The judge overseeing Sean Combs’s federal trial admonished the music mogul on Thursday for nodding vigorously at jurors while his lawyer questioned a witness about an account of violence.
Mr. Combs’s enthusiastic reaction came as one of his lawyers cross-examined a woman who has accused him of lifting her up onto the railing of a 17th-floor balcony in a violent act of intimidation. During her questioning, the defense threw the timeline of the account into question.
“I saw your client looking at the jury and nodding vigorously,” Judge Arun Subramanian said after the witness left the stand, out of the presence of the jury. “That is absolutely unacceptable.”
Speaking to Marc Agnifilo, Mr. Combs’s lead lawyer, the judge asked for an assurance that it would not happen again, saying that if the issue continued, it could result in the “exclusion of your client from the courtroom.” Mr. Agnifilo agreed.
The woman, Bryana Bongolan, had previously testified about her friendship with Casandra Ventura, a longtime girlfriend of Mr. Combs, and how a night spent at Ms. Ventura’s apartment in a high-rise building in Los Angeles ended in terror after Mr. Combs arrived. She testified that early one morning, Mr. Combs entered the apartment in a rage, lifted her up onto the railing and threw her down onto the balcony furniture, which she said caused bruising, persistent nightmares and paranoia.
Her allegation is part of what prosecutors have described as a pattern of violence perpetrated by Mr. Combs over years — a pattern that they say intimidated Ms. Ventura into following his sexual demands.
Mr. Combs has long denied Ms. Bongolan’s allegations. On Thursday, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, Nicole Westmoreland, pointed to a photo — dated Sept. 26, 2016 — that Ms. Bongolan said she took with her phone only hours after being attacked in Los Angeles.
The night before, Ms. Westmoreland said, Mr. Combs was performing in New Jersey in the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour, which featured artists from Mr. Combs’s label. Ms. Westmoreland also showed a hotel bill she said was for Mr. Combs’s stay in New York City that week.
“You agree that one person can’t be in two places at the same time?” Ms. Westmoreland asked.
“In theory, yeah,” Ms. Bongolan replied.
Asked if she had lied on the stand about the account, Ms. Bongolan testified, “I can’t agree with you.” Back under questioning by the government, she said that although she was not certain of the precise date, she had no doubt that Mr. Combs held her over the balcony.
Mr. Combs is facing sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers have acknowledged that Mr. Combs had a problem with violence, but they have denied that he coerced anyone into sex.
On Thursday, a second woman who prosecutors say was sex trafficked by Mr. Combs is expected to take the stand in what prosecutors projected would be several days of testimony about drug-fueled sex marathons with male prostitutes known as “freak-offs.”
A judge has allowed the woman to testify anonymously, and she is being referred to in court by the pseudonym “Jane.” She is the most significant witness since Ms. Ventura, whose allegations of physical and sexual abuse gave rise to the criminal case.
Prosecutors have said that Jane’s relationship with Mr. Combs mirrored the one he had with Ms. Ventura in many ways. Like Ms. Ventura, they have said, Jane was coerced into freak-offs through violence, financial control and threats related to videos of the sexual encounters, which they said Mr. Combs directed step by step.
Unlike Ms. Ventura, who is a singer known as Cassie and a public celebrity, Jane’s identity has not been revealed.
The government has described Jane as a single mother who started spending time with Mr. Combs in 2020 and quickly fell in love with the music mogul, agreeing to participate in an initial freak-off to please him.
“Jane thought the first freak-off was a one-time, wild night,” Emily Johnson, one of the prosecutors, said at the start of the case. “Jane was wrong.”
Mr. Combs’s lawyers have argued at trial that Ms. Ventura and Jane were willing participants in the freak-offs.
At the start of the trial, Teny Geragos, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, described Jane’s relationship with Mr. Combs as “toxic and dysfunctional” but said “the evidence is going to show you that she is a capable, strong woman who willingly engaged in their sex life so they could spend time together.”
“That is simply not sex trafficking,” she added.
The government did not secure Jane’s cooperation in the case until after Mr. Combs was arrested in September. Prosecutors noted in court papers that Mr. Combs had been depositing payments into her bank account as recently as that month. She began meeting with prosecutors in January.
Her relationship with Mr. Combs overlaps with the criminal investigation into his conduct: One of the key violent outbursts preceding a freak-off that prosecutors have cited occurred less than a year from the start of the trial.
Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.
Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times.
Ben Sisario, a reporter covering music and the music industry, has been writing for The Times for more than 20 years.
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