Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs lured women into violent, degrading abuse over 20 years, jury told ...Middle East

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs used violence and threats to coerce women into drug-fueled sexual encounters that he then recorded, a prosecutor told the jury as the rapper’s sex trafficking trial began Monday.

Combs, 55, was arrested in September 2024, charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation for prostitution.

In her opening statement to the Manhattan court, Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson told the jury that they would “hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes“.

Teny Geragos, Combs’ lawyer, described the trial as a misguided overreach by prosecutors. She said that while her client could be violent, the state was trying to turn consenting sex between adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case.

“Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,” Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women. “There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.”

Geragos conceded that Combs’ violent outbursts, often fueled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts. She told jurors they might think Combs is a “jerk” and might not condone his “kinky sex,” but “he’s not charged with being mean. He’s not charged with being a jerk.”

Following the opening statements, prosecutors showed the jury footage of Combs kicking and dragging R&B singer Cassie, his longtime girlfriend, on the floor outside a Los Angeles hotel’s elevators in March 2016.

The trial’s first witness, Israel Florez, who worked hotel security in 2016 but is now a Los Angeles police officer, said he knew who Combs was when he encountered him sitting by the hotel’s elevators as he responded to a report of a woman in distress.

Florez said Combs wore only a white towel and was slouching in a chair “with a blank stare … like a devilish stare, just looking at me.”

He said that he then escorted Cassie and Combs to their room and the singer indicated that she wanted to leave. Combs told her: “You’re not going to leave.” Florez said he responded: “If she wants to leave, she’s going to leave.”

Cassie left, and Florez said Combs called out while holding a stack of money with a $100 bill on top, telling him, “Don’t tell nobody.” Florez said he considered it a bribe and told Combs, “I don’t want your money. Just go back into your room.”

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, was expected to testify later Monday or Tuesday.

The second witness, Daniel Phillip, said he was a professional stripper who was paid $700 to $6,000 to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and gave instructions. The first encounter was in 2012.

Phillip said he stopped meeting with them after he saw Combs throw a bottle at Cassie and then drag her by her hair into a bedroom as she screamed.

Combs, who was present for the opening day, leaned back in his chair, his once jet black hair now grey. As he entered the courtroom he hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs-up to family and friends.

He has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could result in a 15-year-to-life prison sentence if he is convicted. Since his September arrest, he’s been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn.

The case has drawn intense public interest. Hundreds of people were in the line to get into the courthouse. Combs’ mother and some of his children were escorted past the crowd and into the building.

Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but not illegal.

Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters he called “freak-offs,” “wild king nights” or “hotel nights,” then kept them in line by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair.

In her opening, Johnson said Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.

The prosecutor said Combs last year brutally beat another woman, identified only as Jane, when she confronted him about enduring years of “freak-offs” in dark hotel rooms while he took other partners on date nights and trips around the globe.

The sex parties are central to Combs’ sexual abuse, prosecutors say. Combs’ company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the US and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said.

Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said.

square NEWS

'Who was I supposed to tell?’: Inside the culture of fear around Diddy'

Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a “freak-off” without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson added.

Combs threatened to ruin Cassie’s singing career by publicly releasing videos of her sexually involved with male escorts, the prosecutor said. “Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,” he added.

Cassie sued Combs in 2023, and the lawsuit was settled within hours, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits making similar claims.

Geragos claimed Combs’ accusers were motivated by money. She told jurors that Cassie demanded $30m (£23m) when she sued him, and another witness will acknowledge demanding $22m (£17m) in a breach of contract lawsuit.

She also conceded that Combs is extremely jealous and “has a bad temper,” telling the jury that he sometimes got angry and lashed out when he drank alcohol or “did the wrong drugs.” But, she said, “Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”

The trial is expected to last two months.

With additional reporting from Associated Press.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs lured women into violent, degrading abuse over 20 years, jury told )

Also on site :

• PHOTOS: Travis Kelce Spotted Heading to Taylor Swift's Apartment
• Car runs into building on Park Avenue
• Broncos agree to terms with ILB Jordan Turner, WR Kyrese White after rookie minicamp tryouts, sources confirm