Diddy’s sex trafficking trial begins as mogul’s pregnant ex Cassie expected to take the stand
A sickening claim about a disgusting act allegedly involving Cassie Ventura has emerged during the opening statements of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex-trafficking trial.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs waged a 20-year reign of violence by forcing his girlfriends into days-long drug-fuelled sex party “freak offs” with male escorts in darkened hotel rooms which he filmed and used to control the women, prosecutors have alleged.
But the music mogul’s defence say the “parties” were consensual acts involving willing participants and that while Combs may be guilty of domestic violence, his unusual sexual preferences do not amount to a crime.
The mammoth trial against Combs, 55, began in New York on Tuesday with hundreds of people packing the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Manhattan to witness the celebrity’s trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
THE PROSECUTION OUTLINES ITS CASE
“This is Sean Combs. To the public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy, a cultural icon, a businessman larger than life but there was another side to him a side that ran a criminal enterprise…,” prosecutor Emily Johnson told the jury in her opening address.
She alleged Combs had abused and coerced women, including ex-girlfriend R&B singer Cassie Ventura, into taking part in drug-fuelled “freak offs” in which he would have his girlfriends dress in lingerie and platform high heels and direct them as they had sex with male escorts in darkened hotel rooms while he masturbated and filmed the encounters.
She said Combs had regularly been physically abusive with the women, describing a night he “lost control” and went to find Ventura in a furious rage while armed with a gun and accompanied by a bodyguard.
The prosecutor alleged when Combs found Ventura, he “beat her brutally, kicked her in the back and flung her around like a rag doll.
“But the violence wasn’t enough,” she said, alleging Combs also threatened to release the videos of her having sex with male escorts - “souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life.”
“Cassie will tell you that she felt like she was choking when Combs made an escort urinate in her mouth,” Ms Johnson told the jury.
Combs’ racketeering charge alleges he committed crimes for two decades with the help of a trusted inner circle of employees including bodyguards, chiefs of staff and assistants who helped arrange the events across the US and internationally.
The prosecution alleged he used the spoils of his success as the head of the business empire Bad Boy Records to surround himself with a staff who “feed his every desire” and carefully cultivate and guard his reputation.
“He sometimes called himself the king and he expected to be treated like one,” Ms Johnson said.
“This case is not about a celebrity’s private sexual preferences,” she said, arguing the conduct was “coercive and criminal” and that he used threats, drugs, violence and lies to fulfil his desires.
The case will largely focus on two victims, his ex-girlfriend Ms Ventura whom he dated for 11 years until 2018, and a victim identified as Jane who he dated from 2020 for three years.
Ms Johnson alleged Combs forced the women to take part in the weekly sex parties which sometimes ran for days, fuelled by drugs.
The women would be dressed in lingerie and high heels and have their long nails painted white.
His staff would have the rooms stocked with supplies including extra linen, lubricant, wads of cash to pay male escorts and drugs to lower inhibitions and keep participants awake.
Cassie was a 19-year-old model and singer with a hit song on the radio when she met Combs who was 17 years her senior and gave her a 10-album record deal.
The court heard their relationship was marked by violence including an occasion he allegedly threw her to the ground of an SUV and stomped on her face.
In one now notorious incident after security footage was leaked online, Combs can be seen attacking Ventura in an LA hotel hallway.
The prosecution alleged that incident happened in the context of her trying to escape a freak off, but his lawyers claim he was taking his phone back from her.
“Cassie tried the first freak off because she loved the defendant and wanted to make him happy,” Ms Johnson said.
The prosecution alleges she did not want to partake in subsequent sex parties over their 11-year relationship but said if she did not comply with his demands, he would viciously beat her and threaten to release the videos.
“Her livelihood and her safety relied on keeping him happy,” Ms Johnson said.
“With that power and control he made Cassie do his bidding in those dark hotel rooms.”
Ms Johnson said Jane, a single mother who began dating Combs in 2020, would give evidence Combs promised he would spend more quality time with her if she engaged in the “freak offs”.
She said the court would hear evidence from Jane describing one party where she tried to partake in the event without drugs and while she was vomiting after having sex with one escort, Combs told her to hurry up because there was a second escort waiting.
Ms Johnson said Jane would recount a violent episode a year ago in which she and Combs got into a fight and he kicked in four doors to get to her before grabbing her by the neck and kicking her on the ground.
He allegedly told her “you’re not gonna f**k up my night” and demanded she get dressed, cover her injuries, take drugs and call an escort for a freak off.
Other witnesses will include Combs’ former employees, including one whom he is accused of kidnapping and another he is accused of sexually assaulting.
WHAT THE DEFENCE IS SAYING
Defence lawyer Tery Geragos framed the trial as one about “love, jealousy, infidelity and money”.
“Sean Combs is a complicated man but this is not a complicated case,” she said.
She detailed his humble roots growing up in Harlem to building a music empire, telling the court Combs had created a culture and made music that changed a generation.
Ms Geragos said anyone who was anyone in the music, apparel or spirits industries wanted to rub shoulders with him, particularly at his “legendary” parties.
“Try remember why people stayed around him … he gave people opportunities and chances to work at his companies,” she said.
“This case is about Sean Combs’ private personal sex life which has nothing to do with his private business.”
She said throughout the trial, which is expected to run for eight weeks, Combs would not shy away from his poor behaviour, conceding he could become violent when he drank or did drugs and would become angry and lose control.
Ms Geragos said the jurors might think he was a jerk or mean but that’s not what he is on trial for.
She said the common law terms for the violence they would hear about were assault or domestic violence, not racketeering or sex trafficking as he is charged with.
Ms Geragos described the victims Jane and Cassie as “strong, capable, adult women” and argued they had the freedom “to make the choices they made”.
She said Combs was a “many woman man” who had seven children to four women and who had been unfaithful in his relationships.
Ms Geragos said during the evidence about the freak offs, the jury would “hear things that should never be heard in a federal courtroom”.
“You’re not here to judge him for his sexual preferences,” she said.
She described the video of Combs’ behaviour in the hallway attacking Ms Ventura as indefensible, horrible, dehumanising and violent.
“But it is not evidence of sex trafficking, it is evidence of domestic violence,” she said.
The court heard the relationship between Combs and Ms Ventura continued for another two years after that incident but she broke up with the rapper after seeing a paparazzi photo of him and another woman.
Ms Geragos said Ventura “ran into the arms” of the personal trainer Combs had paid to train her and that the pair are now married and expecting their third child.
The court will view intimate videos of the freak offs which the defence claims will be powerful evidence the women were not coerced.
In her opening address, Ms Geragos also attacked the victims who had instigated civil lawsuits instead of going to law enforcement, claiming Ms Ventura asked for $30m in her settlement when she was having financial difficulties.
“When these people testify, ask yourself why – for many of them the answer is simple – money,” she said.
“Ask yourself how many millions of reasons does this witness swearing to tell the truth and nothing but the truth have to lie.”
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MALE ESCORT TESTIFIES
The prosecution’s second witness was Daniel Phillip, a male escort who testified he was paid to have sex with R&B singer Cassie Ventura while her then-boyfriend Sean Combs watched.
Phillip described the sexual encounter that took place in a room at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan sometime in 2012.
Ventura handed him “a few thousand dollars” to rub baby oil on her and give her a massage before the two had sex while Combs pleasured himself, Phillip told the jury.
Mr Philip said on one occasion, Ms Ventura asked him to urinate on her while Combs watched but said he did it wrong.
“Cassie (Ms Ventura) was actually the one that asked me urinate on her,” Mr Philip alleged.
“She asked me if I had ever done that before. She told me to do it.”
SECURITY GUARD AT HOTEL TAKES STAND
Israel Florez, a security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, is the prosecution’s first witness, per the New York Post.
Florez, now a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, testified that he was in the InterContinental Hotel in Century City during the March 15, 2016 assault.
“I received a call … saying there’s a woman in distress on the sixth floor,” he said.
When asked by prosecutors who he saw on the floor, he said he observed a man and woman in the elevator lobby.
“Mr Combs – Sean Combs,” he said, before identifying Combs in the courtroom.
Combs had a “devilish” look on his face following his alleged brutal caught-on-video beating of Ventura, jurors heard.
“He was on the chair, slouched down and he [had] a blank stare. As soon as I walked out, the best way I can describe it is a devilish stare. He was just looking at me ... Looking at me with no movement,” Florez testified.
Cassie looked “scared,” Florez told the jury. “She had her hoodie on. She was pretty much covered up. I couldn’t see her face.”
Combs offered Florez a “stack of money” topped with a $100-bill, telling him to “take care of this.”
Ventura had a “purple eye” and kept repeating “I just want to leave”.
The jurors were shown the video of Combs chasing down Ventura in the hotel corridor.
Combs, with his elbows resting on the table, watched the video playing on a monitor placed on the defense table, as jurors viewed it from their own screens.
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