Choose threatens to take away Sean Combs from courtroom

The decide presiding over Sean “Diddy” Combs’ felony trial has threatened to ban the disgraced music mogul from the courtroom for nodding and making faces at members of the jury.

Choose Arun Subramanian referred to as his actions “completely unacceptable”. Mr Combs’ attorneys assured the decide that it could not occur once more.

Choose Subramanian stated Mr Combs was “vigorously nodding” in the course of the cross questioning of Bryana Bongolan, a buddy of Mr Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura who accused the rapper of holding her over a balcony.

Mr Combs has pled not responsible to all expenses, together with intercourse trafficking and a racketeering conspiracy.

The court docket additionally heard from a lady utilizing the pseudonym “Jane”, who dated Mr Combs between 2021 and his arrest in 2024.

Jane described the preliminary months of her relationship with Mr Combs as an thrilling whirlwind; she stated he took her on journeys to Miami, and one other one to Turks and Caicos, and the Bahamas. The rapper took her to upscale eating places and she or he described herself as “head over heels” for him.

However she testified that Mr Combs quickly requested her to take part in what prosecutors known as “resort nights”, when Mr Combs employed an escort so as to watch Jane interact in sexual acts with one other man. The primary encounter in Might 2021 happened in Miami, and she or he believed it could be a one-off expertise.

“That evening opened a Pandora’s field in our relationship,” Jane advised the court docket. “It was a door I used to be unable to close for the remainder of the connection. There was a lot of it after, and it was an excessive amount of.”

Jane testified that she went together with further encounters as a result of “I simply actually liked him at that time and wished to make him completely satisfied”. However she additionally stated “many instances” that she had advised Mr Combs she didn’t wish to interact in these “resort nights”.

However Mr Combs requested her to take part in a number of extra and she or he “felt annoyed, I felt simply obligated” to associate with his needs, she advised the court docket.

Beginning in roughly April 2023, Mr Combs started paying $10,000 per-month for a house for her, she testified. Jane stated the association got here with a way of obligation, and the rapper had implied he didn’t wish to pay hire for a girl he was not seeing.

Mr Combs additionally supplied her with medicine resembling ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine from the onset of the connection, she testified. She advised the court docket she had used the substances throughout a few of her encounters with Mr Combs in addition to the “resort nights”.

Her testimony will proceed on Friday, and she’s going to later face questioning from Mr Combs’ defence crew.

Get all the most recent trial updates on the BBC Sounds ‘Diddy on Trial‘ podcast accessible wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

The court docket additionally heard extra intense questioning of Ms Bongolan, Cassie Ventura’s buddy who the rapper’s defence attorneys say has given totally different accounts of Mr Combs’ alleged abuse at totally different instances.

Ms Bongolan has accused Mr Combs of lifting her onto the rail of a balcony in a threatening altercation, and throwing her into close by furnishings, inflicting bruises and accidents.

Defence legal professional Nicole Westmoreland requested Ms Bongolan about an allegation she made in each a letter from a lawyer, which Ms Westmoreland stated included a requirement for cash, and a lawsuit in opposition to Mr Combs: that in the course of the balcony incident, the rapper had allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Ms Bongolan had testified in court docket that Mr Combs ran his palms over her chest space as he allegedly lifted her on the balcony. Ms Westmoreland repeatedly pressed her on the variations between a sexual assault allegation and her description in court docket of the rapper’s alleged actions.

The defence additionally accused Ms Bongolan of fabricating particulars of the alleged balcony incident with Mr Combs, introducing proof that confirmed Mr Combs acting at a live performance in New Jersey and attending occasions in New York on 25 and 26 September 2016.

Prosecutors had beforehand proven a photograph of a bruise on Ms Bongolan’s leg, with a timestamp of 26 September 2016 within the metadata. Ms Bongolan stated that she took the picture of the bruise the day after Mr Combs allegedly threw her into balcony furnishings.

“You got here in right here and lied to the women and gents of this jury,” Ms Westmoreland stated.

“I can not agree with you,” Ms Bongolan responded.

Later within the day, prosecutors introduced again up the disagreement. They displayed a textual content message taken from the cellphone of Ms Ventura, Mr Combs’ ex-girlfriend, dated 30 September 2016.

The textual content said Mr Combs had come to her condominium in the midst of the evening, choked Ms Bongolan, and held her off the balcony.