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The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs started on May 12 in Federal District Court in Manhattan as attorneys delivered their opening statements after the jury was lastly set.
The first witnesses additionally took the stand Monday afternoon, kicking off the high-profile trial that may look at the intercourse crimes the hip hop mogul has been accused of.
Prosecutors allege that Diddy, 55, used his fame and energy on the high of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse girls from 2004 to 2024. He pleaded not responsible after his September arrest and has remained held with out bail at a federal lockup in Brooklyn.
The ultimate stage of jury choice for the sex-trafficking trial was delayed on May 9 over issues that some jurors may get “cold feet” earlier than the high-profile case started. By Monday, the jury and alternates — 12 males and 6 girls — had been chosen and seated within the courtroom.
The jury is actually nameless, that means their identities are identified to the courtroom and the prosecution and defence, however received’t be made public. Judge Arun Subramanian informed the jurors that the courtroom “will keep your names and identities in confidence.”
Subramanian reminded the jurors to evaluate the case solely primarily based on the proof introduced in courtroom.
“Anything you’ve seen or heard outside the courtroom is not evidence,” the decide added. “It must be disregarded.”
The first witness
Prosecutors used the trial’s first witness, Israel Florez, a former safety officer at a Los Angeles resort, to introduce recordings of Combs beating his then-girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, on the resort in March 2016.
Florez mentioned that when he responded to a name of lady in misery on the sixth flooring of the resort, he got here throughout Combs, sporting solely a towel and sitting on a chair “slouched down, like with a blank stare … like a devilish stare, just looking at me.”
He mentioned he seen that the resort’s flooring show was destroyed and informed Combs it’ll be charged to the room. As he escorted Ventura and Combs to their room, he mentioned Ventura indicated she needed to depart and Combs informed her: “You’re not going to leave.” Florez mentioned he informed Combs: “If she wants to leave, she’s going to leave.”
After Ventura left, Florez mentioned, he was on the brink of go away their room when Combs known as him again. Florez mentioned he was holding a stack of cash with a US$100 invoice on high, telling him: “Don’t tell nobody.”
Florez mentioned he thought of it a bribe and informed him: “I don’t want your money. Just go back into your room.”
In all, prosecutors confirmed the jury two cellphone movies and three resort surveillance movies associated to the assault by Combs on Ventura.
Florez testified that he recorded the resort’s video of the assault on his cellphone as a result of he needed to explain what he noticed to his spouse and feared she wouldn’t consider him.
Second witness
Following Florez, Daniel Phillip – a male stripper – took the stand, as prosecution dove straight into questions on Combs’ alleged violent streak.
He informed the courtroom that he was working as a stripper in 2012, when Ventura known as him and requested that he meet her and Combs on the Gramercy Park Hotel.
Ventura, he mentioned, informed him she needed to do one thing particular for her boyfriend and requested Phillips to therapeutic massage her with child oil whereas Combs watched. She was sporting a crimson lack outfit, with darkish sun shades and excessive heels in the course of the encounter.
He mentioned that Combs was sporting a white gown and sat close by, watching, whereas Phillips had intercourse with Ventura. He was paid just a few thousand {dollars} for the encounter – but it surely wouldn’t be the one time he was solicited for intercourse work from the pair.
However, he mentioned he stopped accepting cash from the couple and ended their relationship when he noticed Combs turn into violent towards Ventura at some point.
He mentioned Ventura was sitting at her pc when Combs known as to her from the bed room. When she replied to “hold a second,” he mentioned, Combs got here out of the room.
“Mr. Combs walked over to Cassie, grabbed her by her hair and started dragging her by her hair into the bedroom,” Phillip mentioned.
He mentioned he then heard what appeared like Combs slapping her as she screamed and mentioned: “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
On direct questioning, Phillip had testified that he didn’t ask for cash throughout his encounters with Ventura and typically he wasn’t paid, saying: “In my head, I was just excited I was in this world and happy to be involved with people of such notoriety.”
On cross-examination, defence lawyer Xavier Donaldson tried to assault Phillip’s credibility, mocking the slogan of the male overview present firm Phillip labored for and its slogan that it “provided the ultimate ladies night experience.”
Phillip testified that when he acquired to the door of the New York resort room the primary time he met Ventura, she informed him that his boss had informed her that she needed to give him $200 upon his arrival. “And then she handed me $4,000.”
Opening assertion — Prosecution
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson pointed at Diddy as she mentioned he was “larger than life” to the general public, however there was “another side” to the rapper that wasn’t broadly shared with the world.
“To the public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Larger than life,” Johnson mentioned. “But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise.”
“During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes. But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and cover them up,” Johnson added.
She mentioned these crimes included kidnapping, arson, medicine, intercourse crimes, bribery and obstruction. Diddy appeared to lean again in his chair as she spoke to the courtroom.
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Johnson informed jurors a few night time particularly the place Diddy allegedly kidnapped an worker and threatened Ventura, a key witness within the trial.
Diddy allegedly informed Ventura that if she defied him once more he would launch tapes of her having intercourse with a male escort. Johnson referred the the tapes as “souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life.”
That was “just the tip of the iceberg,” Johnson mentioned, telling jurors that Ventura was removed from the one lady Diddy allegedly beat and sexually exploited.
Johnson mentioned that Diddy used violence to maintain individuals in line and to not go in opposition to him.
She described a second when he suspected that Ventura was dishonest on him. She mentioned that he kidnapped one in all his workers to assist discover Ventura and once they discovered her, she mentioned, he “beat her brutally, kicking her in the back and flinging her around like a rag doll.”
“For 20 years, the defendant, with the help of his trusted inner circle, committed crime after crime. That’s why we are here today. That’s what this case is about,” Johnson mentioned.
Prosecutors additionally mentioned Diddy’s drug-fuelled intercourse events he known as “Freak Offs,” “Wild King Nights” or “Hotel Nights.”
Diddy’s firm paid for the events that had been allegedly held in resort rooms throughout the U.S. and abroad. His workers staged the rooms along with his most popular lighting, additional linens and lubricant, in response to Johnson.
Johnson additionally famous that “this case is not about a celebrity’s private sexual preferences.”
Diddy compelled girls, together with Ventura, to take medicine and have interaction in sexual exercise with male escorts whereas he gratified himself and typically recorded them, Johnson alleged.
Johnson went on to explain Diddy’s behaviour as a sample of violence, sexual abuse and blackmail. “He sometimes called himself ‘the king,’ and he expected to be treated like one,” she mentioned.
She mentioned that Diddy would beat Ventura over the smallest slights, reminiscent of leaving a “Freak Off” with out his permission or taking too lengthy within the toilet.
The prosecution mentioned that though Ventura agreed to take part in a “Freak Off” initially as a result of she beloved Diddy, “she knew it was not something she wanted to do.”
Johnson additionally described one “Freak Off” through which Ventura “felt like she was choking” when Diddy “made an escort urinate into her mouth.”
Diddy allegedly threatened to break Ventura’s singing profession by releasing to the general public movies of her participating in intercourse with male escorts, the prosecutor mentioned.
“Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,” Johnson mentioned.
Johnson additionally mentioned that Diddy brutally beat Jane — a pseudonym — when she confronted him final 12 months about enduring years of “Freak Offs” in darkish resort rooms whereas he took different paramours on date nights and journeys across the globe.
They described Jane as a single mom who began spending time with Diddy in 2020. She mentioned that Jane needed Diddy to put on condoms, however many instances he refused.
She mentioned that Diddy chased the girl round a house, kicking in locked doorways as she tried to cover from him. Johnson mentioned Diddy finally put Jane in a chokehold and kicked her to the bottom.
Eager to get to a different “Freak Off,” Diddy yelled on the lady and informed her she wasn’t going to break his night time, Johnson mentioned.
She mentioned Diddy then punched her within the face, kicked her whereas she was curled up on the bottom, dragged her by her hair and slapped her so onerous she fell over. Then he demanded that she name an escort, cowl up her black eye and ingest ecstasy, the prosecutor informed jurors.
“Like with Cassie, the defendant’s violence had gotten him what he wanted,” Johnson mentioned.
Johnson mentioned that Diddy managed Jane financially and discouraged her from working as a result of he “wanted her to be available at a moment’s notice” and commenced paying her lease.
As the prosecution completed its opening assertion, Johnson warned jurors that they are going to see the violence the ladies endured for themselves.
She mentioned they are going to watch movies of Ventura and Jane as they “pretend they enjoy themselves during Freak Offs,” and they’ll see Diddy “brutally beating Cassie during a Freak Off at an L.A. hotel.”
Opening assertion — Defence
Teny Geragos, one in all Diddy’s attorneys, delivered the defence’s opening statements, saying, “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case.”
She accused the federal government of attempting to show consensual sexual relationships into intercourse trafficking, including “it will not work.”
“This case is about Sean Combs’ private, personal sex life,” Geragos mentioned, “which has nothing to do with his lawful businesses.”
The defence admitted that Diddy is violent, “has a bad temper” and that he takes medicine. But they are saying he’s not responsible of what he has been accused of.
“There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year,” Geragos informed jurors, including, “It is time to cancel that noise.”
Geragos informed the jury that there could also be a number of factors in the course of the trial “where you think he is a jerk, he is mean. But he is not charged with being mean. He is not charged with being a jerk. He is charged with running a racketeering enterprise.”
She mentioned that “domestic violence is a very serious matter” and “a bad, illegal problem and is something the law addresses.”
“We take full responsibility that there was domestic violence in this case,” Geragos added.
She mentioned that Diddy has “a bit of a different sex life” however his authorized staff will “fight for his freedom throughout the next eight weeks.”
His defence staff mentioned that lots of his romantic relationships lasted for years. “These women were strong, capable, and they were were in love with him,” Geragos mentioned.
“The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual, but it will not show you a racketeer, a sex trafficker or somebody transporting for prostitution,” she added.
Geragos mentioned that Diddy’s violent outbursts might need warranted home violence prices. She condemned his actions within the now-infamous safety digital camera recording of him beating then-girlfriend Ventura at a Los Angeles resort in 2016.
Geragos known as the beating “horrible, dehumanizing violence,” however argued to jurors that “it is not evidence of sex trafficking. It is evidence of domestic violence.”
She additionally informed jurors that they’ll witness the “closure” between Ventura and Diddy once they see one another for the primary time in six years when she takes the witness stand.
The defence additionally argued that Diddy and the girl recognized as Jane had a “toxic and dysfunctional relationship.”
She mentioned that Jane willingly engaged in “Freak Offs” as a result of she needed to spend time with Diddy. After listening to the proof, Geragos mentioned, “You might think, ‘Wow, he’s a really bad boyfriend.’ But the evidence will show you a capable, strong woman, willingly engaged in their relationship.”
Gergaos mentioned that the struggle between Jane and Diddy described by the prosecution, began after Jane allegedly slammed Diddy’s head down in a jealous rage.
Geragos mentioned that she didn’t wish to justify Diddy’s violence, however argued that the struggle isn’t proof of intercourse trafficking.
While wrapping up her opening assertion, Geragos mentioned that the accusers had been motivated by cash and famous their civil lawsuits in opposition to the hip-hop mogul.
She informed the jurors that Ventura demanded $30 million when she sued him and one other witness will acknowledge demanding $22 million in a breach of contract lawsuit.
“I want you to ask yourself, how many millions of reasons does this witness, swearing to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, have to lie?” she mentioned, including, “For many of them. The answer is money.”
Who was in attendance
Diddy’s mom Janice and a few of his kids, together with King Combs, Justin Combs, Chance Combs, Jessie Combs, D’Lila Combs and his stepson Quincy Brown, had been in attendance for opening statements on May 12. They had been escorted previous a crowd of media and would-be trial watchers and introduced straight into the constructing.
Janice Combs (2nd R), mom of Sean Combs, arrives at federal courtroom for the intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York City on May 12, 2025.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP through Getty Images
Quincy Brown, Chance Combs, D’Lila Star Combs, Justin Combs, Diddy Combs kids arrive for the continuation of the jury choice section of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial on the Southern District Manhattan Federal courtroom on May 12, 2025 in New York City.
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Quincy Brown (R), stepson of Sean Combs, and King Combs (2nd R), son of Sean Combs, arrive at federal courtroom for the intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York City on May 12, 2025.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP through Getty Images
The courtroom solely seats about 100 individuals, and journalists will possible get two to a few dozen of these seats whereas a whole bunch of different individuals line up for an opportunity to observe the intercourse trafficking trial unfold.
On Monday, the road to get into the federal courthouse stretched all the way in which down the block.
Press and jurors wait to enter for the continuation of the jury choice section of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial on the Southern District Manhattan Federal courtroom on May 12, 2025 in New York City.
John Lamparski/Getty Images
What he’s on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Diddy was coercing and abusing girls with assist from a community of associates who helped silence victims by means of blackmail and violence.
Diddy faces an indictment that features descriptions of “Freak Offs,” that are outlined within the courtroom doc as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Numerous witnesses have come ahead to accuse Diddy of terrorizing individuals into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in response to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Diddy dangled somebody from a balcony.
Although dozens of women and men have alleged in lawsuits that Diddy abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 girls.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to interact in prostitution. He has denied all the fees in opposition to him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as an alternative.
If discovered responsible within the New York courtroom, he might face life in jail.
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Global News might be overlaying the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please verify again for updates.
— With recordsdata from The Associated Press
