Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: jurors watch explicit freak off videos
Jurors at the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial were fitted with headphones and subjected to a 15 minute long compilation of freak off footage featuring Cassie Ventura. Follow the updates.
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Jurors kept their cool as Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers played them more than 15 minutes of X-rated footage of his infamous marathon sexual escapades he dubbed “freak-offs.”
At least two of the panellists appeared to uncomfortably shift in their chairs and scratch at their face while the explicit video played on monitors near their seats, but otherwise kept their emotions close to the vest.
The jurors wore headphones to listen to the video, which the media and public were blocked from viewing.
The videos were taken on October 14, 2012, October 20, 2012 and December 4, 2014, during the time period when Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura testified that Combs “coerced” into having sex with male escorts while Combs watched and pleasured himself.
Prosecutors played around two minutes of the footage for jurors yesterday, but Combs’ attorney Teny Geragos has played more than 15 minutes of the video Tuesday while cross-examining special agent DeLeassa Penland.
Diddy, 55, is accused of using his fame and fortune to run a decade-long scheme in which he controlled and manipulated his longtime girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie Ventura, 38, and others using violence and threats, forcing them into “freak-off” sex marathons that went on for days.
The rapper has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He faces life in prison if convicted.
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KANYE MAKES THE COURT VISITOR LIST
Kanye West can now attend the trial as a visitor for the accused sex-trafficker fellow rapper, according to courthouse sources.
West – who goes by Ye Ye – came to court last week but was forced to watch the trial on a screen in an overflow room because he wasn’t on the visitor list for the Bad Boy Records founder.
Now, if the Gold Digger rhymer wants to attend again, he would be allowed into the main courtroom, where Combs has been on trial for six weeks.
BABY-FACED DRUG MULE TAKES THE STAND
Combs’ baby-faced, basketball-playing drug mule – arrested last year as he tried to board the rapper’s private jet began to testify with immunity against the mogul at his sex-trafficking trial.
Feds agreed Tuesday morning that Brendan Paul, 26, cannot be prosecuted for his testimony when the former Syracuse University baller takes the stand this week.
Mr Paul briefly took the witness stand to plead the Fifth before jurors were brought in.
This means he invoked his constitutional right to not incriminate himself before prosecutors said they would allow him to testify with the protection of immunity from criminal charges.
This is the same procedure that several other witnesses went through before testifying under immunity.
Mr Paul was arrested around the time that the Bad Boy Records founder’s homes were raided by the feds last year after Paul was found with drugs on him at the airport as he was about to board Combs’ plane.
Just a couple months after his arrest, he was given a no-jail plea deal when he completed a drug diversion plan.
‘I’M ABOUT TO BE ARRESTED’
Jurors were on Tuesday shown text messages that Combs sent his former longtime girlfriend Ms Ventura after he infamously beat her in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel eight years ago.
It’s the second time the jury saw the texts.
“I’m about to be arrested,” the hip-hop mogul wrote to Ventura on March 5, 2016, after he was caught on surveillance video throwing, kicking and dragging her in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel.
“If you don’t pick up you’ll never hear my voice again,” the Bad Boy Records founder threatened in another text.
Ventura then had several missed calls from the Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down rapper, trial evidence showed.
Combs was not arrested in connection to the hotel beating and the pair went on to date for two more years.
Jurors were first introduced to the evidence during the shocking four-day stint Ventura spent on the witness stand in mid-May, during the first week of trial.
‘SHADING’ JUROR DISMISSED BY JUDGE
A juror at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial was officially dismissed on Monday after questions arose about whether he was “shading his answers” to be on the case.
The black male juror was booted by Judge Arun Subramanian and replaced with a white juror on Monday local time despite vigorous objections from the disgraced rapper’s lawyers who argued it would reduce the panel’s diversity.
The judge indicated Friday that he was likely going to let the juror go after he allegedly lied about where he lives.
Judge Subramanian made it official, saying: “The record raised serious questions about the juror shading his answers to be on the jury.”
The new 57-year-old white male juror from Westchester has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, enjoys hiking and biking, reads and is a fan of the New York Mets, according to his answers during jury selection.
Separately, there is also a mysterious issue with another juror that the judge says he’ll address at the end of the day by questioning the panellist.
DIDDY ‘ASKED STAFF TO TRANSPORT DRUGS’
The court heard on Monday Combs once instructed his employees to bring him “15 pills of molly” on a flight to Miami.
Ananya Sankar, a paralegal in the prosecutors’ office in the case against the hip-hop mogul, has been testifying about a chart of evidence including numerous texts from Combs’ ex chief of staff Khristina Khorram.
In one text from Khorram to the I’ll Be Missing You rapper, she asks what his head of security needs to bring with him on a flight to meet Combs in Miami.
“15 pills of molly,” Combs replies in the November 24, 2022 message. He then tells Khorram not to text about it.
Jurors have heard testimony from other witnesses that Combs had them transport drugs for him from Los Angeles to Miami.
Prosecutors said they will likely be done presenting their case by Wednesday local time as lawyers for Combs said they expect to call two former employees of the hip-hop mogul first in the defence case.
The current witness, special agent DeLeassa Penland who is testifying about the accuracy of charts of evidence that are being presented to the jury, is slated to continue testifying through tomorrow morning before prosecutors call an alleged dealer who sold drugs to Combs – Brendan Paul – and then another law enforcement witness.
Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the judge when the defence case starts, likely Friday morning, the first three witnesses are expected to be HR employee Vashta Wilson, Combs employee Stephan Lind-Orjala and a paralegal at Agnifilo’s firm.
The rapper has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He faces life in prison if convicted.
KANYE WEST SUPPORTS DIDDY IN SHOCK COURT APPEARANCE
Kanye West made a shocking appearance at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial Friday morning, entering the lower Manhattan courthouse through the front doors.
The rapper — who now goes by the name “Ye Ye” — didn’t respond to reporters’ questions about whether he was the “iconic” rapper described in shocking testimony a day earlier.
On Thursday, one of Diddy’s alleged victims, former gal pal “Jane,” described an unnamed, world-famous rap “icon” whom she said was into a “similar” sex-crazed, “freak-off” lifestyle as Combs.
When West – who now goes by Ye Ye – came to the courthouse around 11.10am New York time, screams could be heard from bystanders, who shouted questions at him and recorded with their phones.
The rapper was met by Combs’ son Christian “King” Combs, who walked with the rapper inside.
West – wearing all white denim pants and jacket and black sunglasses – was asked, “Are you here to support Combs?”
“Yes,” the fellow rapper responded.
He did not respond to questions about whether he’s been following the trial or whether he would testify on Combs’ behalf.
West watched the trial against Sean “Diddy” Combs from an overflow room in the courthouse, and not in the main courtroom where the Bad Boy Records founder has been on trial for the last five weeks.
Once West was cleared through the courthouse security, he got in an elevator and went to the 23rd floor to watch the trial on a television screen inside a lesser used secondary overflow room.
Two overflow courtrooms have been available throughout trial so the public can still view the trial in case the main courtroom reaches capacity.
The main courtroom, however, was not full Friday.
West briefly observed inside the room, before other reporters caught wind of his surprise visit, apparently prompting him to leave.
West spent about 40 minutes total inside the courthouse before leaving with Combs’ son and someone who appeared to be security.
West’s wife, Australian Bianca Censori, was not in attendance or seen at the courthouse.
Inside, a Homeland Security special agent told the jury that Diddy had sixteen boxes of lubricant lube stacked in the garage of his Los Angeles home when feds raided it in March 2024.
Special Agent Andre LaMon displayed a rifle that was seized from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Los Angeles home before the jury — as photos of guns and ammo discovered from the search were shown to the court.
LaMon said that when he arrived at Combs’ home, agents had already laid out the firearms and removed their magazines, which he explained was standard protocol.
The jury saw photos of six guns and multiple magazines full of ammo, including “green-tip ammunition” that were recovered in the March 2024 search, LaMon said.
When the witness displayed the black weapon to the jury, he testified that the serial number of the gun was sanded off.
Four rifles were recovered at the home — in addition to a pistol and a shotgun, according to LaMon.
The jury was also shown a firearm safe inside Combs’ security room where the guns were found.
The black safe had shotgun ammunition scattered on top of it along with a book, a cable and a canister of lip balm, according to the witness.
Nine hundred bottles of lubricant and 200 bottles of baby oil were seized from Combs’ Los Angeles home when federal investigators raided the property in March 2024 LaMon said.
At least 16 large brown boxes of lube that were stacked on top of each other in a wall of the garage were recovered, according to images shown to the jury.
LaMon said investigators also found a black zippered bag of Johnson & Johnson baby oil and lubricant.
The Special Agent said investigators found six manila envelopes marked with a “K” inside a night stand in the master bedroom of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Los Angeles home during the raid in March 2024.
A white powder in the bags tested positive for ketamine, according to a stipulation read by prosecutors.
The jury was also shown a safe located inside one of the master closets, which stored Combs’ passport, cash and a plastic bag with a brown substance, LaMon testified.
The brown substance later tested positive for MDMA.
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