Sean Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial entered its sixth week Monday with the judge dismissing a juror whose credibility was contested after he gave inconsistent statements about where he lives.
The juror, a 41-year-old who works at the Department of Corrections, initially said he lived in the Bronx but then casually mentioned to court staff during trial that he recently moved to New Jersey to live with his finacée and child. When the issue was brought to the court’s attention, the man said the move to New Jersey “may not be permanent” and that he still had a New York driver’s license and received his mail in the Bronx.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said he was concerned the man was “shading answers or trying to provide an explanation in an attempt to stay on the jury.” (According to CNN, the man said during jury selection that he was a fan of 1990s hip-hop but that he didn’t know much about the case.)
“There is nothing the juror can do at this point to put the genie back in the bottle and restore his credibility,” Subramanian said Monday as he issued his final decision. Combs sighed in court after the judge ruled. The reaction was noticeably muted compared to Friday, when he was visibly angry, vigorously shaking his head, and writing notes to his legal team.
Combs’ camp emphatically fought the juror’s removal, calling him one of only two Black men on the jury. On Friday, Combs’ attorney, Xavier Donaldson, said it would be a “step backwards” to remove the man. In a letter to the court filed Sunday night, the defense team said Combs wanted a mistrial if the juror was excused. The lawyers said prosecutors of using seven of their nine peremptory strikes to remove Black jurors from the prospective panel before the final jury was selected. They argued that removing the seated juror over his residency issue after five weeks of trial would be “discriminatory.”
“The fairness of the trial depends in part on having jurors with backgrounds similar to Mr. Combs share their perspectives on the evidence with other jurors from diverse backgrounds during deliberations,” the 14-page letter, authored by Combs’ attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, said. “Removing this particular juror will deprive Mr. Combs of that important perspective and it is no answer to simply say that there are other Black jurors, or other males, on the jury.”
On Monday, Judge Subramanian said it would be “improper” to consider the race of the juror in making a decision to excuse the man. The judge said he took the weekend to consider the issue and that he was comfortable with his decision, considering the alternate jurors were selected in a fair process agreed to by both sides.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
The alternate juror is a 57-year-old male who appears to be white and lives with his wife and children in Westchester County, according to NBC News. On Monday, the defense contested another juror, though Subramanian said there was no connection between that juror and the one already dismissed.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. If convicted as charged, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Combs’ lawyers deny the music mogul was the head of a criminal enterprise allegedly designed to fulfill his sexual desires and protect his reputation. Instead, they’ve described Combs as a “swinger” who indulged his “kinky” proclivities with his longtime girlfriends. Combs has acknowledged he kicked and dragged Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in the hallway of the InterContinental hotel in 2016, but he denies he coerced her or another ex-girlfriend, “Jane,” into sex trafficking.
Throughout the trial playing out in lower Manhattan, prosecutors have alleged Combs used force, fraud, or coercion to manipulate Ventura and Jane into drug-fueled, highly orchestrated sex marathons with male escorts that Combs directed and recorded. The encounters were known as “freak-offs,” “hotel nights,” and “king nights,” according to testimony.
Prosecutors say Combs and his co-conspirators kept the alleged enterprise going with crimes including physical assault, threats, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.
The first witness called to the stand Monday was Ananya Sankar, a paralegal specialist with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Sankar walked jurors through a lengthy chart showing texts and communications between Combs’ former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, and other staffers or even Combs himself.
In the messages, extracted from seized devices, Khorram and others allegedly discussed prepping hotel rooms for freak-offs and dropping off supplies, including drugs and large sums of cash to pay male escorts. (Khorram has been described as a “co-conspirator” but has not been called to testify.)
In one exchange shown to jurors, Combs’ former assistant Ryan Lopez texted Khorram, “Lol think I saw one of the cowboys today. You can spot them in a lobby like an escort.” Khorram texted back with laughing face emojis. Prosecutors positioned the December 2019 exchange as clear evidence Khorram knew Combs used an escort service called “Cowboys 4 Angels” to hire paid male sex workers for his freak-offs with Ventura and Jane.
“Hotel called, Paul coming up,” Khorram texted Combs in another exchange dated Nov. 14, 2021. (Jane previously told jurors that “Paul” was an escort they used for “hotel nights.”) In a subsequent exchange on March 3, 2022, a travel assistant sent Khorram flight information for Paul.
Prosecutors also allege Khorram was aware of Combs’ violence towards Ventura. In a text exchange dated May 2, 2017, Ventura described Combs attacking her. “No one deserves being dragged by their hair,” Ventura wrote. In April 2018, Ventura texted Khorram, “I can’t do the violent, scary, kick me out of my own house stuff anymore.”
In yet another exchange, Combs’ former spokeswoman Nathalie Moar texted Khorram on Aug. 18, 2016, informing her that TMZ was about to run a story about Combs allegedly snatching Ventura’s phone and taking off running down a street in Beverly Hills. “The only reason it’s running is because of police report,” Moar texted Khorram in the message shown to jurors. “It’s better than what it was.”
Prosecutors seemingly used the conversation to bolster their allegation that Combs’ staff worked to protect his reputation at all costs.
Jurors also saw photos dated December 2023 that showed a text exchange on another device. The photos, which would have been snapped a month after Ventura filed her bombshell sex trafficking and rape lawsuit against Combs, depicted Jane telling Combs she felt “extremely exploited, heartbroken and manipulated” by the music mogul.
Shortly after the photos were taken, Jane texted Khorram directly, jurors heard. “He just threatened me about my sex tapes that he has of me on two phones. He said that he would expose me and send them to my child’s father,” Jane wrote.
After Khorram was named as a co-defendant in multiple civil lawsuits, she released a statement in March. “For months, horrific accusations have been made about me in various lawsuits regarding my former boss,” she said. “These false allegations of my involvement are causing irreparable and incalculable damage to my reputation and the emotional well-being of myself and my family. I have never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone. Nor have I ever drugged anyone. The idea that I could be accused of playing a role in – or even being a bystander to – the rape of anyone is beyond upsetting, disturbing, and unthinkable. That is not who I am and my heart goes out to all victims of sexual assault. I am confident that the allegations against me will be proven to be untrue.”
On Monday afternoon, jurors were shown a third chart that detailed 71 alleged instances where Combs booked hotel rooms for freak-offs with Ventura between August 2009 and June 2017. The chart contained names of the male escorts and corresponding travel information. A summary witness said the data was compiled through bank statements, hotel and flight records, text messages, and videotapes. Jurors then put on headphones and for the first time watched freak-off videos, which were admitted under seal and not shown to the gallery. The videos were introduced in the context of confirming certain male escorts were in the hotel rooms for some of the alleged freak-offs.
Before court ended for the day, jurors saw a text exchange between Combs and Ventura regarding an alleged freak-off with four male entertainers in January 2013. “Would you want to celebrate Christmas and have a freak-off tonight?” Combs asked Ventura before sending another message saying he had her present.
After more than two dozen witnesses, the government said they will rest later this week. On Tuesday, they plan to call one of their final witnesses, Combs’ former recent assistant Brendan Paul. The former Syracuse University basketball player was the lone person arrested during the simultaneous raids on Combs’ homes in March 2024. As Combs was about to take off on a private plane bound for the Caribbean with his daughters and entourage, Miami police detained him and said they found cocaine traces and marijuana candy in Paul’s baggage. His case was ultimately dismissed after he completed a drug diversion course.
In a sneak peek at how the defense plans to proceed, defense lawyers said Monday they plan to call Vashta Wilson, a former vice president of human resources for Combs, and Stephan Lind-Orjala, who’s listed online as a facilities manager at Combs Enterprises, as witnesses.
From Rolling Stone US
