within a day for $20 million. However, a federal agent testified earlier in the trial that Cassie's lawsuit prompted a criminal investigation that eventually led to Combs' indictment.
Mia's testimony echoed concerns that prompted judges to deny Combs bail, keeping him jailed since his arrest last September. Prosecutors said Combs and his allies were contacting potential victims or witnesses to prevent them from cooperating or to get them to alter their recollection of events.
At a bail hearing last September, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said Combs contacted at least one victim in November 2023 and was in constant contact with witnesses, including as late as last July.