Diddy’s accusers testified about unstable relationships with a person they liked and feared

The three girls recognized as victims within the federal case towards Sean “Diddy” Combs took the stand to explain an enthralling, larger-than-life document label tycoon whose double-sided persona straddled the road between praiseworthy and predatory.

They portrayed Combs as influential, filled with confidence and passionate, telling tales of him introducing them to a star life stuffed with extravagant journeys world wide and, within the case of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, a shot at superstardom.

However in addition they testified to the darkish facet of Diddy. They stated he might be a demanding boss, subjecting workers to excessive work hours and psychological anguish, and an overbearing boyfriend able to sexual abuse.

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“The highs have been actually excessive and the lows actually low,” stated “Mia,” one among Combs’ former private assistants who testified in courtroom beneath a pseudonym that Combs sexually assaulted her on a number of events.

The testimony framed Combs as an abusive employer and romantic accomplice, which might depart a long-lasting impression with the jury, who must untangle these intertwined and deeply private relationships when contemplating the federal prices, a number of attorneys carefully following the trial say.

Combs has pleaded not responsible to 1 depend of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to interact in prostitution. If discovered responsible of even one cost, he might face a prolonged jail sentence.

The accusers’ alleged experiences are a part of the prosecution’s indictment that claims Combs used his companies as a prison enterprise to satisfy his needs with the assistance of co-conspirators and accomplices.

“The truth that a sufferer has seemingly contradictory emotions towards an individual who’s allegedly sexually assaulting them isn’t unusual when he’s established management,” stated legal professional Rachel Maimin, a former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York who isn’t concerned within the case. She famous that the jury will “have to guage the credibility of those girls.”

However another legal professionals not concerned within the trial are attempting to decipher how testimony from the three accusers up to now has match into the prosecution’s most severe prices of racketeering and intercourse trafficking. Significantly, they regarded on the authorities’s newest witness, “Jane,” a former girlfriend who testified this week beneath a pseudonym.

“If I have been a choose, I might need to know the relevance of this testimony,” veteran prison protection legal professional Tama Beth Kudman stated.

On the racketeering conspiracy cost, prosecutors should show Combs was concerned in a prison enterprise with a bunch of individuals participating in prison acts, a number of legal professionals stated. For the intercourse trafficking prices, prosecutors should reveal Combs pressured girls to journey throughout state traces and commit intercourse acts.

Jurors have heard testimony from three accusers throughout 4 weeks because the prosecution offered its case. Ventura testified to her greater than 10-year private {and professional} relationship with Combs, earlier than they break up in 2018. Mia labored for Combs from 2009 to 2017, and Jane, whose testimony hasn’t but concluded, had a romantic relationship with Combs from 2021 to 2024.

All three acknowledge that Combs gave them alternatives they possible wouldn’t have had in any other case, however stated it got here at a steep private and emotional value.

‘Mia’

Mia, who managed Combs’ schedule and served as the primary liaison between him and Hollywood, testified that working for Combs was concurrently poisonous, chaotic and thrilling.

Nonetheless, their boss-employee relationship was blurred in 2009 or 2010 at Combs’ Los Angeles dwelling when Mia stated she was woke up by Combs on prime of her.

Requested if she needed to have intercourse with Combs, a tearful Mia stated no and that “it was very fast.”

Her testimony additionally included allegations of pressured labor and a declare that at one level Combs threatened to kill her.

Cassie

Combs signed Ventura to a 10-album deal in 2006 when she was 19. She was instantly struck by the document producer and govt’s magnetic persona and aura.

“He was charismatic — huge persona, bigger than life,” Ventura stated in courtroom, concerning Combs. “The extra time I spent with him, his actual persona got here out — candy, attentive.”

Ventura stated Combs inspired her and known as her a queen.

“He’s acquired that inspiring power inside him,” she stated.

Earlier than lengthy, nevertheless, Ventura was now not releasing music and as a substitute discovered herself caught in a sexual net with Combs.

“I simply felt fairly horrible about myself. I felt disgusting. I felt humiliated,” Ventura testified, referring to the alleged bodily abuse and management that included dayslong, drug-fueled sexual encounters with male escorts beneath Combs’ route that have been known as “freak offs.”

“[I] simply didn’t really feel like I had a lot of a alternative,” she stated in courtroom.

‘Jane’

Jane stated she was drawn to Combs “fairly immediately” upon assembly him, including that he appeared bigger than life and was tremendous charming and passionate when he spoke. Her buddy had been relationship Combs first, she testified.

“I bear in mind it was like morning time and we simply determined to go for a stroll on the seaside, noticed the dawn on the balcony, walked on the seaside,” Jane stated of the morning after her first date with Diddy in Miami in 2021. “I used to be head over heels.”

Their relationship progressed quick, with journeys to Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas she says have been fueled by love, lust, ecstasy, molly and cocaine.

Quickly, Diddy launched the thought of getting one other man within the bed room.

“He began saying I could make this fantasy a actuality,” Jane testified.

Jane stated the primary time she had intercourse with one other man as Combs watched, in Might 2021, opened up “Pandora’s field.”

“Simply fully set the tone for our relationship going ahead,” Jane stated, including she agreed to make Combs glad however ultimately grew drained.

“I felt an obligation as a result of I knew he was paying my lease,” she testified.

Maimin stated threatening to not pay somebody’s lease in the event that they don’t adjust to calls for might level to coercion.

“You’ll be able to love somebody and be afraid of them. And in the event that they take monetary management over their lives, you possibly can perceive the blended emotions,” she stated.

Jane could also be on the stand to assist clean up the prosecution’s proof, permitting it to argue that Combs hasn’t realized from, or regretted, his previous conduct, stated Mark Chutkow, a protection lawyer who dealt with racketeering circumstances as a federal prosecutor in Detroit.

“If the prosecutors can’t present compelling proof of coercion, questions on her consent might have a spillover impact on the sooner testimony concerning Cassie — significantly since this new testimony is towards the tip of the federal government’s case,” he stated.

The ladies described complicated dynamics with Diddy

Within the midst of the dysfunction of their relationships with Combs, the victims, in line with their testimony, both hesitated to go away or stayed in Combs’ orbit regardless of the best way he handled them.

Mia referred to herself in social media posts as Combs’ greatest buddy, praising him as a mentor and inspiration.

“Legend, rapper, actor, entrepreneur, an extraterrestrial was born, glad bday thanks for exhibiting me the trail to Pluto and past,” she wrote about Combs throughout his birthday celebration in 2016. “You’re the coolest alien rockstar unicorn pizza slice and we f—— lovvvve you!”

Her put up got here precisely six years after one of many alleged sexual assaults by Combs.

“I attempted to guard that evening and shut it down and never give it some thought once more,” she testified.

Ventura testified that Combs raped her in 2018 after she stated they have been alleged to have a “closure dialog” after their relationship ended.

“I bear in mind crying and saying no. It was quick, his eyes have been black, he wasn’t himself, it was like anyone taking one thing from you,” Ventura stated.

Someday later, she admitted that they had consensual intercourse despite the fact that she was in a relationship along with her soon-to-be husband, Alex Advantageous.

Forensic psychologist Daybreak Hughes testified in courtroom that some home violence victims fall prey to psychological, sexual and emotional abuse, in addition to monetary dependence, making it more durable for them to struggle again or get away.

Earlier than leaving the stand, Ventura stated she doesn’t hate Combs and that she has love for the previous and what their relationship was.

“I don’t hate you, I by no means have,” she wrote to Combs in a 2019 electronic mail alternate.

Mia claimed Combs threw issues at her and as soon as threw her in a pool.

Regardless of all of it, she was devastated after being let go from her job.

“I’m going to kill myself, my life is over,” Mia wrote to Combs’ then chief of workers, Kristina Khorram, in a 2017 textual content message. “I’m so heartbroken I can’t breathe.”

If you happen to or somebody is dealing with home violence, name the Nationwide Home Violence hotline for assist at (800) 799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for extra. States usually have home violence hotlines as effectively.