The federal trial of Sean Combs continued on Friday morning when a woman who described the encounters she had with a succession of men at the music mogul’s direction as a “Pandora’s box” of unwanted sex returned to the stand.
The woman, who is testifying under the pseudonym “Jane,” is the second witness put forward by prosecutors as a victim of sex trafficking by Mr. Combs, who also faces charges of racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Mr. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and his lawyers have strongly denied that any of his sexual arrangements were nonconsensual.
The first of those witnesses, Casandra Ventura — the singer known as Cassie, who was in an off-and-on relationship with Mr. Combs for 11 years — has played a prominent role in Mr. Combs’s legal troubles over the last year and a half. Her bombshell lawsuit, filed in November 2023, led to the government’s investigation, and a leaked hotel security video showing Mr. Combs brutally assaulting her has been a key piece of evidence, shown to jurors repeatedly since the trial began four weeks ago.
Before Jane took the stand on Thursday afternoon — under strict conditions from the court to protect her privacy — little had been known about her. In filings before the trial began, prosecutors referred to her in filings only as “Victim-2,” saying that the “financial losses, dependency and social isolation” she experienced during her relationship with Mr. Combs from 2021 to 2024 “made her more vulnerable to his coercion.”
At the start of her testimony on Thursday, she described herself as a single mother who was earning her living through social media promotions when she met Mr. Combs in 2020 on a trip to Florida. They began flirting, and gave each other nicknames: She was Bert and he was Ernie, after the “Sesame Street” characters. By early 2021, she said, they were in a passionate, intimate relationship (though Mr. Combs was clear that he was seeing other women at the same time).
What she said happened next parallels parts of Ms. Ventura’s testimony. Mr. Combs brought Jane to a Miami hotel suite where she said she saw “assistants” setting up with lights and beverages. Mr. Combs invited a male escort to the room and gave the two detailed sexual directions, she testified, while the famed music producer watched and masturbated.
At first, Jane said, she was exhilarated by the experience, calling it a taste of “taboo.” But these encounters, which she said were fueled by drugs and went for up to 30 hours at a time were repeated many times, up until Mr. Combs was arrested in September. (Jane called them “hotel nights” while Ms. Ventura used the term “freak-offs.”) Jane said that she became increasingly financially dependent on Mr. Combs, and that though she told him she did not want to have sex with the other men, he dismissed her objections and the hotel nights continued.
“It was a door that I was unable to shut for the remainder of the relationship,” Jane testified.
Mr. Combs’s lawyers may not get to cross-examine Jane until next week; prosecutors said that Jane’s full testimony could last five days, or even longer. But in its opening statement, the defense signaled its approach to Jane, describing her as a willing participant who enjoyed the thrill of her “kinky” sex life with Mr. Combs, as well as the perks of being with a wealthy celebrity.
“The evidence will show you,” Teny Geragos, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, told the jurors at the start of the trial, “that she did it over and over again for three years because she made the choice.”
Anusha Bayya contributed reporting.
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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