Sean Diddy's ex-assistant accuses him of sexual assault in court testimony
Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is facing fresh accusations of sexual assault as his high-profile federal trial for sex trafficking and racketeering continues in Manhattan. A second woman, a former personal assistant identified as 'Mia,' testified on Thursday that Combs raped her on at least two occasions during her time working for him.Holding back tears, Mia recounted a harrowing incident in which she said Combs forced oral sex on her while she was frozen in fear. 'I just let it happen,' she said, describing the moment to a panel of jurors. She also claimed that Combs raped her while she slept, unable to resist.advertisementFacing Life in Prison
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five federal charges, including racketeering and sex trafficking. Prosecutors allege he orchestrated a decades-long scheme involving coercion, drugs, and manipulation, forcing women into disturbing sexual situations referred to as 'Freak Offs' by male sex workers.Although Combs has admitted to being abusive in past relationships, his legal team insists all sexual encounters were consensual. During Mia's testimony, Combs reportedly showed little emotion, occasionally passing notes to his attorneys.Cassie Among Key WitnessesEarlier in the trial, singer Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, testified about the physical and emotional abuse she endured during their 11-year relationship. She accused Combs of raping her after their final breakup and said he used threats of exposing sex tapes to control her participation in the 'Freak Offs.'advertisementOther witnesses, including friends and industry insiders, painted a grim picture of Combs' inner circle. Dawn Richard, formerly of Danity Kane, testified that she felt intimidated by Combs' warning to stay silent. Rapper Kid Cudi also took the stand, stating his car was mysteriously set on fire in 2012 after Combs discovered his past relationship with Ventura.Combs is currently being held at a federal facility in Brooklyn. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment. The trial, now in its third week, has captured national attention due to Combs' immense influence in the music industry.(With inputs from Reuters)Trending Reel
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Hindustan Times
6 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyers say ex-assistant's social media posts undercut her rape allegation
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.
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First Post
9 hours ago
- First Post
US Supreme Court clears Trump's move to end legal status for 500,000 migrants
The court put on hold Boston-based US District Judge Indira Talwani's order halting the administration's move to end the immigration 'parole' granted to 532,000 of these migrants by Trump's predecessor Joe Biden read more Law enforcement officers, including HSI and ICE agents, take people into custody at an immigration court in Phoenix, Arizona, US, on May 21, 2025. Reuters File The US Supreme Court on Friday let President Donald Trump's administration revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president's drive to step up deportations. The court put on hold Boston-based US District Judge Indira Talwani's order halting the administration's move to end the immigration 'parole' granted to 532,000 of these migrants by Trump's predecessor Joe Biden, potentially exposing many of them to rapid removal, while the case plays out in lower courts. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As with many of the court's orders issued in an emergency fashion, the decision was unsigned and gave no reasoning. Two of the court's three liberal justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, publicly dissented. The court botched its assessment of whether the administration was entitled to freeze Talwani's decision pending the litigation, Jackson wrote in an accompanying opinion. The outcome, Jackson wrote, 'undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending.' Immigration parole is a form of temporary permission under American law to be in the country for 'urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,' allowing recipients to live and work in the United States. Biden, a Democrat, used parole as part of his administration's approach to deter illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexican border. Trump called for ending humanitarian parole programs in an executive order signed on January 20, his first day back in office. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently moved to terminate them in March, cutting short the two-year parole grants. The administration said revoking the parole status would make it easier to place migrants in a fast-track deportation process called 'expedited removal.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The case is one of many that Trump's administration has brought in an emergency fashion to the nation's highest judicial body seeking to undo decisions by judges impeding his sweeping policies, including several targeting immigrants. The Supreme Court on May 19 also let Trump end a deportation protection called temporary protected status that had been granted under Biden to about 350,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, while that legal dispute plays out. In a bid to reduce illegal border crossings, Biden starting in 2022 allowed Venezuelans who entered the United States by air to request a two-year parole if they passed security checks and had a U.S. financial sponsor. Biden expanded that process to Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans in 2023 as his administration grappled with high levels of illegal immigration from those nationalities. The plaintiffs, a group of migrants granted parole and Americans who serve as their sponsors, sued administration officials claiming the administration violated federal law governing the actions of government agencies. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD GuerlineJozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, one of the plaintiffs, expressed dismay at Friday's decision. 'Once again, the Trump administration blatantly proves their disregard for the lives of those truly in need of protection by taking away their status and rendering them undocumented. We have already seen the traumatic impact on children and families afraid to even go to school, church or work,' Jozef said. 'I cannot overstate how devastating this is: the Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to unleash widespread chaos, not just for our clients and class members, but for their families, their workplaces and their communities,' added Karen Tumlin, director of Justice Action Center, one of the groups representing the plaintiffs. Talwani in April found that the law governing such parole did not allow for the program's blanket termination, instead requiring a case-by-case review. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the judge's decision on hold. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In its filing, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court that Talwani's order had upended 'critical immigration policies that are carefully calibrated to deter illegal entry,' effectively 'undoing democratically approved policies that featured heavily in the November election' that returned Trump to the presidency. The plaintiffs told the Supreme Court they would face grave harm if their parole is cut short given that the administration has indefinitely suspended processing their pending applications for asylum and other immigration relief. They said they would be separated from their families and immediately subject to expedited deportation 'to the same despotic and unstable countries from which they fled, where many will face serious risks of danger, persecution and even death.' Talwani on Wednesday ordered the administration to resume processing applications for work permits or more lasting immigration status from migrants with parole status from Afghanistan, Latin America and Ukraine.
NDTV
12 hours ago
- NDTV
Ex-Assistant On When Sean "Diddy" Combs Threw A Bowl Of Spaghetti At Her
A former assistant to Sean "Diddy" Combs has alleged that she was repeatedly abused and assaulted during those eight years she worked with him, with the American rapper tossing spaghetti at her on one such occasion. In her testimony, the woman said Combs sexually assaulted her and even got high during an interview on the Chelsea Handler show. The woman testified anonymously, under the moniker "Mia", at the Manhattan court, and provided details of the terrifying pasta-throwing episode at 3am at his Los Angeles house. The woman said Combs instructed her to 'go get everybody' so that they could all leave one of his Los Angeles residences where they lived together. But she headed to her bedroom, which displeased the Bad Boy Records founder. 'He went on a really humiliating rant in front of everybody… He grabbed a bowl of spaghetti right away, hurled it at me, and began yelling curses at me as if I needed to leave his house immediately,' Mia recounted. According to Mia's testimony, the spaghetti bowl came within a couple of arms' length of her, and Combs chased her upstairs until she escaped into a bush. She said Combs also hurled turkey meat and a computer at her, The New York Post reported. Mia testified that Combs acted violently on multiple occasions, once banging her arm into a door, tossing an ice bucket on her head, and pushing her into a swimming pool. Mia, who worked for Combs from 2009 to 2017, further claimed in her testimony that the rapper repeatedly sexually assaulted her. According to Mia, Combs even used white powders of MDMA, ketamine, and cocaine to organise a drug "guessing game" during a visit to Burning Man. On Tuesday, another former Sean Combs assistant testified that the music mogul frequently threatened her and once abducted her out of jealousy over his ex-girlfriend, Casandra Ventura. Capricorn Clark, the assistant, claimed that after finding out that Ms Ventura was dating the rapper Kid Cudi, he showed up at Clark's home one morning in December 2011. Combs has been accused of transportation to engage in prostitution, racketeering conspiracy, and sex trafficking. He has entered a not-guilty plea to all accusations.
