Diddy Trial’s Most Disturbing Claims: Week Seven Breakdown

If convicted on all charges, which also include arson and bribery, Combs could face a mandatory 15-year prison sentence, with the possibility of life behind bars.

The prosecution has brought a wide array of witnesses, including former girlfriends, employees, hotel staffers, and law enforcements agents involved in the hip-hop mogul’s arrests and various encounters over the years.

The jury has also seen hundreds and thousands of text messages, phone calls, voicemails, and even video of sexual encounters alternately called “freak-offs,” “king nights,” and “hotel nights.” As the prosecution argues coercion, the defense is countering with consent.

For the sixth week of testimony, the jury met Brandan Paul, a former assistant of Diddy’s who admitted setting up hotel rooms, procuring drugs, and cleaning up afterward — saying he was only aware of these nights being with his then-girlfriend “Jane” (she testified anonymously under this moniker) and believed they were consensual.

Along with “Jane” sharing how she felt coerced into “hotel nights” with Diddy and was shocked when former girlfriend Cassie Ventura’s lawsuit closely mirrored her own thoughts and experiences, the jury heard from Ventura, several of the male escorts involved, as well as Ventura’s mother and ex-boyfriend Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi.

A centerpiece of the prosecution’s case has been the viral video of Ventura’s physical assault in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016, with jurors reliving that story from multiple individuals, including a security guard who alleged he was paid $100,000 by Combs directly to give him the only copies of that altercation.

To see the prosecution’s entire case as it was laid out in the past six weeks, check out the links below.

The cross-examination of Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Joseph Cerciello continued on Tuesday morning. He was expected to be the last witness for the prosecution, who finished their direct on Monday.

Cerciello’s role for the defense was to paint a more clear picture of text messages, videos, voicemails, and phone calls involving Combs, “Jane,” various employees of the rap mogul, male escorts, etc. as it related to setting up and orchestrating “hotel nights.”

Defense attorney Teny Geragos pulled out text messages from December 2021 where Jane had written to an “entertainer” named Sly that she was thinking about one of their recent “hotel nights” and asked him to “send me something.”

She then asked if he could fly to meet her that night or the following day, and when Sly said he was busy with family preparations for the holidays, she asked if he could make it a day trip.

Geragos brings this up to push back against Jane’s previous testimony that she only ever initiated explicit communications with Sly when with Combs and under his direction. It’s part of their attempt to paint these encounters as fully consensual on the part of Jane, Ventura, and anyone else involved.

They also continued their pushback against the idea that the women were coerced into participating, with Geragos spotlighting an exchange from April 2022 about a different “entertainer.”

In this one, when Jane pushed back, saying she “selfishly” wanted him to herself, adding, “I’m fine with the other stuff but I really just need you right now,” Combs replied, “OK whatever you want.”

He followed that up by asking if the “entertainer” named Leo would be free “after we spend some one on one time.” After the “hotel night,” Jane texted Combs that she was “still thinking about you loving all over me.”

Geragos then shifted to communications around a “hotel night” with Paul to show how Jane and Combs coordinated to keep Combs’ staff from seeing the “entertainer” — many staff members testified they were unaware that anyone but Combs and his girlfriend were in the hotel rooms during these “king nights.”

Joseph Cerciello, a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations, is the final witness for the prosecution. He returned to the stand Monday morning to continue talking about evidence charts as the prosecution attempts to pull together five weeks of testimony into a cohesive story for the jury.

In one chart of sexually explicit videos, Cerciello confirmed that Combs is visible in several of them, which collectively run several hours. While the jury could not possibly — nor would they need to — watch all of this footage, Cerciello gave a sense of how much there was by noting there were 50 explicit videos recorded just between the dates of December 17 and 21, 2021.

The jury did watch more than a dozen clips from these videos dating from November 2021 to October 2022, which would be while Combs’ was involved with “Jane.” These videos, along with most explicit content, sealed, so the audience and media were excluded.

Another chart detailed flight and hotel records for both Jane and an “entertainer” named Sly, with the prosecution noting that a credit card paid for by “Bad Boy Ent” paid Jane’s travel expenses. Jane covered Sly’s expenses and was reimbursed by Combs’ account manager, while his travel manager booked the arrangements.

It is key for the prosecution to tie these sexual exploits to Combs’ businesses if they are to be seen as more than just an unorthodox sexual interest.

Cerciello also walked the jury through previously-read text exchanges involving Jane, Combs and his staff about these “hotel nights” arrangements, including Jane’s initial resistance to participating in one in New York, only to later acquiesce and plan the trip.

One exchange between Combs and the Cowboys for Angels escort service during that September 2023 trip saw the rapper clap back when told he needed to pay $600. “Lol he couldn’t even perform,” Combs wrote, to which the company employee told him he was paying for the escort’s time. Combs retorted she should be nice to him as he was “a longtime customer.”

Former chief of staff Kristina Khorram again came up, as she was notably involved in helping with various arrangements for “hotel nights,” including hotel bookings, room setup, tracking escorts, money requests, and baby oil deliveries. One of the more sensational details of the trial — and the raid on Combs’ miami home — is how much baby oil was involved in his sexual activities.

Jane texting Combs that she felt “violated and manipulated” about how his “sobriety party” turned into a “hotel night” was also revisited with Cerciello on the stand. He testified that this was the last entry on the prosecution’s chart to happen before Ventura’s bombshell lawsuit.

The jury saw texts from Jane where she told Combs, “I don’t feel like performing loveless, cold sex,” followed by Combs setting up hotel reservations and booking an “entertainer.” A few days later, Jane asked if he could put some money into her account as she felt “violated and manipulated.”

In cross-examination, defense attorney Teny Geragos points out a September 2023 invoice related to travel for Jane and “entertainer” Sly for a New York trip, noting that the invoice says “various expenses for Sean Combs,” not any of his business entities.

She also emphasized the timeline of these “hotel nights,” highlighting that many of them occurred before Combs started paying Jane’s rent in April 2023.

Jane had previously testified that she felt coerced to perform under threat of losing her home if she did not perform in “hotel nights.” The defense is trying to argue that her involvement was consensual and not pressured under any financial duress or concern.

Geragos also pulled out additional texts that the prosecution did not cite in her attempt to show Jane’s purported state of mind about “hotel nights,” including one around the November 2021 where she told him she was “horny” after Combs asked if she wanted to see him and an “entertainer.”

When Combs replied that he wanted her to “be explicit” and tell him what she wanted to do that night, she did so. She also sent explicit texts to the “entertainer” Sly, saying she wanted to see him, as Geragos pointed out to the jury.

After one encounter, Jane texted Sly she was “so happy you are such a sweetheart,” “thank you for making me feel beautiful,” and later, “getting flashbacks” with a drooling emoji.