Sean Combs onstage throughout Make investments Fest 2023 on the Georgia World Congress Heart on Aug. 26, 2023, in Atlanta.
Prince Williams/WireImage
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Prince Williams/WireImage
This report contains descriptions of bodily and sexual violence.
After six weeks, federal prosecutors rested their case Tuesday (June 24) towards hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, also referred to as Diddy or Puff Daddy. This is an outline of the proof and witnesses that the Southern District of New York has introduced towards Combs — supplies and statements that they hope will persuade the jury to convict him of intercourse trafficking, transportation to interact in prostitution and racketeering.
It has been a wild month and a half exterior of the particular courtroom proceedings. Neither the media nor the general public are allowed to carry any electronics into courtroom, so dozens of reporters and lots of followers have been handwriting a whole lot of pages of notes apiece in the course of the trial. There are scores of TikTokers and YouTubers attending the proceedings every day — many sitting within the overflow courtroom that gives a stay video feed of the principle courtroom — after which stampeding exterior throughout breaks to stream hot-take movies for his or her followers. Diddy superfans and manosphere influencers proclaim their allegiances aloud within the overflow room (and within the precise courtroom as nicely). Every day, there are curious worldwide vacationers who cease by to absorb a completely American movie star trial. There was even a short look by the musician now referred to as Ye. Beginning within the pre-dawn hours each weekday, there are scrums of digicam crews who spend hours lurching throughout decrease Manhattan’s Pearl Road in hopes of grabbing pictures of the prolonged Combs clan, together with lots of the tycoon’s little children and his flamboyantly dressed mom, Janice Combs.
The scene contained in the courthouse is usually no much less intriguing, and generally feels almost as chaotic. On June 16, Decide Arun Subramanian dismissed one of many jurors, who gave inconsistent solutions about whether or not he lives in New York Metropolis or in New Jersey. The decide agreed with the prosecution’s considerations that the juror was doubtlessly searching for a method to be a part of a high-profile legal trial. Final week, the decide additionally questioned one other juror about doubtlessly improper conversations he could have had with a former colleague. In mid-June, Subramanian chastised each the prosecution and protection groups a few leak of sealed proof to TMZ and The Each day Mail. “Somebody is mendacity right here,” Subramanian mentioned.
Because the prosecution’s case drew to a detailed on Monday, protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo advised Subramanian that his crew didn’t plan to name any witnesses on Combs’ behalf. As an alternative, the protection will current proof that they hope persuades the jury that the ladies concerned with Combs weren’t victims however keen members.
The fees towards Combs, who has pleaded not responsible, are huge. Over the month and a half the federal prosecutors spent presenting their case, their narrative towards Combs has been fairly meandering — and it is unclear whether or not that was an intentional technique or just a matter of managing witnesses’ schedules and wishes. One among their prime witnesses, Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, was noticeably pregnant when she took the stand, and delivered her child simply two weeks after stepping down. Moreover, lots of the roughly 30 witnesses and far of the proof the prosecution has introduced to the jury cowl a number of components of the federal government’s accusations.
Inside that densely knotted net, it is usually been exhausting to tease out which components of proof and statements from the stand prosecutors hope to align with which of their accusations. This is a have a look at the costs and what the federal government has introduced to the jury.
Intercourse Trafficking and Transportation to Interact in Prostitution
The fees embody two counts of intercourse trafficking by pressure, fraud or coercion in addition to bringing folks throughout state strains to interact in prostitution.
Each alleged victims named within the legal proceedings — Cassie Ventura and “Jane” — described very comparable conditions and environments surrounding the so-called “freak-offs, “lodge nights” or “wild king nights,” which allegedly included taking medicine and performing sexually with male intercourse employees in entrance of Combs for a lot of hours at a time, with Combs directing their particular actions whereas filming them.
Carrying headphones, the jury additionally considered video clips and screengrabs of a few of these intercourse classes; these movies have been introduced beneath seal, in order that neither the general public nor the media would be capable of see or hear the fabric. The protection maintains that the sexual encounters on this footage have been solely consensual.
Over 4 days of testimony, Ventura — who filed the primary outstanding civil swimsuit towards Combs (which was settled a day later for $20 million) — alleged that he had bodily assaulted her on quite a few events, raped her, trafficked her and sought to manage each side of her private {and professional} life. Ventura testified that she cherished Combs deeply, however that their relationship was constructed on management, energy imbalances, coercion and bodily abuse, and that he would allegedly threaten to blackmail her with the movies of the sexual encounters. She additionally mentioned that on a extensively seen surveillance video from 2016, by which Combs violently attacked her in a California lodge hallway, she was making an attempt to depart a freak-off. The jury additionally noticed images of Ventura’s bruises and accidents from different alleged bodily incidents.
The prosecution supplied each witnesses and written proof that tried to substantiate that Combs had introduced intercourse employees, Ventura and Jane throughout state strains to take part within the freak-offs. Jurors have additionally considered receipts, telephone data and texts referring to a few of these interstate journeys. Moreover, they heard testimony from authorities brokers with Homeland Safety Investigations, who raided Combs’ properties and located weapons, medicine and hundreds of bottles of child oil and lubricant allegedly used within the freak-offs.
The jury has additionally heard first-person testimony from a few of the intercourse employees, together with Daniel Philip and Sharay Hayes, who used the nickname “The Punisher.” Many different witnesses mentioned that they both noticed Combs bodily assault Ventura, or that they knew in regards to the alleged extortion makes an attempt.
Throughout her six days of testimony, Jane mentioned that in the midst of her relationship with Combs, he promised a romantic relationship together with her within the type of dates and high quality time, however as an alternative pressured her into intercourse marathons. Like Ventura, Jane mentioned that getting ready for and recuperating from Combs’ intercourse marathons took up a lot of her time that her profession took a backseat, leaving her financially depending on Combs. She additionally mentioned that the lodge nights have been so frequent that she usually developed urinary tract and yeast infections.
After she learn Ventura’s civil lawsuit towards Combs in November 2023, Jane texted him: “I really feel like I am studying my very own sexual trauma.” Prosecutors additionally confirmed texts and notes entries she wrote to Combs over a three-year interval saying that she didn’t need to have intercourse with different males, and that the lodge nights made her really feel humiliated. The jury additionally noticed texts from Combs’ staff that implied hiring male intercourse employees had grow to be a operating joke amongst his workers.
Combs’ protection crew has argued that whereas the rapper and producer has “unconventional” sexual preferences that embody a “swinger way of life,” he isn’t a intercourse trafficker, and that the intercourse marathons have been all consensual encounters. It additionally pointed to texts by which each Ventura and Jane expressed love for Combs, and helped him plan and coordinate these marathons, suggesting that they have been the truth is keen members.
Racketeering Conspiracy
That is the RICO cost that alleges Combs used his enterprise empire — and his staff — to cover legal actions. In keeping with the indictment, these “members and associates engaged in, and tried to interact in, amongst different crimes, intercourse trafficking, compelled labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.” Inside these expenses, the federal government doesn’t must show that Combs dedicated any of the acts himself, however present the jury past an affordable doubt that such acts have been dedicated to finally profit Combs and fulfill his needs.
Some former Combs staff whose names got here up repeatedly on the stand didn’t testify for the prosecution. They embody Kristina Khorram, Combs’ former chief of workers, who witnesses accused of serving to Combs get hold of the footage from the 2016 California lodge incident; helping Combs in transporting unlawful and pharmaceuticals throughout state strains; and monitoring Ventura’s actions and whereabouts for Combs. The jury has considered texts despatched by Khorram by which she described numerous actions she undertook on Combs’ behalf, together with acquiring medicine for her boss and taking them throughout state strains.
The jury has additionally considered texts between Kristina Khorram and Jane, by which Jane advised Khorram that Combs had threatened to launch intercourse tapes of her, indicating that Khorram knew about an alleged blackmail try. The jury has additionally seen texts between Khorram and Ventura discussing an alleged episode in Los Angeles in September 2016 by which a buddy of Ventura, Bryana Bongolan, says that an enraged Combs dangled her over a balcony.
The jury additionally heard recorded telephone calls between Khorram and Jane made after Ventura filed her lawsuit, by which Jane advised Khorram that she felt used and exploited — however that Khorram continued to e book lodge rooms and journey for Jane to take part within the lodge nights.
A number of former assistants testified that they arrange or cleaned lodge rooms for the freak-offs or picked up or purchased medicine for Combs as a part of their jobs. However a lot of them additionally spoke extremely of Combs and his enterprise acumen. One, George Kaplan, testified that he give up after witnessing Combs behave violently towards Ventura and one other girlfriend — but in addition referred to as him “a god amongst males.”
The federal government additionally confirmed lodge invoices and flight data from accounts owned by Combs and his corporations that confirmed fee for journey and lodge rooms and for in depth damages to these rooms, together with from child oil.
Compelled labor
Along with the freak-offs and the alleged coercion of Combs’ girlfriends into de facto intercourse work, a number of former staff of Combs testified about how the hip-hop tycoon mistreated them as staffers.
Throughout her three days on the witness stand, a former worker testifying beneath the pseudonym Mia mentioned that Combs usually requested her to work 20-hour days, on one event stored her from sleeping for a number of days and refused to pay her time beyond regulation. Mia additionally testified that Combs bodily and sexually assaulted her a number of instances over the eight-year span she labored for him, however mentioned that she stayed within the job as a result of she was “brainwashed” to imagine that the work surroundings was acceptable if she wished a much bigger profession within the leisure trade. The protection referred to as out dozens of social media posts by which Mia lavishly praised Combs. “The highs have been very excessive and the lows have been very low,” she mentioned repeatedly.
Kidnapping
Capricorn Clark, a former Combs worker, testified that she had been kidnapped by folks related to Combs in 2004 after Combs suspected her of stealing high-end jewellery. She mentioned that associates of Combs locked her right into a dilapidated workplace constructing for 5 days, subjecting her to quite a few lie detector checks. Moreover, she mentioned that her interrogator advised her that if she failed the checks, she can be “thrown into the East River”; the checks have been inconclusive. She says she was fired when she reported the alleged kidnapping to executives at Combs’ Dangerous Boy Data. She later acquired a settlement from Combs after she accused him of wrongful termination.
Clark later returned to working for Combs, after being unable to safe another job within the music trade. Once more in his make use of and beneath his management, she mentioned that Combs kidnapped her as soon as extra in 2011, after he discovered that Ventura had been courting the musician Child Cudi and that Clark knew about it.
Arson
Musician Scott Mescudi, who data as Child Cudi, took the stand to testify that in December 2011, whereas he was romantically concerned with Cassie Ventura, there was a break-in at his dwelling. On the stand, he mentioned he and Ventura ended their relationship as a result of he was involved for his private security: “I knew Sean Combs was violent,” he testified.
The next month, somebody set hearth to Mescudi’s Porsche, which was parked simply exterior of his dwelling; years later, he mentioned Combs pulled him apart at an occasion and apologized for “every part.”
The prosecution additionally referred to as officers from the Los Angeles Police Division and the Los Angeles Hearth Division whose testimony aligned with Mescudi’s in regards to the break-in and arson. LAFD arson investigator Lance Jimenez mentioned that the fireplace was attributable to a Molotov cocktail in what he opined was a “focused” incident. LAPD officer Christopher Ignacio testified that whereas responding to a name a few doable break-in at Mescudi’s residence, he noticed a Cadillac Escalade in entrance of the house, and that the Escalade was registered to Combs’ recording label.
Whereas she was on the stand, Clark mentioned Combs compelled her to accompany him to Mescudi’s home, saying “We will go kill him.” She additionally testified that Combs threatened to kill her if she went to the authorities, and that he mentioned he would kill her, Mescudi and Ventura if Mescudi advised police he suspected Combs of getting been in his dwelling. Moreover, she mentioned she witnessed Combs brutally beating Ventura after he discovered of her relationship with Mescudi.
Bribery
On June 3, Eddy Garcia, a former safety supervisor on the InterContinental Resort in Los Angeles, testified that Combs bribed him and his colleagues with $100,000, delivered in a paper bag, in alternate for the 2016 lodge safety video. Garcia additionally testified that he signed a nondisclosure settlement that referred to as for the destruction of proof and for Garcia’s silence. (Nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, don’t stop folks from testifying honestly in authorized proceedings.)
In keeping with Garcia, Kristina Khorram was additionally concerned in that negotiation for the safety tape, buttressing the prosecution’s claims of racketeering. The jury additionally considered texts between Ventura and Khorram, by which Ventura wrote “nobody deserves to get dragged by their hair.”
Mia additionally testified that she believed a former safety worker nicknamed D-Roc tried to bribe her after Ventura filed a civil lawsuit towards Combs; the jury noticed a blizzard of texts and telephone calls that Diddy, Khorram and D-Roc despatched Mia in that point interval, together with one by which D-Roc wrote: “I do know u did not ask for something, however I can ship my sister a present.”
Obstruction of justice
Cassie Ventura’s mom, Regina, testified that her household paid Combs $20,000 in 2011 to stop him from releasing sexually express movies of Cassie after Combs discovered that she had begun courting Mescudi. (She testified that Combs paid her again days later.) Her testimony was supported by that of former Combs Enterprises chief monetary officer Derek Ferguson, who confirmed that he had seen a fee of $20,000 from the Ventura household to Combs.
A former stylist for each Combs and Ventura named Deonte Nash additionally buttressed Regina Ventura’s testimony. Nash testified that together with witnessing Combs bodily attacking Cassie Ventura, he additionally witnessed Combs threatening to launch intercourse tapes of her, together with sending them to the locations her dad and mom labored so as to get them fired.
Through the course of the trial to this point, the jury has heard many different allegations towards Combs — together with many episodes of bodily abuse perpetrated towards girlfriends and staff and rampant drug use. The protection has maintained that whereas Combs could also be an abuser and concerned in “poisonous” and “jealous” relationships, and whereas the jury could not agree along with his way of life, none of these accusations are expenses towards him on this federal trial.
