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Sean Combs hired a former FBI agent to give lie-detector tests to his staff after some of his money and possessions went missing, his former assistant testified Tuesday in the mogul’s sex-trafficking trial.
In his second day of testimony, David James alleged that he took a polygraph test multiple times, administered by a man who claimed to have worked for the FBI. “It was very intimidating,” he said. He said the results showed that he did not lie. He testified that a member of Combs’ security also told him that Combs’ former employee, Capricorn Clark, also took a lie-detector test.
James worked for Combs from 2007 to 2009. On Monday, he became emotional when recalling his introduction to the working environment that Combs fostered during the interview process. A senior human resource official pointed to a photo of Combs on the wall; James testified and said, “This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve in it.”
James also testified that after a Cartier bracelet went missing, Combs’ security turned up to his hotel and conducted a search of his clothes and personal belongings. He said he decided to leave Combs’ employ for good following an incident in which Combs allegedly took three handguns to confront his rival Suge Knight, an incident detailed by Casandra “Cassie” Ventura during her testimony. “I was really shook by it,” James said. “This was the first time as his assistant that I realized my life was in danger.”
James said Combs demanded for him to drive to a restaurant where Knight allegedly was, then circle the block after they failed to find Knight’s car in the parking lot. James said there was “a weird sense of calm” during the ride, though he also stated bluntly, “I remember thinking there’s three guns and three people in this car.”
During cross-examination, Combs’ defense attorney Marc Agnifilo questioned James’ recollection of the incident. He asked James if he objected to driving Combs while he had three guns on him, to which James replied, “Respectfully, sir, you have someone with three guns that close proximity, I didn’t think I had the option to say something.” (James did, however, agree with Agnifilo that this behavior was “a radical departure” from what he was used to while working with Combs.)
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Agnifilo was notably assertive in his cross-examination of James, especially after the defense’s earlier efforts to bar his testimony on grounds that it was not relevant. (The judge ultimately sided with the prosecution, who claimed it supported their racketeering charge.) To that end, Agnifilo pressed James about a meeting he’d had with the government, where he was instructed not to provide more details on the Knight incident. James said he obliged because he was told “not to say anything that would incriminate himself.”
Agnifilo later asked James if he was granted immunity for his testimony. James said he was not sure of the specifics, but said he believed his attorneys arranged a proffer agreement, which would provide him some protection from prosecution. (There has so far been no evidence, however, that a crime was committed during the trip to the restaurant.)
A few months into James’ employment, Combs began his relationship with a 21-year-old Ventura, whom Combs allegedly referred to as “young” and “moldable.” James said he had only had a few direct conversations with Ventura, but the ones he did stick out to him more than 15 years later.
James said Ventura once remarked that Combs’ lifestyle was “crazy,” so he questioned why she didn’t leave. “She was, like, ‘I can’t get out,’” James said. “‘Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life. He controls my music career, he pays for my apartment, he gives me an allowance,’ essentially a salary. I just didn’t think that she could easily leave.”
Near the end of the cross-examination, Agnifilo questioned James about Combs’ private chef Jourdan Atkinson, who is also expected to testify during the trial. James described one incident where he and Atkinson got into an argument over their duties, with James admitting to grabbing Atkinson’s wrists and telling her to “stay in her lane” — a directive that echoed what security members told James when he started working for Combs. James then said Combs called him in for a meeting and told him, “You can’t put your hands on a woman.”
James also said that Combs didn’t always get along with Atkinson. After one alleged physical confrontation between the two at Combs’ home in New Jersey, James said Combs asked him to report Atkinson to the police. “He told me to make a police report that Chef Jourdan hit him first,” James said. “I did not file it because I did not want to make a false report. I went out and came back and told him I made the report.”
Later in the day, the court heard testimony from Sharay Hayes, a male escort known as “The Punisher,” who was hired by Combs and Ventura up to a dozen times for freak-offs. Hayes offered more insight into how these highly choreographed sexual encounters were carried out, recalling how Combs would give Ventura “subtle directions” regarding everything from the lighting to the positioning of her body.
While being questioned by the prosecution, Hayes said he understood these encounters to be all about “creating a sexy scene that was enjoyable to [Ventura’s] partner.” While Ventura never refused Combs’ directions, Hayes said that he “did observe sometimes a sigh, a wince, that seemed to be frustration at the frequency” of Combs’ directions.
While Combs initially kept his identity hidden — first wearing a veil that covered his entire face, apart from his eyes, and later a baseball cap — Hayes said he came to learn Combs’ identity by seeing his name on the hotel’s TV.
During cross-examination, Combs’ defense lawyer, Xavier Donaldson, asked Hayes if Ventura ever appeared uncomfortable during the freak-offs. “I did not get any cues that there was a discomfort with what was going on,” Hayes replied. Later, he said, everything seemed consensual, and when Donaldson asked him if his reading of the situation, and Ventura’s comfort level, was based on “25 years experience doing dry humping on hundreds of thousands of women,” Hayes replied, “Correct.”
Ventura’s mother, Regina, also took the stand where she spoke about Combs’ alleged reactions to learning about her daughter’s relationship with Kid Cudi (real name Scott Mescudi). Regina recalled receiving a letter from her daughter, in which Cassie claimed that Combs was threatening to release sexually explicit videos of her, and have someone “hurt” her and Mescudi.
“I was physically sick,” Regina said, recalling the letter. “I did not understand it, the sex tape threw me. He was trying to hurt my daughter.” (Cassie also discussed this letter during her testimony last week.)
Regina went on to allege that, around the same time, Combs contacted her and asked for the $20,000. Regina said that she and her husband took out a home equity loan to pay the mogul.
“That’s the only way we could get the money,” Regina said, adding that she went through with the request because she was “scared about my daughter’s safety” and because Combs “demanded it.” (Several days after wiring the money to Combs, Regina said, it was returned to her account.)
From Rolling Stone US
