Court hears how Sean 'Diddy' Combs forced women into 'freak offs' as sex trafficking trial begins in New York
The court heard how Sean 'Diddy' Combs forced women into 'freak offs' as sex trafficking trial begins in New York.
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Rapper and producer Sean 'Diddy' Combs is on trial in New York for crimes including sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
In the courtroom in Manhattan, jurors heard how Combs forced women into "freak off" sexual encounters with escorts and 'blackmailed' them with videos.
Combs reportedly blew a kiss to his mother and family members supporting him in the courtroom.
He listened to opening statements from the prosecution and defence providing details of the high-profile case.
The disgraced music mogul, 55, pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He denied all allegations of sexual abuse.
Combs' defence lawyers say all sexual encounters were consensual and stressed the case is about 'nothing more than Combs' sexual preferences', which they believe should remain 'private'.
The defence lawyers claim Combs may be a "flawed individual" but they argue he's not a racketeer or sex trafficker.
Two witnesses - a former hotel security guard and a male escort - gave evidence.
Following opening statements, Israel Florez - the first witness - was called to the stand.
Mr Florez worked as a security guard at a hotel in Los Angeles - where Combs was filmed on CCTV seemingly attacking R&B singer and model Cassie (real name Casandra Ventura).
After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie in the hotel aired on CNN last year, Combs apologised and said he took "full responsibility" for his actions. "I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now."
Video footage of the incident was show in court as Mr Florez provided a testimony.
Mr Florez told the court he identified Combs after responding to a call of a woman in distress on the sixth floor of the hotel.
The disgraced rapper was wearing only a towel and socks - Mr Florez told the court.
He added that Combs had "a blank stare, like a devilish stare, just looking at me".
As Cassie pleaded to leave, the rapper reportedly told Cassie: "You're not going to leave".
Combs offered Mr Florez money and said "don't tell nobody".
'Criminal enterprise'
Federal prosecutors and defence lawyers began summarising their cases on Monday in the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial, shortly after they settled on the jury that will eventually render judgment on the hip-hop star.
The proceedings in New York began with prosecutors and the defence rejecting several candidates for the 12-person jury, which also includes six alternates.
"This is Sean Combs," federal prosecutor Emily Johnson told the jury as she pointed at him. Combs leaned back in his chair as she spoke.
"To the public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Larger than life.
"But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise," Johnson said.
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'Freak offs'
"During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes. 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."
Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.
Ms Johnson said Combs beat and sexually exploited his ex-girlfriend Cassie and compelled the singer and other women to take drugs and have sex with male escorts.
He reportedly threatened to destroy Cassie's career by publicly releasing videos of such sexual encounters - dubbed "freak offs", jurors were told.
The prosecutor said: "Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy."
Ms Johnson continued: "Jurors will hear testimonies from alleged victims who will talk about "some of the most painful experiences of their lives.
"The days they spent in hotel rooms, high on drugs, dressed in costumes to perform the defendant's sexual fantasies."
"Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money," his lawyer Teny Garagos began in her opening statement.
Prosecutors, she said, are trying to turn sexual relations between consenting adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case.
"There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year," Ms Geragos told jurors, noting immense news media coverage and social media chatter. "It is time to cancel that noise."
Combs stood solemnly at the defence table, his hands clasped in front of his stomach, as Ms Geragos introduced him to the jury.
During the prosecution's opening, Combs was repeatedly described as "the defendant".
'Coerced'
Ms Geragos told jurors that they may know him as "Puff Daddy" or "P Diddy or "Diddy" but in the courtroom "he's going by the same name he was born with, Sean Combs".
Combs, wearing a white sweater, entered the packed courtroom shortly before 9am, hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs up to supporters seated behind him.
Earlier, the line to get into the court stretched down the street. Combs' mother and some of his children were escorted past the crowd and taken straight into the building.
Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could land him in prison for at least 15 years if he is convicted on all charges.
He has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.
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 was not illegal.
Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters, then kept them in line through violence. He is accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging women, often by the hair.
Before jury selection was completed, both sides struck the maximum number of potential choices they were allowed, with the defence dismissing 10 and prosecutors eliminating six.
US district judge Arun Subramanian rejected defence lawyers' claims that the prosecution was being discriminatory by striking seven black people from the jury, saying assistant US attorney Maurene Comey had given "race-neutral reasons".
Judge Subramanian told jurors that the court would shield their identities from public view, a common practice in federal cases to keep juries anonymous, particularly in sensitive, high-profile matters where juror safety is a concern.
Combs' former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is expected to be among the trial's early witnesses.
She filed a lawsuit in 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape.
The lawsuit was settled within hours of its filing, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits from people making similar claims.
Jurors may also see recordings of events called "Freak Offs", where prosecutors say women had sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them.
The indictment said the events sometimes lasted days and participants required IV-drips to recover.
Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has said that the Bad Boy Records founder was "not a perfect person" and was undergoing therapy, including for drug use, before his arrest.
But he and other lawyers for Combs have said that any group sex was consensual and any violence was an aberration.
The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.