Opening statements are anticipated this Monday in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who faces allegations related to sex trafficking. The former hip-hop mogul stands accused of coercing women into prolonged, drug-induced sexual encounters.
A jury composed of 12 New Yorkers will determine if the 55-year-old troubled rap icon used his Bad Boy Records label as a criminal operation, covering up various offenses, such as pressuring his partners into extended sexual activities, known as “freak-offs,” with male escorts.
Both the prosecution and Combs’ defense team are preparing to present their initial arguments to the jurors shortly after the selection and swearing-in of a 12-member panel, along with six alternate jurors, is completed on Monday morning.
The feds are then expected to call their first witnesses, including their star witness — the R&B singer and Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie — possibly as soon as Monday afternoon.
Cassie, whose full name is Cassandra Ventura, is expected to testify about her nightmarish experiences dating the powerful music producer on and off for more than a decade.
Ventura, 38, alleged in a quickly settled 2023 lawsuit that Combs, 55, forced her to have sex with male escorts while he filmed the encounters, and that he blew up Kid Cudi’s car in a jealous rage after learning that the musician was romantically interested in her.
Combs forced Ventura to take drugs before the sexual escapades, filmed the episodes and then threatened to release the footage if Ventura did not comply with his demands, her suit alleged.
An escort and another minor witness will testify before Ventura, prosecutors said last week.
The “Me & U” singer, dancer and model will also walk jurors through shocking footage of Combs, 55, punching and kicking her while wearing just a towel in a disturbing attack at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. She’s expected to be on the stand for several days.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to bombshell charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Lawyers for the “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper plan to argue that the freak-offs were a “consensual” part of Combs’ admittedly kinky, but not criminal, sex life.
They’ll also admit to jurors that Combs physically abused Ventura — but will claim that Ventura was violent with him as well, according to Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo.
“We are going to take the position that there was mutual violence in their relationship…There was hitting on both sides,” Agnifilo said in court last week.
Combs has been locked up without bail at a Brooklyn jail since his September 2024 arrest. He could face life in prison if convicted on all of the charges he faces.
