Authorities found hundreds of bottles of Astroglide, baby oil at Sean 'Diddy' Combs home
As the federal sex-crimes trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs ended its fifth week of testimony, jurors heard more about a subject of much speculation: the baby oil.
When Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided last year, reports began to emerge of an unnerving amount of baby oil – a substance reportedly used during his days long sex parties or "freak offs."
After lawyers briefly sparred over his testimony, Homeland Security Investigations agent Andre Lamon took the stand. Lamon is part of a human trafficking and smuggling group at the agency and led the search warrant for Combs' Los Angeles home. What Lamon said he witnessed there was an overwhelming amount of both baby oil and lubricant.
Diddy trial updates: Rapper Ye spotted at courthouse after Jane's testimony about rapper party
Lamon testified that he found 900 bottles of Astroglide and 200 bottles of baby oil at Combs' LA home.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The court then saw pictures with stacks and stacks of Astroglide boxes as well as dozens of bottles of baby oil stashed in drawers. Authorities also found multiple bags containing ketamine, one of the drugs that allegedly fueled the "freak offs," as well as a sealed packet that had lingerie, Lamon said.
The music mogul has been charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
Lamon's testimony comes as the raids take center stage. Earlier in the morning, lawyers sparred over whether Lamon would be able to testify to the raid, which defense attorneys said led to two of Combs' sons being held at gunpoint by agents.
Earlier this week, "Jane," a woman using a pseudonym to testify, recounted an abusive cycle with Combs, whom she dated on and off for several years. Her testimony is a key piece for prosecutors as they attempt to build the larger puzzle that paints the music mogul as not just a violent partner, but a sexual predator and criminal kingpin.
Kanye in court: Diddy trial shocker
Amid the day's testimony, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, showed up to the federal court Friday, June 13.
Dressed in an all-white ensemble, harkening back to Combs' heyday as a host of the infamous star-studded White Parties, Ye was pictured inside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan. Ye was not inside the main courtroom, and instead went to a secondary overflow room that the court opened up for 10 minutes or less.
His arrival comes a day after Combs' ex-girlfriend "Jane" described being flown to a birthday party on another rapper's private jet. During cross-examination earlier this week, Combs' defense attorney Geragos described this person as a very successful rapper at the top of the music industry, and icon, who had recorded with Combs previously and had a close personal relationship with him.
Contributing: Jay Stahl, Taijuan Moorman
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
2 hours ago
- UPI
Judge denies bail for Sean 'Diddy' Combs before October sentencing
Sean "Diddy" Combs attends the annual Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 15, 2022. He will remained jailed until October, a judge ruled Monday. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Sean "Diddy" Combs will remain in jail for sentencing on Oct. 3 after a federal judge denied the hip-hop mogul bail Monday. In Manhattan, District Judge Arun Subramanian said Combs, 55, is a flight risk and a danger to the community. The judge noted the violence he exhibited on 2016 hotel surveillance footage that shows him kicking and dragging Cassie Ventura. "Combs fails to satisfy his burden to demonstrate an entitlement to release," Subramanian wrote in his opinion. Combs has been incarcerated at the jail in Brooklyn since his arrest after a home raid in March last year. On July 2, a jury found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution after a two-month trial. Each of those counts carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The judge denied bail then. The prosecution, in a letter to the judge, recommends at least 51 to 63 months in prison. They also didn't want bail. Defense proposed $50 million bail, he would reside at his Miami home and travel would be limited to the Southern District of New York for legal briefings. His defense lawyers, in a 62-page motion, said their client should be released because he wasn't convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. Also, they said typically the Mann Act of prostitution applies to pimps or sexual crimes involving minors. "There has literally never been a case, like this one," the defense said. "Where a person and his girlfriend arranged for adult men to have consensual sexual relations with the adult, long-term girlfriend as part of a demonstrated swingers lifestyle, and has been prosecuted and incarcerated under the Mann Act." They said he was only having male escorts make "amateur porn" and not running a prostitution business. He transported male escorts not for profit or under duress in joining the "swingers lifestyle," they said. He paid them over two decades. The judge said the record shows there was not only evidence of violence but coercion or subjugation. "While Combs may contend at sentencing that this evidence should be discounted and that what happened was nothing more than a case of willing 'swingers' utilizing the voluntary services of escorts for their mutual pleasure, the Government takes the opposite view: that Cassie Ventura and Jane were beaten, coerced, threatened, lied to, and victimized by Combs as part of their participation in these events," the judge wrote. Combs' attorneys also argued for release on bail because of the squalid conditions and danger among inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center. The judge noted staff "has been able to keep him safe," even amid threatened violence from an inmate. Combs has been held in a separate area of the jail that typically houses high-profile inmates and government informants.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Judge again rejects Sean 'Diddy' Combs' efforts to be released ahead of sentencing
A federal judge denied a motion to release Sean 'Diddy' Combs on Monday, keeping the musician and hip-hop businessman jailed until his sentencing this fall. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York found that Combs, convicted on two counts of interstate prostitution last month, "fails to satisfy his burden to demonstrate an entitlement to release." The judge's decision came after Combs' ex-girlfriend Virginia Huynh, who was set to testify in his federal trial but dropped out before the proceedings started, wrote a letter to the judge urging his release on bail. Huynh was identified as 'Victim-3' in the federal government's sprawling indictment against Combs, 55, who was acquitted in early July of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges but convicted on two counts of interstate prostitution. In the letter, Huynh — publicly identifying herself by name for the first time — wrote that she wanted to 'share my observations about [Combs'] character and to respectfully request that the Court permit his release on bond while the case proceeds.' 'I believe it is important for the Court to have a full picture of who he is beyond the allegations,' Huynh said in the one-page letter, which Combs' legal team filed Sunday. Huynh wrote that her relationship with Combs was 'not always perfect,' beset by 'ups and downs' and 'mistakes.' But in time, she wrote, he 'made visible efforts to become a better person and to address the harm he had caused.' By the end of their relationship, she added, 'he embodied an energy of love, patience and gentleness that was markedly different from his past behavior.' 'To my knowledge,' Huynh told Subramanian, 'he has not been violent for many years, and he has been committed to being a father first.' She said that she does not view Combs as 'a danger to me or to this community' and that his children 'depend on him for emotional and financial support.' 'Allowing him to be at home will also support the healing process for all involved,' Huynh wrote in closing. 'I respectfully ask that you consider these factors when deciding his eligibility for release.' In a letter to Subramanian last month, prosecutors argued that Combs should not be given bail because he is a flight risk and a danger to the community. In denying Combs' motion for bail Monday, Subramanian found that he failed to show sufficient evidence to counter arguments that he is a flight risk. Subramanian also found that Combs' argument that the squalor and danger of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he is being held, did not warrant release. Combs argued that federal budget cuts this year made those conditions even worse. 'The public outcry concerning these conditions has come from all corners,' Subramanian wrote. 'But as Combs acknowledges, MDC staff has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs, even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate.' In the days before Combs' trial started, U.S. prosecutors said they were struggling to get in touch with 'Victim-3' and her attorney. She ultimately did not testify in the seven-week trial. The jurors heard testimony from two of Combs' other ex-girlfriends: R&B singer Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and a woman referred to by the pseudonym 'Jane.' The prosecution called more than 30 other witnesses, including former assistants. Ventura testified about the abuse she alleged she experienced during her 10-year on-and-off relationship with Combs. She accused him of physical and sexual assault, and jurors were shown hotel security video of Combs beating her in a hallway in 2016. Combs, who pleaded not guilty, faced five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by fraud or coercion and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Subramanian also denied a bail request by Combs the day the jury's verdict came in, saying it would be impossible for him to prove he does not pose a danger. Combs is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 3. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' latest bid for bail denied as judge rules he can't go home to await sentencing
Sean 'Diddy' Combs can't go home from jail to await sentencing on his prostitution-related conviction, a judge said Monday, denying the rap and style mogul's latest bid for bail. Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest. He faced federal charges of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers while he watched and filmed them. He was acquitted last month of the top charges — racketeering and sex trafficking — while being convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offense. Advertisement 4 Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest. REUTERS In denying Combs' $50 million bond proposal, Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip hop impresario had failed to prove that he did not pose a risk of flight or danger, adding that the record did not show an 'exceptional circumstance' that would justify his release after a conviction that otherwise requires detention. Combs' arguments 'might have traction in a case that didn't involve evidence of violence, coercion, or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution at issue, but the record here contains evidence of all three,' the judge wrote. Advertisement 4 He was acquitted last month of the top charges — racketeering and sex trafficking — while being convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offense. REUTERS Messages seeking comment were sent to prosecutors and one of Combs' lawyers. The conviction carries the potential for up to 10 years in prison. But there are complicated federal guidelines for calculating sentences in any given case, and prosecutors and Combs' lawyers disagree substantially on how the guidelines come out for his case. The guidelines aren't mandatory, and Subramanian will have wide latitude in deciding Combs' punishment. Advertisement 4 The conviction carries the potential for up to 10 years in prison. REUTERS The Bad Boy Records founder, now 55, was for decades a protean figure in pop culture. A Grammy-winning hip hop artist and entrepreneur with a flair for finding and launching big talents, he presided over a business empire that ranged from fashion to reality TV. Prosecutors claimed he used his fame, wealth and violence to force and manipulate two now-ex-girlfriends into days-long, drugged-up sexual performances he called 'freak-offs' or 'hotel nights.' His lawyers argued that the government tried to criminalize consensual, if unconventional, sexual tastes that played out in complicated relationships. The defense acknowledged that Combs had violent outbursts but said nothing he did came amounted to the crimes with which he was charged. Advertisement 4 Prosecutors claimed he used his fame, wealth and violence to force and manipulate two now-ex-girlfriends. AP Since the verdict, his lawyers have repeatedly renewed their efforts to get him out on bail until his sentencing, set for October. They have argued that the acquittals undercut the rationale for holding him, and they have pointed to other people who were released before sentencing on similar convictions. Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested in a court filing that Combs was the United States' 'only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend.' The defense's most recent proposal included the $50 million bond, plus travel restrictions, and expressed openness to adding on house arrest at his Miami home, electronic monitoring, private security guards and other requirements. Prosecutors opposed releasing Combs. They wrote that his 'extensive history of violence — and his continued attempt to minimize his recent violent conduct — demonstrates his dangerousness and that he is not amendable to supervision.'
