Recapping day one of the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex crimes trial
The prosecution and defense outlined their arguments and witnesses took the stand in the first day of the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex crimes trial.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
A federal agent. A former aide and a psychologist. A longtime rap rival.
Those witnesses could take the stand in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sweeping federal sex-crimes trial this week. Gerard Gannon, a Homeland Security special agent, is up first on May 21, describing the massive raid on Combs’ Miami mansion last year.
Scott Mescudi, better known as rapper Kid Cudi, is expected to take the stand in the coming days. Diddy allegedly threatened the musician after he and Combs’ former girlfriend Cassie Ventura Fine dated briefly over a decade ago.
Combs’ alleged abuse of Ventura Fine has taken center stage in the embattled hip-hop mogul’s trial. Regina Ventura, Cassie’s mother, told the court on May 20 she was “physically sick” over the rapper’s alleged abuse, and she was once pressured to send him $20,000 after he raged at her daughter.
Meanwhile, David James, one of Combs’ former assistants recounted an intense incident during which he reportedly came face-to-face with Combs’ longtime music rival, Marion “Suge” Knight, at a Los Angeles restaurant.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September 2024 and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Psychologist testifies on abusive relationships
Psychologist Dawn Hughes took the stand on May 21, called by prosecutors to explain the complexities of physical, sexual and emotional abuse in the sex-crimes trial. Hughes and told jurors it’s “very common” for victims to stay in abusive relationships.
Hughes explained that people need “tangible resources to leave” unhealthy relationships, and she discussed the concept of “love bombing,” noting that an abuser often showers their victim with love and gifts to get them back if they are trying to leave.
She also talked about the idea of “trauma bonds,” where a victim can be attached to an abusive partner and will try to chase nice moments with them “in spite of the violence and abuse.”
When the prosecution asked why victims may reconcile with an abusive partner, Hughes said “they return for the companionship” and for “the good version of the partner they do love.”
Hughes discusses memory, abuse
Hughes also explained different kinds of self defense and coping mechanisms that victims of abuse may use to try to protect themselves. She said victims are more likely to disclose rape by a stranger than a partner, and they will usually disclose to a mother, sister or close friend first.
Hughes also discussed the impact of trauma on memory and how victims’ brains will often assign significance to sensory details, whether it’s the smell of alcohol on their abuser’s breath or chipped paint they notice on a ceiling. Victims might also remember the core gist of what happened to them, she said, but still feel their memories are fragmented. After long stretches of violence or other mistreatment, “events are going to blend together,” she said, given “the routine of all this abuse happening.”
“They don’t lose the core gist of what happened to them,” Hughes said, and “trauma doesn’t stay in the background forever.”
Diddy’s Miami mansion raid: Agents found 25 bottles of baby oil, 31 bottles of Astroglide
During Gannon’s testimony, jurors were shown photos from the 2024 raid on Combs’ mansion in Miami Beach, Florida. Federal investigators found three cell phones hidden inside of a pair of boots from the designer brand Balenciaga. A black Gucci bag was allegedly filled with drugs including Xanax, cocaine, ketamine and MDMA.
In the master bathroom of the home, agents said they found a wooden box with a gold plate on top that said “Puffy” – one of Combs’ nicknames – which contained MDMA and Psilocybin, a hallucinogenic.
In the mansion’s guest house security room, a loaded .45 caliber handgun was found inside a red suitcase.
Drawers in a hallway closet contained 25 bottles of baby oil and 31 bottles of Astroglide lubricant. Prosecutors have alleged that Combs used the substances in his drug-fueled “freak offs” at the center of his sex-crimes charges.
Lawyers spar over photo of Kim Porter
Before Gannon took the stand, lawyers on either side sparred over showing a photo of Combs’ late partner, Kim Porter, as evidence. Prosecutors argued against it, saying the “relevance is extremely low” and expressing fear at the photo “tugging at the jurors’ heartstrings.”
Prosecutors also worried that it would confuse jurors, and imply that if Combs was convicted, his children would be without a parent. Combs and Porter share four children.
Gannon told the court that on March 24, 2024, he was part of a team that searched of Combs’ Miami mansion.
Nearly 90 agents were involved in the search, which happened while Combs and his family were not in the home. Gannon said law enforcement found the upper receivers of AR-15 weapons, as well as gun magazines.
Agents also found sex toys, lubricant and baby oil in the home, all parts of the alleged freak offs Combs conducted for years, as well as illegal drugs.
Just Arun Subramanian, the judge hearing Combs’ federal sex-crimes trial, appeared to reject a request from the rapper’s lawyers to subpoena Ventura Fine.
It wasn’t immediately clear why Combs’ team made the request, which the judge turned down May 20, but his lawyers have repeatedly tried to target her claims of his physical, sexual and emotional abuse in their relationship.
While on the stand May 20, Ventura was quickly asked by prosecutors about an email her daughter mentioned in previous testimony. In the message, sent on Dec. 23, 2011, Ventura Fine confessed to her mother that Combs was threatening to release a sex tape of her on Christmas Day. Around the same time, Ventura Fine told her mother about the alleged physical abuse she was facing from Combs.
Ventura said she was told she needed to wire $20,000 to Combs because he was “angry that he spent money on her (Cassie) and that she had been with another person.” Although she wired the funds to Combs’ company, the woman said the money came back four to five days later.
During Ventura’s May 20 testimony, prosecutors showed jurors photos of bruises on Cassie’s body from Christmas Eve in 2011. “She was bruised, and I wanted to make sure we memorialized it,” Ventura said of taking the photos. When asked by prosecutors how her daughter got the bruises, Ventura alleged, “She was beaten by Sean Combs.”
Sharay Hayes, a 51-year-old former exotic dancer who went by the nickname “The Punisher,” took the stand after Cassie’s mother.
Hayes said he was hired to have sex with Ventura Fine in New York every few months, sometimes for multiple days at a time. Combs would often give directions, he said, and Ventura Fine was once visibly startled after Combs dropped a stack of money onto the bed during an encounter.
After the two allegedly had sex, Combs would then go to another room, and Ventura Fine would follow, Hayes said. When she returned in a bathrobe, Hayes said it “gave me a clear indication that we were done.”
Combs would direct them to have oral or penetrative sex, mostly interacting with Ventura Fine, Hayes told jurors. Asked whether he thought she was enjoying herself, Hayes said he wasn’t sure, but he did note that Cassie would often wince or sigh at Combs’ directions. There “appeared to be frustration with the frequency of directions,” he explained.
He said he “did not” ever hear Ventura Fine say no to a direction from Combs, and that while he did not use illegal drugs or alcohol, he was offered the substances. He said neither Combs nor Ventura Fine appeared to be intoxicated.
“It created some discomfort that could affect me and my performance,” Hayes said about Combs’ directions, saying he took Cialis, Viagra or similar medication. “It was a lot of pressure,” Hayes said about getting and maintaining an erection.
James testified on May 20 that he ended his employment with Combs following a November 2008 incident that made him fear for his safety.
James said he and Combs’ longtime friend, known as D-Roc, were sent to pick up food for Combs at a diner, where they encountered Suge Knight, one of Diddy’s top competitors in the music industry. The man said he and D-Roc ordered food, but while waiting, they saw four black SUVs pull up, and someone walked over and handed Knight a gun, James said. After returning to Combs’ house, Combs made James drive him and D-Roc back to the diner, and the rapper had three handguns in his lap, James said. James testified that he was “really shook up” by the experience and that this was the first time he felt that “my life was in danger” while working for Combs.
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all five counts.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors claim they have video of.
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.