Dateline NBC - Sean Combs on Trial

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Ahead of the Sean Combs trial, Josh Mankiewicz reports on Combs’s life and the events that triggered a five-count federal indictment that includes racketeering and sex trafficking.

Tonight on Dateline... He was a pioneer of hip hop. He was behind Mary J. Blige, the notorious B.I.G. I'm talking about a mogul. P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, you had it all. And then you're in an orange jumpsuit. It's the case rocking the music world. Sean Combs' abuse threatened and coerced victims. It's just this rocking the music world. Sean Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims.

It's just this whole underbelly. Video of Cassie Ventura being attacked. That tape made people take notice. That tape counts as smoking gun evidence. A federal trial, a line of lawsuits. We've seen one after the other after the other. A nightclub shooting in the past. Point to where exactly you were shot.

I got shot right here. I felt like I was hit with a flaming hot sledgehammer in my face. Not guilty then. What will the verdict be now? He's been a Teflon for a very long time. I'm not sure that he can remain Teflon. Celebrity, power, and startling allegations. On the eve of the trial, a revealing look inside the case against music mogul Sean Combs.

I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Josh Mankiewicz with Sean Combs on trial. At first glance, it looks like a normal moment. A young woman waiting for an elevator. Her name is Cassie Ventura and she's a singer. Except it's not just her music that's made her famous. It's this man she dated. The next frames in this video will shock you even if you've watched them a hundred times. even if you've watched them a hundred times.

That video changed a lot of people's perception of him and what he was capable of. What the whole world saw on that tape was so vile and so horrifying, there was a sense that something had to be done. And something was. First came a barrage of lawsuits. Then, criminal charges. Sean Diddy Combs is in custody in New York. Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims. The man at the center of it all has gone by a lot of names. Puff Daddy, Puffy, P Diddy, or just Diddy.

Tonight, we're going to call him by only one name, his real name. It's also the one on his indictment, Sean Gomes. In a federal courtroom in downtown Manhattan, he's facing charges so ugly, they could snuff out his stardom for good. Then again, this is Sean Combs. Sean Combs began his life in Harlem. He was still a toddler when he lost his father in a shooting. His dad was murdered when he was about two, three years old.

Cheyenne Roundtree is an investigative reporter for Rolling Stone magazine. She says after Combs' father was killed, his mother moved him to a New York City suburb. He went to an all-boys Catholic school. He was an altar boy. The story behind one of his nicknames goes back to his teenage years. When he got angry when he was young, he would huff and puff, and that's for the nickname.

Puff, Puffy came. The musical rise of Sean Combs began with a college internship and then a job at Uptown Records. At just 22, he was producing for artists like Mary J. Blige when she had her monster hit, Real Love. I'm searching for a real love, real love After three years, Combs left Uptown and founded his own label called Bad Boy Records.

It was a magnet for new artists, including the notorious B.I.G., a.k.a. Biggie Smalls. From an outsider's viewpoint, he rose pretty quickly to the top. Jasmine Kanek is a social critic who follows the world of hip-hop. He really had a lot of talent as an impresario,

and not just as a music producer. He sort of knew how to make himself the face and voice of a musical movement. In many respects, he was a pioneer of hip hop in helping to shape hip hop, shaping the careers of so many phenomenal artists who he signed and shepherded through the years. He became a central figure in New York hip hop and in an East Coast West Coast rap rivalry.

In 1997, the notorious B.I.G., Combs' top artist, was murdered. When Biggie dies, it is catastrophic. Biggie was bad boy. And so, Diddy then takes that moment and he basically uses Biggie's death as his own kind of cross to bear. I know you still living your life after death.

And he comes out with this song, I'll Be Missing You, that summarizes that moment. Every single day, every time I pray, I'll be missing you. And from there, I think we really see Puff Daddy emerge as he is a celebrity. Sean Combs was everywhere, showing off the spoils of his success. And he exported his over-the-top image to places hip-hop hadn't landed before,

with what he called White Parties, held in the Country Club Hamptons of Long Island. Philip Block is a celebrity stylist who attended. That was the place to be. I think the biggest reason for the White Party's the occasion was Diddy was the master of ceremonies. He was the ultimate MC. He was the ultimate party boy and it got attention. It got notoriety and it proved his power. By the late 90s Bad Boy Records was bringing in 130 million

dollars a year and Combs had a celebrity girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. It was a cataclysmic collision of energy and beauty and sexy and fashion and style. There's JLo on the Grammy's red carpet. Whatever the internet was back then, she broke it. And right next to her, Sean Combs. To the world he was the dapper hip-hop gentleman. At the same time he was bad boy in chief with a reputation for flexing his power to get what he wanted. There's a whole through

line of accusations of ditty and physical violence, that he has a temper, he is confrontational. One example. In 1999, Combs and two employees stormed into the office of Steve Stout, an executive at Interscope Records. This was a huge outburst of violence because there was a small dispute about a music video. Combs and his crew were accused of punching and kicking Stout, beating him with a phone and a music video. Combs and his crew were accused of punching and kicking Stout,

beating him with a phone and a champagne bottle. Sean Combs was arrested on charges of felony assault. Stout also sued him in civil court. Then... He ended up kind of making peace, and all of a sudden they make up. Combs and Stout settled the lawsuit. And in the criminal case, Combs pleaded to a lesser charge

and was sentenced to one day of an anger management class. It may not have been enough. Much more serious charges were coming. I said, no. And they both said pow pow. I felt like I was hit with a flaming hot sledgehammer in my face. How you gonna quit today, puppy?

I'm not guilty. A sensational criminal trial, one of the biggest in New York City. Hip-hop megastar Sean Combs facing serious prison time. Except this isn't 2025. This was more than two decades ago. It started the night after Christmas, December 1999. It was the night that forever lives in infamy and changed my life. Natanya Rubin was 29 then.

She owned a beauty salon in New York City, and she was an aspiring singer, one who had recently given up clubbing in favor of church. Until some friends invited her to an event at a club. On her way out the door, she hesitated. They were blowing the horn, and a voice said, go change your shoes. I knew it was God. I had just gotten a pair of boots, some nice heels,

and I decided to go back and put those on. Natanya believes that decision to swap her flats for taller heels is why she's able to be here talking with us today about what happened that night inside Club New York. What's the scene in there? It's definitely packed. Celebrities were there too, including Sean Combs and Jennifer Lopez, and Combs' protege, Jamal Shine Barrow, who had an album coming out under the Bad Boy label. Natanya says she was near the bar when she saw Combs and his entourage roll past.

Someone bumped someone else. A drink spilled. Egos collided. They're getting into an argument. As they started getting into an argument, in no time, there was pushing and shoving. Natanya witnessed an angry exchange between Combs and another rapper who went by Scar.

One of Scar's friends, or one of the guys in his entourage, slaps Puffy with a wad of money. And all of the money went into the air. It was like a movie a wad of money. And all of the money went into the air. It was like a movie. It was raining money. Natanya says that's when Combs and his buddy, Shine, began backing up to the front door.

They start walking backward, reaching in their hip. I turned to my friend and said, Oh my God, I think they're going to reach for a gun. You saw Sean Combs reach for a gun? I saw Sean Combs and Jamal Shinebarrel not only reach for a gun, but pull them out. No question Sean Combs had a gun. As God as my witness, as my name is Natanya Rubin, I guarantee it with every fiber of my being.

Natanya says she braced herself for what was about to happen. I said, no, and they both said pow pow. Shots were fired. Natanya was hit. I felt like I was hit with a flaming hot sledgehammer in my face. Two others were also shot and wounded.

Natanya fell to the floor as the crowd ran for the doors. The NYPD arrived. 21-year-old Shine was arrested at the scene for reckless endangerment, weapons possession, and Diddy and J. Lo are nowhere to be seen. They are speeding off in a Lincoln Navigator, a police chase through Manhattan. When they were eventually pulled over,

police found an unlicensed gun in the car. Combs was arrested. Lopez was questioned and released. And while all that was happening, Natanya was in a hospital fighting for her life. I said to my mother, I'm sorry, mommy, raise my kids for me. Tell my kids I love them and tell everybody I love them. And my mother said, no, you go in there, you have that surgery and you raise your own kids. I'm a grandmother.

I did my duty. You come back out of here. And I was like, yes, mommy. Point to where exactly you were shot. I got shot right here. It broke my nose, my cheekbone. I have a group of bullet fragments here. One bullet fragment went through and scarred my cerebralbone. I have a group of bullet fragments here. One bullet fragment went

through and scarred my cerebral cortex and I have a seizure disorder because of it and a traumatic brain injury. She survived a bullet to the head and she thinks she knows why. Those boots literally saved my life. Because otherwise your head's at a different angle. Yes, yes. The surgeon came in and said, had you not had these boots on, you would have gotten struck point blank in the center of your head. You would never have been here.

Combs was not charged with shooting anyone. He was charged with illegal possession of a weapon, which he denied. And under no circumstances whatsoever did I have anything to do with a shooting. I do not own a gun, nor did I possess a gun that night. Combs was facing more than the gun charges.

The Manhattan DA also accused him of bribery. His own driver from that night had a claim that Diddy offered him of bribery. His own driver from that night had claimed that Diddy offered him a pinky ring. I think it was $40,000, pinky ring, to say a gun belonged to him when it didn't. At the trial, the driver told the jury about the alleged bribe. Natanya took the stand, too, and testified.

She saw Combs fire a gun. He's there. Yep. You looking at him? He looking at you? Directly at him. Other people who were at the club testified too, including some members of Combs' entourage. Some witnesses seemed to change their stories in ways that became more favorable to Combs,

leading the prosecutor mid-trial to investigate possible witness tampering. And so there was this idea of that there weren't any links he wasn't going to go to to secure or control an outcome of a situation. However, no additional charges were filed. After seven weeks of trial, the jury reached a verdict. Combs' protege, Shine, was convicted of assault.

And Combs... Music mogul Sean Puffy Combs was acquitted of all charges. Not guilty. Natanya thinks she knows what happened. We live in this world where people are obsessed with fame and notoriety and celebrity and things of that nature. And you think that mattered more than the truth? Without a, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

People knew who he was, but they chose not to look and not to see because I wasn't a celebrity. Combs exited the courthouse victorious, walking out to a familiar scene and straight back into his old life. The flashing lights of cameras, a sea of journalists, and throngs of fans. I give all glory to God. If it wasn't for God, I wouldn't be able to walk out here to talk to y'all today. A free man, a second chance, a new chapter. Which version of Sean Combs would emerge next? He had her back into the corner and he was like cussing her out with his hand in his

face. In 2001, Sean Combs was ready to resume life as hip hop royalty. He was just acquitted on gun and bribery charges. His friend, rapper Shine, wasn't as lucky. Sean Combs ends up getting off, but Shine goes to jail. Jason King is Dean of the Thornton School of Music at USC. He has followed Combs' career and life, from fame to infamy.

So there's this pattern of Sean Combs being involved in violent or scandalous activity in the 1990s and beyond, but not always being held accountable for it. In fact, in some ways, he benefited from it. Getting tried and acquitted in that club shooting unquestionably helped him. It definitely helped his reputation. Because in that business,

that's the reputation you wanna have. That's when you go into the studio and you make a new song about how they tried to hold you back or take you down and they couldn't. Bad behavior in the culture of hip-hop kind of go together. They go hand in hand. After the trial, Combs reinvented himself. He changed his nickname to P. Diddy, a name reportedly bestowed on him by his late friend,

Biggie Smalls. And he set out to expand his profile and his empire beyond the world of hip hop. Sean John becomes a huge fashion label and he actually wins the CFDA menswear designer of the year in 2004. And being the first black person to win that award is huge, is huge. It's huge. He jumped into reality TV,

appeared in an Oscar-winning film, and took a bow on a Broadway stage. Words can really describe what opening night on Broadway is. And even before the term influencer was coined, Combs was doing it. I'm proud to announce a groundbreaking strategic alliance between myself and Sirak Vakha. The deal with Sirak would make him a billionaire.

You get a sense of looking at his career. His ability to be a multi-hyphenate person, a pluralist who can do many different things. He also becomes a figure of aspiration and success, particularly in black communities. While Combs' public image was what the world saw, his personal life was a bit more complicated. His relationship with J.Lo did not survive the gun trial.

He fathered children with several different girlfriends. Stylist Philip Block says it was an open secret that Combs had no shortage of sex partners and that after hours, the glitzy white parties were known to take on a different vibe. And to all the kids, the kids have like an hour left. It's a wrap for y'all because this thing turns into something that when y'all get older, y'all don't want to come to. Okay? You knew it was time to go.

I didn't want to get involved in any of it. I always heard there was a lot of sex going on and wild sex. In 2007, Combs was in a new relationship with Cassie, a singer on his Bad Boy label, who had a hit with Me & You. Me and you, it's just me and you. From the very beginning of us working together, it was like, I don't know how to explain it, it was like we were being watched. Tiffany Red was Cassie's friend and songwriting partner.

She told NBC News in 2023, she thought Combs was very controlling towards Cassie, both professionally and personally. As an example, she recalled a time when they were at Cassie's place. He made her FaceTime him and show him everybody that was in the house. We were all like, hey, Puff, it was so weird. Tiffany says she witnessed an incident that made her worried for her friend. It was 2015, Cassie's 29th birthday.

Combs threw her a surprise birthday party and later Cassie and her friends went to a karaoke bar without Combs. Then, he and his security team suddenly appeared. We were having fun and then they showed up, and it was just like the air got sucked out the room. Like, it just was like instantly uncomfortable. They pulled her out the room. Tiffany says she saw what happened outside. They hit her back into the corner,

and he was like cussing her out with his hand in his fit in her face, and the security was like, formed like a half circle around them, and she's leaving karaoke's over. Tiffany went back to Cassie's house and spent the night. At one point in the middle of the night, she says, Cassie and Combs showed up. She says Cassie was out of it and Combs was belligerent.

Huff is screaming. I felt like I was in the presence of his monster inside. That's what the voice sounded like. The voice sounded really heavy. And I remember looking in his eyes and I said to him, what did y'all do? Tiffany says Cassie seemed sedated, as if she were on some drug. That was the first time I'd ever seen her high before. Tiffany says Combs was screaming, apparently angry because Cassie would not have sex with him.

I flew all the way from Miami. You know, I threw her this birthday party. She gonna get this. She wasn't saying anything. He just is screaming. And then they left again. Tiffany says she didn't know where Cassie went. And for a long time,

the two women never spoke about that night. I talked to her, but we didn't talk about that. We never talked about what was happening. Cassie and Combs broke up in 2018, and Cassie stayed quiet about that for a while. When she finally decided to speak, her voice echoed louder than anyone could have imagined. It was a shock. I don't think there's any other way to look at it. Sean Combs never seemed satisfied with the name his parents gave him. He's gone with a number of others over the years.

Not long ago, he decided to try on a new one. Love. I'm in a love era. I changed my middle name to Love, my baby's name is Love. The album's called The Love Album. And so, love wins. Combs seemed to be feeling the love from his fans and from his hometown, New York City. Diddy finally has the key to the city!

Well, according to Rolling Stone reporter Cheyenne Roundtree, one person he was not feeling the love from was his now ex-girlfriend Cassie. He begins to kind of woo her back publicly through social media. So he's, you know, on Instagram leaving her comments, posting, you know, throwback photos. In 2022, Sean Combs received the BET Lifetime Achievement Award. As he said his thank yous, it looked as if he was trying to use the moment to reach out to Cassie once again.

Also, Cassie for holding me down in the dark times. Love. By then, Cassie was married with two daughters. I heard from sources that that was a pivotal moment for her of saying, enough is enough. You don't get to bring me back into this narrative. Her friend Tiffany says Cassie eventually confided in her. She just unloaded like, this is what really happened, this is what was going on. Then, on November 16th, 2023, Cassie told the world. Tonight, music mogul Sean Diddy Combs, accused of sex trafficking and sexual assault.

Ventura alleges that Combs not only raped her, but over the course of a decade, physically abused her. Ventura says Combs used his vast network to bring her back when she tried to escape his control and abuse. I was completely blown away when Cassie filed that lawsuit. It was a shock. I don't think there's any other way to look at it. The details of Cassie's lawsuit are so explosive, there's a trigger warning at the top.

In the suit, Cassie alleged Combs had complete control over her life, frequently beat her at times in front of his staff. She claims he used drugs and threats of violence to force her into repeated unwanted sexual encounters with male sex workers. And Cassie said he had a name for those encounters, freak-offs. The term was familiar to some in Combs' orbit.

I'd heard the word freak-offs pop up, but you know, again, we just kind of laughed. It was a word. It wasn't a thing. In her lawsuit, Cassie described it in a more frightening way. These were highly orchestrated or just very elaborate sexual encounters where she alleged she was forced to have sex with other men for dittiest enjoyment. The suit does not mention the white parties but says the freak-offs happened at multiple locations and at times were weekly events. At least one she said lasted for days. She also said Combs would keep photographic records of them.

Some of these encounters were allegedly videotaped. And when Cassie said that she tried to delete them, that there was at least one instance where a video she thought she had deleted was shown back to her as kind of like this, it's there forever and I control this. Combs' response to the allegations, it was all lies and Cassie was just out for cash. I know she's not lying.

There's incidents in the lawsuit that I was present for. For example, Cassie's 29th birthday, when Tiffany says Cassie abruptly left the karaoke bar. In the lawsuit, Cassie said Combs had her cornered by his security staff in order to force her to leave. Later, like I found this out, that he made her have a freak off that night. With the allegations in Cassie's lawsuit, the love era had taken a very dark turn,

and Combs apparently wanted to move on. In less than 24 hours, Combs and Cassie settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum. There were no apologies or admissions, just a statement from Combs, wishing her and her family all the best. Love. One of the defining moments in all of this for me was how quickly he settled that lawsuit with Cassie. Which told you... There were some things he doesn't want to come out. Cassie's lawsuit told a story.

What came out next showed the world in terrifying detail What she had been talking about when you see that Cassie video? broke my heart broke my heart If Sean Combs thought that quick settlement with Cassie would put a quick end to his legal troubles, he was wrong. Jasmine Kanick says there had been rumors for years about Sean Combs and sex parties where women were preyed upon, but nothing came of the gossip. They were black women, younger black women, and the fact that you're dealing with someone who has a large amount of money who can probably afford to make things disappear.

Including your career if you're in that business. Exactly. I mean, do you really want to piss off Sean Combs, or do you want to be on Sean Combs' good side? Cassie's suit changed all that. After Cassie's lawsuits filed and settled, there's a sprinkling of other civil lawsuits alleging sexual assaults and claims

going back to the 1990s. Combs posted, "'Sickening allegations have been made against me claims going back to the 1990s. Combs posted, Multiple sources tell NBC News Combs was in Miami during the searches. Then on March 25th, 2024, his fans and the rest of the music world saw something previously unthinkable. Federal agents raiding Combs Mansions in Miami and LA. You just kind of see a surreal scene

of this beautiful mansion crawling with federal agents for an investigation that wasn't quite clear what the scope was. NEC agents carrying out boxes of material and things. According to law enforcement, those search warrants produced numerous phones, laptops and tablets and more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant. Two months later, the news got worse for Combs. CNN aired previously unseen security video of Combs and Cassie.

The video of him was very damning for folks, even folks who just didn't want to believe. I mean, there he is. It's footage from a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 of Combs assaulting Cassie. In her lawsuit, Cassie says she was trying to leave the hotel after a freak-off. When you see that video, and you think somebody you admired and somebody you partied with and you laughed with and somebody that hugged you could do something like that. For more than two decades,

Natanya Rubin has been dealing with her injuries from the 1999 club shooting. When you see that Cassie video... Broke my heart. Broke my heart. What kind of man is that? This is what you do with the get-out-of-jail-free card that you got? It's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life. Two days after the video came out, Combs, who had previously said Cassie was a liar

after his cash, went on Instagram and apologized. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I think about how the statements changed. And, you know, it was innocent, innocent. And then the tape comes in. Yes. And suddenly it's, I was in a really dark place. My point exactly.

The sprinkle of lawsuits became a flood. With me is our client, plaintiff Thalia Graves. Thalia Graves says that in 2001, Combs and one of his bodyguards spiked her drink and then raped her. She also alleges in her lawsuit Combs videotaped that episode. The internal pain after being sexually assaulted has been incredibly deep. In a court filing, Combs called her allegations false and malicious. Several other lawsuits describe victims being drugged prior to sexual assault.

And some of the suits allege other types of physical violence, including one woman who says Combs dangled her from a balcony 17 stories up. At least 20 men are also civil plaintiffs, including this man who says he is too ashamed and fearful to reveal his identity publicly. He told NBC News he worked for Combs on and off for more than a decade. I was a starstruck, but I was definitely happy to maybe be working at the bad boy office. He says he ran errands off the books and was still owed money after he stopped working for Combs.

In early 2020, he says he reached out to Combs' assistant about getting paid and a meeting was set with Combs at a New York hotel. It says, hey, you know, let's drink. And I said, okay, sure. I don't know, like maybe two minutes. I start to feel like just very tired, very sleepy. He says he woke up to Combs raping him. The phrase that just rattles in my brain all the time is I'm almost done, just stop, just stop moving, I'm almost finished. Combs' lawyers deny all the allegations, telling Dateline, quote,

No matter how many lawsuits are filed, especially by individuals who refuse to put their own names behind their claims, it won't change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone, man or woman, adult or minor, Mr. Combs remains confident he will prevail in court." As the lawsuits piled up in civil court, right now more than 50, federal prosecutors and the FBI built a criminal case. By last September, they were ready. That's Sean Combs entering a New York hotel. The two men in light-colored shirts who approach him are not his friends. They are federal agents taking him into custody. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three count indictment, charging Sean Combs with

racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. September 17th, 2024, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York laid out the charges against Sean Combs. Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. Sean Combs was now facing the sort of charges normally associated with mob bosses and human trafficking rings. From the use of drugs to recordings to the descriptions of the freak-off parties, many

of the details of the indictment echo Cassie Ventura's civil suit. In a way, it was like her lawsuit served as a roadmap for prosecutors to build out a case. Combs faces two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and one count of racketeering conspiracy. It's the whole enchilada. Everything that was required to facilitate these freak-offs is what the prosecutors say is racketeering.

Paul Butler is a former federal prosecutor-turned-law professor and MSNBC legal analyst. It's a criminal enterprise that involved a whole bunch of people who existed to fulfill Mr. Combs' every desire, including his criminal desires. Sex trafficking sort of makes you think of international rings. Is that what's going on here?

It's not international, but according to the indictment, it's across state lines. Combs offered up collateral for bail. Prosecutors argued that to protect their case, Combs needed to stay behind bars. They presented to the court that he had been messaging potential witnesses. So in the end, he was denied bail.

On the first day of jury selection, a now gray-haired Sean Combs told the judge he was nervous. It's expected the jurors will see some of the recorded sex acts as evidence. It's also expected Combs' defense will say none of that is a crime because Combs is a swinger, not a sex criminal. And presumably part of the defense is gonna be, yeah, this looks creepy, weird,

and outside the bounds of normal behavior, to some people maybe, but not to everyone, and all of it was consensual. The defense will want their jurors to think, Mr. Combs is a cat. I wouldn't want him to date my daughter. But that's different from saying that he ran a criminal enterprise. And the defense will also say, when the prosecutors wave all this baby oil and lube in front of you, they want you to think about sex.

But you know what? Sex is not a crime. The indictment lists four victims anonymously. During jury selection, the government told the court they were having trouble reaching one of their alleged victims. Cassie Ventura, however, is still expected to testify. Her testimony makes or breaks their case.

The defense is going to try to destroy her on cross-examination. I think the portrayal will be that she's a party girl, as much of a freak as was Diddy. The defense tried to keep that video out of the trial, saying what aired on CNN was altered and sped up, making it inaccurate. CNN denies altering the video,

and the judge ruled it can be entered into evidence. Combs' lawyers admit there was domestic violence in the relationship, but will say in court it was mutual. The defense will want the jurors to think it's a wretched, dysfunctional relationship. And if there's a crime, it's domestic violence. And that's not what Mr. Combs is charged with. Prosecutors will likely say what this shows is evidence of coercion, something they need to prove in connection with sex trafficking.

And as evidence of racketeering, the prosecution alleges Combs directed his underlings to pay hotel personnel for the video. It will be up to a jury to decide as the United States versus Sean Combs gets underway. He's been a Teflon for a very long time and I'm not sure that he can remain Teflon in this case. The trial is expected to last roughly two months. If found guilty on all charges, Sean Combs could be sentenced to life in prison.

I think justice looks like Diddy being behind bars and I also think that justice looks like everybody getting retribution. It's not lost on me that had anybody listened to me 24 years ago, Cassie and all the countless other people who endured trauma, suffering, pain would not have had to endure it. The humiliating journey from billionaire to inmate doesn't happen that often. And it may not happen this time. Sometimes wealth and fame speak as loudly as any witness in the criminal justice system. And Combs has beaten daunting charges before.

Is he really a bad boy in the eyes of the law? Or is all that part of some lifelong performance? Now the curtain rises on what might be the final act in this drama. That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again Friday at 9, 8 Central. And of course I'll see you each weeknight for NBC Nightly News. I'm Lester Holt, for all of us at NBC News, good night.