The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.
Friday is day five in the trial of Sean Combs after the jury was seated.
The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is underway. Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Combs is accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking.
Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY" and "looks forward to his day in court."
Testimony ended for the day on the cross-examination of male escort Daniel Phillip by defense attorney Xavier Donaldson.
Donaldson said he has about an hour of cross-examination remaining.
Cassie Ventura is expected to be the next witness called later Tuesday morning to testify for the prosecution.
Daniel Phillip, a male escort, described several alleged sexual encounters he had with Cassie Ventura which he claims came at the direction of Sean Combs.
Phillip testified about one alleged encounter at the Gramercy Park Hotel, where he said he met Ventura and Combs.
It was the first of several sexual encounters Phillips testified that he'd had with Ventura and Combs at New York locations such as the Essex House, the InterContinental, Combs’ personal residence on West 56th St., and Ventura’s personal residence on West End Avenue.
During these alleged encounters, Phillip said Combs provided direction and instructions and said he was paid between $700 and $6,000 for each encounter.
Phillip testified about a time when he said he was given the drug “molly” during one of these alleged encounters. He claims there was another time when he saw Combs become physical with Cassie.
Phillip said Ventura was on her computer after a sexual encounter when Combs called out from the bedroom, “Babe come here.”
According to Phillip, Ventura responded, “Hold on one second” and that’s when he said Combs came out of the bedroom and “saw a bottle fly past her and hit the wall.”
“Mr. Combs walked over to Cassie, grabbed her by the hair and started dragging her to the bedroom,” Phillip said. “He wasn’t saying anything while he was dragging her. She was yelling. She was screaming. Mr. Combs pulled her into the bedroom and what I could hear sounded like him slapping her.”
Phillip said he overheard Combs allegedly saying “B---, when I tell you to come here you come now not later.”
Phillip said the alleged violence shocked him. “It came out of nowhere. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do,“ he said.
Prosecutor Maureen Comey asked why he did not intervene.
“I’m just telling you what was in my mind. What I was feeling at the time. My thoughts were that this was someone with unlimited power and chances are that even if I did go to the police that I might still end up losing my life,” Phillip said.
When Ventura and Combs came out of the room, Phillip recalled Combs asking “Are y’all ready to continue now?”
Combs has been listening to this testimony slightly backed away from the defense table with his arms at his side and his legs crossed.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Brian Steel suggested that hotel security guard Israel Florez may have been embellishing his account when he testified that Combs had a “devilish” look on his face when he first encountered him in the hotel hallway.
“Where in your report do you describe Mr. Combs having “devilish stare?” Steel asked.
“It was my opinion but not part of the incident so not in the report,” Florez responded.
Steel also sought to point out that Florez did not need to call for assistance because Combs was cooperative.
“When you first come, he’s sitting in a chair?” Steel asked.
“Yes,” Florez replied.
“You don’t see him make any restive movements toward the young lady?” asked Steel.
“No," replied Florez.
On redirect, prosecutors replayed a portion of the video showing Combs attacking Ventura and sought to show that Florez's incident report did not necessarily include everything that occurred on that day in March 2016.
“Were you expected to include every single detail?” prosecutor Christy Slavik asked.
“No, ma’am,” Florez responded.
Florez is off the stand following his testimony. The second prosecution witness is Daniel Phillip, a male escort who has said he was paid to have sex with Cassie Ventura at the Gramercy Park Hotel.
The prosecution has played for the jury the March 2016 video of Combs attacking Cassie Ventura.
Ventura is seen on hotel surveillance footage standing at the elevator on the sixth floor of the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, CA wearing blue pants and black hoodie. There are two bags at her feet: one smaller, one larger.
Ventura is seen on the video retrieving socks from the larger bag. She starts to put them on her bare feet when the video shows Sean Combs emerging from around the corner, grabbing her from behind and throwing her to the floor. He then stomps on her and drags her toward their room, the video shows.
Ventura gets up and retrieves items from the floor. Combs is then seen approaching her again, taking a cell phone, sitting on a chair and throwing a vase at her. The jury saw photos of the broken vase glass on the hallway carpet.
Combs appeared to watch the video dispassionately, with his arms folded on the defense table. His mother and children, seated behind him in the spectators’ gallery, displayed no reaction.
In a second video, hotel security guard Israel Florez, who testified earlier, is seen escorting Combs toward his room. There is no audio on the surveillance footage but the two men are seen conversing. “I’m trying to deescalate,” Florez testified earlier regarding the conversation.
Florez recorded the third and fourth videos the jury saw using his cell phone. In one of them, Florez is seen talking to Combs and Ventura. There is no sound but he testified that he urged them to return to their room and told them the damage to the hallway would appear on their hotel bill.
