Diddy’s sex trafficking trial begins as mogul’s pregnant ex Cassie expected to take the stand

Opening statements have begun at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial in New York where the one-time hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and abusing victims.

Opening statements in the mammoth sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs are due to begin today.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Manhattan vying for a spot inside the courtroom.

Professional line holders have been keeping place in the queue that already stretched around the block by 7am.

One man who arrived at 6pm the night before was offering to sell his place for U$300, about A$500.

District Judge Arun Subramanian will preside over the case which is expected to run for at least two months.

Attorney Brian Steel, lawyer for Sean "Diddy" Combs," arrives at federal court for Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City on May 12, 2025. Picture: AFP

Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering offences in September 2024.

The music mogul, 55, is accused of “abusing, threatening and coercing” women into “elaborate and produced sex performances” with male escorts that have been described as “freak offs”.

He was offered a plea deal but rejected the offer from prosecutors and has pleaded not guilty.

He has been held without bail in a Brooklyn jail.

Among the first witnesses to be called include his ex-girlfriend R&B singer Cassie Ventura who could take the stand as early as today.

Diddy’s lawyers will argue the “freak offs” were a part of Combs’ consensual or kinky, but not criminal, sex life.

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PROSECUTOR: DIDDY COMMITTED CRIMES ‘AGAIN AND AGAIN’

Prosecutor Emily Johnson told jurors during opening statements that while the disgraced music producer was a “larger than life” businessman, he committed crimes “again and again.”

The opening statements started just after 10:30 a.m., (12:30 a.m. AEST) in the highly anticipated sex-trafficking and racketeering case.

“This is Sean Combs,” said Johnson as she dramatically extended her right arm and pointed at the Bad Boy Records founder sitting at the defense table.

“To the public, he was Puff Daddy or Diddy, he was a businessman ... larger than life,” Johnson said. “But there was another side of him,” she said.

Johnson said he committed a slew of crimes, including sex crimes, kidnapping, arson, bribery - some of which he carried out “again and again.”

Johnson told jurors that Combs allegedly threatened to release “humiliating” videos of then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura having sex with male escorts.

The videos were “souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life,” Johnson said of the footage Combs allegedly took of the coerced sex marathons he forced Ventura into.

Johnson described one “freak-off” where Cassie Ventura felt like she was “choking” when Combs allegedly “made an escort urinate in her mouth.”

DEFENCE: VIDEOS WILL PROVE ‘FREAK OFFS’ WERE CONSENSUAL

Videos that Combs allegedly recorded of “freak-off” sessions will prove the women he’s accused of coercing actually consented to take part in the sex marathons, defense attorney Teny Geragos argued.

“These videos are powerful evidence that it was consensual,” Geragos said.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE STAR WITNESS

The star witness is the R&B singer and Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, and she may take the stand as soon as Monday afternoon, local time.

Ventura is expected to testify about her experiences dating the powerful music producer on and off for more than a decade.

Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean "Diddy" Combs in 2017, in Beverly Hills. Picture: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Ventura, 38, alleged in a quickly settled 2023 lawsuit that Combs, 55, forced her to have sex with male escorts while he filmed the encounters, and that he blew up Kid Cudi’s car in a jealous rage after learning that the musician was romantically interested in her.

It is alleged that Combs forced Ventura to take drugs before the sexual escapades, filmed the episodes and then threatened to release the footage if Ventura did not comply with his demands.

An escort and another minor witness will testify before Ventura, prosecutors said last week.

The “Me & U” singer, dancer and model will also walk jurors through shocking footage of Combs, 55, punching and kicking her while wearing just a bath towel in the corridor of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Ventura is expected to be on the stand for several days.

Originally published as Diddy’s sex trafficking trial begins as mogul’s pregnant ex Cassie expected to take the stand