All but a few macho holdouts among the let-men-be-men faction agree that Anthony Weiner is not worthy of becoming mayor of America’s biggest city, but there is a perennial threat to our democracy that is far larger than the turgid tweets of the former congressman from New York. That threat is the ongoing whoredom of members of Congress who remain in office.
It is no secret that our senators and representatives expend a significant amount of time and effort every week of the year soliciting campaign donations from lobbyists for corporations and other special interest groups and from fat cat donors who have interests of their own. Most who take the cash will insist that they are not selling their votes and, in most cases, that may be technically correct. The reality, though, is that all that money drives the congressional agenda and buys an open door into the rooms where legislation is crafted. The votes automatically follow.
Certainly, there are a few men and women in Washington whose motives and philosophy are so pure that money does not sway them, but, too often, the money shapes the philosophy and justifies the motives. A case in point is the issue of gun rights.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has said that everyone inside the Beltway “lives in terror of the gun lobby.” After the string of horrific shootings that crippled a member of Congress and brought slaughter to a movie theater in Colorado and a primary school in Connecticut, many thought the federal government would, at last, act to place limits on the availability of high capacity ammo clips and assault rifles. Of course, that did not happen.
Was opposition to any type of firearms control a) inspired by a sincere, deep-seated belief in an absolutist interpretation of the 2nd Amendment or b) were Republican representatives and senators simply worried that showing any sensibility or nuance on the issue would lose them funding from the National Rifle Assn. and lead to a primary challenge from a candidate even more in thrall to the gun lobby? If you picked a), rest assured that the Tooth Fairy will be by tonight and there is a pot of gold waiting at the end of the next rainbow you see.
The gun issue is merely one area where special interest money drives the agenda. Pick any area of national concern — banking regulation, environmental protection, education, military funding — and know that the voice of the voters is a faint squeak compared with the roar of all that money talking.
SEAN ‘Diddy’ Combs’ attorneys have confirmed they’ve approached the Trump administration about a possible pardon.
It comes after the disgraced rapper Diddy was convicted of two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution last month.
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Nicole Westmoreland confirmed the defense team reached out regarding a pardonCredit: Getty
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Combs’ attorney said he remains ‘hopeful’Credit: AP
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Trump previously suggested a pardon would be unlikelyCredit: Getty Images – Getty
“It’s my understanding that we’ve reached out and had conversations in reference to a pardon,” his lawyer told CNN.
Trump previously suggested a pardon would be unlikely.
In an interview with Newsmax last week, the US President said: “I was very friendly with him, I got along with him great and he seemed like a nice guy.
“I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile.”
Attorney for Combs Nicole Westmoreland said Combs “is a very hopeful person, and I believe that he remains hopeful”.
Meanwhile, earlier this year the President pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in 2022.
And, when he was first inaugurated, Trump gave the founder of dark web marketplace Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, a full and unconditional pardon and saved him from serving two life sentences after he was convicted in 2015.
It comes as Combs was denied $50 million bail – for the second time – ahead of his October 3 sentencing on prostitution charges.
Diddy’s ‘phantom fixer’ breaks her cover after rapper cleared of racketeering
Judge Arun Subramanian agreed with federal prosecutors’ decision to keep the disgraced rapper locked up at MDC Brooklyn.
In a court order the US district judge wrote there were no “exceptional reasons” warranting Combs’ release before his sentencing.
The former music mogul reportedly filed a new motion for bail, offering a $50 million bail package in which he pledged to stay at his Miami home and restrict travel to Florida and New York.
His legal team argued there is no binding precedent for keeping him in jail before sentencing – an argument Judge Subramanian rejected.
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Combs reacting after verdicts were read in court last monthCredit: Reuters
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He was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking in regardCredit: Reuters
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Combs faces a maximum 20-year prison sentenceCredit: AP
They also claimed he is likely the only man in America jailed for hiring male sex workers to sleep with his girlfriend.
But Subramanian dismissed this, stating that the case involved “evidence of violence, coercion or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution”.
When Combs’ legal team raised concerns about his safety at MDC Brooklyn, Subramanian said staff protected Combs “even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate”.
The judge added that the bail denial will not affect Combs’ sentencing in 60 days’ time.
However, federal prosecutors have said they would seek a three- to five-year sentence.
On July 2, Combs was convicted on two prostitution-related counts, but was acquitted of the more serious charges he faced.
He was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking in regard to his ex-girlfriends Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane” (pseudonym).
Combs’ defence team delivered a post-verdict victory speech to reporters outside the US District Courthouse, calling the outcome a “great victory for the jury system”.
Agnifilo said the 12-person jury “got the situation right – or certainly, right enough”.
“We are not nearly done fighting. We’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family,” he added.
Meanwhile, in their closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise”, who used his expansive “wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted”.
SEAN “Diddy” Combs has been denied $50 million bail – for the second time – ahead of his October 3 sentencing on prostitution charges.
Judge Arun Subramanian agreed with federal prosecutors’ decision to keep the disgraced rapper locked up at MDC Brooklyn.
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A federal court denied Combs’ request that he be released on bail ahead of his sentencingCredit: Getty
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The rapper will remain inside the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) until October 3Credit: Reuters
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A courtroom sketch showing Combs’ reaction after he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges on July 2Credit: AP
In a court order issued on Monday, the US district judge wrote there were no “exceptional reasons” warranting Combs’ release before his sentencing.
The former music mogul reportedly filed a new motion for bail last week, offering a $50 million bail package in which he pledged to stay at his Miami home and restrict travel to Florida and New York.
His legal team argued there is no binding precedent for keeping him in jail before sentencing – an argument Judge Subramanian rejected.
They also claimed he is likely the only man in America jailed for hiring male sex workers to sleep with his girlfriend.
But Subramanian dismissed this, stating that the case involved “evidence of violence, coercion or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution”.
When Combs’ legal team raised concerns about his safety at MDC Brooklyn, Subramanian said staff protected Combs “even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate”.
The judge added that the bail denial will not affect Combs’ sentencing in 60 days’ time.
However, federal prosecutors have said they would seek a three- to five-year sentence.
On July 2, Combs was convicted on two prostitution-related counts, but was acquitted of the more serious charges he faced.
Diddy is found GUILTY of prostitution but cleared of most serious charge
He was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking in regard to his ex-girlfriends Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane” (pseudonym).
Combs’ defence team delivered a post-verdict victory speech to reporters outside the US District Courthouse, calling the outcome a “great victory for the jury system”.
Agnifilo said the 12-person jury “got the situation right – or certainly, right enough”.
“We are not nearly done fighting. We’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family,” he added.
Meanwhile, in their closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise”, who used his expansive “wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted”.
Prosecutor Slavik told jurors that Combs forced Cassandra Ventura and “Jane” into punishing sex marathons and – with the help of a close circle of “loyal lieutenants” – concealed the alleged abuse.
Ventura and “Jane” were sometimes required to engage in these acts – referred to as “hotel nights” and “wild king nights” – even while suffering from painful urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to prosecutors.
Combs was first denied bail in November 2024 – shortly after his arrest in late September of that year.
The time Combs has already served in jail – which will be over a year by the time he is sentenced – will be credited towards the final sentence imposed by the judge.
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Diddy reacts after verdicts of the five counts against him are read on July 2 in a courtroom sketchCredit: Reuters
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Diddy next to his lawyers Teny Geragos and Marc Agnifilo on July 2Credit: Reuters
A judge on Wednesday rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida, though a similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public.
The Justice Department last week asked the judge to release records to quell a storm among supporters of President Trump who believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients and conceal videos of crimes being committed and other evidence.
In 2008, Epstein cut a deal with federal prosecutors in Florida that allowed him to escape more severe federal charges and instead plead guilty to state charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche had asked judges in Florida and New York to unseal transcripts from grand jury proceedings that resulted in indictments against Epstein and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, saying “transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration.”
Federal grand juries hear evidence in secret and then decide whether there is enough for an indictment. Experts say the transcripts probably would not reveal much because prosecutors typically try to present only enough material to get charges and don’t introduce the entire investigation.
Epstein, a wealthy financier, years later was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, and Maxwell was charged with helping him abuse teenage girls.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in New York City about a month after he was arrested. Investigators concluded he killed himself. Maxwell later was convicted at trial and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The case attracted attention because of Epstein and Maxwell’s links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires. It also led to some of the biggest conspiracy theories animating Trump’s base.
The furor over records has been stoked by the Justice Department. In February, far-right influencers were invited to the White House and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.” The binders contained documents that had largely already been in the public domain.
The department on July 7 acknowledged that Epstein did not have a list of clients. It also said no more files related to his case would be made public.
A two-page memo that bore the logos of the FBI and Justice Department, but that was not signed by any individual, said the department determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”
July 2 (UPI) — Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain behind bars while awaiting sentencing after a federal jury on Wednesday found him guilty of two prostitution-related charges.
The jury found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and innocent on one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking at the U.S. District Court of Southern New York in Manhattan.
Combs’ attorneys sought bail to obtain his immediate release, but Judge Arun Subramanian denied the request, CNN reported.
“The defense conceded defendant’s violence in personal relationships, saying ‘it happened,'” Subramanian told the court.
“This highlights a disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence,” the judge said, adding that violence and illegal acts continued after investigators searched Combs’ homes and he was aware of the investigation.
Subramanian proposed a sentencing hearing for Combs at 10 a.m. EDT on Oct. 3 but said he would be willing to move up the date if Combs’ attorneys request it.
Throughout the nearly two-month-long trial, prosecutors alleged Combs used his business empire to push two people into taking part in drug-fueled, sexual activities called “freak offs.”
The defense argued the sexual activities were consensual, and Combs had pleaded not guilty to the five criminal counts against him.
Each of the two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution carries a 10-year maximum sentence.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government will request that Combs serve each sentence concurrently, which would give him a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Comey also said a pre-sentencing investigation is necessary to ensure a fair sentence is imposed, which would be done as soon as possible, CNN reported.
Lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo wants to waive the pre-sentencing investigation to end the matter sooner.
He said the defense will argue for a sentence that is less than the maximum of 10 years per count.
The trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has culminated in a verdict, after more than seven weeks of intense media scrutiny and testimony about drug-fuelled celebrity sex parties.
But beneath the salacious details, advocates say there are critical takeaways about how sexual violence is understood – and sometimes tolerated – within the criminal justice system.
On Wednesday, a federal jury in the United States delivered a split decision.
It found Combs guilty of transporting individuals to engage in prostitution, but not guilty of the weightier question of whether he engaged in sex trafficking or racketeering for flying girlfriends and sex workers to the parties he organised.
Prosecutors had described Combs’s activity as a “criminal enterprise” in which he leveraged money, power and physical violence to force former girlfriends into abusive circumstances.
The split ruling has, in turn, divided opinion about what the case means for the beleaguered #MeToo movement, which emerged in the early 2010s to bring accountability to cases of sexual violence.
For Emma Katz, a domestic abuse expert, the jury’s decision indicates there are still yawning gaps in public understanding about sexual violence. That understanding, she maintains, is necessary to assess the behaviours that accompany long-term abuse and coercion, particularly between intimate partners.
“I think a ruling like this would be a good news kind of day for perpetrators,” she told Al Jazeera. “The jury seems to have concluded you can be a victim, a survivor, whose boss beats you in hotel corridors and has control over your life, but that you’re not being coerced by him.”
“So much of what perpetrators do that enables them to get away with their abuse – and what makes their abuse so horrific and so sustained – has not been acknowledged and has disappeared from the picture in this verdict,” she added.
A ‘botched’ decision
How the jury arrived at its decision remains unknown.
But prosecutors had been tasked with proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Combs used “force, fraud, or coercion” to compel his girlfriends into commercial sex acts.
The case was centred largely on the testimony of two women: singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine and a woman identified only by the pseudonym “Jane”. Both were identified as former girlfriends of Combs.
The prosecution argued that Combs had used his financial influence, violence and threats of blackmail to coerce Ventura and the other woman to perform sex acts during parties known as “freak-offs”.
The evidence included surveillance video from March 2016 of Combs beating Ventura in a hotel hallway and then dragging her away. Ventura herself gave harrowing testimony at the trial, saying she felt “trapped” in a cycle of abuse.
She explained that cycle involved regular threats and violence, including Combs “stomping” her on the face in a 2009 incident.
But the defence’s arguments throughout the proceedings appear to have swayed the jury, according to Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor.
The defence blatantly admitted that Combs was abusive towards Ventura, as the surveillance footage had shown. But Combs’s lawyers maintained there was no evidence he coerced Ventura into committing sexual acts against her will.
The Los Angeles Times even quoted defence lawyer Teny Geragos as saying, “Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
“The big question in the case is: If you’re sexually abused or assaulted, why did you stay with your abuser for more than a decade?” Rahmani said. “I understand the psychology of abuse, but jurors don’t necessarily buy it”.
Rahmani broadly assessed that prosecutors “botched” the sex-trafficking portion of the case.
That included how prosecutors approached a series of messages from Ventura that indicated affection for Combs and active participation in sexual situations, which Rahmani noted were not revealed until cross-examination by the defence.
According to experts like Katz, such behaviour can be common in abusive relationships, in which an abuser expects a “performance of happiness” to avoid physical, financial or psychological repercussions.
“It would never surprise me to see a victim survivor sending loving texts and enthusiastic texts to somebody who they said was abusing them, because that’s all part and parcel of domestic abuse,” Katz said.
‘Stain on criminal justice’
From Katz’s perspective, the verdict underscores the reality of what has happened since the #MeToo movement emerged.
While #MeToo helped workplace harassment become more widely understood, the general public still struggles with the complexities of intimate partner violence.
“I think that the public has shown more willingness to consider how somebody might be harmed by an acquaintance, a work colleague, somebody who’s hiring them for a job,” Katz said.
By contrast, intimate partner abuse consistently raises victim-blaming questions like: Why did someone remain with an abusive partner?
“There’s still a lot of stigma around when you chose this person,” Katz explained. The thought process, she added, is often: “It can’t have been that bad if you stayed in the relationship.”
But domestic violence experts point to complicating, often unseen factors. Abuse can have psychological consequences, and abusers often attempt to wield power over their victims.
Children, housing and financial circumstances can also prevent survivors from leaving and seeking help. People experiencing such abuse might also fear an escalation of the violence – or retaliation against loved ones – should they leave.
Experts, however, say it can be hard to illustrate those fears in court. Still, on Wednesday, Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, struck a positive tone about the outcome of the Combs trial.
In a statement, he said Ventura’s legal team was “pleased” with the verdict and that her testimony helped to assure that Combs has “finally been held responsible for two federal crimes”.
“He still faces substantial jail time,” Wigdor noted. The prostitution transportation charges each carry a maximum of 10 years.
Several advocacy groups also praised Ventura and others for coming forward with their experiences.
The verdict “shows that even when power tries to silence truth, survivors push it into the light,” Lift Our Voices, a workplace advocacy group, wrote on the social media platform X. “The #MeToo movement hasn’t waned, it’s grown stronger.”
Fatima Goss Graves, head of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), echoed that Ventura’s and Jane’s testimonies were accomplishments in and of themselves.
“Coming forward and seeking accountability took extraordinary bravery and no jury can take that away,” she said.
Others were less optimistic about the jury’s split verdict. Arisha Hatch, interim executive director of UltraViolet, a gender-justice advocacy organisation, called the verdict a “decisive moment for our justice system” – and not in a good way.
“Today’s verdict is not just a stain on a criminal justice system that for decades has failed to hold accountable abusers like Diddy,” Hatch said. “It’s also an indictment of a culture in which not believing women and victims of sexual assault remains endemic.”
July 2 (UPI) — Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain behind bars while awaiting sentencing after a federal jury on Wednesday found him guilty of two prostitution-related charges.
The jury found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and innocent on one count of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking at the U.S. District Court of Southern New York in Manhattan.
Combs’ attorneys sought bail to obtain his immediate release, but Judge Arun Subramanian denied the request, CNN reported.
“The defense conceded defendant’s violence in personal relationships, saying ‘it happened,'” Subramanian told the court.
“This highlights a disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence,” the judge said, adding that violence and illegal acts continued after investigators searched Combs’ homes and he was aware of the investigation.
Subramanian proposed a sentencing hearing for Combs at 10 a.m. EDT on Oct. 3 but said he would be willing to move up the date if Combs’ attorneys request it.
Throughout the nearly two-month-long trial, prosecutors alleged Combs used his business empire to push two people into taking part in drug-fueled, sexual activities called “freak offs.”
The defense argued the sexual activities were consensual, and Combs had pleaded not guilty to the five criminal counts against him.
Each of the two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution carries a 10-year maximum sentence.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government will request that Combs serve each sentence concurrently, which would give him a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Comey also said a pre-sentencing investigation is necessary to ensure a fair sentence is imposed, which would be done as soon as possible, CNN reported.
Lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo wants to waive the pre-sentencing investigation to end the matter sooner.
He said the defense will argue for a sentence that is less than the maximum of 10 years per count.
Jurors have reached a verdict on four of five counts against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is on trial in a New York federal courtroom, accused of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation for prostitution.
The jury sent a note to the trial judge Tuesday afternoon stating they’d reached a verdict on several counts but were unable to reach a consensus on count one — racketeering. They will continue deliberating on that count in Manhattan starting Wednesday at 9 a.m.
Combs, 55, is charged under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO, which requires a defendant to be part of an enterprise involved in at least two overt criminal acts out of 35 offenses listed by the government.
He is also charged on two counts each of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution in connection with two women — his former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman identified in court only as Jane, also a former girlfriend.
The jury has reached a unanimous verdict on the four counts tied to Ventura and Jane but not on the racketeering count. Their verdict is not yet known. As Tuesday’s deliberations concluded, Combs was seen praying in the courtroom and looking morose, according to the Associated Press.
The impending verdicts are the culmination of a celebrity legal drama that has generated global attention and offered a graphic and often violent glimpse into the life of one of the nation’s most powerful music figures and his near billion-dollar enterprise. Jurors heard from three women, two former girlfriends and a personal assistant, who described mob-family-style racketeering with coercion, kidnapping, threats and beatings done to cover up a pattern of sexual assaults, sex trafficking and prostitution over decades.
During the seven-week trial, prosecutors portrayed Combs and his associates as luring female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Once he had gained their interest, Combs allegedly used force, threats of force, coercion and controlled substances to get them to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes while he occasionally watched in gatherings that Combs referred to as “freak-offs.”
On the stand, witnesses testified that Combs gave the women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to “keep them obedient and compliant” during the performances.
Jurors deliberated for more than 12 hours before reaching verdicts on several of the counts against Combs.
The racketeering charge alleged Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment was like a mob family and criminal enterprise that threatened and abused women and utilized members of his enterprise to engage in a litany of crimes over the years including kidnapping, sex trafficking, bribery, arson, forced labor and obstruction of justice.
Though RICO cases are more typically associated with the mafia, street gangs or drug cartels, any loose association of two or more people is enough, like Combs’ entourage, said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahami. Prosecutors during the trial aimed to demonstrate a pattern of racketeering or two or more RICO predicate acts that occurred over 10 years. That’s why the evidence of bribery, kidnapping, obstruction, witness tampering and prostitution became key to the case.
Key to the government’s case was the testimony of three women: Combs’ onetime lover Ventura, whose 2023 lawsuit set off the unraveling of Combs’ enterprise and reputation; his most recent ex-girfriend, Jane; and his former assistant, only identified in court as Mia.
In the trial, Ventura testified she felt “trapped” in a cycle of physical and sexual abuse by Combs, and that the relationship involved years of beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape.
She claimed Combs threatened to leak videos of her sexual encounters with numerous male sex workers while drug-intoxicated and covered with baby oil as he watched and orchestrated the freak-offs.
One of those freak-offs led to an infamous hotel beating that was captured on hotel security cameras. Video footage from that March 2016 night shows Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to protect herself in front of an L.A. hotel elevator bank. He then drags her down the hall by her hooded sweatshirt toward their hotel room.
A second angle from another camera captures Combs throwing a vase toward her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a fat lip and a bruise that prosecutors showed was still visible during a movie premiere two days later, where she wore sunglasses and heavy makeup on the red carpet.
In closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Atty. Christy Slavik told jurors Combs “counted on silence and shame” to enable and prolong his abuse and used a “small army” of employees to harm women and cover it up, according to the Associated Press.
Combs, he said, “doesn’t take no for an answer.”
When it came time for Combs’ defense team to present their case, they opted to move straight to closing arguments without presenting a witness. Rahami, the former federal prosecutor, said the defense expected jurors would question why those on the stand did not report the behavior to authorities at the time it was occurring and, in some cases, chose to stay in Combs’ orbit.
Marc Agnifilo, one of Combs’ lawyers, told jurors in closing that federal prosecutors “exaggerated” their case and sought to turn the hip-hop mogul’s swinger lifestyle into the most serious of federal offenses — racketeering and sex trafficking, without the evidence to back it up. In reality, Combs has a drug problem and his relationship with Ventura was a “modern love story” where the mogul “owns the domestic violence” that was revealed in the trial, Agnifilo said.
She already felt “trapped” in a cycle of physical and sexual abuse by him, she told a New York federal jury this week, outlining 11 years of alleged beatings, sexual blackmail and a rape.
She claimed Combs threatened to leak videos of her sexual encounters with numerous male sex workers while drug-intoxicated and glistening with baby oil as he watched and orchestrated the events, known as freak-offs.
“If I pleased him with a freak-off, then my premiere would run smoothly,” she said, according to reporting from inside the Manhattan courtroom from the Associated Press.
What happened next could end up being the beginning of the end of Combs’ public life.
Video footage from that March 2016 night shows Combs punching and kicking Ventura as she cowers and tries to protect herself in front of an L.A. hotel elevator bank. He then drags her down the hall by her hooded sweatshirt toward their hotel room. A second angle from another camera captures Combs throwing a vase toward her. She suffered bruising to her eye, a fat lip, and a bruise that prosecutors showed was still visible during the movie premiere two days later. She donned sunglasses and heavy makeup on the red carpet.
Ventura’s testimony is at the center of the federal trial accusing Combs of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation for prostitution.
Sweeping allegations
The federal indictment alleges that Combs and his associates lured female victims, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Combs then allegedly used force, threats of force, coercion and controlled substances to get women to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes while he occasionally watched in gatherings that Combs referred to as “freak-offs.” Combs gave the women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to “keep them obedient and compliant” during the performances.
The freak-offs, which prosecutors say sometimes lasted for days, were elaborately produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often recorded, according to the indictment. Prosecutors allege in a detention memo filed in court that the freak-offs occurred regularly from at least 2009 through 2023 and that the hotel rooms where they were staged often sustained significant damage.
Combs’ alleged “criminal enterprise” threatened and abused women and utilized members of his enterprise to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said. In bringing so-called RICO charges, prosecutors in opening statements said Combs was helped by cadre of company employees, security staff and aides. They allegedly helped organize the crime and “freak-offs” and then covered up the incidents. Thus far, Combs is the only one facing criminal charges related to the investigation.
Combs’ attorney this week said her client was far from perfect but that the charges were overblown.
“Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,” Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors. “There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.”
How Ventura and Combs met
Jurors heard that Ventura was 19 when she met the 37-year-old Combs in 2005, and she signed a 10-year contract with his Bad Boy Records label. About two years later, he had Britney Spears come to her 21st birthday party, where Ventura and Combs kissed and their relationship began, she said. She testified that the freak-offs became a way of life, and she even stepped away from her own birthday party for one.
Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean “Diddy” Combs arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” at the Writers Guild Theater on June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills.
(Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP)
Combs, she told jurors, required her to let a male sex worker urinate in her mouth. That man and others were paid thousands of dollars to have sex repeatedly for 36 to 48 hours, she told the jury.
On the stand, Ventura identified 13 male sex workers through photos presented by prosecutors that she said Combs’ had her recruit for the freak-offs. Hers and Combs’ relationship would end on a day in 2018 when she met him for dinner and he raped her on her living room floor, she testified.
Violence
During four days of testimony, Ventura, who is eight and a half months pregnant, described being raped, beaten at least six times, most severely in 2009.
In the 2009 attack, she testified that Combs was “stomping” on her face after he discovered she was dating rapper Kid Cudi. Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, had his car torched a short time afterward. Prosecutors allege in court papers that Combs ordered it.
Legal analysis
Legal experts say the testimony is designed to build the federal case against Combs, even if on the surface it does not appear directly related to the charges he’s facing.
“Why is the government talking about rape and assault when the charges are RICO and sex trafficking?” said former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani. Well, he said, “what separates sex trafficking from consensual sex between adults — which the defense is arguing — is force, fraud or coercion.”
“Ventura’s testimony that she was given drugs to the point of throwing up … and forced to have sex when she was menstruating or had a UTI is evidence of coercion,” he said.
Rahmani said that Ventura’s portrayal of Combs as a gun-brandishing mogul who beat her on multiple occasions, tracked her movements and sent a security team to find her is evidence of force.
Then there were the alleged threats. She recounted that during a commercial flight in 2013, Combs pulled out his laptop and began playing a freak-off recording as they sat together. She said Combs told her that he was going to embarrass her and release them.
“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” Ventura said.
Authorities raid Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Los Angeles home as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Rahmani said the racketeering charge against Combs requires prosecutors to prove the existence of a criminal enterprise.
“People typically think of the mob, street gangs, or drug cartels, but any loose association of two or more people is enough like Combs’ entourage,” the former federal prosecutor said. They must show two or more predicate acts over 10 years.
“That is why the evidence of bribery, kidnapping, obstruction, witness tampering and prostitution is important,” he said.
LAPD officer testimony
Israel Florez, a hotel security guard who confronted Combs in 2016, now a Los Angeles Police officer, testified Combs flashed a bundle of cash at him — something he believed was an attempted bribe. He rejected it, he said.
Combs’ defense is seeking to paint Ventura as participating in the behavior, recruiting and paying sex partners, acquiring narcotics and texting to push for freak-offs that were part of a swingers’ lifestyle. She is one of four alleged victims in the case, with jurors expected to hear from at least three of them.
On Thursday, defense attorney Anne Estevao had Ventura read a series of loving texts to Combs and got Ventura to testify she’d watched Combs have sex with another woman on multiple occasions. To support the swingers’ defense, the lawyer produced a 2009 text where the singer declared, “I’m always ready to freak off.”
Ventura sued Combs in the fall of 2023, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse, triggering a cascade of lawsuits and allegations by others who say they’re victims of Combs and eventually, a raid by Homeland Security on his L.A. and Miami homes and his arrest. Ventura acknowledged Wednesday that she got a $20-million settlement within days of filing her lawsuit.
Combs attorney pushes back
During opening statements in a Manhattan federal courtroom, Geragos, one of Combs’ defense attorneys, drew a distinction for jurors between the violence they would hear testimony about and the charges Combs was facing, saying “domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
She said the video of Ventura’s assault in the hotel was indefensible, but that the singer “made a choice” to stay with Combs for 11 years.
After the attack, a friend called police to Ventura’s home, she testified. But when officers arrived, she did not identify Combs as the culprit.
The prosecutor asked her why she did not talk. “In that moment, I didn’t want to hurt him that way. I wasn’t ready,” she replied.
On Thursday, the defense cross-examining Ventura sought to change the narrative using dozens of text messages between Combs and Ventura. In a July 2013 text message exchange, Comb’s defense lawyer noted that Cassie raised the idea of having a “freak-off,” writing to Combs: “Wish we could’ve FO’d before you left.”
Using the text message exchanges, the defense lawyer highlighted Ventura’s admitted jealousy over the attention he gave other women.
“You’re making me look like a side piece and that is not what I thought I was,” Cassie told Combs in a 2013 text message.
Estevao tried to recast the hotel incident as the result of the two taking a “bad batch” of the psychedelic stimulant MDMA during a “freak-off” before the hotel beating.
During her testimony this week, Ventura testified that Combs allegedly overdosed on opioids while partying at the Playboy Mansion in 2012. While she wasn’t there, she said, he told her about it.
Ventura’s testimony ended on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed court testimony for this analysis.
