Sean “Diddy” Combs Intercourse Trafficking Trial: The total Revelations (Dwell Updates)
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial started Can also 12, with the prosecution accusing him of running a legal undertaking to coerce ladies into intercourse. He has pleaded no longer responsible to all expenses.
Court docket is officially in session for Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Nearly about eight months after the rap tycoon changed into once arrested for intercourse trafficking, prostitution, racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking by pressure, fraud, or coercion, moreover to transportation to bear interaction in prostitution—his trial started Can also 12. (The 55-year-historical has pleaded no longer responsible to all expenses.)
Now, with the 2d day in chunky swing, Combs' ex-lady friend Cassie Ventura took the stand Can also 13 as a key witness for the prosecution, detailing the alleged “frequent” abuse she confronted in the course of their on and off relationship from 2007 to 2018, per NBC News reporters in the courtroom.
“They were violent arguments, usually resulted in bodily abuse and dragging, a amount of things,” she mentioned. “He would mash my head, knock me over, creep me, kick me.”
The 38-year-historical—who’s eight months pregnant with her and husband Alex Heavenly's third small one—mentioned the accidents were usually considered, adding, “I’d procure knots on my forehead, unlit eyes, purple eyes, bruises one day of my body, it honest depended.”
Along with Ventura, extinct male escort Daniel Phillip, who detailed his sexual relationship with Ventura and Combs nearly a decade previously, also testified. He alleged that the extinct couple paid him thousands of bucks to bear intercourse from wherever between one and 10 hours.
In opening statements Can also 12, prosecutor Emily Johnson described Combs as a “king” who “expected to be handled fancy one” from his sprawling network of workers.
“He mature his corporations to manipulate ladies, forcing them with male escorts to bear intercourse whereas he watched,” Johnson told the jury, which contains eight males and 4 ladies. “He and his inner circle made certain he bought everything he wished.”
She accused Combs of beating Ventura “brutally, kicking her in the support and flinging her spherical fancy a rag doll” after learning that she had begun a romantic relationship with one more individual.
Johnson mentioned that Ventura—who changed into once considered being attacked by Combs in 2016 hotel video photographs shared by CNN final year—had been abused by the rapper from the early days of their relationship and changed into once coerced into taking part in drug-fueled, small one oil-filled “freak offs.”
“Cassie tried her first freak off attributable to she beloved him and wished to construct him at ease,” she mentioned. “If Cassie didn't make what he wished, the results were severe.”
On the a amount of hand, Combs' legal expert Teny Geragos painted his client as a “sophisticated man,” despite this no longer being “a complicated case.”
Denying that Combs is on the guts of a racketeering undertaking, she rather mentioned this case is about his “non-public non-public intercourse existence.”
Geragos mentioned that the protection received't instruct allegations that Combs committed acts of home violence but mentioned those make no longer amount to the federal crimes introduced in opposition to him.
“We won’t alarmed faraway from the things he did, but we won’t possess the things he did no longer make,” she mentioned. “He is bodily, he is a drug user, that it is probably going you’ll presumably honest know of his love of small one oil. Is that a federal crime? No!”
For more revelations from contained in the courtroom, read on…
(E! News and NBC News are phase of the NBCUniversal household.)
Cassie Ventura Mentioned Hiring For “Freak Offs” Grew to change into “a Job” For Her
Cassie Ventura told prosecutors Can also 13 that through the first year of her decade-long relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs, he “proposed” the introduction of voyeurism into their sexual relationship. It first started with her “hiring an escort and setting up” so that she might maybe presumably “perform” for Combs, who would detect her with one more individual.
Indirectly, she mentioned, orchestrating these intercourse performances “grew to turn accurate into a job” for her.
“I had the contacts to situation it up in the hotel room and all of that,” she recalled, “on the muse Sean situation it up.”
Ventura mentioned that her “stomach churned” when he first proposed the expertise.
“I didn’t bear a opinion of how that would be a set off, but I accepted the accountability,” she mentioned. “I changed into once pressured, apprehensive, but additionally beloved him very powerful and wished to construct him at ease. It wasn't one thing that I needed to be doing, particularly as usually because it grew to change into, but all but again, i changed into once in love and wished to construct him at ease.”
She admitted, “One day, I felt I didn't bear powerful of a replacement.”
Cassie Ventura Alleges “Violent Arguments” With Sean “Diddy” Combs Ended in “Physical Abuse and Dragging”
Ventura, who dated Combs on and off from 2007 to 2018, mentioned that he changed into once “usually” violent towards her in the course of their relationship.
“Yes, they were violent arguments, usually resulted in bodily abuse and dragging, a amount of things,” she testified to jurors. “He would mash my head, knock me over, creep me, kick me.”
She mentioned that her accidents were usually considered, adding, “I’d procure knots on my forehead, unlit eyes, purple eyes, bruises one day of my body.”
Defense Wanted Pregnant Cassie Ventura Seated Sooner than Jury to Assist faraway from “Sympathy”
With Ventura ready to take the stand after male escort Daniel Phillip Can also 13, Combs’ protection requested that she be seated in the witness field earlier than the jury enters, since she is eight months pregnant.
“Due to this of I mediate there might be a prejudicial quality,” protection legal expert Marc Agnifilo told the settle. “Being pregnant is gorgeous and ideal. It is miles also a provide of doable sympathy.”
Ventura changed into once indirectly introduced in after the jury changed into once seated, indicating that his protection crew misplaced the motion.
Male Escort Says He Might well Hear Sean “Diddy” Combs Assaulting Cassie
When Ventura didn’t be a a part of Combs appropriate when he called for her on one event, Phillip testified Can also 12 that Combs threw a liquor bottle in her route, then grabbed her by her hair and dragged her into the bedroom. “She changed into once screaming,” Phillip mentioned, and, from the subsequent room, ”what I heard sounded fancy him slapping her.” Phillip mentioned he heard Combs order, “’I command you to come right here, you come right here now, no longer later.’”
Phillip mentioned he changed into once “scared” and did no longer intervene.
He extra testified that he overheard what sounded fancy Combs assaulting Ventura on a separate event on the Essex Home hotel in Fresh York. “I heard her yelling, 'I’m sorry, I’m sorry,' somebody changed into once being slapped spherical and slammed spherical the room,” Phillip mentioned. “And I looked spherical the corner and I saw Mr. Combs stroll out of the hotel altogether without clothes, he might maybe presumably bear had a towel on.”
Ventura got right here out of the room and jumped into Phillip’s lap, he testified. “She usually tried to convince me that 'it's OK' and 'I’ll be OK,’” Phillip persevered. “And I mentioned, 'It is no longer OK and likewise you bear to procure aid.'”
“I attempted to command to her that she changed into once in real anguish if she stayed with him,” Phillip mentioned.
Requested by prosecutor Maureen Comey why he didn’t name the police, Phillip testified that he thought of Combs as “somebody with unlimited energy, and chances are, even supposing I did hunch to the police, that I’d quiet pause up shedding my existence.”
Escort Says Cassie Ventura Paid for Intercourse Whereas Sean “Diddy” Combs Watched and Masturbated
Daniel Phillip, who mentioned he changed into once running a male stripper revue through the time in inquire, testified that he changed into once paid “about a thousand greenbacks” to bear intercourse with Ventura whereas Combs watched at Lengthy island’s Gramercy Hotel in 2012. Phillip mentioned that Combs wore a robe, a baseball cap and a bandanna conserving his face, but he identified him by his remark.
Ventura paid him and mentioned she “would tip me after I leave,” Phillip told the courtroom. “We ended up having intercourse, rubbed small one oil on each a amount of for a couple minutes. [Combs] changed into once sitting in a corner masturbating.”
Later on, the witness persevered, Ventura gave him “a couple of thousand more.”
Phillip mentioned that he changed into once contacted a couple of cases over the subsequent year to bear an identical encounters with Ventura and Combs at a amount of hotels and at their respective homes in Fresh York. He mentioned that Combs recorded him and Ventura having intercourse a couple of times, and that normally Combs would intervene and bear intercourse with Ventura whereas Phillip changed into once there.
In her 2023 lawsuit accusing her ex of sexual assault and bodily abuse, Ventura alleged Combs pressured her to bear intercourse with male prostitutes.
Cassie Ventura Had “Purple Observe” After Being Attacked by Sean “Diddy” Combs, Based mostly fully totally on Ogle
Ventura “changed into once anxious,” Florez mentioned on the stand. “She changed into once in the corner, hood on, covered up. I couldn't see her face, she changed into once quite powerful in the corner. On the floor changed into once a destroyed flower vase.”
When Ventura left the hotel she had a “crimson detect,” Florez mentioned. Once she changed into once long gone, Florez mentioned, he and the desk manager went upstairs to remind Combs of “hotel principles.” Combs thought the manager changed into once recording him on his phone and grabbed it, Florez persevered, and when Combs tried to take his phone, Florez mentioned he pinned Combs in opposition to a wall. “We mentioned we are no longer recording you,” Florez testified, “and de-escalated the scenario.”
Prosecutors showed the surveillance photographs of the attack—in which Combs appears to be like to be hitting, kicking and dragging Ventura—that changed into once slowed down from what changed into once printed by CNN in Can also 2024. (The protection had beforehand alleged that the clip changed into once sped up, making the altercation glance more violent than it changed into once.) The jury changed into once also confirmed video that Florez recorded on his mobile phone when he answered to a name of a girl in injury on the sixth floor.
Florez testified that he did no longer name police on the time attributable to Ventura wouldn’t acknowledge questions about what came about and told him she honest wished to leave.
Extinct Hotel Security Guard Says Sean “Diddy” Combs Offered Him Cash to Defend Soundless About Cassie Assault
Los Angeles Police Officer Israel Florez changed into once a security guard on the InterContinental Hotel when Combs attacked Ventura on March 5, 2016. (In her opening assertion, Geragos called surveillance photographs of the attack, which changed into once first printed by CNN in Can also 2024, “overwhelming proof of home violence,” but over infidelity stumbled on on a mobile phone and “no longer over intercourse trafficking.”)
Florez testified Can also 12 that he saw proof of an altercation on the morning in inquire, and Combs offered him “a stack of cash” to glance the a amount of methodology.
Under cross-examination, Florez mentioned he “100 p.c” interpreted the gesture to be Combs seeking to bribe him.
Defense Says Sean “Diddy” Combs Is “Difficult,” the Case Is Not
In her opening assertion, protection legal expert Teny Geragos mentioned prosecutors were seeking to expose consensual intercourse into intercourse trafficking, but “it need to never work.”
“Sean Combs is a complicated man,” she mentioned, “but right here is no longer a complicated case.”
“This case is about Sean Combs’ non-public, non-public intercourse existence,” Geragos persevered, “which has nothing to make alongside with his upright companies.”
Her client changed into once violent, took treatment and had madden factors, she told the courtroom, and there shall be cases in the course of this trial when “you suspect he is a jerk, he is indicate. However he’s no longer charged with being indicate. He is no longer charged with being a jerk.”
Geragos mentioned, “The proof goes to command you a extraordinarily fallacious particular individual, but it need to never command you a racketeer, a intercourse trafficker or any individual transporting for prostitution.”
Prosecution Accuses Sean “Diddy” Combs of Being a Kingpin One day of His Trial
Prosecutor Emily Johnson accused Combs of the pronounce of a sprawling network of workers to enact unlawful acts, fancy dayslong “freak offs,” which were detailed in the federal indictment, according to NBC News reporters in the courtroom.
“He normally called himself the king and expected to be handled fancy one to cater to all his desires,” she told the jury. “He mature his corporations to manipulate ladies, forcing them with male escorts to bear intercourse whereas he watched. He and his inner circle made certain he bought everything he wished.”
Opening Statements From the Prosecution at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Intercourse Trafficking Trial Begins
Johnson started her argument earlier than the jury by describing Combs as a “greater than existence” individual who ran a legal undertaking.
Highlighting an instance of his alleged criminality, Johnson told the jury that the Sinful Boys Story founder changed into once “on the hunt” for Ventura one evening after he learned that she had begun a romantic relationship with one more individual. Johnson accused Combs of beating “her brutally, kicking her in the support and flinging her spherical fancy a rag doll” after he stumbled on her.
“He threatened her and mentioned if she defies her all but again he’s going to release video of her having intercourse with male escorts,” she persevered. “Souvenirs of essentially the most humiliating nights of her existence.”
The prosecutor alleged that Combs’ inner circle covered up “crime after crime.”
When Will Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Intercourse Trafficking Trial Pause?
Presiding Think Arun Subramanian told jurors that he believes the trial will presumably enact by July 4. He mentioned that he hopes the trial shall be performed by then, even supposing it “might maybe presumably hunch longer, but I don't seek data from that it need to.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Youngsters Display Their Improve At His Trial
Because the rap tycoon arrived for the first day of his intercourse trafficking trial Can also 12, his mother Janice Combs changed into once command alongside with six of his eldest teenagers.
His and tiresome ex Kim Porter’s teenagers Quincy Brown, Christian “King” Combs, Jessie Combs and D’Lila Combs, his and ex Misa Hylton's son Justin Combs, moreover to his and ex Sarah Chapman's daughter Likelihood Combs had the possibility to greet their dad with a hug earlier than he sat down alongside with his attorneys.
Who is on the 12-Particular person Jury For Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Trial?
The prosecution and Combs’ protection crew agreed to a jury of eight males and 4 ladies, moreover to four males and two ladies as alternates for the trial.
Combs’ legal expert Marc Agnifilo argued that the prosecution changed into once intentionally striking off doable Sunless jurors, telling the settle that it “results in a sample and they bear to give motive for strikes.”
On the other hand, prosecutor Maurene Ryan Comey denied the accusations, responding, “Now we bear got done ourselves without any bias. The jury is diverse with plenty of nonwhite (panelists).”
The 12 jurors stay in Fresh York Metropolis or Westchester encompass a 69-year-historical male actor and rubdown; a 31-year-historical male funding analyst; a 51-year-historical male scientist; a 30-year-historical female deli clerk; a 42-year-historical female nursing home aide; a 41-year-historical male communications clerk at a correctional facility; a 68-year-historical male retired banker; a 68-year-historical retired telecommunications firm; a 43-year-historical female doctor assistant; a 39-year-historical male social worker; a 67-year-historical male logistics analystand a 74-year-historical female therapy coordinator.
Source credit : eonline.com
