Federal prosecutors on Tuesday rested their case within the sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“Presently, topic to confirming the entire authorities information are correct within the file, the federal government rests,” prosecutor Emily Johnson stated.
Calling 34 witnesses during the last 28 days of testimony and introducing a whole bunch of items of proof, prosecutors try to show the onetime titan of hip-hop used his wealth and clout to coerce and manipulate ladies into undesirable and unconventional intercourse for his private gratification.
In a sweeping racketeering case that threatens to ship Combs to jail for all times if he is convicted, the rap mogul is charged with utilizing his enterprise empire and private fortune, as soon as valued at almost $1 billion, to secretly run a legal group dedicated to defending his status and funding years of legal conduct.
Firebombing a Porsche, kidnapping certainly one of his workers, breaking right into a rival’s mansion, and paying a safety guard a $100,000 bribe are just some of the eye-popping allegations prosecutors introduced to the jury to attempt to show their rivalry that Combs is a legal. They argue Combs compelled ladies to have intercourse with male prostitutes as he watched and masturbated throughout drug-fueled intercourse classes that would final days. To maintain his alleged victims silent, prosecutors say, Combs used violence, coercion, and threats that they might be embarrassed or face monetary damage.
“To the general public, he was Puff Daddy, or Diddy, a cultural icon, a businessman, bigger than life. However there was one other aspect to him, a aspect that ran a legal enterprise,” prosecutor Emily Johnson stated in her opening assertion. “For 20 years, the defendant, with the assistance of his trusted interior circle, dedicated crime after crime.”
‘A sophisticated man’
A grand jury indicted Combs in September 2024 on expenses of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking, and transportation to interact in prostitution. After declining to take a plea deal from prosecutors, Combs went to trial final month and will go to jail for the remainder of his life if convicted on all counts.
He has pleaded not responsible and insists that any intercourse acts — irrespective of how far exterior the mainstream they is likely to be — have been voluntary and stay the personal enterprise of consenting adults. Attorneys for Combs have acknowledged that the celebrity is “complicated” and has dedicated acts of violence and abused illicit medication, however they argue that he by no means engaged in intercourse trafficking or ran a legal enterprise as prosecutors allege.
“Sean Combs is an advanced man however this isn’t an advanced case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and cash,” protection legal professional Teny Geragos instructed jurors in her opening assertion. “This case is about voluntary, grownup decisions made by succesful adults and consensual relationships. This case is about these real-life relationships, and the federal government is attempting to show these relationships right into a racketeering case, a prostitution case, and a intercourse trafficking case. It is not going to work.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs listens as lawyer Marc Agnifilo makes arguments throughout Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial in New York Metropolis, June 13, 2025 on this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Over the past two months, prosecutors pulled again the curtain on Combs’ fastidiously curated and closely guarded public picture. Two of his former girlfriends provided uncooked and emotional testimony about how he allegedly compelled them to take part in seemingly infinite orgies — known as “freak-offs” or “lodge nights” — and blackmailed them into silence.
Six of Combs’ former assistants took to the witness stand, some underneath immunity offers, to testify about the way in which they catered to the rap mogul, together with buying his medication, cleansing his lodge rooms after intercourse events, and allegedly driving a heavily-armed Combs to confront a rival file government. 4 federal brokers walked the jury via the steps authorities took earlier than Combs was charged and arrested final yr, together with raids on his properties that they are saying uncovered unregistered firearms, unlawful medication, and bulk quantities of child oil.
The protection stated it plans to relaxation its case with out calling any witnesses, solely submitting some proof. The choose will maintain a charging convention Wednesday adopted by summations on Thursday.
‘A cycle of abuse’
The case towards Combs started earlier than the grand jury began contemplating proof. On Nov. 16, 2023, the singer Cassie Ventura, Combs’ ex-girlfriend, filed a civil go well with towards the music mogul, alleging she was “trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse, violence, and intercourse trafficking.” Inside hours, the case was settled for an undisclosed quantity with no admission of wrongdoing from Combs.
Federal authorities, although, noticed the accusations and commenced to probe.
Finally, prosecutors anchored their case within the tales of three ladies who allege Combs compelled them into intercourse, with the three ladies spending a complete of 13 days on the witness stand.
Ventura, then on the verge of giving start, instructed jurors how Combs allegedly compelled her right into a decade of freak-offs by utilizing violence and blackmail as leverage towards her and her household. She testified that she turned hooked on medication as she tried to make it via the incessant orgies, that she misplaced work alternatives as a musician, and thought of suicide in the course of the depths of her relationship with Combs.
“I can not carry this anymore. I can not carry the disgrace, the guilt, the way in which I used to be guided to deal with folks like they have been disposable. What’s proper is correct, what’s incorrect is incorrect. I am right here to do the correct factor,” she instructed jurors about why she determined to testify towards Combs.
Throughout her prolonged testimony, Ventura additionally revealed for the primary time publicly that Combs paid her $20 million to settle her lawsuit.
Past Ventura’s testimony, jurors noticed dozens of items of proof that prosecutors argue supported her claims, together with safety footage from 2016 that exhibits Combs brutally assaulting Ventura in a Los Angeles lodge. The video was aired on CNN final yr and led to a crush of headlines and protection that prompted Combs on the time to issue a video apology. When it was first broadcast, the general public didn’t know what occurred earlier than or after the occasions captured by the closed-circuit surveillance system at Los Angeles’ InterContinental Lodge.
On the stand, Ventura defined how she had been attempting to to flee a freak-off earlier than Combs confronted her within the lodge hallway, and jurors heard immediately from the safety guard who responded and tried to de-escalate the scenario, and who was allegedly provided a bribe by Combs which he declined to take. Jurors discovered that Combs paid one other safety guard $100,000 to make sure the video wouldn’t see the sunshine of day however the video was ultimately leaked, intensifying public scrutiny on the rap mogul.
“My conduct on that video is inexcusable. I take full duty for my actions in that video,” Combs stated in his apology video. His attorneys tried to attribute his conduct to his drug dependancy and romantic jealousy, and never a want to coerce Ventura into intercourse.
Ventura’s claims have been additionally bolstered by the testimony of at the least six different witnesses, who corroborated her claims of violence. Make-up artist Mylah Morales, musician Daybreak Richard, movie star stylist Deonte Nash, longtime buddy Bryana Bongolan, and two of Combs’ private assistants testified that they witnessed bouts of rage and violence by Combs.
Sean “Diddy” Combs watches intercourse tapes proven to the jury throughout Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial in New York Metropolis, June 17, 2025 on this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Prosecutors known as one other certainly one of Combs’ ex-girlfriends, a single mom who testified underneath the pseudonym “Jane.” She instructed the jury how her relationship with Combs turned consumed by his calls for to interact in “lodge nights,” the place he would choreograph and direct the intercourse acts occurring between Jane and male escorts. With Combs allegedly utilizing her hire funds and video recordings of the sexual encounters as leverage, Jane testified that Combs coerced her into collaborating within the orgies till as late as August 2024, one month earlier than he was arrested by federal legislation enforcement.
Jane instructed a rapt jury that she had a private revelation when she learn the small print in Ventura’s lawsuit.
“I simply could not sleep. I used to be simply studying these pages and going via a nightmare,” Jane instructed jurors of her response. “I can not imagine I’m studying my very own story.”
Prosecutors additionally known as certainly one of Combs’ former private assistants, who testified in regards to the grueling hours and violence she stated she endured whereas working for the mogul. Throughout that point, the assistant who testified underneath the pseudonym “Mia” stated that Combs raped her as soon as and sexually assaulted her on at the least two different events.
“It was very fast however felt like perpetually,” she testified, saying the alleged rape left her feeling “terrified and confused and ashamed and scared.”
‘He must kill me’
With prosecutors alleging that Combs’ enterprise empire doubled as a legal enterprise, they turned to a few of Combs’ personal workers to make their case towards the rap mogul.
Six of Combs’ personal private assistants, a few of whom testified underneath immunity offers, instructed jurors in regards to the excessive calls for positioned on them by Combs, who prosecutors say relied on his workers to commit his crimes. From buying medication and freak-off provides to cleansing up wrecked lodge rooms to stop lodge employees from seeing their situation and going public, the assistants’ testimony provided an inside view into Combs’ enterprise empire.
Capricorn Clark, certainly one of Combs’ longest-serving assistants, instructed jurors in regards to the excessive lengths Combs was keen to go to implement loyalty. She testified that Combs compelled her to take lie-detector checks for per week after a few of his jewellery went lacking. If she failed a take a look at, she stated she was instructed by certainly one of Combs’ bodyguards that she’d be “thrown into the East River.” On the primary day she labored for Combs, Clark testified, she was marked as being a possible menace as a result of she had beforehand labored for Combs’ archrival, file government Marion “Suge” Knight.
“He instructed me he did not know that I had something to do with Suge Knight and if something occurred, he must kill me,” Clark testified.
Jurors additionally heard from Derek Ferguson, a former chief monetary officer of Combs Enterprises, who walked the courtroom via the interior workings of the enterprise, which was intertwined in key methods together with his private life.
Whereas Combs is the one individual within the alleged legal scheme to have been charged with crimes, prosecutors stated the rapper relied on others to get away with it. Jurors have been instructed names of outstanding workers — like his chief of employees, Kristina Khorram, and bodyguard Damion Butler — who have been repeatedly talked about as people who allegedly assisted Combs in his exploits.
“For 20 years, the defendant, with the assistance of his trusted interior circle, dedicated crime after crime. That is why we’re right here as we speak,” prosecutor Emily Johnson stated.
In a press release responding to civil lawsuits during which she was named, Khorram denied ever condoning or helping Combs in coercing ladies into having intercourse, saying partially “these false allegations of my involvement are inflicting irreparable and incalculable harm to my status and the emotional well-being of myself and my household.” Neither Khorram nor Butler has been known as to testify within the trial.
‘My life was at risk’
In an trade dominated within the Nineties by the bitter rivalry between the East and West Coast rappers and their file labels, Combs’ willingness to make use of alleged violence and exhibits of power towards his rivals was a key plotline prosecutors explored for the jury.
Each Ventura and Combs’ former private assistant, David James, testified about an incident in 2009 or 2010 during which a heavily-armed Combs allegedly rushed to confront rival Knight after he was noticed at an area diner close to Hollywood Boulevard.
“I used to be crying. I used to be screaming, like, please do not do something silly,” Ventura testified about her response to Combs’ studying that Knight was close by that night time.
Sean “Diddy” Combs listens as U.S. District Choose Arun Subramanian threatens to sanction attorneys for a possible leak throughout Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial in New York Metropolis, June 17, 2025 on this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
James testified that Combs compelled him to drive him to a possible confrontation although by the point Combs arrived at native Mel’s Diner, Knight had apparently left the late-night restaurant.
“I used to be actually struck by it. I noticed for the primary time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that my life was at risk,” James testified in regards to the incident.
Talking to ABC Information from jail, Knight couldn’t recount that particular night however advised that Combs was attempting to “present energy” by confronting him.
“Anyone that know me — from 2 o’clock within the morning or 3 o’clock within the morning, to virtually 6 o’clock within the morning, I am all the time at Mel’s,” Knight stated.
Jurors additionally heard immediately from musician and actor Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Child Cudi, about an 2012 incident during which Combs allegedly orchestrated the firebombing of Mescudi’s Porsche. Mescudi instructed jurors that he suspected Combs was behind the incident due to his violent response to studying Mescudi was courting Ventura on the time. Ventura additionally testified in regards to the incident.
Combs has lengthy denied his involvement within the incident, together with when Mescudi confronted him about it in individual.
“I made certain to ask him proper when our fingers have been clasped collectively, the place he could not run away and I might have a look at him sq. in his eyes, and he regarded proper again at me, very chilly stare, and stated ‘I do not know what you are speaking about,'” Mescudi instructed the jury in regards to the confrontation.
The protection stated it plans to relaxation with out calling any witnesses, solely submitting some proof. The choose will maintain a charging convention Wednesday adopted by summations on Thursday.
