A stylist who testified that he witnessed Sean Combs repeatedly beat Casandra Ventura, his longtime girlfriend, and was privy to her discomfort with the sexual encounters at the heart of the mogul’s sex-trafficking and racketeering case came under questioning on Thursday by the defense.
The stylist, Deonte Nash, is a critical witness for the prosecution because he said Ms. Ventura told him several times that she did not want to participate in the sexual encounters with male prostitutes, called “freak-offs,” that prosecutors say Mr. Combs demanded and directed.
Xavier Donaldson, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, began questioning Mr. Nash on Thursday morning about what he knew about infidelity in Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura’s relationship — a main theme of the defense.
The cross-examination became animated as Mr. Donaldson began inquiring about a flirtation Ms. Ventura had with the actor Michael B. Jordan in 2015 that is said to have spurred Mr. Combs’s jealousy. Mr. Nash cut in: “Yes, I did hook her up with Michael B. Jordan — I know where you’re going with this.”
The defense has argued that Mr. Combs’s violence toward Ms. Ventura was motivated by jealousy and drug use, not issues related to sexual coercion.
Later on Thursday, a former personal assistant of Sean Combs who prosecutors say was sexually assaulted by her boss, is expected to take the stand.
Throughout the trial, the woman has been referred to by the pseudonym “Mia.” Prosecutors have previewed her testimony for jurors by saying that she would “tell you about the times that the defendant forced himself on her sexually, putting his hand up her dress, unzipping his pants and forcing her to perform oral sex, and sneaking into her bed to penetrate her against her will.”
Previous witnesses have described Mia as part of Mr. Combs’s entourage and a friend of Casandra Ventura, the music mogul’s on-and-off girlfriend of 11 years whom he is charged with sex trafficking.
Mr. Combs is not accused of sex trafficking Mia but of subjecting her to forced labor — including sexual activity — through violence and threats of serious harm. The forced labor allegation is part of a broader racketeering conspiracy charge that accuses Mr. Combs of directing a criminal enterprise that helped him commit crimes and cover them up over two decades.
Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him. His lawyers have acknowledged that he was responsible for domestic violence, but they vehemently denied the existence of a criminal conspiracy, asserting that he was the head of entirely lawful businesses that had nothing to do with his private sex life. They have argued that the sex at issue in the case was entirely consensual.
In the defense’s opening statement, Teny Geragos, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, previewed the upcoming cross-examination of Mia, which will surface messages she wrote to Mr. Combs throughout her employment in which Ms. Geragos said she expressed “unbelievable love” for him.
Mia’s testimony had been expected to begin on Wednesday, but was pushed back by the lengthy questioning and cross-examination of Mr. Nash, a stylist who worked with Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura for years.
Mr. Nash, who became a close friend of Ms. Ventura, detailed several instances in which he said he witnessed Mr. Combs physically abuse Ms. Ventura — including one incident involving Mia.
In 2013, Mr. Nash said, he and Mia were helping Ms. Ventura pack for a music festival when Mr. Combs knocked on her apartment door and expressed anger that Ms. Ventura, who had been sleeping on the couch, had not answered her phone. Mr. Nash testified that Mr. Combs grabbed Ms. Ventura by the hair, pulled her off the couch and started hitting her.
“He was in a rage,” Mr. Nash said.
As Mr. Combs’s attack continued, Mr. Nash jumped on the music mogul’s back to try to subdue him but was thrown off, he testified, and then Mia jumped on Mr. Combs’s back and was also thrown off. Mr. Nash said Mr. Combs continued to hit Ms. Ventura, stopping only after her head hit the edge of a bed frame and she began to bleed. As everyone in the room realized the severity of Ms. Ventura’s injury, Mr. Nash recalled, Mr. Combs told them “look what y’all made me do.”
Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
Joe Coscarelli is a culture reporter for The Times who focuses on popular music and a co-host of the Times podcast “Popcast (Deluxe).”
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