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Sean “Diddy” Combs strode into court today morning to a packed courtroom filled with his children and anxious family members, as the hip-hop mogul faces charges of sex trafficking and racketeering that could put him behind bars for life.
The 55-year-old, who is now fully gray, has pleaded not guilty to the five felony counts against him. During jury selection last week, the larger-than-life music executive who is known for commanding a spotlight and has previously faced a 15-year prison sentence and beat the case admitted he was a “little nervous” ahead of the trial’s commencement.
Yet this morning, his publicist, Holly Baird, described Combs as “upbeat” and “ready to have his side told in court.” Combs’ mother, Janice, and children Christian, Justin, Quincy, D’Lila, Jessie, and Chance appeared in court to support the mogul.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson began opening statements by conceding the jury members might be familiar with Combs by multiple names, his multi-million-dollar businesses and his “larger-than-life” persona, but she said, “there is another side to him”: a dangerous and violent figure, whose “inner circle” of bodyguards, personal assistants and a chief of staff worked tirelessly to deliver on his every whim and to safeguard his reputation. At the heart of his alleged “criminal enterprise” was Combs’ insatiable sexual appetite where he required two girlfriends, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and an anonymous woman identified as “Jane,” to have sex with male escorts, in what he called “freak-offs” or “Wild King Nights.”
In the coming days, Johnson said, Ventura will testify about the “dark hotel rooms” that Combs kept her in for days at a time, where she was allegedly forced to have sex with hired male sex workers. During these days-long “freak-offs,” Ventura was allegedly kept compliant and awake through a variety of drugs, including Ecstasy. Johnson said Ventura once overdosed during a freak-off and said it felt like she was “choking” when Combs directed a sex worker to urinate in her mouth.
Jane is expected to testify that Combs physically abused her too, Johnson said. The prosecutor said jurors will hear that Combs once chased Jane around a house and lifted her off the ground in a chokehold before he kicked her to the ground.
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Johnson said the evidence will show Combs ran an enterprise with the help of co-conspirators. One employee allegedly helped Combs break into a romantic rival’s residence in December 2011. Johnson said Combs’ chief of staff helped him “broker a deal” with a hotel security guard in 2016 to cover up the video showing Combs beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel. Combs allegedly bought the surveillance video by paying a hotel security guard $100,000 stuffed in a brown paper bag, Johnson told jurors.
Meanwhile, Combs’ attorney Teny Geragos argued that the case is not about sex trafficking, but about people’s motivations for coming forward after all these years. She argued that Ventura and “Jane” were fully capable women who made choices because they had something to gain from being in a relationship with Combs. She told jurors that Ventura filed a civil lawsuit before reporting her alleged abuse to authorities. “Ask yourself why,” Geragos said. “The answer is money.”
Geragos admitted Combs engaged in domestic violence in both relationships, but she said it was the product of romantic quarrels linked to jealousy. She claimed the hotel beating caught on tape was not sparked by Ventura trying to escape alleged sex trafficking, but by something found on a cellphone that led to a dispute over alleged infidelity. When combined with drug use, the fight led to regrettable actions — but in no way did it constitute sex trafficking, she told jurors.
The defense lawyer said Jane was older than Cassie and had a child from a previous relationship. She described Jane as a fully consenting adult who was a willing participant in threesomes and remained in the admittedly “dysfunctional” relationship by choice.
Earlier Monday morning, the line outside the Manhattan federal courthouse stretched down the block, as members of the press, enthusiastic supporters, curious spectators, podcasters, and content creators — including Myron Gaines from Fresh and Fit and Jaguar Wright — waited upward of 12 hours in hopes of securing a seat in the courtroom and catching a glimpse of the embattled Bad Boy Entertainment founder. Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who sued Combs in February 2024 for sexual assault and lack of payment, and his attorney Tyrone Blackburn turned up to court, though declined to give statements.
Dressed in a grey sweater, collared shirt, and grey dress slacks, a smiling Combs waved to his children greeted his attorneys before taking his seat. He held a Bible in his hands, reading passages before opening arguments began later in the morning. Southern District of New York prosecutors and Combs’ defense team trimmed down the remaining 43 jurors into a final group of eight men and four women, with six alternates. The panel includes a massage therapist, an investment analyst, a deli clerk, and a nursing home.
The government has claimed Combs — who founded Bad Boy Records, which produced legendary rapper the Notorious B.I.G. and whose tremendous influence brought hip-hop and rap to the mainstream — used his billion-dollar empire as a criminal enterprise, fueled by the mogul’s sexual desires. In the background of his business dealings, Combs is accused of sex trafficking two women between 2009 and 2024.
He allegedly instructed a team of staffers — who were allegedly subjected to forced labor and physical threats themselves — to carry out acts of bribery, arson, and kidnapping. Other alleged victims were said to be coerced into sex with Combs, as well as with hired male sex workers in dayslong, drug-fueled sexual sessions Combs called “freak-offs.”
Meanwhile, Combs’ all-star legal team — which includes celebrity attorneys Brian Steel and Marc Agnifilo — has insisted upon their client’s innocence. They have claimed that although Combs participated in a “swinger” lifestyle and would frequently hire male escorts that did not constitute as sex trafficking.
In regard to Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, referred to as “Victim-1” in the indictment, Combs’ attorney Agnifilo indicated to Judge Arun Subramanian that the defense planned to argue the pair’s decade-long relationship was deeply “toxic” and there was “mutual” violence on both sides.
When quizzed on the lines of questioning the defense would take during their cross-examination of Victim-1, attorneys Agnifilo and Alexandra Shapiro said they hoped to question Combs’ former girlfriend about “other instances where she has been violent.” They said the questioning was central to speak to Ventura’s alleged nonpeaceful nature and her independence in effort to dismantle prosecutors’ claim that Combs coerced her into certain situations.
Subramanian quickly shot down the notion. “Strong people can be coerced just like weak people,” Subramanian said.
This week, prosecutors indicated that they planned to call two “short” witnesses to the stand, including a male escort, before a third witness would testify. Although the name of that witness has not been disclosed, all signs point to Ventura. While stressing it was necessary to keep to a strict time schedule for the trial, prosecutors said an early key witness was “time sensitive” and would need to take frequent breaks throughout their dayslong testimony. Ventura is several months along in her pregnancy for her third child, and the indictment closely mirrors the claims she made in her bombshell sex-trafficking lawsuit.
This post was updated on Monday, May 12 at 1:15 p.m. to reflect opening statements by prosecutors and Combs’ lawyers.
From Rolling Stone US
