Key moments from Sean ‘Diddy' Combs's seven-week sex trafficking trial

The Guardian

a day ago

The federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs reached its conclusion on Wednesday, with a jury of 12 New Yorkers finding the music mogul guilty on two charges and not guilty on three charges.
Combs was found guilty of two counts of transporting people for prostitution, but acquitted of more serious sex-trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and denied the allegations against him.
The trial, which began on 12 May, lasted for about seven weeks and saw more than 30 witnesses testify.
Here were some of the key moments from the seven-week trial.
Ventura, widely viewed as the prosecution's key witness, testified over four days during the trial's first week while eight and a half months pregnant.
The singer, who dated Combs on and off from 2007 to 2018, alleged that during their relationship, Combs physically abused her and coerced and blackmailed her into participating in drug-fueled sex marathons with male escorts, referred to as 'freak-offs' – which she said Combs orchestrated, directed, watched, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.
She shared graphic details about the sexual encounters. She told jurors that Combs controlled most aspects of her life and was frequently violent with her. Ventura said that he would threaten to release explicit videos of her and stifle her career if she defied him, and alleged that he raped her after their 2018 breakup.
On cross-examination, Combs's attorneys portrayed her as a consenting participant in the 'freak-offs'. They also presented dozens of messages between the two, including explicit texts and others in which she appeared to speak positively about the encounters.
A woman testifying under the pseudonym 'Jane', who dated Combs from 2021 until his 2024 arrest, took the stand in weeks four and five of the trial.
Much of her testimony echoed Ventura's, describing the frequent 'freak-offs', or 'hotel nights' she said was pressured by Combs to participate in.
Jane said she initially participated to please Combs but later felt 'obligated' after he began paying her rent. Jane told the court that she feared she'd lose her home, where she lived with her son, if she refused and that Combs used the rent payments as leverage over her.
She said she repeatedly told Combs she no longer wanted to participate, but that he was dismissive. She also described a violent altercation between her and Combs in 2024 that left her with a black eye.
Under cross-examination, Combs's attorneys portrayed Jane, as they did with Ventura, as a consenting participant. They cited texts in which Jane seemed to speak positively about the encounters.
The attorneys also noted that Jane sometimes arranged the encounters herself. Jane said that she did so to retain some control over who was involved.
A former personal assistant to Combs, testifying as 'Mia', told jurors that during her employment, Combs sexually and physically assaulted her multiple times.
She described the incidents as 'random', 'sporadic' and 'so oddly spaced out' that she believed that each time was the last. She said she felt 'trapped' in the situation and feared retaliation.
On cross-examination, Combs's lawyer suggested that she fabricated the claims, and also pointed to social media posts and messages from Mia after the alleged assaults in which she is seen praising Combs.
Rapper Scott Mescudi, known as Kid Cudi, who briefly dated Ventura in 2011, testified in week two that Combs broke into his home after discovering the relationship.
Weeks later, Mescudi's car was firebombed, which Mescudi believes was Combs – an allegation Combs and his lawyers deny.
Capricorn Clark, a former employee of Combs's, testified that on the morning of the alleged break-in at Mescudi's home, Combs 'kidnapped' her while holding a gun. She said he then forced her to accompany him to Mescudi's home, telling her he was going 'to kill' Mescudi.
During her employment, Clark said Combs threatened her, subjected her to lie detector tests, and once pushed her.
On 5 June, the judge overseeing the case, Judge Arun Subramanian, warned that he would remove Combs from court if he continued to interact with the jury.
During the lunch break that day, after the jury left the room, Subramanian said he saw Combs looking at the jury and 'nodding vigorously' during the cross-examination of Bryana Bongolan, a former graphic designer for Combs and a longtime friend Ventura.
The judge cautioned Combs's lawyers that if he saw it again, it 'could result in the exclusion of your client from the courtroom'.
'There should be no efforts whatsoever to have an interaction with this jury,' the judge said.
Combs's lawyer assured the judge that it would not happen again.
Eddy Garcia, a former security guard at an InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles, testified in early June that Combs and his team sought to acquire the 2016 surveillance footage showing Combs assaulting Ventura at the hotel.
Garcia testified that Combs gave him $100,000, which he split among hotel security staff, in exchange for the footage and said that he signed a nondisclosure agreement.
The footage was released by CNN last year, though it remains unclear how CNN obtained the video.
After the video's release last year, Combs publicly apologized on social media for his behavior in the footage.
The video was played several times for the jurors during the trial.
Kanye West, legally known as Ye, briefly visited Combs's trial on 13 June to show support for Combs.
He didn't stay long. West was reportedly directed to an overflow room, and left shortly after through the front entrance. He was then seen getting into a car and driving away.
During closing arguments, Ye released a song with one of Combs's sons titled Diddy Free.
On 17 June, the judge dismissed a juror over conflicting residency claims.
The juror, identified as Juror 6, reportedly claimed during jury selection that he lived in the Bronx. He later told court staff he lived in New Jersey, making him ineligible for the New York jury.
'The record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,' Subramanian said in court.
Combs's legal team opposed the juror's removal. They argued that Combs would be 'severely prejudiced' if Juror 6, who they said was one of two Black men on the jury, were removed.
The alternate juror who replaced him was a white man from Westchester, New York.
Jurors were shown video clips of the so-called 'freak-offs' – the multi-day sex marathons with male escorts.
Due to their graphic content, only jurors, the prosecution, defense and Combs could watch and hear the videos, all wearing headphones.
Reporters and the public were barred from viewing or hearing them. The clips lasted several minutes and the jurors largely kept their reactions muted.