A run-in with a rival document govt at Mel’s Drive-in, assault weapons with illegally defaced serial numbers and a intercourse efficiency at Trump Worldwide Lodge & Tower on Central Park West had been a few of the matters that jurors in Sean Combs’ prison trial heard about Tuesday, as prosecutors tried to construct their racketeering and intercourse trafficking case towards the rap mogul.
Throughout practically six hours of testimony on the trial’s eleventh day, federal prosecutors known as to the stand Combs’ former private assistant, a federal agent, the mom of the federal government’s star witness and a intercourse employee nicknamed “The Punisher.”
They argued that the wide-reaching testimony helps show the lengths to which Combs was prepared to go to learn from and shield what they alleged is a prison enterprise.
Combs has pleaded not responsible, and his attorneys argued that his personal conduct within the bed room doesn’t quantity of intercourse trafficking. His attorneys have argued any violence alleged by witnesses was pushed by love, jealousy and drug use — not a want to coerce anybody into intercourse.
Prosecutors plan to proceed their case Wednesday by calling Daybreak Hughes, a psychologist who makes a speciality of intercourse trauma, George Kaplan, a former assistant to Combs and Scott Mescudi, the rapper generally known as Child Cudi and who briefly dated Combs’ former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Prosecutor Madison Smizer questions Homeland Safety Investigations Particular Agent Gerard Gannon as he holds an proof bag of the higher receivers of AR-15 rifles recovered throughout a search, at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial in New York Metropolis, Might 20, 2025.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Combs’ former assistant testifies about Suge Knight encounter
Combs’ one-time private assistant David James advised jurors concerning the wide selection of duties he accomplished for the rap mogul: from stocking resort rooms and allegedly shopping for medicine to being the motive force when Combs – allegedly armed with a number of weapons – wished to confront rival document govt Marion “Suge” Knight.
Jurors first heard concerning the alleged interplay between Combs and Knight throughout the testimony of Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. It allegedly occurred in roughly 2008 or 2009 and was a second that threatened to dredge up the violent historical past between the titans of Nineties rap music and the long-standing rivalries between the East and West Coasts.
Ventura testified that, after a so-called “freak off,” a safety guard named D-Roc knowledgeable him that Knight, the previous CEO of Demise Row Data and a longtime rival of Combs, was noticed at Mel’s. Regardless of her pleas to cease, Ventura mentioned Combs packed up his weapons and headed to the restaurant to confront Knight.
“I used to be crying. I used to be screaming, like, please do not do something silly,” Ventura testified final week.
James advised jurors the opposite aspect of the story, describing D-Roc confronting Knight after they had been at Mel’s to choose up cheeseburgers for Combs.
“We pulled into the parking zone and D-Roc appears to be like over and says, ‘That is motherf——- Suge Knight,'” James mentioned, describing how he drove again to Combs’ home to search out Combs and Ventura arguing. “Cassie seemed very distressed. She was telling him to not go,” James testified.
James testified that Combs, allegedly with three weapons on his lap, ordered him to drive again to the diner. It was that second, he mentioned, that ultimately prompted him to cease working for Combs.
“I used to be actually struck by it. I noticed for the primary time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that my life was at risk,” James testified.
Prosecutors have charged that Combs and his alleged associates used “violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion” to guard and promote the “energy of the Combs’ enterprise.”
James additionally testified about shopping for and supplying medicine for Combs and stocking the moguls’ resort rooms with child oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms and prophylactics. He advised the jury he as soon as by chance walked in on a freak-off, that includes Ventura and a male intercourse employee.
When questioned by protection attorneys, James testified that he as soon as had intercourse with a prostitute and that he declined to pay for her companies, and that he acquired right into a bodily altercation with one other considered one of Combs’ staff. James mentioned he spoke with prosecutors underneath a proffer settlement, which means he had immunity from being prosecuted for something he mentioned on the stand.
“Have they given you some sort of immunity?” protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo requested.
“I would must ask my lawyer that query,” he mentioned. “My lawyer mentioned I’ve no authorized visibility.”
Cassie Ventura’s mom testifies about Combs blackmailing her daughter
Regina Ventura, the mom of star witness Cassie Ventura, took the stand on Tuesday to testify about taking a house fairness mortgage to pay Combs with a purpose to forestall him from following via on an alleged risk to launch a intercourse tape of her daughter.
“The threats which have been made in direction of me by Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs are that … he’s going to launch 2 specific intercourse tapes of me,” Ventura wrote in an e mail to her mom and Combs’ assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011. Jurors noticed the e-mail when Cassie Ventura testified final week.
Ventura wrote an e mail to her mom and Combs’ assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011.
U.S. Division of Justice
“I used to be bodily sick. I didn’t perceive a variety of it. The intercourse tapes threw me,” Regina Ventura testified concerning the risk.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband determined to take out a mortgage so they may ship Combs the $20,000 he demanded, although he in the end returned the cash.
“We determined that is the one manner we might get the cash,” she mentioned. “I used to be scared for my daughter’s security.”
Regina Ventura additionally advised jurors she determined to {photograph} the accidents her daughter allegedly suffered from Combs in order that they’d have a document of the alleged abuse.
Roughly 15 years after she documented the accidents, prosecutors final week confirmed the images to the jury to underscore Cassie Ventura’s testimony concerning the violence she suffered at Combs’ arms.
This picture launched by prosecutors reveals bruising on Cassie Ventura.
U.S. Division of Justice
‘The Punisher’ testifies a couple of dozen alleged freak-offs
Recognized professionally as The Punisher, male escort Sharay Hayes advised the jury that he first met Combs and Cassie Ventura in 2012, when he was employed to assist create a “attractive erotic scene” for what, Ventura mentioned, was Combs’ birthday. He testified that he acquired his nickname when he was a teen primarily based on the way in which he performed basketball.
He testified that Ventura, who used the identify Janet when reserving intercourse employees, instructed him to return to Trump Worldwide Lodge & Tower on Central Park West in Manhattan to carry out a strip act. When he arrived, Ventura requested him to cowl her child oil whereas Combs watched, Hayes mentioned.
“I used to be particularly advised to not acknowledge her husband. Strive not to take a look at him. No communication between me and him,” Hayes testified. “The room was dimly lit, possibly digital candles. All the furnishings was coated in sheets and there was an space just about for me to take a seat and for her to take a seat throughout from me. There have been bowls of water and bottles of child oil.”
Hayes advised jurors that Combs was nude for the encounter and wore a veil, often masturbating throughout the interplay and providing “refined instructions” to Ventura.
After their first interplay, Hayes mentioned he labored for the couple one other eight to 12 instances, receiving $1,200 to $2,000 on every event.
Throughout their final encounter, Hayes testified Combs instructed him to have intercourse with Ventura however declined as a result of he couldn’t sexually carry out underneath “a variety of stress.”
Cross-examined by Combs’ attorneys, Hayes testified that he believed Ventura was comfy throughout the exchanges, probably undercutting the argument she was coerced to take part.
“I did not get any cues there was any discomfort there,” Hayes mentioned when requested if Ventura appeared uncomfortable with the encounters.
The query of whether or not Ventura was compelled or participated voluntarily is without doubt one of the most crucial points within the prosecution of the onetime cultural icon Combs.
Prosecutor Madison Smizer questions Homeland Safety Investigations Particular Agent Gerard Gannon as he holds an proof bag of the higher receivers of AR-15 rifles recovered throughout a search, at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial in New York Metropolis, Might 20, 2025.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Jurors see proof of weapons with defaced serial numbers
For the ultimate witness of the day, jurors heard from a federal agent who testified about recovering a number of assault-style weapons from Combs’ Miami Seaside residence when it was raided in March 2024. The agent, Gerard Gannon, mentioned the serial numbers of the weapons had been defaced – a violation of federal firearms legal guidelines.
Holding components of the weapons in court docket for the jury to see, Gannon testified that investigators recovered a 30-round journal containing 19 rounds and a full 10-round journal in Combs’ house, with the ammunition on the identical shelf as 7-inch platform heels and lingerie.
Prosecutors have alleged Combs and his associates relied on “violence, use of firearms, (and) threats of violence” to function their prison enterprise.
