Witness tells jurors of coercive sex, transporting drugs for Combs

News.com.au

a day ago

An ex-girlfriend of Sean Combs testified Friday of sex with a network of paid male escorts at the music mogul's behest and that he asked her to transport drugs for him.
The woman speaking under the pseudonym Jane took the stand for a second day in the sex trafficking and racketeering trial, delivering emotional, graphic testimony in the trial of Combs, the 55-year-old superstar known as "Diddy."
He faces life in prison if convicted, and has denied all charges.
Jane told jurors Friday that she, assistants of Combs or the artist himself would book travel for the escorts, who would frequently be paid in thousands of dollars in cash or via apps.
The payment was in exchange for choreographed sexual encounters that would sometimes last days, which Jane described as "hotel nights" and which a previous star witness, Casandra Ventura, said were called "freak-offs."
Jane spoke through tears as she recounted one of several instances that she told Combs she did not like having sex with the escorts while he watched -- but that he was "dismissive" when she tried to protest.
Among the tranche of text exchanges between Jane and Combs was one message in which she described the pattern of hotel nights as a "Pandora's box" that she couldn't shut.
"I'm so much more than being loved in the dark in hotel rooms doing things that make me feel disgusted," she texted Combs. "I don't want to play this role in your life anymore."
"It's dark, sleazy and makes me feel disgusted with myself," she continued, saying that she felt he was paying her rent in exchange for the sex parties.
"I don't want to feel obligated to perform these nights with you in fear of losing the roof over my head," Jane wrote.
"Girl stop," Combs wrote back.
- Flying with drugs -
Jane's testimony of paying for the travel of escorts is key to the prosecution's argument that Combs trafficked men and women across state lines with the intent of prostitution.
She also told jurors that she transported illegal drugs for Combs on two occasions.
When she expressed to a high-ranking staff member of Combs that it felt "unsafe" to fly with drugs from Los Angeles to Miami, the staffer replied that "it's fine" and "I do it all the time."
In their opening statements, the defense insisted that Combs's relationship with Jane was consensual.
But she described struggling to get through the hotel nights without the aid of drugs, recounting once instance when she attempted to have sex with multiple men for hours in front of Sean to the point that she threw up, saying she was "repulsed."
"Sean came in and I told him I had just thrown up and he was like, 'that's good then you'll feel better.'"
'"Let's go because the guy is here, the third guy,'" Jane said he told her.
Jane previously told jurors that her relationship with Combs continued up until his arrest in September 2024.
Prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise of employees and bodyguards who enforced his power and fulfilled his desires with illicit acts including trafficking, kidnapping, bribery and arson.
Along with Ventura and Jane, witnesses have included former employees of Bad Boy Enterprises, Combs's company.
Jane's testimony could last days, with court proceedings expected to continue at least another month.