Sean Combs' Ex-Assistant Testifies on Drug Buys, ‘Wild King Nights'

Yahoo

20-06-2025

Follow all of our Sean Combs trial coverage
Sean Combs' former personal assistant, Brendan Paul, took the witness stand Friday as prosecutors' penultimate witness at the music mogul's sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial in New York.
More from Rolling Stone
Wife of Weezer Bassist Appears in Court, Wins Delay in LAPD Shooting Case
Kneecap's Mo Chara Granted Unconditional Bail at First Hearing on Terror Charge
Tyler Perry Sued for Alleged Sexual Assault, Battery by 'The Oval' Actor
The ex-staffer, described in multiple civil lawsuits as Combs' drug 'mule,' worked for the Bad Boy Records founder from 2022 until he was separated from Combs on the tarmac of Miami-Opa Locka Airport and arrested on drug charges.The former Syracuse University basketball player, 26, had came to court Tuesday morning to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian said he would sign an immunity order, compelling Paul's testimony. Combs was not in the courtroom for the exchange.
Upon taking the stand, Paul said was he tipped to the job by one of Combs' former assistant, Elie Maroun, who gave him a blunt assessment of the job. 'He told me to get in, to get out; if you have a girlfriend, break up with her; and you're never going to see your family.' Paul added, that he took this to mean that working for Combs would 'require all of my attention.'
Some of Paul's key duties, he testified later, involved buying thousands of dollars worth of drugs for Combs, as well as setting up for 'Wild King Nights,' the highly choreographed sexual encounters also known as 'freak-offs.'
When it came to buying drugs for Combs, Paul said he purchased marijuana, cocaine, Tusi, ecstasy, and ketamine from dealers named Guido, One Stop, Baby Girl, and Ovi. He said he bought marijuana for Combs every two months, paying $4,200 for 16 ounces.
He added that he bought hard drugs for Combs less than 10 times. He said he would pay between $300 and $500 for one to two grams of substances, while other times he would pick up packages without having to pay himself. Occasionally, one dealer delivered the drugs to Combs' home.
Paul said that after procuring the drugs, he would give them directly to Combs, or put them in a Gucci pouch where the drugs were stored. Once, Paul testified, Combs had had him try some of his tusi. Paul said he did it 'to prove my loyalty,' adding, 'I felt euphoric but did not feel the full effect. He asked if it was good … I said yes and then I kept working.'
During his cross-examination, Combs' attorney Brian Steel asked Paul outright if he was some kind of drug mule, to which Paul replied, 'Absolutely not.' He acknowledged handling small amounts of drugs for Combs, but said he believed they were for the mogul's personal use.
As for the 'wild king nights,' Paul said he helped with set up and clean up on a few occasions, though testified that Combs' former chief of staff Kristina Khorram 'didn't really want [him] involved.' He said he only knew of Combs' ex-girlfriend Jane (the pseudonym used by one accuser, identified as Victim-2 in the indictment) participating in the freak-offs.
Paul said that he understood wild king nights involved 'partying, alcohol, sex, drugs.' While these encounters first took place at hotels, Paul testified, that Combs started doing them elsewhere after Casandra 'Cassie' Venture sued Combs in 2023. (That suit was quickly settled, though Ventura was one of the prosecution's key witnesses during the trial.)
On the occasions he helped set up for these encounters, Paul said the necessary supplies were listed in a shared Notes app document. He said the items he packed for Combs included everything from candles and incense to condoms and soup, as well as Astroglide, liquor, and the Gucci pouch with drugs. He also testified to once packing $5,000 in cash for Combs. (The male escorts hired to participate in the freak-offs were often paid in cash.)
After the freak-offs, Paul said the rooms were in 'disarray.' He said he would pile up towels and sheets, throw out empty bottles of liquor and baby oil, all while wearing rubber gloves 'for sanitary reasons.'
The jury was also shown a photo Paul had taken of one of these rooms. It showed towels and sheets laid out over the furniture and the floor, with one towel sporting a clear brown-ish stain. Paul said he took the photo to give Combs' travel manager a heads up that there might be charges for damages.
When asked about the wild king nights by Combs' attorneys, Paul said he considered them to be an 'like an escape' for Combs during his personal time.
Paul said that he typically worked 80 to 100 hours a week for Combs on a starting salary of just $75,000 a year (which was later bumped up to $100,000). During one stretch, he recalled, he stayed up for the better part of three straight days while Combs worked on his 2023 album, The Love Album: Off the Grid. Paul said he took prescription Adderall, and sometimes cocaine, to stay up during the long days.
'I was young, so I was able to handle it,' he said.
At one point during his testimony, the jury saw a screenshot of an iPhone note detailing Combs' schedule in February 2023. Paul said Khorram created the schedule, which largely revolved around the women in Combs' life — who was flying in, who was flying out, who had a hotel room, who was going on vacation with Combs — with other work sprinkled in between.
Paul said that his primary job was to 'make sure' Combs was happy. He recalled Combs saying he did not 'take no for an answer,' and told his staff to 'move like Seal Team Six.' Combs once fired him, Paul said, after he forgot to bring his Lululemon fanny pack when they went on a walk. 'I don't want to see your face anymore,' Combs allegedly told him. (Paul said Khorram told him to lay low until the incident blew over.)
Paul was traveling with Combs and the mogul's twin daughters when federal officials surrounded the group as they were about to jet off to the Caribbean for spring break on March 25, 2024. Unbeknownst to Combs, federal agents had swarmed his homes in Los Angeles and Miami to carry out search warrants in connection to the Southern District of New York's sex trafficking and racketeering investigation into Combs. While seizing Combs' electronics, investigators also searched Paul's baggage, finding cocaine and marijuana candy, according to an arrest report obtained by Rolling Stone. Led away in handcuffs, Paul was the only person arrested as part of the raids.
While on the stand, Paul recalled his initial encounter with law enforcement about the drugs, saying he declined to say who the drugs belonged to out of 'loyalty.' Later, during his cross, Paul said that his 'heart dropped' when the agent pulled the drugs from his bag, because he hadn't meant to travel with it. 'I was sweeping [Combs'] room and put it in my bag and forgot it while I was packing,' Paul said confirming that it was a mistake to pack it.
Last May, Paul struck a deal with Miami prosecutors that sent him to pre-trial drug diversion as an alternative to prosecution. His charges were dropped in December after he completed the program. 'Mr. Paul is pleased to close this chapter of his life,' his defense lawyer, Brian H. Bieber, told Rolling Stone at the time. (The deal was offered because the substance amount allegedly found was not of a 'trafficking' level, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office told Rolling Stone at the time.)
Bieber issued another statement to coincide with Paul's testimony today, saying, 'He was subpoenaed to come to court and tell the truth, which he did — word for word. Now that Brendan has finally had the opportunity to tell the full story about his employment, we are hopeful that the last 15 months of defamatory statements about him will cease.'
After Paul's testimony ended, and before the next witness took the stand, the prosecution returned to Combs' relationship with Ventura. They entered several text message conversations into the record, which showed how Combs responded to Ventura when she pushed back against him, the freak-offs, and his alleged abuse.
One exchange was from May 2, 2017 after Combs and Ventura allegedly got into a fight after appearing together at the Met Gala. Ventura texted Combs, 'You hurt me so bad. You took all your anger out on me per usual. You dragged me down the hallway by my hair.'
She added, 'I felt like I was dead last night,' and, 'I was scared of your rage.' She then reminded Combs that one of his staff members 'had to tackle' during the altercation, before stating, 'That's not love that's possession… Your love me shouldn't equate to what you 'do for me.''
In response, Combs said, 'You were negative all night. You don't treat me like the king.'
In another exchange a few months prior, in March, Combs texted Ventura about hiring someone for a freak-off. The next day, Ventura sent Combs several messages that appeared to allude to another altercation: 'WTF really?… You threw out all of my shit … You beat my head in.
Combs responded, 'I need to figure out how to nut out this dick,' and alleged that Ventura had 'started all of this.' She replied, 'I guess I'm not down with abuse. You hit me in my head a good few times.' As Ventura described what allegedly happened to her during the freak-off, Combs accused her in turn of not giving him the chance to finish.
'You had me rub my dick for 10 hours and not let me finish,' he texted.Combs, 55, was arrested in September and has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged that under the racketeering count, Combs possessed and distributed narcotics, including ecstasy, cocaine, oxycodone, and ketamine. If convicted as charged, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison.Paul's arrest came just weeks after music producer Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones, who worked closely with Combs on 2023's The Love Album: Off the Grid, sued Combs for sexual harassment and abuse in February 2024. In the lengthy filing, Jones accused Paul of being Combs' drug 'mule,' allegedly 'acquir[ing] and distribut[ing]' drugs to Combs and his associates. (Combs has denied the accusations in Jones' lawsuit, and the case is ongoing.) Paul's name has popped up a few times in the criminal trial. On Monday, a compilation of text messages between Paul and Combs' longtime chief of staff Kristina Khorram, as well as other personal assistants for Combs, showed how the lower-ranking employees were expected to set up 'King Nights' at a moment's notice and deliver drugs and cash to Combs whenever he beckoned.
Another former assistant, Jonathan Perez, told jurors last Friday that his tenure with Combs overlapped with Paul. One of the assistants' main jobs, Perez said, was to make sure a black 'Gucci pouch' that was packed with 'cocaine, ketamine, molly, Adderall, [and] Xanax' traveled everywhere with Combs. One of the mogul's recent ex-girlfriends, a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane, also mentioned Paul in her testimony. She told jurors that shortly before she endured her first so-called 'hotel night' without the aid of any drugs in mid-October 2023, Paul allegedly whispered words of comfort to her.
Jane said Combs had been growing impatient while she and Perez were out picking up lingerie costumes for the looming freak-off. 'He said, 'I'm just here waiting for you. What the fuck is taking so long,'' Jane said. Combs barked at her over the phone. '[He] called me a bitch from there.' When Jane arrived at the L'Ermitage hotel suite, Paul 'looked really upset,' she said. 'I remember that assistant was shaking his head and just saying to me, 'You don't deserve to be called a bitch,'' she recalled.
Earlier in the week, SDNY special agent DeLeassa Penland testified Tuesday about the accuracy of evidence compiled in a chart presented by prosecutors. The chart contained 71 alleged instances of Combs booking hotel rooms for freak-offs with Ventura between August 2009 and June 2017. The chart contained the names of the male escorts and corresponding travel information if they were flown in from out of state. Penland said the data was compiled through bank statements, hotel and flight records, text messages, and videotapes.
During cross-examination, Combs' defense attorney Teny Geragos asked Penland why certain alleged freak-offs weren't included in the chart — like the December 2011 freak-off that Ventura said ended with Combs allegedly lunging at her with a wine bottle opener because he discovered her romance with musician Kid Cudi. Geragos also questioned why Combs' name wasn't always listed on certain dates when alleged freak-offs occurred.
Although prosecutors showed a few brief clips of freak-off videos to jurors for the first time Monday, Geragos went more in depth, playing 10 different clips taken from multiple freak-offs between 2012 and 2014 for nearly 20 minutes straight Tuesday morning. Jurors awkwardly fiddled with their headphones, tapped their pens, and held their chins as they watched the videos. Combs largely seemed unfazed, taking glances at the jury. At one point, Combs seemed to bob his head as if he were listening to music. Paul is one of the government's last witnesses, and prosecutors are expected to rest after their last summary witness as soon as Monday. The jury has already heard from several former assistants, who, like Paul, testified that they were expected to act as drug and cash couriers for Combs. They detailed his jet-setting, 'can't stop, won't stop' work ethic, which they were also expected to adopt. Two former assistants, Capricorn Clark and a woman using the pseudonym 'Mia,' stated that they would often go days without sleeping and were on call nearly 24/7. George Kaplan, who also testified under immunity, seemed proud to have learned from Combs during his two years as Combs' assistant but admitted his breaking point came after seeing two alleged violent episodes involving Combs and two different women.
Best of Rolling Stone
Sly and the Family Stone: 20 Essential Songs
The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs
All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked