Cross-examination of ex-assistant ‘Mia’ ends

Prosecutor Maurene Comey informed the court docket that — hours earlier — the face of “Mia” was mistakenly proven on video piped into the courthouse overflow room.

Decide Subramanian requested if one thing went flawed with the redacted footage that ought to’ve been aired or the wrong model was used.

The prosecution did not have a solution.

Sylvia Oken, space director of gross sales and advertising and marketing on the Beverly Hills Lodge, is on the stand now because the prosecution’s subsequent witness.

Oken informed jurors that Sean Combs used the aliases “Phillip Pines and “Frank Black” for lodge reservations.

She stated it is not unusual for leisure trade friends to remain on the lodge beneath an alias.

The witness stated she has no alternative however to testify in opposition to Combs as a result of she does not need her youthful, feminine family members to show a blind eye to the problem of sexual assault.

“As a result of I can’t look my niece or my goddaughters within the eyes … sooner or later in the event that they occur to be on this state of affairs.”

The prosecution had Mia reiterate her emotions of worry in speaking about Combs, together with her testifying that her terror and issue understanding what allegedly occurred was partly why she met with the federal government a lot.

Prosecutor Madison Smyser requested Mia if she has ever been ready to talk about her allegations that Combs sexually assaulted her with out wanting down.

“No, it is the worst factor I’ve ever needed to discuss in my life,” Mia stated.

On redirect, “Mia” stated she had a very good purpose to maintain working laborious and guaranteeing that Combs was happy.

“As a result of when he was blissful, I used to be protected,” the prosecution witness stated.

The protection repeatedly requested Mia why she stayed with Combs regardless of the alleged assaults she says she endured. Mia did not distance herself from earlier statements of admiration for Combs, saying that top highs — at that time of her profession and life — appeared to make up for the low lows.

Combs’ protection ended its cross-examination, permitting prosecutors to redirect Mia’s testimony.

Mia was requested about her work with Combs, which included managing all of his social media presence. She testified that if Combs didn’t really feel as if she was doing her job, Mia could be punished and her job would have been threatened.

This apparently included posting for Combs’ birthday, as Mia informed the court docket she would’ve been in bother if she did not put up.

Protection legal professional Brian Metal revisited Mia’s prior testimony of the violence she stated she endured whereas working for Combs, noting that in 14 years all she ever wrote about Combs have been statements of admiration.

Mia testified that there was a time the place Combs slammed a door on her arm and continued to use stress, leaving her bruised. She stated that her solely interplay with Combs’ human sources was for them to implement a punishment he wished.

Metal recalled her prior testimony saying she was frightened of being killed, asking Mia if there have been occasions she felt she might die at Combs’ arms.

Mia informed the court docket that he had threatened her life and bodily assaulted her.

The cross-examination of “Mia” moved into the previous assistant’s observations of Combs’ relationship with Ventura, particularly whether or not Ventura was jealous of different ladies.

She testified that in her expertise, she solely remembers Ventura being upset that she noticed Combs with one other lady whereas Ventura was filming in South Africa. Mia testified that the connection was offered to Ventura as one in every of exclusivity between her and Combs.

When protection legal professional Brian Metal famous that clearly wasn’t true, Mia informed the court docket “it was not clear to her.”

Metal revisited the “kill myself” textual content message by Mia, echoing what is likely to be the protection’s strongest level of this cross-examination.

However like in earlier cases of Steele asking Mia about her praising Combs, the witness owned it and defined her mindset of wanting to stay employed by the defendant.

“My complete world was ripped away from me, instantly,” she stated. “And even when, in hindsight, that world was terrible, I didn’t comprehend it on the time. That’s why it felt like every part was ending.”

“Mia” was requested a number of questions on Ventura’s working life throughout her years with Combs, because the protection apparently tried to undermine prior witnesses’ implications that he stunted Ventura’s profession.

Protection legal professional Brian Metal requested Mia questions on Ventura acquiring modeling jobs, film work and even music she labored on with different artists, corresponding to Wiz Khalifa. Mia testified that each one of this was completed with Combs’ data and consent.

Prior witnesses have stated that whereas Ventura recorded music whereas relationship Combs, she was unable to launch new albums as a part of her 10-album take care of Combs’ file firm. Ventura has one studio album, which was launched in 2006, and a mixtape, which dropped in 2013.

The witness stated she went on to work for Madonna after being let go from her job with Combs, refuting insinuations that she has not been employed and may very well be bitter with the defendant.

In an eight-month stint with the “Materials Lady,” Mia stated she labored as an assistant along with the icon’s movie division.

Mia stated she secured the Madonna gig independently, with out Combs’ assist. The witness additionally accused Combs of reneging on serving to her with a TV present she had developed.

One feminine juror was seen smiling, seemingly having fun with protection legal professional Brian Metal’s cross-examination of “Mia.”

Typically, the juror widened her eyes and furrowed her forehead, showing skeptical of a few of Mia’s testimony.

Court docket has reconvened from its lunch break, and “Mia” will return to the witness stand to proceed cross-examination.

Prosecutors stated “Mia” will stipulate that she has met with their group 28 occasions since 2023.

Decide Arun Subramanian emptied the courtroom for the every day lunch break, telling everybody to be able to return at 12:50 p.m. ET.

In the course of the break, Subramanian stated “Mia” can be given paperwork to refresh her reminiscence concerning the quite a few conferences she had with the federal government previous to trial.

Combs’ protection pushed “Mia” about why she waited to inform the federal government her allegations of sexual assaults in opposition to Combs, saying it took about seven or eight months till she revealed the data to prosecutors.

Mia informed the court docket that she does not bear in mind the precise conversations, however that she didn’t inform the federal government till she had retained authorized illustration. The explanations are “privileged,” she stated.

Lawyer-client privilege protects the confidentiality of communications between a lawyer and the shopper.

After her departure from Combs’ employment, “Mia” stated she went to mediation and initially requested for $10 million.

Metal, the protection lawyer, requested Mia if she’d demanded that eight-digit sum from a lawsuit. She responded that her declare in opposition to Combs went to mediation, and that is the place $10 million emerged as a gap place in negotiations.

They finally settled for $400,000, together with her attorneys retaining about half of that, Mia stated.

“Mia” spoke to Cassie Ventura after Combs’ former girlfriend filed her November 2023 lawsuit detailing sexual abuse allegations in opposition to him.

However Mia testified that she did not inform Ventura about her personal experiences of sexual abuse from Combs throughout that dialog.

“I used to be nonetheless deeply shamed and wished to die with this,” Mia informed the court docket.

“Mia” informed the court docket that she felt horrible about overlaying for Combs with Ventura, his former girlfriend, however felt that if she did not, he would have taken away his entry to her.

Mia testified that Combs would discover out as a result of he stole their telephones and put monitoring units on Ventura’s automobile.

She added that she wasn’t certain what Combs was able to and reiterated that she was terrified.

The witness stated she was very near Cassie Ventura however admitted not telling Combs’ girlfriend every part she might have.

“Mia” conceded that she did not inform Ventura about Combs’ alleged sexual assault on her. She additionally stated she would maintain the music mogul’s whereabouts from Ventura, beneath his orders.

“I bear in mind overlaying for him and feeling horrible about it,” Mia stated.

Prosecutor Maurene Comey alerted Subramanian that she felt Combs’ protection was mistreating “Mia,” accusing Brian Steele of humiliating her on the witness stand.

Comey laid out considerations that Steele’s sarcasm and strategies that Mia is mendacity are bordering on harassment and that Steele is including to Mia’s trauma. Subramanian didn’t agree that Steele was mistreating Mia, however he did agree that the questions had been argumentative and cumulative in nature.

The decide stated he heard Comey’s considerations and could be looking out for offensive conduct. He added that the federal government would alert the court docket if it discovered any.

Subramanian warned Steele that he can ask a query and transfer on, however that if he believes that Steele is asking one thing simply to get it on the market, he’ll step in.

The witness’s face was briefly proven on an inside courthouse feed, although the error did not elicit a direct response within the courtroom.

For about 30 seconds, a digital camera confirmed “Mia,” who was testifying beneath a pseudonym, regardless of a decide’s order that her face not be proven and even drawn by courtroom sketch artists.

When her face was proven in a feed to an overflow room, the prosecution did not lodge a direct objection.

“Mia” remains to be getting pushed by the protection for years of pleasant communications with Combs, regardless of her testimony that she feared him.

One other textual content from Mia, this time from December 2022, wherein she needs Combs a cheerful vacation season, was proven to the courtroom. The protection identified that Mia has informed the jury she did not need to see Combs as a result of she feared him.

Mia was requested whether or not she was frightened of Combs the complete time she knew him, together with from 2019 to 2022.

“I used to be frightened of him when he was scary, sure,” Mia stated.

The witness stated she was “terrified and brainwashed,” stopping her from coming ahead earlier with allegations of sexual assault in opposition to Combs.

When protection legal professional Brian Metal requested “Mia” if she had an ethical obligation to report Combs instantly, she stated she did not: “As a result of I used to be terrified and brainwashed.”

It was solely when others got here ahead publicly that Mia stated she elected to take action too.

“It’s been a protracted course of,” she stated. “I’m nonetheless untangling these items. I’m in remedy. ”

Protection legal professional Brian Metal pushed “Mia” about her testimony final week, throughout which she stated Combs sexually assaulted her, asking point-blank whether or not the sexual assault testimony was true.

“I’d not lie on this courtroom,” Mia stated. “I by no means lied on this courtroom; every part I’ve stated is true.”

Metal had proven the court docket a number of messages from Mia to Combs from 2018 to 2020, after she stopped working for Combs, wherein she expressed love and good recollections. In a single message from August 2020, she wrote that the one issues to recollect have been the nice occasions.

Mia informed the court docket that Combs had brainwashed her. She testified that the setting she was in was full of excessive highs and low lows. Mia testified that she was all the time looking for Combs’ approval.

Regardless of her near-constant contact with Combs whereas she labored for him, “Mia” admits she does not have any video of the music mogul throughout one in every of his suits of rage.

Mia additionally conceded that she does not have a textual content message to a pal to notice any violent outbursts by Combs.

The witness testified that she would not have made such documentation as a result of doing so would have damaged belief and confidentiality together with her employer on the time.

When questioned about apparently loving texts “Mia” despatched to Combs in late 2018 and all through 2019, she testified that she felt unhealthy for Combs after the loss of life of Kim Porter.

Porter, who was with Combs for years and the mom of three of his kids, died in November 2018 from pneumonia. Combs’ protection confirmed texts following that point wherein Mia wrote that she beloved Combs and dreamed of him as her savior, months after Porter’s loss of life.

Mia informed the court docket that she did not suppose 5 months was a very long time to get well from grief and that she hadn’t but understood what occurred to her whereas working for Combs. She famous that there was a model of Combs who cared for her.

The protection launched a textual content message from Mia to Combs, wherein she informed the defendant that he as soon as, in a nightmare, saved her from R. Kelly.

Mia stated in a Jan. 15, 2019, textual content message that she had a horrible dream of being trapped in an elevator with the convicted intercourse felony, however then Combs “got here and rescued me.”

Decide Subramanian sustained a authorities objection, thus stopping Mia from answering why her alleged attacker, Combs, was framed as a savior in her dream. Nevertheless, the protection nonetheless made its level to jurors that, regardless of the allegations Mia has made in opposition to Combs, there have been occasions when she held him within the highest esteem.

Protection legal professional Brian Metal opened his line of questioning in the present day by having “Mia” go over her resume, asking whether or not she remembered telling Combs that she was multitasking, labored nicely beneath stress, and had “thick pores and skin.”

Mia informed Metal she does not bear in mind writing that she had thick pores and skin. He later requested her if she considered herself as a frontrunner, which Mia did not fairly know the way to reply to.

She did agree that she speaks up for herself and will multitask beneath stress. When requested straight if she had thick pores and skin, Mia stated that she thought she did.

The important thing prosecution witness, “Mia,” took the stand this morning for the protection’s cross-examination.

She wore a shirt, slacks and a jacket as jurors filed into the courtroom.

Eddy Garcia, a safety supervisor on the Los Angeles lodge the place Combs was filmed attacking Cassie Ventura, briefly took the witness stand to invoke his Fifth Modification rights in opposition to self-incrimination.

The looks was extremely procedural, simply so Garcia might put that request on the file and immediate the federal government to guarantee him he is free from prosecution so long as he testifies in truth.

Garcia left the witness stand however is anticipated to return later in the present day.

U.S. District Court docket Decide Arun Subramanian denied protection efforts to point out “Mia” ingesting and having enjoyable on trip, as Combs’ group previewed its line of assault on the important thing authorities witness.

Protection legal professional Brian Metal stated the footage from Honduras would go to his argument that Mia was let go from Combs Enterprises due to alcohol abuse.

However Subramanian sided with the prosecution, which claimed that footage of Mia doing photographs could be extra prejudicial than probative.

Week 4 of Combs’ trial will start with witness “Mia,” who used to work for Combs, returning to the stand for a 3rd day to complete cross-examination, adopted by a redirect from prosecutors. 

The next witnesses are additionally anticipated in the present day: Enrique Santos and Eddy Garcia, who’re anticipated to testify with immunity; Sylvia Okun, a lodge custodian; and Frank Piazza, a forensic video knowledgeable.

Court docket is now in session for Day 14 of Combs’ racketeering and trafficking trial.

Testimony by Combs’ former staff might prop up the prosecution’s case that the music mogul allegedly oversaw a felony enterprise that relied on staff and different accomplices to hold out unlawful acts.

Capricorn Clark, a former assistant to the music mogul, stated Combs was on a revenge mission in December 2011 after studying rapper Child Cudi was additionally relationship his girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie.

Clark testified final week that Combs, armed with a gun, commanded her to go together with him to Cudi’s Hollywood Hills property.

One other accuser, who used the pseudonym “Mia“ on the witness stand, testified that she labored as Combs’ private assistant for a number of years, and alleged that he sexually assaulted her on a number of events throughout that point.

Combs was by no means charged within the firebombing or the alleged sexual assaults.

Learn the complete article right here

“Mia” struck a respectful however defiant tone throughout her time on the stand Friday.

She readily acknowledged that she lavished reward and adoration on Combs in emails, texts and picture captions through the years, even after he allegedly abused her. On the stand, Mia got here throughout as assured and much much less subdued than she was throughout pivotal components of Thursday’s testimony.

Combs appeared as his protection lawyer led Mia by way of varied Instagram posts throughout cross-examination. At one level, he placed on his glasses and leaned towards the monitor to get a better look.

President Donald Trump on Friday revealed he isn’t ruling out a pardon for Combs.

When requested whether or not he would contemplate taking that step, Trump informed reporters within the Oval Workplace that “no person’s requested,” however that he would “definitely have a look at the details.”

Trump added that he hadn’t seen or spoken to Combs in years and wasn’t following the trial carefully.

Diddy’s former private assistant, a girl recognized in court docket by the pseudonym “Mia,” is about to return to the stand in the present day, after two days of testimony.

Mia has accused Diddy of sexual assault and different bodily violence. Her allegations of pressured labor are particularly essential for the U.S. authorities’s racketeering conspiracy case in opposition to the rapper.

On Friday, Mia was aggressively cross-examined by one in every of Diddy’s attorneys, who tried to undermine her account. The protection lawyer confronted her with photos and social media posts that appeared to point out the ex-assistant having fun with her years working for the rich mogul.

Mia pushed again throughout cross-examination, insisting that the seemingly carefree Instagram pictures didn’t mirror her “distress.”