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This is week five of testimony in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is underway. Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Combs is 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” and “looks forward to his day in court.”
By October 2023 “Jane” testified she needed a break.
Combs had texted her to “call someone” for a “hotel night,” telling her in a text, “You’re the only thing that’s going to put me at peace.”
“Jane” responded to the message, “I’m not an animal. I’m not a porn star. These experiences are desensitizing sex for me.”
“Jane” had seen Instagram posts of Combs with other women.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey asked, “What were you jealous of at this point in time?”
“Jane” answered, “I’m not really sure I was even jealous. I think I was really frustrated that there was more pressure on me, and more was asked of me than everyone else.”
She sent a follow-up text to Combs: “I’m not a porn star. I’m not an animal. I need a break. I don’t want to do anything. I’ve hit a wall,” the message said. “It’s been three years of me having to f— strangers. I’m tired.”
Combs responded, “So we’re breaking up?”
Comey asked, “Had you been suggesting breaking up?”
“Jane” told the court that she had not. “I had been saying I wanted to stop all of it,” Jane testified. “Having sex with other men.”
“Jane” began to tear up and wail into the microphone as she read a subsequent text.
“My spirit and my soul is tired. I need a break,” the message said. “I can’t be used like this anymore. I wanted to make you happy but it’s creating a war inside me.”
Beginning a fifth week of testimony, Sean Combs’ ex-girlfriend, appearing under the pseudonym “Jane,” told the jury she once took a four-day trip to Miami with Combs, during which he allegedly promised to take her on a yacht following a “hotel night.” “Jane” previously testified that “hotel night” was the phrase that she and Combs used to refer to their sexual encounters involving other men.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey asked, “Did you agree to do the hotel night?”
“Yes,” “Jane” testified in response, telling the court it lasted two days.
“Did Sean take you on the yacht?” Comey asked.
“No,” “Jane” testified.
Back home in Los Angeles, “I noticed that on social media he had taken one of his girlfriends on the same yacht trip he had promised me,” “Jane” testified.
She told the court that Combs told her the yacht trip with the other woman was nothing. However, “Jane” testified, a month later she saw an interview Combs gave to a podcast in which he bragged about having sex on the yacht and “boasting they had sex for 48 hours.”
The jury saw a text message she then sent to Combs: “I don’t want to be used and locked in a room to perform and fulfill your fantasies. Coming to the realization of what this is,” the message said.
Combs texted in response “that was podcast talk” and then, in a subsequent message, said “I’m tired of your false accusations.”
By that point, “Jane” testified, Combs had been paying her $10,000 monthly rent for six months and she felt obligated to fulfill Combs’ sexual desires.
“Jane” told the court that Combs then invited her to New York.
“I remember he said that we would have alone time and we would do nice things in New York together,” “Jane” testified. “We would go to dinner, go shopping and have a proper New York trip. He mentioned no hotel nights.”
On the flight to New York, “I remember on this flight that I received a message from Sean that made me a little upset,” “Jane” testified. “I just remember just taking a deep breath and kind of feeling upset and a little disappointed, a little defeated.”
The jury saw the text in question from Combs, which read: “I have a surprise if that’s ok. Just one.”
“Jane” began to cry as she told the jury that she understood from the text that “he was going to introduce me to somebody new.”
On that New York trip, in September 2023, “Jane” testified that Combs infected her with the COVID-19 virus.
An ex-girlfriend of Sean Combs, testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” will retake the witness stand Monday as the fifth week of testimony begins in Combs’ federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial.
“Jane” previously told the jury about a pattern of alleged drug-fueled sex encounters with male prostitutes that she testified she was afraid to discontinue once Combs started paying her rent and funding other expenses in her life.
Combs began paying her $10,000 monthly rent in 2023 and still pays it, “Jane” testified.
“I felt that at any given opportunity Sean was just hovering the house over my head, like just really always brought it up in so many ways that he was paying for it and it just always felt like he wanted me to know that he was doing this for me all the time,” she told the jury.
The testimony last week of a different witness, Bryana Bongolan, prompted the defense to seek a mistrial.
Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro argued that federal prosecutors knowingly introduced what she said was false testimony that Combs dangled Bongolan from a balcony at former girlfriend Cassie Ventura’s Los Angeles apartment. Shapiro said hotel receipts show Combs was in New York at the time the alleged incident occurred.
Federal prosecutors said they planned to respond to the defense motion for a mistrial later today. Judge Arun Subramanian said he would take up the motion on Tuesday.
Week 4 of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial wrapped up with testimony from “Jane,” the second ex-girlfriend of Combs to testify following Cassie Ventura.
“Jane” is expected to return to the stand on Monday.
Read about what happened last week during the trial.
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