NOTE: The next article accommodates disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your individual discretion.
The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs started on Might 12 in Federal District Courtroom in Manhattan as attorneys delivered their opening statements after the jury was lastly set.
Prosecutors allege that Diddy, 55, used his fame and energy on the high of the hip-hop world to sexually abuse girls from 2004 to 2024. He pleaded not responsible after his September arrest and has remained held with out bail at a federal lockup in Brooklyn.
The ultimate stage of jury choice for the sex-trafficking trial was delayed on Might 9 over issues that some jurors may get “chilly ft” earlier than the high-profile case started. By Monday, the jury and alternates — 12 males and 6 girls — had been chosen and seated within the courtroom.
The jury is basically nameless, which means their identities are identified to the courtroom and the prosecution and defence, however received’t be made public. Decide Arun Subramanian advised the jurors that the courtroom “will hold your names and identities in confidence.”
Subramanian reminded the jurors to evaluate the case solely primarily based on the proof introduced in courtroom.
“Something you’ve seen or heard exterior the courtroom shouldn’t be proof,” the decide added. “It should be disregarded.”
Opening assertion — Prosecution
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Emily Johnson pointed at Diddy as she stated he was “bigger than life” to the general public, however there was “one other aspect” to the rapper that wasn’t extensively shared with the world.
“To the general public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Bigger than life,” Johnson stated. “However there was one other aspect to him. A aspect that ran a prison enterprise.”
“Throughout this trial you will hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes. However he didn’t do it alone. He had an inside circle of bodyguards and high-ranking staff who helped him commit crimes and canopy them up,” Johnson added.
She stated these crimes included kidnapping, arson, medication, intercourse crimes, bribery and obstruction. Diddy appeared to lean again in his chair as she spoke to the courtroom.
Johnson advised jurors a few night time specifically the place Diddy allegedly kidnapped an worker and threatened his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, a key witness within the trial.
Diddy allegedly advised Ventura that if she defied him once more he would launch tapes of her having intercourse with a male escort. Johnson referred the the tapes as “souvenirs of essentially the most humiliating nights of her life.”
That was “simply the tip of the iceberg,” Johnson stated, telling jurors that Ventura was removed from the one lady Diddy allegedly beat and sexually exploited.
Johnson stated that Diddy used violence to maintain individuals in line and to not go towards him.
She described a second when he suspected that Ventura was dishonest on him. She stated that he kidnapped one in all his staff to assist discover Ventura and after they discovered her, she stated, he “beat her brutally, kicking her within the again and flinging her round like a rag doll.”
“For 20 years, the defendant, with the assistance of his trusted inside circle, dedicated crime after crime. That’s why we’re right here as we speak. That’s what this case is about,” Johnson stated.
Prosecutors additionally mentioned Diddy’s drug-fuelled intercourse events he referred to as “Freak Offs,” “Wild King Nights” or “Resort Nights.”
Diddy’s firm paid for the events that had been allegedly held in resort rooms throughout the U.S. and abroad. His staff staged the rooms together with his most well-liked lighting, further linens and lubricant, in response to Johnson.
Johnson additionally famous that “this case shouldn’t be a few superstar’s personal sexual preferences.”
Diddy compelled girls, together with Ventura, to take medication and have interaction in sexual exercise with male escorts whereas he gratified himself and typically recorded them, Johnson alleged.
Johnson went on to explain Diddy’s behaviour as a sample of violence, sexual abuse and blackmail. “He typically referred to as himself ‘the king,’ and he anticipated to be handled like one,” she stated.
She stated that Diddy would beat Ventura over the smallest slights, comparable to leaving a “Freak Off” with out his permission or taking too lengthy within the rest room.
The prosecution stated that though Ventura agreed to take part in a “Freak Off” initially as a result of she liked Diddy, “she knew it was not one thing she wished to do.”
Get day by day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
Johnson additionally described one “Freak Off” through which Ventura “felt like she was choking” when Diddy “made an escort urinate into her mouth.”
Diddy allegedly threatened to wreck Ventura’s singing profession by releasing to the general public movies of her partaking in intercourse with male escorts, the prosecutor stated.
“Her livelihood trusted preserving him completely happy,” Johnson stated.
Johnson additionally stated that Diddy brutally beat Jane — a pseudonym — when she confronted him final yr about enduring years of “Freak Offs” in darkish resort rooms whereas he took different paramours on date nights and journeys across the globe.
They described Jane as a single mom who began spending time with Diddy in 2020. She stated that Jane wished Diddy to put on condoms, however many occasions he refused.
She stated that Diddy chased the girl round a house, kicking in locked doorways as she tried to cover from him. Johnson stated Diddy finally put Jane in a chokehold and kicked her to the bottom.
Desirous to get to a different “Freak Off,” Diddy yelled on the lady and advised her she wasn’t going to wreck his night time, Johnson stated.
She stated Diddy then punched her within the face, kicked her whereas she was curled up on the bottom, dragged her by her hair and slapped her so exhausting she fell over. Then he demanded that she name an escort, cowl up her black eye and ingest ecstasy, the prosecutor advised jurors.
“Like with Cassie, the defendant’s violence had gotten him what he wished,” Johnson stated.
Johnson stated that Diddy managed Jane financially and discouraged her from working as a result of he “wished her to be out there at a second’s discover” and commenced paying her lease.
Because the prosecution completed its opening assertion, Johnson warned jurors that they may see the violence the ladies endured for themselves.
She stated they may watch movies of Ventura and Jane as they “faux they take pleasure in themselves throughout Freak Offs,” and they’re going to see Diddy “brutally beating Cassie throughout a Freak Off at an L.A. resort.”
Opening assertion — Defence
Teny Geragos, one in all Diddy’s attorneys, delivered the defence’s opening statements, saying, “Sean Combs is a sophisticated man, however this isn’t a sophisticated case.”
She accused the federal government of attempting to show consensual sexual relationships into intercourse trafficking, including “it is not going to work.”
“This case is about Sean Combs’ personal, private intercourse life,” Geragos stated, “which has nothing to do together with his lawful companies.”
The defence admitted that Diddy is violent, “has a nasty mood” and that he takes medication. However they are saying he isn’t responsible of what he has been accused of.
“There was an incredible quantity of noise round this case over the previous yr,” Geragos advised jurors, including, “It’s time to cancel that noise.”
Geragos advised the jury that there could also be a number of factors throughout the trial “the place you assume he’s a jerk, he’s imply. However he isn’t charged with being imply. He isn’t charged with being a jerk. He’s charged with operating a racketeering enterprise.”
She stated that “home violence is a really severe matter” and “a nasty, unlawful downside and is one thing the legislation addresses.”
“We take full duty that there was home violence on this case,” Geragos added.
She stated that Diddy has “a little bit of a unique intercourse life” however his authorized staff will “struggle for his freedom all through the following eight weeks.”
His defence staff stated that lots of his romantic relationships lasted for years. “These girls had been robust, succesful, they usually had been had been in love with him,” Geragos stated.
“The proof goes to indicate you a really flawed particular person, however it is not going to present you a racketeer, a intercourse trafficker or any individual transporting for prostitution,” she added.
Geragos stated that Diddy’s violent outbursts might need warranted home violence costs. She condemned his actions within the now-infamous safety digicam recording of him beating then-girlfriend Ventura at a Los Angeles resort in 2016.
Geragos referred to as the beating “horrible, dehumanizing violence,” however argued to jurors that “it isn’t proof of intercourse trafficking. It’s proof of home violence.”
She additionally advised jurors that they’ll witness the “closure” between Ventura and Diddy after they see one another for the primary time in six years when she takes the witness stand.
The defence additionally argued that Diddy and the girl recognized as Jane had a “poisonous and dysfunctional relationship.”
She stated that Jane willingly engaged in “Freak Offs” as a result of she wished to spend time with Diddy. After listening to the proof, Geragos stated, “You may assume, ‘Wow, he’s a extremely unhealthy boyfriend.’ However the proof will present you a succesful, robust lady, willingly engaged of their relationship.”
Gergaos stated that the struggle between Jane and Diddy described by the prosecution, began after Jane allegedly slammed Diddy’s head down in a jealous rage.
Geragos stated that she didn’t wish to justify Diddy’s violence, however argued that the struggle isn’t proof of intercourse trafficking.
Whereas wrapping up her opening assertion, Geragos stated that the accusers had been motivated by cash and famous their civil lawsuits towards the hip-hop mogul.
She advised the jurors that Ventura demanded $30 million when she sued him and one other witness will acknowledge demanding $22 million in a breach of contract lawsuit.
“I need you to ask your self, what number of thousands and thousands of causes does this witness, swearing to inform the reality and nothing however the fact, should lie?” she stated, including, “For a lot of of them. The reply is cash.”
Who was in attendance
Diddy’s mom Janice and a few of his kids, together with King Combs, Justin Combs, Likelihood Combs, Jessie Combs, D’Lila Combs and his stepson Quincy Brown, had been in attendance for opening statements on Might 12. They had been escorted previous a crowd of media and would-be trial watchers and introduced straight into the constructing.
Janice Combs (2nd R), mom of Sean Combs, arrives at federal courtroom for the intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York Metropolis on Might 12, 2025.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP through Getty Photographs
Quincy Brown, Likelihood Combs, D’Lila Star Combs, Justin Combs, Diddy Combs kids arrive for the continuation of the jury choice section of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial on the Southern District Manhattan Federal courtroom on Might 12, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
John Lamparski/Getty Photographs
Quincy Brown (R), stepson of Sean Combs, and King Combs (2nd R), son of Sean Combs, arrive at federal courtroom for the intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York Metropolis on Might 12, 2025.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP through Getty Photographs
The courtroom solely seats about 100 individuals, and journalists will doubtless get two to 3 dozen of these seats whereas tons of of different individuals line up for an opportunity to look at the intercourse trafficking trial unfold.
On Might 12, the road to get into the federal courthouse stretched all the way in which down the block.
Press and jurors wait to enter for the continuation of the jury choice section of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial on the Southern District Manhattan Federal courtroom on Might 12, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
John Lamparski/Getty Photographs
What he’s on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Diddy was coercing and abusing girls with assist from a community of associates who helped silence victims by blackmail and violence.
Diddy faces an indictment that features descriptions of “Freak Offs,” that are outlined within the courtroom doc as “elaborate and produced intercourse performances that Combs organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and sometimes electronically recorded.”
Quite a few witnesses have come ahead to accuse Diddy of terrorizing individuals into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in response to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Diddy dangled somebody from a balcony.
Though dozens of women and men have alleged in lawsuits that Diddy abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 girls.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He has denied all the fees towards him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as a substitute.
If discovered responsible within the New York courtroom, he may face life in jail.
—
International Information will likely be protecting the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please test again for updates.
— With recordsdata from The Related Press
