The Sean "Diddy" Combs Trial: Week 3 Recap
if Week 1 cracked the door, and Week 2 kicked it open, Week 3 of Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial bulldozed the whole damn house. Whatever was left of Diddy’s mystique- kingmaker, mogul, party god, etc. is now drenched in Molotov residue, NDA payoffs, baby oil, hotel room candle wax, and the kind of chilling, coordinated abuse allegations that would make even the most hardened true-crime junkie gag and cringe.
This was a week of testimony yes, but it also included a heavy dose of receipts, flashbacks, and horror stories wrapped in designer handkerchiefs and delivered with the emotional weight of a hostage letter.
My last update came last week after Scott Mescudi, aka Kid Cudi wrapped his testimony-
He painted a scene straight out of a Netflix thriller.
After a brief fling with Cassie Ventura in 2011, Cudi claimed Diddy broke into his house, abused his dog, and opened up Christmas presents. (No seriously)
Weeks later he returned and allegedly fire bombed his Porsche. Cudi claimed Diddy lobbed a Molotov cocktail through its roof. Not by accident. Not some random act of vandalism. Arson investigators confirmed it. Diddy, when confronted, allegedly stood in front of a Soho House window, hands behind his back, like Thanos at therapy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told Cudi.
Diddy's team tried again to request the judge declare a mistrial.
Things culiminated with Cassie's own mother Regina Ventura taking the stand to describe what she witnessed happen to her daughter both physically and mentally. Cassie’s mother said she was forced to wire Diddy $20,000 to stop him from releasing explicit sex tapes.
Prosecutors called hotel worker read off notes attached to Diddy’s profile: "Pls monitor outside his room, spray air freshener,” and “Always spills candle wax and uses excessive amounts of oil.” His rooms had to be taken out of commission for deep cleaning.
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She alleged that he’d threatened to have someone physically harm Cassie and Kid Cudi if they didn't stop hooking up. Regina later photographed Cassie’s bruises. She wasn’t cross-examined. There was no need.
Forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes was also called and explained to jurors why victims stay. She laid out reasons including money, fear, power, and emotional manipulation. The more powerful the abuser, the harder it is to escape she explained. Diddy didn’t just control people with wealth, he wrapped them in psychological barbed wire.
Court was adjourned the next day and everybody was given a long weekend.
The trial resumed on Monday with Dawn Richard, former Danity Kane member and Diddy-Dirty Money vocalist, testifying she saw Diddy attack Cassie more times than she could count. She described in detail one specific memory of him screaming about breakfast, grabbing a frying pan, and trying to hit her. When she fell, he kicked her, dragged her, and beat her upstairs.
Afterward, he called Dawn and another witness into the studio and reminded them: “Where I come from, people go missing.” Then he gave them flowers like a fucking psychopath.
Cassie’s former best friend, Kerry Morgan, testified that she and Cassie once hid in a ditch to avoid Diddy after he allegedly threw Cassie onto a brick patio face first. She described seeing her with a black eye after the infamous InterContinental Hotel beating. Their friendship ended in 2018 when Diddy allegedly attacked her, choked her, and hit her with a wooden hanger. The price to shut her up? A mere $30,000. She signed the NDA and never spoke to Cassie again.
Another witness the prosecution called was Diddy’s former personal assistant, David James. He confirmed the atmosphere was hostage-like.
He claimed that Cassie once told him she “couldn’t get out.” Combs paid for her apartment, gave her an allowance, and controlled her career. James also testified about Diddy grabbing multiple guns and forcing staff into a car to confront Suge Knight.
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On Tuesday, things crescendoed with Capricorn Clark, Combs’ former "brand director" taking the stand. And this woman deserves a damn Medal of Valor for the trauma she unloaded. Among a litany of horror stories, she alleged that Diddy kidnapped her, pulled a gun on her in the middle of the night, forced her into a car, and told her they were going to kill Cudi. That wasn’t metaphorical. That was a quote.
She claimed she watched Diddy beat Cassie so viciously that she called Cassie’s mom to beg her to intervene. And the threats didn’t start there, on Clark’s first day working for Diddy in 2004, he allegedly took her to Central Park and told her she’d be killed if her ties to Suge Knight caused issues. (She once worked for Knight in the past) If that’s your onboarding, just imagine what the exit interview looks like.
(Sidebar - this woman endured all this shit for a whopping $55,000 a year salary)
She also alleged that Jimmy Iovine threatened her -
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And that Diddy always carried a gun on him because he was terrified of running into 50 Cent.
To which 50 Cent of course publicly mocked Diddy -
Clark also went into detail about how 50 Cent had been trying to expose Combs for years before this entire thing hit the fan.
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There was another witness called who the courts allowed to use an alias to protect her identity. Under the pseudonym “Mia”, she testified about a stretch of abuse so disturbing it would make a Lifetime executive say, “Too dark.”
According to Mia, Combs raped her multiple times, including on his 40th birthday at The Plaza Hotel, and forced her into sex acts at multiple homes of his. She said she was often frozen with fear, believing each assault would be the last.
In response, Diddy's defense team pulled up old social media posts where Mia praised Diddy. Her answer? “That was the highlight reel. My life wasn’t that.” She never called the police. Why? Because she said she feared for her life. Which is becoming a common trend here.
There was also some drama related to this case, with some ancillary people involved- one of Diddy's longtime bodyguards, who has been VERY vocal about this whole thing since the jump - Gene Deal- and a small j journalist covering the trial who goes by the name Donat.
It starts with a civil lawsuit that was filed against Diddy by a Randy Pittman -
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Donat has confronted Deal outside the courtroom several times this past week-
Allegedly, later that day, after court let out, Donat once again confronted Deal and got on the same elevator as him, and a fight ensued. Reports were that Deal beat Donat's ass, but that has been greatly exaggerated. Emilie witnessed the entire thing-
Everything surrounding this trial has been a circus so it only makes sense that we have one literally taking place inside and outside the courthouse.
This thing is also such a big story that yesterday The President was asked point blank if he would consider pardoning Diddy and he said he "would consider the facts if he was being mistreated".
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That's a wrap for Week 3.
There has been a lot of talk and questions surrounding how the government is charging Combs with racketeering, but their case for it seems to be starting to appear. Per NBC News -
Clark’s stunning testimony in the third week of Combs’ trial provided another example of the control he allegedly wielded as head of his New York-based record label, building on the premise set forth by prosecutors that Combs allegedly oversaw a criminal enterprise that relied on employees and other accomplices to carry out illegal acts.
Clark’s “testimony is certainly helpful in painting a sinister image of Combs, of his manipulation and his coercion, his control and his violence, which will be beneficial to the prosecution down the line in terms of gaining the jury’s sympathies that this guy was up to no good and needs to be put away, or at least held accountable,” said Mark Chutkow, a defense lawyer who handled racketeering cases as a federal prosecutor in Detroit.
As per the federal racketeering statute, the government must prove at least two predicate offenses, or crimes, committed via a criminal enterprise, Chutkow said.
“You do have these elements of extortion and coercion and fear and intimidation also at play, which you see in gangs and you see in the Mafia and other criminal organizations, and so I think that you don’t necessarily have to have co-conspirators and accomplices that are completely voluntary in their commitment to the organization,” Chutkow said.
“That’s why you hear the concept of a ‘den of thieves,’” Chutkow said. “They all have their own agendas at play, but they’re still working together towards advancing other criminal objectives.”
Chutkow said “that’s probably the way the prosecution will kind of categorize this for the jury, and say, ‘Hey, we would love to be able to put on witnesses like firemen and nurses for you, but that’s not the world that Combs worked in.’”
Bad and illegal behavior does not necessarily guarantee a racketeering conviction, said Mark Zauderer, a veteran trial and appellate lawyer in New York.
“There is lots of evidence of violence and possible criminal activity,” he said of Combs’ trial. “But all of that still does not answer the question of whether the jury will find an enterprise and a conspiracy.
Attorney Rachel Maimin, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, said that while racketeering charges can be complex, prosecutors can sometimes prove the charge with only one witness or even circumstantial evidence.
“I don’t know if they’ve met all of the elements of racketeering yet, but prosecutors are showing that Diddy used employees from his business and organization to carry out criminal activities,” Maimin said. “They’re linking the crimes to his business.”