A former assistant to Sean Combs who said that he berated her, threw objects at her and sexually assaulted her during her years working for him resumed testimony on Friday as the third week of the music mogul’s federal trial draws to a close.
The former employee, referred to in court by the pseudonym Mia, is a key witness in helping the government try to prove racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking charges against Mr. Combs.
As a part of Mr. Combs’s entourage from 2009 to 2017, Mia said she was subjected to his violence and was a witness to his violence against others. While on the stand, she testified about seeing Mr. Combs repeatedly attack Casandra Ventura, the music mogul’s on-and-off girlfriend of 11 years, whose recounting of brutal violence, meticulous control and marathon sexual encounters with male prostitutes, known as “freak-offs,” are at the heart of the government’s case.
Lawyers for Mr. Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him, have acknowledged that their client has a history of violence, but they have asserted that he is not a racketeer or sex trafficker. They have denied that Mr. Combs sexually assaulted anyone.
On Thursday, Mia described an unwanted kiss from Mr. Combs soon after she started working for him, testifying that she had hoped it was an “accident” that would never happen again. She wept at times on the stand as she described two sexual assaults that followed, including forced oral sex in his bedroom closet and an incident in which she said she woke up in his Los Angeles home to find him on top of her. She testified that she “froze” and did not react as he penetrated her.
Mia testified that she did not report the assaults or tell anyone about them because she feared retaliation from Mr. Combs. “I didn’t want to lose everything that I worked so hard for,” she said.
The defense will have the opportunity to cross-examine Mia later on Friday. His lawyers are expected to highlight the fact that when Mia began cooperating with the government, she did not initially disclose the allegations of sexual assault.
“I was going to die with this — I didn’t want anyone to know ever,” she testified under questioning from the government.
As prosecutors questioned her on Thursday, Mia described a series of incidents throughout her employment that she said contributed to an environment of fear and humiliation. Once, she said, Mr. Combs threw a bowl of spaghetti — which missed her by a couple of feet — after she did not follow his order to pick up food from IHOP fast enough. Another time, she said, he pressured her to snort a mystery drug despite her reluctance.
Mia, who called Mr. Combs by the nickname “Puff” on the stand, recalled becoming enmeshed in the life of a high-flying record producer, partying with him, going along with him on vacation and becoming a close confidante to Ms. Ventura, who is at the crux of the prosecution’s case. For the government, Mia’s testimony is pivotal to its attempts to establish a pattern of how Mr. Combs treated women throughout his decades in power.
Ben Sisario contributed reporting.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
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