NOTE: The next article accommodates disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your personal discretion.
Because the intercourse trafficking trial for Sean “Diddy” Combs will get underway, the primary witnesses took the stand Monday afternoon, sharing graphic testimony and setting the tone for what’s to be anticipated within the weeks-long trial.
Many anticipated Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, to take the stand Monday, nevertheless it grew to become clear after calling two witnesses for his or her testimony and cross-examination, that Ventura wouldn’t seem Monday. She is predicted to seem this week.
Ventura is taken into account a star witness for the prosecution and her testimony is especially priceless. Combs was captured on safety video violently assaulting Ventura in a lodge hallway in 2016.
The video was obtained and distributed by CNN in Might 2024, and confirmed Combs launching a brutal bodily assault on Ventura by which he grabbed her by the again of the neck and threw her to the ground, earlier than kicking her twice whereas she lay on the bottom.
As an alternative of Ventura, the jury heard from two different witnesses — a former safety guard and a male stripper — to kick off the trial Monday.
Prosecutors used the trial’s first witness, Israel Florez, a former safety officer at a Los Angeles lodge, to introduce recordings of Combs beating Ventura on the lodge in March 2016.
Florez stated that when he responded to a name of lady in misery on the sixth flooring of the lodge, he got here throughout Combs, carrying solely a towel and sitting on a chair “slouched down, like with a clean stare … like a devilish stare, simply taking a look at me.”
He stated he observed that the lodge’s flooring show was destroyed and informed Combs it’ll be charged to the room. As he escorted Ventura and Combs to their room, he stated Ventura indicated she wished to go away and Combs informed her: “You’re not going to go away.” Florez stated he informed Combs: “If she needs to go away, she’s going to go away.”
After Ventura left, Florez stated, he was on the brink of go away their room when Combs referred to as him again. Florez stated he was holding a stack of cash with a US$100 invoice on prime, telling him: “Don’t inform no person.”
Florez stated he thought of it a bribe and informed him: “I don’t need your cash. Simply return into your room.”
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In all, prosecutors confirmed the jury two cellphone movies and three lodge surveillance movies associated to the assault by Combs on Ventura.
Florez testified that he recorded the lodge’s video of the assault on his cellphone as a result of he wished to explain what he noticed to his spouse and feared she wouldn’t consider him.
Following Florez, Daniel Phillip – a male stripper – took the stand, as prosecution dove straight into questions on Combs’ alleged violent streak.
He informed the court docket that he was working as a stripper in 2012, when Ventura referred to as him and requested that he meet her and Combs on the Gramercy Park Lodge.
Ventura, he stated, informed him she wished to do one thing particular for her boyfriend and requested Phillips to therapeutic massage her with child oil whereas Combs watched. She was carrying a purple lack outfit, with darkish sun shades and excessive heels through the encounter.
He stated that Combs was carrying a white gown and sat close by, watching, whereas Phillips had intercourse with Ventura. He was paid a number of thousand {dollars} for the encounter – nevertheless it wouldn’t be the one time he was solicited for intercourse work from the pair.
He stated he stopped accepting cash from the couple and ended their relationship when he noticed Combs turn out to be violent towards Ventura at some point.
He stated Ventura was sitting at her laptop when Combs referred to as to her from the bed room. When she replied to “maintain a second,” he stated, Combs got here out of the room.
“Mr. Combs walked over to Cassie, grabbed her by her hair and began dragging her by her hair into the bed room,” Phillip stated.
He stated he then heard what appeared like Combs slapping her as she screamed and stated: “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
On direct questioning, Phillip had testified that he didn’t ask for cash throughout his encounters with Cassie and typically he wasn’t paid, saying: “In my head, I used to be simply excited I used to be on this world and completely happy to be concerned with folks of such notoriety.”
On cross-examination, defence lawyer Xavier Donaldson tried to assault Phillip’s credibility, mocking the slogan of the male evaluate present firm Phillip labored for and its slogan that it “supplied the final word women night time expertise.”
Phillip testified that when he acquired to the door of the New York lodge room the primary time he met Ventura, she informed him that his boss had informed her that she needed to give him $200 upon his arrival. “After which she handed me $4,000.”
Opening statements
Throughout opening statements on Monday morning, prosecutor Emily Johnson addressed Combs’ relationship together with his ex-girlfriend, together with an evening that the mogul was allegedly “on the hunt” for the singer after studying she’d moved on.
“When he lastly discovered her, he beat her brutally,” Johnson stated, per NBC Information, “kicking her within the again and flinging her round like a rag doll.”
This body seize taken from lodge safety digital camera video and aired by CNN seems to indicate Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles lodge hallway in March 2016.
Lodge Safety Digicam Video / CNN through AP
Ventura sued Combs in 2023, accusing him of subjecting her to years of abuse, together with beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled inside hours, however touched off a regulation enforcement investigation and was adopted by dozens of lawsuits from folks making related claims.
Central to Combs’ sexual abuse, prosecutors say, have been extremely orchestrated, drug-fuelled intercourse events he referred to as “Freak Offs,” “Wild King Nights” or “Lodge Nights.”
Combs’ firm paid for the events, held in lodge rooms throughout the U.S. and abroad, and his workers staged the rooms together with his most popular lighting, further linens and lubricant, Johnson stated.
Combs compelled ladies, together with Ventura, to take medication and interact in sexual exercise with male escorts whereas he gratified himself and typically recorded them, she continued.
“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 facet to him. A facet 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 interior circle of bodyguards and high-ranking workers who helped him commit crimes and canopy them up.”
These crimes, she stated, included kidnapping, arson, medication, intercourse crimes, bribery and obstruction.
“The proof goes to indicate you a really flawed particular person, nevertheless it won’t present you a racketeer, a intercourse trafficker or anyone transporting for prostitution,” she added.
Combs’ defence group argued Monday throughout their opening assertion that lots of his romantic relationships lasted for years. “These ladies have been robust, succesful, and so they have been in love with him,” Teny Geragos, one among Combs’ laywers, informed the court docket.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He has denied all the costs towards him and rejected a last-minute plea deal earlier this month, selecting to go to trial as a substitute.
If discovered responsible within the New York court docket, he may face life in jail.
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International Information can be overlaying the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please verify again for updates.
— With information from International Information’ Katie Scott and The Related Press
