NEW YORK – The id of an iconic rapper described as having ties to a male escort allegedly employed by Sean “Diddy” Combs for sordid intercourse events remained a thriller throughout trial testimony Thursday.
The day’s proceedings started with a closed-door convention between Manhattan Federal Decide Arun Subramanian, prosecutors, and the mogul’s legal professionals, who’ve argued in assist of figuring out well-known individuals who could come up within the questioning of Combs’ accuser “Jane,” which is an alias.
Earlier this week, under questioning from the government, Jane described going to Las Vegas in January 2024 with a well-known rapper, whose cousin she was pals with, and the rapper’s girlfriend. On the journey, she mentioned she ran into one of many many escorts Combs had compelled her to sleep with, Antoine.
She mentioned she walked in on him having intercourse with one other girl whereas the rapper, his girlfriend, and others watched.
On Thursday, Combs’ legal professional, Teny Geragos, shed extra gentle on the rapper’s id, referring to them as “iconic” and “very near Mr. Combs.” She requested Jane if the general public determine and his companion had mentioned different male escorts along with her.
“They had been asking me if I knew anyone else within the way of life,” the witness mentioned. “They had been in search of somebody.”
Jane beforehand testified that she didn’t take part within the Vegas intercourse celebration, however that Combs later accused her of dishonest when he realized about it – reacting in a sadistic method by forcing her to carry out oral intercourse on Antoine. Her testimony adopted nearly three days of cross-examination and 6 days whole on the stand.
The feds on Wednesday indicated they’re close to the top of their case towards, Combs, 55, who has pleaded not responsible to intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, transporting people for prostitution, and associated counts. The fees carry a possible decadeslong jail sentence.
Jurors have heard that the as soon as larger-than-life determine in hip-hop, whose notorious annual “White Social gathering” at his Hamptons property hosted among the most well-known faces on the planet, was for many years preying upon and sexually humiliating vulnerable young women in extremely orchestrated resort room performances he known as “freak-offs.”
The drug-fueled classes sometimes concerned Combs masturbating in a nook whereas directing ladies to interact in dehumanizing acts with male escorts, witnesses have described.
The alleged victims subjected to “freak-offs” included within the authorities’s case– Jane and Casandra “Cassie” Ventura– every described an preliminary interval of being showered with affection and guarantees of a severe relationship with Combs earlier than he took off the masks of his public persona. They mentioned they needed desperately to have a standard, loving relationship, however he finally relegated them to taking part in one position in his life, in “freak-offs.”
Ventura, who was signed to Combs’ report label at 19 years previous a 12 months earlier than she grew to become concerned with him, in 2007, mentioned he bought off on disgusting rituals like making escorts urinate in her mouth and requesting she privately therapeutic massage their semen onto his chest. She described him as pressuring her into “freak-offs” when she was therapeutic from his common beatings and chronic medical issues ensuing from the days-long “freak-offs,” like urinary tract infections, mouth sores and gastrointestinal issues.
Jane, a single mother when she met Combs, has described being in a poisonous on-and-off-again relationship with him from 2021 via the lead-up to his 2024 arrest. Jurors have heard graphic testimony about him allegedly beating her in June 2024 when she confronted him about courting a lady a lot youthful girl after which forcing her to carry out oral intercourse on Antoine with a swollen head and creating black eye.
Combs has additionally confronted allegations on the trial from a former assistant, testifying underneath the pseudonym “Mia,” who alleged he raped, sexually assaulted and imprisoned her towards her will.
Combs’ authorized group maintains that whereas he has beat ladies, he’s not charged with such and by no means pressured anybody into nonconsensual intercourse. They’ve sought to painting his accusers as pushed by monetary greed and victims of purchaser’s regret, not abuse.
In searching for to counter the protection’s narrative, prosecutors have elicited testimony from Ventura and friends of hers about Combs threatening to to launch footage of her at “freak-offs” to maintain her compliant. She and Jane mentioned he threatened to render them homeless after they sought to train company and in reams of correspondence proven in courtroom informed him they didn’t wish to sleep with different males, testifying they felt obligated to meet Combs’ calls for.
The Manhattan U.S. legal professional’s workplace alleges Combs routinely brutalized ladies with assist from high-ranking workers, members of a legal enterprise who dedicated intercourse trafficking, kidnapping, arson, drug distribution, and different crimes.
Jurors have heard testimony from a number of witnesses about how Combs’ workers procured him drugs, supplies like baby oil for “freak-offs,” and arrange and cleaned the resort rooms earlier than and after the occasions.
