Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs forced women into ‘freak offs’, jurors told – as hotel CCTV is played in court

Published

1 month ago

May 13, 2025

admin

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s public persona was that of a “charismatic” hip-hop mogul – but behind the scenes he forced women into “freak off” sexual encounters with escorts and blackmailed them with videos, prosecutors alleged during the first day of his trial.

In the courtroom in Manhattan, New York, Combs blew a kiss to his mother and family members supporting him, before listening intently as opening statements from the prosecution and defence outlined the details of the high-profile case.

The hip-hop mogul, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, and strenuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse.

His defence lawyers say all sexual encounters were consensual and that the case is really about nothing more than Combs’s sexual preferences, which they say should remain private. Combs is a “flawed individual”, they argue, but not a racketeer or a sex trafficker.

The court also heard evidence from two witnesses – a former hotel security guard and a male escort.

But first, prosecutor Emily Johnson gave her opening statement.

“To the public, he was Puff Daddy or Diddy,” she told the court, describing Combs as a “business icon” and “larger than life”.

However, there was another side to the rapper, she says – a side that “ran a criminal enterprise”, she said. He sometimes “called himself the king”, Ms Johnson said, and expected to be treated like one.

“This is Sean Combs,” Ms Johnson told jurors as she pointed at Combs, who leaned back in his chair. “During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes.”

Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.

Ms Johnson said Combs beat and sexually exploited his former long-term girlfriend Cassie, who was named in court, and compelled the singer and other women to take drugs and have sex with male escorts.

He threatened to ruin Cassie’s career by publicly releasing videos of these sexual encounters, which were dubbed “freak offs”, jurors heard.

“Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,” the prosecutor said.

Jurors will hear testimonies from alleged victims who will talk about “some of the most painful experiences of their lives”, Ms Johnson continued. “The days they spent in hotel rooms, high on drugs, dressed in costumes to perform the defendant’s sexual fantasies.”

‘This is not a complicated case’

But Teny Geragos, who is on Combs’s defence team, painted a very different picture.

“Sean Combs is a complicated man,” she told the court. “But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money.”

Ms Geragos conceded that Combs could be violent and said she understood some jurors might not condone this, nor his “kinky sex”. But the rapper is “not charged with being mean”, she said, and his lifestyle may have been indulgent, but it was not illegal.

She also claimed Combs’s accusers were motivated by money.

Cassie hotel footage shown in court

After the opening statements, the first witness, Israel Florez, was called to the stand.

Now a police officer in LA, in March 2016, Mr Florez worked as a security guard at a hotel in Los Angeles, where Combs was filmed on CCTV seemingly attacking R&B singer and model Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura.

After CNN aired video of the attack last year, the rapper apologised in a video on social media and said he was “disgusted” by his actions.

Video footage of this incident was shown in court as Mr Florez gave his testimony.

He told the court he recognised Combs after responding to a call of a woman in distress on the sixth floor of the hotel. The rapper was wearing only a towel and socks, Mr Florez told the court, and had “a blank stare, like a devilish stare, just looking at me”.

He said that as he was escorting Ms Ventura and Combs to their room, she indicated she wanted to leave and the rapper told her: “You’re not going to leave.”

Combs then offered him money and told him “don’t tell nobody”, Mr Florez said.

The second witness, Daniel Phillip, used to work as a male escort, the court was told. He said he met Ms Ventura at a hotel in Manhattan, where he thought he was attending a bachelorette party.

However, he said he ended up having sex with Ms Ventura as Combs watched and masturbated, and that he was paid several thousand dollars.

Mr Phillip said he had several subsequent encounters with the then couple, which lasted between an hour and 10 hours, and that he witnessed or heard the rapper being violent on two occasions.

He told the court he did not intervene as Combs was powerful, and that he feared for his life. His evidence will continue tomorrow.

The trial is expected to last about eight weeks. Combs faces up to life in prison if he is convicted.

US

Why did Trump drop the F-bomb?

Published

3 hours ago

June 25, 2025

admin

Donald Trump has lashed out at both Israel and Iran – clearly frustrated after both sides exchanged missiles despite a ceasefire being declared.

For now though, a cessation of hostilities has held, with Israel saying its operation is now over.

The US president is now in The Netherlands for the NATO summit, and received a gushing text from Secretary-General Mark Rutte while en route.

US Correspondents James Matthews and Mark Stone discuss the latest.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

US

Leaks plunge success of ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’ into serious doubt

Published

6 hours ago

June 25, 2025

admin

Leaks plunge success of 'Operation Midnight Hammer' into serious doubt

There is a critical question hanging over the events of the past few days.

Behind the chest-thumping from Donald Trump, and the bewilderment beyond at his statecraft-by-social-media, doubts have now reached fever pitch about the success of the American bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Leaks from the US Defence Department suggest the bunker busting bombs dropped on Iran’s three nuclear enrichment sites might only have set the country’s nuclear capabilities back by months.

“We were assuming that the damage was going to be much more significant than this assessment is finding,” said one of three sources, speaking to NBC News.

“This assessment is already finding that these core pieces are still intact. That’s a bad sign for the overall programme.”

NBC News has spoken to three sources – all of whom say that the initial assessment by the Defence Intelligence Agency has concluded that the US airstrikes were not as effective as Mr Trump claimed.

Similar leaks were made to The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.

Follow latest developments in our live blog

Responding to the CNN leak, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.”

She continued: “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear programme. Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000lb bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration.”

In his address to the nation on Saturday night, Mr Trump had said: “I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has also dismissed the leaks, saying: “Based on everything we have seen – and I’ve seen it all – our bombing campaign obliterated Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons.

“Our massive bombs hit exactly the right spot at each target – and worked perfectly.”

“The impact of those bombs is buried under a mountain of rubble in Iran, so anyone who says the bombs were not devastating is just trying to undermine the president and the successful mission.”

Battle Damage Assessments (BDAs) take a long time to be close to conclusive and require extensive intelligence analysis.

Speaking to Sky News, former director of the CIA and top US General David Petraeus cautioned about drawing any conclusions at this stage.

“Well, the truth is, it is just too soon. And those who are leaking should know that it takes a long time to do the battle damage assessment. And those who have actually pushed back in very conclusive ways also probably should have wait for the full results,” Gen Petraeus said.

“This is a very painstaking process. It’s an effort by the overall intelligence community, not just Defence Intelligence Agency. In fact, the CIA would be the lead in this effort to mine all sources of intelligence, imagery, intelligence of all types, signals, cyber, even open-source intelligence.”

Beyond the debate over the extent of the damage, questions remain over whether Iran might have managed to move equipment including centrifuges. Critically too, the whereabouts of about 400kg of highly enriched uranium is unknown.

The classified assessment of the military’s operation in Iran has been transmitted to Congress and has been viewed by some senators in a secure location, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

“I’ve reviewed the classified material,” Democratic Party Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said.

“I’m a little bit disappointed that my colleagues went and looked at it and mainly started talking about it publicly. That’s not we’re supposed to do with a classified report,” he added.

Speaking on Sunday to NBC’s Meet The Press, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon insisted Iran’s nuclear capability had been dramatically set back.

“I think it’s still very early to jump into conclusions. We have to wait for the assessment. I can tell you one thing for sure. If you look where Iran was 12 days ago and where they are today, you understand that both Israel and the US were able to degrade the capabilities, push them back decades, and if we had an imminent threat, it doesn’t exist anymore.”

US

Donald Trump’s four-letter fury is a reminder there’s one F word he fears most

Published

18 hours ago

June 24, 2025

admin

Donald Trump's four-letter fury is a reminder there's one F word he fears most

Failure – it’s the F word Donald Trump fears most.

Hence the early morning rant from a president, F for frustrated.

The day before had seen head-spinning developments in which a ceasefire between Israel and Iran turned on a Truth Social post.

If it felt fragile, that’s how it appeared overnight. There were exchanges between both sides beyond the deadline, and the president woke frustrated.

An unlikely diplomatic result looked exactly that.

Trump’s four-lettered fury was aimed primarily at Israel, which on Tuesday morning gave the appearance of an ally that had reeled him into the fight and wasn’t letting go.

It also leant into doubts around Trump’s influence over Israeli actions.

If this process is heading towards nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran, Trump doesn’t need questions surrounding his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Tehran needs to believe Trump can tighten the leash.

It will have been comforted by his remarks on board Air Force One, from where he called Netanyahu.

Speaking to the travelling media, Trump said he didn’t want to see regime change in Iran, having floated support for the idea last week.

👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈

Israel’s prime minister’s office issued a statement that spoke of having “achieved all the war’s objectives”.

The wording speaks to a move beyond aggression.

Time will tell, and this ceasefire feels fragile still, but it’ll do for Trump for now, the self-styled peacemaker making peace one social media post at a time.

He is strengthened by the success of his diplomacy, a fact laid bare – where else? – on Truth Social.

As he flew towards the NATO summit, Trump posted a message from the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte.

It’s unclear if Rutte knew it would be published, but it’s abundantly clear he’s a man with lips puckered as the US president swaggers towards the gathering.

Referring to NATO countries’ commitment to increase their defence spending to 5% of GDP, he wrote: “Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world.

“You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”

The effusive praise speaks to power enhanced for the US president as he prepares to attend the NATO gathering.

His stature is reinforced by his most recent result… as long as it lasts.