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Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Court is adjourned until Tuesday

PHOTO: Prosecutor Emily Johnson questions rapper Kid Cudi as he testifies at Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 22, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
23:05
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Diddy Trial Day 9: Kid Cudi on the witness stand
By Aaron Katersky, Mason Leib
Last Updated: May 29, 2025, 4:05 PM

This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.

The second week of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs began on Monday.

Key Headlines

  • Court adjourns for the week after HSI agent testifies about computer data extractions
  • Hotel manager's note: Combs 'always spills candle wax on everything'
  • Kid Cudi testified Combs looked 'like a Marvel supervillain' in meeting after car fire
  • Kid Cudi testifies about car being set on fire during his relationship with Cassie Ventura
Here's how the news is developing.

Pinned
Jul 02, 2025 2:50 PM

Sean Combs trial reaches an end with mixed verdict

The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has reached an end.

The jury found Sean Combs not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge.

The jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution (in connection with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura) and guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution (in connection with his ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym "Jane").

He was found not guilty of both charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with Ventura and "Jane."

Combs was accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak-offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking.

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY."


Pinned
May 19, 2025 8:54 PM

Former Combs assistant describes working for the music mogul: 'This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom'

Former Sean Combs assistant David James took the stand for the prosecution. He testified that he remembered interviewing to be Sean Combs’ personal assistant at the headquarters of Bad Boy Entertainment on Broadway, during which time someone remarked on a photo of Combs hanging on the wall.

“This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve it,” James testified the woman told him.

PHOTO: Sean "Diddy" Combs' assistant David James is questioned at Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 19, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Sean "Diddy" Combs' assistant David James is questioned at Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 19, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

James told the jury about what he said were demanding hours, the weapons Combs’ security staff allegedly carried and the time James said he, Kerry Morgan and Cassie Ventura were smoking cigarettes on Combs’ dock in Miami Beach.

“She said to me, ‘Man this lifestyle is crazy,’” James testified of Ventura. “She said, 'I can’t get out.' You know, 'Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life. He controls my music career, he gives me an allowance.'”

James also told the jury that part of his job was ensuring that hotel rooms in which Combs would stay were stocked with items Combs wanted.

Court adjourned just after 3 p.m. ET. Prosecutors said Tuesday’s witnesses will include an alleged escort known as “The Punisher,” as well as Cassie Ventura’s mother.


May 29, 2025 4:05 PM

Court adjourns for the week after HSI agent testifies about computer data extractions

Testimony concluded for the week with an agent from Homeland Security Investigations who conducted data extraction from three laptop computers that belonged to Cassie Ventura.

One of the laptops allegedly included a user profile for Frank Black, an alias used by Sean Combs.

Court is now adjourned until Tuesday.

“Do not talk to anyone about the case,” Judge Arun Subramanian instructed the juror before dismissing them, telling them instead to “watch the Knicks avenge their Game One loss.”

Subramanian also told the jury that the trial is “right on schedule.”

When court resumes on Tuesday, federal prosecutors said they plan to call Combs’ former assistant, Capricorn Clark, as well as representatives from the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Fire Department.

“I think we are right on time,” prosecutor Maureen Comey said of the pace of testimony, telling the jury the government’s case would take about six weeks total to present. “I would think that we should be able to wrap this up before the Fourth of July,” Comey said.

The defense asked Judge Subramanian to allow Combs to have additional access to videoconferencing from jail. Subramanian said he has had no luck with the Bureau of Prisons. Prosecutors said they would call and ask on the judge’s behalf.

Absent videoconferencing time, the defense sought additional phone time, saying Combs is “out of minutes.”


May 22, 2025 6:35 PM

Hotel manager's note: Combs 'always spills candle wax on everything'

The general manager of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel showed the jury a reservations log with entries that indicated Sean Combs had stayed at the hotel several times.

The log included several of the aliases that previous witnesses have testified Combs used, including Frank Black and Frank White.

The general hotel manager, Frederic Zemmour, said guest profiles include notes. Combs’ guest profile note, which was shown to the jury, included the following: “Always spills candle wax on everything and uses excessive amounts of oil, place room out of order upon departure for deep cleaning.”

The note also instructed reservation takers to authorize an extra $1,000 to cover room damages when Combs stayed at the hotel.

Housekeeping was instructed to put fruit and chocolate in Combs’ room and keep the thermostat at 75 degrees, according to Zemmour's testimony, and to spray air freshener outside any room in which Combs stayed.


May 22, 2025 7:50 PM

Makeup artist testifies she allegedly found Cassie Ventura with 'swollen eye,' 'busted lip'

Makeup artist Mylah Morales testified that it was Grammy weekend 2010 when she returned to the Beverly Hills Hotel after a night out with Cassie Ventura.

According to her testimony, Morales fell asleep on the couch but “woke up to a little bit of commotion.” Morales told the court that Ventura walked in and headed into the bedroom and Sean Combs entered a moment later.

“Where the f--- is she?” Morales testified an angry Combs asked.

Morales told the court that Combs walked into the bedroom and shut the door. Morales testified that she then heard “yelling and screaming” before Combs allegedly opened the bedroom door and stormed out of the suite.

“I was just frantic and I didn’t know what to do,” Morales testified. “She had a swollen eye and busted lip and knots on her head,” referring to Ventura.

Morales, who testified that she first met Ventura when she was 16 years old, told the court that she took Ventura to her house, where she stayed a few days to recover.

“My friend, who’s a doctor, a medical doctor, I asked him to come the next day to make sure she didn’t have a concussion,” Morales testified. Morales told the court that the doctor suggested Ventura be taken to the emergency room but “it was her wishes not to go to the ER.”

Asked why Morales did not insist that Ventura go, Morales replied, “We were very afraid.” She testified they were “afraid of Sean."

“I feared for my life,” Morales told the court.

Morales and Ventura never again spoke about the alleged incident at the Beverly Hills Hotel, according to Morales' testimony



May 22, 2025 6:16 PM

Kid Cudi concludes testimony: 'I knew Sean Combs was violent'

On cross-examination, Scott Mescudi testified that Cassie Ventura told him about alleged physical abuse she said she suffered at the hands of Sean Combs but that she did not mention sexual abuse.

Defense attorney Brian Steel said both Mescudi and Combs were “played” by the same woman.

“The person who played you, the person who played Sean was Ms. Ventura. True?” Steel asked.

“Yeah,” Mescudi replied.

At the conclusion of cross-examination, Steel thanked Mescudi, who responded, “Yeah, no problem.”

On re-direct examination, Mescudi testified that Ventura told him that Combs “would hit her, sometimes kick her.”

Mescudi told the court that he and Ventura broke up because “things were getting out of hand” and that he felt concerned for his safety and her safety.

“I knew Sean Combs was violent,” Mescudi testified, prompting an objection and a sidebar.

During the SoHo House social club meeting in 2012, when, according to Mescudi's earlier testimony, Combs claimed not to know what Mescudi was talking about regarding the firebombing of his car, Mescudi told the jury that he thought Combs “was lying.”

Kid Cudi’s testimony has concluded. The court is in lunch break.


May 19, 2025 8:54 PM

Former Combs assistant describes working for the music mogul: 'This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom'

Former Sean Combs assistant David James took the stand for the prosecution. He testified that he remembered interviewing to be Sean Combs’ personal assistant at the headquarters of Bad Boy Entertainment on Broadway, during which time someone remarked on a photo of Combs hanging on the wall.

“This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve it,” James testified the woman told him.

PHOTO: Sean "Diddy" Combs' assistant David James is questioned at Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 19, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Sean "Diddy" Combs' assistant David James is questioned at Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 19, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

James told the jury about what he said were demanding hours, the weapons Combs’ security staff allegedly carried and the time James said he, Kerry Morgan and Cassie Ventura were smoking cigarettes on Combs’ dock in Miami Beach.

“She said to me, ‘Man this lifestyle is crazy,’” James testified of Ventura. “She said, 'I can’t get out.' You know, 'Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life. He controls my music career, he gives me an allowance.'”

James also told the jury that part of his job was ensuring that hotel rooms in which Combs would stay were stocked with items Combs wanted.

Court adjourned just after 3 p.m. ET. Prosecutors said Tuesday’s witnesses will include an alleged escort known as “The Punisher,” as well as Cassie Ventura’s mother.


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