NEW YORK (AP) — Witnesses began testifying this week in the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of the biggest music moguls and cultural figures of the past four decades.
Combs’ former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is expected to take the stand Tuesday after prosecutors on Monday showed jurors video of the performer beating her in a hotel in 2016.
The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks in all. Here's a look at some of the details.
The charges against Diddy
Combs has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutors allege Combs used his “power and prestige” as a music star to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “freak offs.”
They say he coerced and abused women with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
“During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told jurors in her opening statement Monday. "But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and cover them up.”
Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos, however, told jurors that prosecutors are trying to turn sex between consenting adults into a 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,” she said.
Prosecutors revealed shortly before trial that Combs rejected a plea agreement that might have meant a lighter sentence than a conviction could. They did not disclose the terms of the proposed deal.
The witnesses and the evidence against Diddy
The prosecution on Monday showed the jury security video of Combs beating and kicking Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
The trial's first witness, Israel Florez, who was working hotel security at the time, testified about responding to a report of a woman in distress and witnessing Combs tell Cassie:, “You’re not going to leave.” Florez said he told Combs, “If she wants to leave, she’s going to leave.”
Cassie, who is expected to testify herself, was Combs' on-again-off-again romantic partner for more than a decade. Her 2023 lawsuit against Combs alleging years of abuse, including rape, began the scrutiny that eventually led to his prosecution.
Jurors on Monday also heard from Daniel Phillip, who said he was a professional stripper who was paid to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and gave instructions. He testified that he once saw Combs drag her by her hair as she screamed.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie did.
The trial's main players
The trial is in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian. He's a Columbia Law School graduate and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and was appointed a federal judge by President Joe Biden in 2022.
The prosecution team consists of eight assistant U.S. attorneys, seven of them women. They include Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She was among the prosecutors in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.
Combs' team of seven defense attorneys is led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who along with his wife Karen Friedman Agnifilo is also defending Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Also on the defense team is Atlanta attorney Brian Steel, who represented Young Thug in a trial that went on for nearly two years before the rapper pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges.
The members of the jury
Twelve jurors — eight men and four women — and six alternates were chosen just before opening statements began Monday. They include include a massage therapist, an investment analyst and a deli clerk.
The jurors’ identities are known to the court and the prosecution and defense sides, but won’t be made public.
It’s common in federal cases to keep juries anonymous, particularly in sensitive, high-profile matters where juror safety is a concern
Diddy's court appearance
Combs, 55, has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his September arrest. His formerly jet-black hair is now almost completely gray because dye isn’t allowed at the detention center.
Combs, who had his own fashion line, has worn yellow jail uniforms in pretrial hearings. But for the trial, the judge said he can have up to five button-down shirts, five pairs of pants, five sweaters, five pairs of socks and two pairs of shoes without laces.
Under federal court rules, no photos or video of the trial will be allowed. Courtroom sketches are permitted.
What we won't hear at the trial
Since 2023, dozens of women and men have been filing lawsuits against Combs claiming he sexually or physically abused them. Many of those people said they were slipped drugs at events hosted by Combs and were abused while they were incapacitated.
Combs has denied all of the allegations through his lawyers.
Some of those lawsuits have claimed that other celebrities were either present for or participated in the abuse.
The great majority of those allegations, however, aren't part of the criminal case. Prosecutors have chosen to focus on a relatively small number of accusers and allegations where there is physical evidence or corroboration by witnesses.
The Associated Press
