Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Cassie Ventura breaks down as testimony concludes

Sean Combs, the “musician who created an empire,” also ran a criminal enterprise with his “trusted inner circle” that committed “crime after crime” for 20 years, including kidnapping, arson, drug offenses, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction, a federal prosecutor said Monday in opening statements.

The prosecutor also detailed Combs’ alleged dealings with ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and another anonymous victim.

The prosecution described how Combs allegedly “used lies, drugs, threats and violence to threaten and coerce first Cassie and then 'Jane' to have sex with him in front of male escorts.”

Combs had no discernible expression on his face as the prosecutor recounted the acts he allegedly committed. His six children and his mother are seated in the second row listening to all of it.

A jury was selected Monday to hear the evidence against Sean Combs.

The 12-person jury includes eight men and four women.

The defense accused federal prosecutors of bias since most of the government’s nine peremptory strikes were Black prospective jurors.

“By our count, the government struck seven Black people which, it’s our belief, amounts to a pattern,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said.

“The government has conducted itself completely neutrally during jury selection,” prosecutor Maureen Comey responded. “The jury itself is composed of a very diverse group of jurors.”

Comey then listed “neutral” reasons for exercising each peremptory strike, including a woman who recognized 17 names on the list of people who could potentially come up at trial, and a man who she said gave “meandering, nonsensical answers” and once called police officers “assholes.”

The judge rejected the defense’s challenge.

“The government has given race-neutral reasons,” Judge Arun Subramanian said.

Combs argued earlier this year the prostitution charge he faces should be tossed because, he claimed, federal prosecutors demonstrated racial animus. Federal prosecutors denounced the argument as baseless.

Combs entered courtroom 26A in a white dress shirt, light-colored pullover and khaki pants, smiling and blowing kisses to his mother and six children, who are seated in the second row and and are all wearing black and white.

“I could use a little more if you don’t mind,” Combs responded after the courtroom deputy asked if he had been given water.

Combs embraced his eight lawyers, who are seated at two separate tables, then donned reading glasses and began to flip through pages of documents.

The six women who are prosecuting Combs on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation for prostitution are seated in the front row, all wearing dark jackets.

Attorneys for both sides are preparing to finalize the jury of 12 plus six alternates.

Forty-three prospective jurors, all of whom live in Manhattan, the Bronx and New York City’s northern suburbs, were summoned to court Monday. The judge opted to choose the jury today out of concern that, if given the weekend to think about it, jurors may have second thoughts about serving.

While opening arguments are still scheduled to begin Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian decided not to seat the final jury on Friday as originally planned.

Instead, worried about more juror candidates dropping out -- as two did overnight Friday -- the judge decided to seat the jury on Monday morning.

"We can get the jurors, all 43 in, at 8:30," Subramanian said in court Friday. The lawyers will do their strikes at 9 a.m. "so we can roll right into initial instructions, the swearing in of the jury and opening statements."