The fourth week of Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ sex-trafficking trial featured dramatic testimony about the rap mogul dangling a woman from a 17th-floor balcony and buying damning surveillance footage with $100,000 in cash in a paper bag, while a former girlfriend using the pseudonym “Jane” got emotional on the witness stand as she described being forced to participate in marathon “freak-offs.”
Combs is accused of using violence, money and blackmail to force women to participate in elaborate, drug-fueled sex shows called “freak-offs” — charges that Combs denies, saying his sex parties were consensual. Federal prosecutors have been presenting the case to a jury in New York since early May.
The trial’s fourth week began on Monday (June 2) with the cross-examination of Combs’ former assistant, who’s using the pseudonym “Mia” in the trial. Mia testified that Combs sexually assaulted her numerous times during her employment, according to reporting from the New York Times.
On Tuesday (June 3), a security officer at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles told the jury that Combs gave him a brown paper bag full of $100,000 in cash in exchange for now-infamous surveillance footage of the rapper violently beating his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. That video is a centerpiece of the prosecution’s case against Combs.
“He said not to make any big purchases,” testified the security officer, Eddy Garcia, according to the Times.
Prosecutors will likely point to Garcia’s testimony to back their claim that Combs used money and the power of his businesses to obstruct justice, a central piece of their racketeering conspiracy charge, while Team Combs has said he was merely trying to prevent bad publicity in buying the footage.
Wednesday (June 4) brought more dramatic testimony, this time from Ventura’s friend Bryana Bongolan. Bongolan alleged that Combs dangled her from the 17th-floor balcony of Ventura’s apartment in 2016, an incident that Ventura previously chronicled in her civil lawsuit that sparked Combs’ downfall.
“I have night terrors and paranoia and scream in my sleep at times,” Bongolan testified about the lasting psychological impact of that night, according to CNN.
Bongolan also told the jury that she once witnessed Combs throwing a knife at Ventura, who gave lengthy testimony at the beginning of the trial about years of alleged abuse. Another time, Bongolan said, Combs threatened her life at a photoshoot.
“He came up really close to my face and said something around the lines of, ‘I’m the devil and I could kill you,’” Bongolan said.
Jurors spent the bulk of both Thursday and Friday (June 5 and June 6) hearing from an anonymous former girlfriend of Combs using the pseudonym “Jane,” the Washington Post reports. In emotional and at times tear-filled testimony, Jane said she felt obligated to participate in Combs’ freak-offs because he paid her rent and other bills.
The jury also watched videos of the freak-offs, in which Jane said Combs forced her to have sex with multiple male escorts over the course of more than 24 hours at a time. She said Combs rejected her requests to use condoms and wouldn’t let her take breaks when she was in pain.
Jane’s testimony often mirrored that of Ventura; notably, both women claimed that Combs coerced them into performing sex acts that the rapper’s defense lawyers insist were consensual. This came through in text messages between Jane and Combs that were entered into evidence.
“I don’t want to play this role in your life anymore. It’s dark, sleazy and makes me feel disgusted with myself,” wrote Jane in one message. “I don’t want to feel obligated to perform these nights with you in fear of losing the roof over my head.”
“Girl stop,” Combs replied.
Jane is set to return to court on Monday (June 9) for more testimony. The trial is scheduled to continue for up to another month.
