On the 22nd day of Sean Combs’s federal trial, the defense is scheduled to complete its cross-examination of “Jane,” an ex-girlfriend who has testified about the affection and passion she once shared with the famed music producer — as well the degrading sex marathons with hired men that she says she endured to please Mr. Combs and retain financial support from him.
Mr. Combs is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy; prosecutors have said that he directed bodyguards and executives at his company to enable and cover up his crimes — including coercing women into sex — as part of a “criminal enterprise.” Jane, who is appearing under a pseudonym, is the second woman the government has put forth as a victim of sex trafficking, after Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, who testified for four days last month.
Mr. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and has strongly denied that any of his sexual activities were nonconsensual.
On Thursday, Jane, who was in a relationship with Mr. Combs from 2021 until his arrest in 2024, will get on the stand for a sixth day; since she first began testifying a week ago she has been questioned for about 21 hours. Even with the torrent of details she has provided, Jane’s testimony has centered on one of the key aspects of the case: whether she was coerced into sex, or acted as a willing participant.
During her time on the stand, Jane has recounting grueling experiences about what she and Mr. Combs called their “hotel nights,” in which she had sex with male escorts while Mr. Combs watched. She said she once vomited after having sex with two of them, and then was encouraged by Mr. Combs to have sex with a third. She said she developed urinary tract infections as a result of the frequent encounters. And after a violent brawl with Mr. Combs that started with an argument over another woman he was dating, Jane testified, she took part in yet another sexual encounter with an escort, wearing makeup to cover up her black eye and welts.
In cross-examination, Teny Geragos, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, focused on dozens of text exchanges between Jane, Mr. Combs and others in which Jane appeared to express excitement about hotel nights and took an active role in planning them. In an exchange from 2021, a pornographic actor who took part in many of these encounters wrote about the “roughest sex we ever had.” Jane called it “def one for the books” and added a “mind-blown” emoji.
Ms. Geragos also highlighted text chains when Jane seemed to indicate that she was willing to accept their hotel nights if it meant more time with Mr. Combs.
“I’m fine with the other stuff but I really just need you right now,” she told the mogul in 2022.
Mr. Combs responded, “Whatever you want.”
Yet on the stand on Wednesday, Jane frequently pushed back against Ms. Geragos’s questions, saying that she often took part in the planning of hotel nights, or went along with Mr. Combs’s suggestions, as a way to have some influence over events she could not control. Even if she complained, Jane said, she would still find herself pressured into taking part in a hotel night.
On her birthday in 2023, Jane was staying at a hotel in the Miami area associated with Nobu, a high-end sushi restaurant, and she and Mr. Combs were discussing where to eat. He favored Nobu; she suggested other eateries as a way to get away from the hotel, she said. They went to Nobu. That night, three escorts showed up to have sex with her.
“You just accepted it, right?” Ms. Geragos asked, citing what Jane had said under questioning from the prosecution.
“I just complied with it,” Jane replied.
Jane is expected to be among the last witnesses called by prosecutors before they rest their case. Then, the defense will call their own witnesses before both sides make closing arguments to the jury.
Ben Sisario, a reporter covering music and the music industry, has been writing for The Times for more than 20 years.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
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