Prosecutors in Sean Combs’s federal trial on Tuesday showed jurors charts that detailed phone records and text messages related to “freak-offs” — the elaborate sexual encounters key to the case — as they presented a depiction of 2016 incident in which Mr. Combs was caught on camera assaulting Casandra Ventura, his former girlfriend.
The records provided a chronological portrait of the communications surrounding the assault at a Los Angeles hotel and illustrated how some of the expenses related to the freak-offs were paid through Mr. Combs’s companies.
The video of the assault on Ms. Ventura has been a critical part of the government’s case and has been shown to jurors numerous times over the more than five weeks of the trial. Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges, and has said that all the sex described by witnesses was consensual.
The messages were displayed by prosecutors and read by DeLeassa Penland, a special agent with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, which is prosecuting the case. The messages began on March 4, 2016, the day before the assault, when Mr. Combs communicated with Ms. Ventura, and she texted a male escort — as well as the escort’s handler — to make arrangements for a gathering.
The next morning — minutes after the video of the assault was recorded — a flurry of messages and calls were exchanged between Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura, and, eventually, his aides who were swept into the conflict. Jurors also saw selfies that Ms. Ventura, who is known as Cassie, took in a car that morning, wearing sunglasses — to cover up a black eye, she said in testimony earlier in the trial.
At 12:10 p.m., Ms. Ventura texted Mr. Combs: “I have a black eye and a fat lip,” and added, “You are sick for thinking it’s OK to do what you’ve done.” Mr. Combs, still at the hotel, claimed the police were with him, and begged her to call. “If you don’t pick up you’ll never hear my voice again,” he wrote. He called her numerous times, but the calls were not answered.
Later that afternoon, Kristina Khorram, a top aide to Mr. Combs, texted with another employee, Elie Maroun, about how to handle any fallout with the hotel.
“I’m going to ask to just cover damages,” Ms. Khorram texted. “Say they had a fun drunk night to try and get more info.”
Mr. Maroun answered, “LOL no shot, they aren’t playing nice.”
Later, Ms. Khorram and Mr. Combs connected with a hotel security officer, Eddy Garcia, who testified earlier in the trial that he sold footage of the assault to Mr. Combs for $100,000 in cash, which Mr. Garcia said he shared with co-workers.
Throughout the presentation of texts from this episode, Mr. Combs sat still in his seat.
Prosecutors have identified Ms. Khorram as a co-conspirator in what they have depicted as Mr. Combs’s criminal enterprise; she was not charged in the indictment against Mr. Combs and she has not testified.
On the 25th day of the trial, prosecutors are nearing the end of the presentation of their case. They are emphasizing to the jury a core argument behind Mr. Combs’s racketeering charge: that he used company resources and personnel as part of a criminal enterprise that sex trafficked at least two women.
Earlier on Tuesday, prosecutors displayed charts summarizing travel records and financial transactions related to freak-offs, showing that hotel charges and airline tickets were used by the men hired by Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura for freak-offs.
Those expenses, along with others for hotel damages, were charged to American Express cards registered to Mr. Combs. The bills, prosecutors showed, were paid by as many as five accounts associated with Mr. Combs’s businesses.
On Tuesday morning, out of the presence of the jury, the judge overseeing the case, Arun Subramanian, admonished lawyers for both the prosecution and the defense over an article that was published yesterday, which he said contained information from a sealed proceeding. The article was not identified.
Lawyers for both sides denied leaking information, and Judge Subramanian said he had checked with court personnel. He gave a stern warning that any violations of a court order involving sealed materials could result in civil or criminal penalties.
“This is the only warning I will give,” the judge said from the bench.
The jury in the case is anonymous but not sequestered. On Monday, Judge Subramanian dismissed another juror over inconsistent answers he had given to questions about where he lived.
Anusha Bayya, Olivia Bensimon and Julia Jacobs contributed reporting.
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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