Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy on Trial: Disguises, Role Playing, and Juicy Text Messages Revealed

Episode Date: May 13, 2025

Sean “Diddy” Combs, once one of the most influential celebrities on the planet, heard opening statements in his federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial in New York on Monday. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has all the details from day one with correspondent Elizabeth Millner.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Check out https://americanfinancing.net/sidebar or call 866-891-2821 to learn how homeowners are saving $800 a month on average. NMLS 182334, www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Day one of the Sean Combs criminal trial was definitely eventful. Aside from compelling and revealing opening statements by both the prosecution and defense, the jury heard the first witnesses in the case. Everything from Astroglide to allege paid sex work to explicit text messages, Diddy wearing a disguise, the rapper being pushed up against a wall. This is your definitive recap of everything that happened inside of that courtroom today.

Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Well, it is here. Today was officially day one of the federal criminal trial of Sean Diddy Combs. From Cassandra Ventura's lawsuit back in November of 2023 to the plethora of allegations and other lawsuits, to the raids and his properties, to his arrest and indictment in September of 2024, to his multiple attempts to seek bail, to several superseding indictments.

May 12th, 2025 marks the day the jury was finalized. Opening statements began, and we heard the first witnesses, the first witness testimony in his criminal trial. Remember, this is a trial where federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, assert Combs engaged in sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, transportation, to engage in prostitution, that he established this network, this enterprise, this pattern of criminal activity that was particularly engaged in the abuse of women. Now, we're going to plan to do daily recaps here on Sidebar every day of this trial if we can. Because as you know,

federal courts don't allow cameras or recording devices, but we want to provide you enough details and description so it feels like you are in that courtroom watching it play out. This is a high interest case. This is an important case. And we feel it is only right that we try to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. So right now, we are going to lay out day one, jury being finalized, opening statements, the witnesses who testified. So for that, I'm going to bring in law and crimes reporter Elizabeth Milner, who is in that courthouse today. Elizabeth, so good to see you, as always. First things first, okay? And I want to let you go, because you haven't even eaten today. I know there's been so much going on.

today so first things first what was it like today getting into that courtroom I understand it was you had trouble getting into that courtroom what was the scene like oh well Jesse I got here super early a little bit like around 7 o'clock a.m. this morning and thankfully we had somebody kind of holding a place in line for us because that's how many people want to be here want to be inside that courthouse want to be inside that courtroom whether it's the general public, whether it's journalists, whether it's other lawyers just wanting to get a piece of the action. Let me tell you something, Jesse. When I came here this morning, the line was all the way

down the block. And it was just crazy packed with so many journalists, so many people who just wanted a chance to, again, be inside that courtroom today. But it was just a madhouse. Like a lot of us in the media were kind of comparing it to the hunger games. It was really that serious because a lot of people wanted to make sure, one, that they had their place in line. and too that they were able to get inside in their same place in line because obviously with this being such a high profile trial with a lot of eyes on it everyone wanted to be inside that courtroom so there were sometimes people were cutting the lines people were trying to get ahead they were you know trying to get up in any way possibly that they could because you know when the bailiffs take us up to that courtroom you know they're taking us in like you know maybe packs of like six or seven it's never like the full group and then the rest are turn away but there are some people who try to sneak in with the group that are going up but you know the bailiffs sometimes they catch it sometimes they don't but then you know us who have those press passes were able to kind of glide right through but then there were you know still a packed courtroom um today especially for day one especially for a very high profile

day that being opening statements but it was crazy just to even get inside that courthouse today and i followed you on x and you took a video of rodney lil rod jones who filed his own lawsuit again, Sean Combs, he showed up today. That was something to say the least. I mean, was he in the courtroom at all? Were you surprised to see him? What was he doing? I was a little surprised to see him kind of standing in the line just, you know, like the rest of us. He came in, probably, I would say, a little after maybe 7.30, like it was right before 8, 8.30, they started bringing us into the court house. But, you know, I was kind of stunned to see him inside that line with all of us. He came in. He had the sunglasses.

glasses on. He had two chains on, not to be confused with the rapper or anything like that. But, you know, a lot of cameras were inside his face and through his attorney, he had pretty much said that he is not going to be making any type of comments, not going to be giving any type of interview. So we didn't see any of that while we were standing outside the courthouse because remember for our viewers, we're not allowed to have our phones inside. As soon as we walk inside those doors, for the most part, the marshals, the bailiffs are telling us to turn our phones off. And so once we all got inside the courthouse, you know, I saw him kind of standing in line with his attorney as well as his entourage, going up with members of the public.

And so probably for the first half of the day, I did see him inside that courtroom. He was paying attention. He was following along with, you know, the preemptive strikes of the jury selection, as well as the opening statements. And then around lunchtime, not kind of clear where he would win afterwards or maybe, you know, had no idea where he went pretty much afterwards. So, you know, and this afternoon I didn't see him in the courtroom. But for this morning, we definitely did see him inside that courtroom along with his attorney as well, too.

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So it costs you nothing to find out how much you can save. And by the way, if you start today, you may be able to delay your next two mortgage payments. American financing salary-based consultants are ready to listen. They're ready to help. Take back your peace of mind with American financing. Call American financing today at 866-891-2821. That's 866-891-2821, or go to Americanfinancing.net slash sidebar. Okay, so before we even get into the opening statements, before you even get into the jury being finalized, who is in the courtroom for Sean Combs?

Were there any notable faces? And how did Sean Combs appear? Well, he appeared, you know, in good spirits, considering that today is a very big day. It was day one. It was opening statements. He was brought out a little bit before 9 a.m. He was wearing a gray sweater. He had a white undershirt on.

He had gray slacks. He had his glasses with him. He waved at his family, kind of gave the little heart sign as well, too. You know, he stood up at the defense table. He was sorting through papers. But one thing I found pretty interesting today, Jesse, is that we could see him reading the Bible. And this was before the preemptive strikes were going on. And so maybe this was, you know, to get him into the good spirits.

Maybe it was because he needed, you know, maybe some religion or that type of thing. And so, yeah, a lot of us kind of spotted him with the Bible. At first, we were like, is that a Bible? And then when he got up, put it inside of his, I guess, his legal briefcase or whatever he brings inside that courtroom, then we're like, okay, yeah, that was definitely a Bible. But as far as some memorable faces inside that courtroom today, it was really stacked. We had Mark Garagos in the courtroom, Karen Agnipelow, who is the wife of Mark Agnipelow. We had a little rod inside that courtroom.

We had Doug Winger inside that courtroom, and he's a notable face because he represents Cassie Ventura, who is expected to testify tomorrow. We had Quincy Brown inside that courtroom, one of Diddy's, well, he's Diddy's adopted son. We had Justin Combs, his mother, Mesa was inside that courtroom. We had Christian Combs, Delilah Combs, Jesse Combs, Chance Combs, Janice Combs. That's going to be Diddy's mother. We had Dana Tran inside that courtroom. Dana is also a pretty notable figure, too, because she is the daughter of Diddy's youngest child love,

who I think is maybe two years old, three years old at this time. So obviously, you know, the baby wasn't in the courtroom or anything like that. Then we also had the twins' caregivers slash guardian. She's also Kim Porter's best friend as well, too. And so those were some of the pretty big, notable faces that we saw inside that courtroom. Now, I did hear rumblings that both Lisa Bloom and Gloria Allred were also inside the courthouse today. I believe that they were in the media overflow room, which is pretty surprising, given, you know, their credentials especially. But those are the main noticeable people that were inside that courtroom today.

Now you mentioned jury selection. You mentioned the preemptory challenges. We knew that the day was going to start off with finalizing the jurors. You need a jury for a criminal trial. Now, both the prosecution and the defense, they use their preemptory challenges to whittle down the number, right? They're striking jurors not for cause, but for whatever reason, as long as it's not an improper reason, like race or gender. But the defense took issue with who the prosecution was excluding, right? They definitely did. You know, the defense was pretty much saying that, you know, the government had struck seven black people and they had a pretty big argument about that. The defense was alleging that, you know, the government has this pattern and demanded essentially for the government to respond to this, that being the Batson challenge, which Brian Buckmeyer kind of gave me a little privy to from the legalese portion of it. But even as the government was kind of going through all of the prospective jurors that they were striking down, you know, they were for pretty, you know, you could understand the reasons why. You know, number juror 51, knew all the defendant's children, knew 17 people on the people and places list, watched making the ban, had a fiancé that served time for drug conviction. Another juror, this was number 216.

She was moved to strike for cause. She had been arrested three times. She didn't disclose, or this person, excuse me, didn't disclose that they harassed a police officer. Juror number 181, also in this batch. The husband spent 21 years in prison, was concerned that the government was concerned that the government was concerned. She would be biased. The government says she had worked with individuals with bipolar disorder and concerned. She would bring her outside knowledge into this case. Another was dismissed because they had two brothers who served time for felonies. This person had watched

a news segment about this case and said that they would lose 30% of their income, but was worried that this person might also have an agenda of wanting to be on the jury. Number 163 had an English language issue. Nephew was a gang member who allegedly shot a police officer. Another one went to high school with Diddy. Another perspective juror that was struck out, you know, gave inconsistent answers and referred to police as a-holes. Obviously, I'm not going to say the full word, but you can kind of take it from that. And the number 181 was also described as, you know, a view of victims, looked at Diddy as already guilty of domestic violence and try to walk back comments that said, you know, victims jump on bandwagons and catch

cases. So those were some of the prospective jurors that, you know, the defense had issue with them, the government striking them. But, you know, after kind of listening to these reasons, it kind of, you know, gave a little more answer as to why this was happening. But I will tell you, some of the jurors that I was particularly disappointed weren't taking on to the jury was the wand stealer, Jesse. I know you and I both were kind of hoping that she would stay on, but unfortunately she didn't. Also, you know, from my notes, the woman with ocular migraines, she was dismissed as well, too. And so that was just kind of some of the look at some of the jurors that were dismissed from the case and are not currently serving on this panel.

And they selected a jury very quickly today. As you said, the judge rejected the defense's arguments that, as you mentioned, the Batson challenge striking the validity of these peremptory challenges. And now we have a jury. Eight men, four women. There are six alternates, two women, four men. You have all walks of life, all different kinds of ages. And by the way, talking about Brian Buckmeier, let me call them out, actually. Earlier today, you and I were doing a live pit and there was this guy who was so loud outside screaming in your live shot, Brian Buckmeyer, friend of the show, friend of law and crime, stepped in, moved him aside. We love Brian.

Now, I want to get into what happened with the opening statements. So the prosecution started with their opening statement. By the way, the judge had already given the jury instructions. We all know what that is. But then the prosecution started with their opening statement. And AUSA, Assistant United States Attorney Emily Johnson, delivered the opening statement for the prosecution. what was the main theme of her opening statement and what were the highlights of the opening

statement well definitely the main theme was just that kind of diddy was pulling the wolves over everyone's head you know the government said that did he was a cultural icon a businessman he was larger than life but that also said in that same sentence or at least the next sentence you know he had 20 years of crimes that he was doing that ranged from kidnapping arson, drug trafficking, sex crimes, obstruction, you know, these are the type of things that were already laid out in the indictment, the second superseding indictment, the third superseding indictment, so all this stuff, you know, we knew for the most part. And then they kind of talked more in-depth, you know, about Cassie and the allegations that are involving her. You know,

one example is just that on one night, Diddy, according to the government, hunted for her. He found out that she was seeing another man, and then Diddy took his gun and his bodyguards and threatened to even kill this man that Cassie was with. You know, the government said that Diddy had forced Cassie out of her apartment, broke into Cassie's apartment, beat her brutally, you know, beyond just what we had seen through that intercontinental surveillance video as well, too. You know, the government kind of painting it as the evidence will show that Diddy relied on his inner circle, you know, and together they all worked as a group to pretty much

promote Diddy's power that Diddy would refer to himself as a king. I remember speaking during the lunch break. you know, and that kind of matches the tattoo that he has on the back of his neck that I see from inside that gallery, you know. And so for the most part, I think just going into depth about, you know, these freakoff slash Wild King nights slash hotel nights, which were all one and the same, essentially, you know, that Diddy demanded his staff to light up the rooms in advance, you know, with lighting, with lube, with cash for these escorts, drugs for women, and as well as Diddy himself, women had to dress in lingerie. They had to have white nails, tall heels, something that Cassie had pointed out in her civil claim against Dity that was later settled. I think, you know, another big takeaway outside of just everything that Cassie had been going through, according to the government is also this Jane. So, you know, we had spoken a number of times just about, you know, alleged victim one, two, three, and four. Obviously, there was no mention of victim three.

The government can't find her. So she was not part of any opening statement, but they did talk about Jane, who we presume to be. alleged victim number two right she's a single mom she was she met Diddy around 2020 Jane was single at the time however Diddy was seeing a number of other people she was introduced to freakoffs by Diddy and she tried one just to essentially make him happy the government said that Jane was nervous and thought the freakoffs were going to be a one-time thing but then he had allegedly kept asking her to do it she like Cassie would even help plan them

Thinking that this is what the government says, that, you know, if she were to participate in these freakoffs, that this would kind of also play in a way of getting more quality time with the defendant. She wanted the escorts to wear condoms, but Diddy didn't want them to. Jane had tried to do a freak off without being on drugs, and then she vomited after having sex with an escort. So we really got to see like a very eye-opening picture of not just what Cassie had went through, but this other alleged victim as well, too, who will be going by a pseudonym. Jane, presumably Jane Doe, and so that was very eye-opening as far as what the government was kind of painting. Now, I will say, Jesse, I was a little disappointed in kind of the delivery of opening statements. I will say that, you know, and maybe it was just because this is a delicate matter. We're talking about sex. We're talking about trafficking. We're talking

about alleged victims of, you know, domestic violence as well, too. But as far as the most part goes. I was really expecting, and maybe it's just because I assume that because, you know, we have Hollywood, we have star power, that it would just be like a TV show, just very animated, but it wasn't pretty much. Asa, Emily Johnson, she got up here with her notes. She just pretty much read off her opening statements and just kind of essentially how a school teacher would do if they were giving a lecture to their students. It wasn't very animated or anything like that. To be honest, I was a little disappointed, honestly, on both ends of just how the delivery was for opening statements. But, you know, Jesse, I had said last time that by the time we get to the end of

trial, most people don't even remember opening statements to begin with, but it really was just an eye-opening kind of picture that was being painted by the government of what we could expect for this two-month-long trial. And look, opening statements are not evidence. They're a preview of what to expect. I think they're quite important in trial because it's the first time the jury is really hearing about the story they're going to hear for the next two months. And for us, you know, I was following along with it, it's the first time we got definitive confirmation that Cassandra Ventura is going to be a part of this case, that she's going to be victim one, to hear about not only a Jane, but hearing that a chef may testify, hearing about

chiefs of staff and employees, and that there's a Mia, a former employee that may testify and provide crucial information in this case. Then we're going to hear from escorts, text messages, where Combs is telling his staff to bring cash for escorts. I think that's important for the transportation to engage in prostitution. charge. For me, it felt from a legal point of view, and I wasn't in that courtroom, but it feels to me they kept trying to explain how this was a crime, that they really have to convince this jury that this was forced, that this was coerced, that this was done against

the will of these alleged victims, trying to explain why this is racketeering, why this is sex trafficking. Before we go to the defense and their opening statement, real quick, Elizabeth, anything you could glean from the jury about how they were reacting to the prosecution's opening statement? Yeah, so from what I was seeing, and I couldn't, you know, couldn't see, like, the fronts of their faces or anything like that. But from what I was seeing, just kind of on that side view of the gallery, was just that they were paying close attention. It didn't seem like anyone was necessarily dozing off or just kind of avoiding what was being told right in front of them. And for the most part, it seemed like these jurors were very attentive and listening very thoroughly. Some were taking notes.

Some were just, you know, maybe taking notes just with their brain. I do want to go back really quick, Jesse, to kind of talk about Mia because, you know, I do want to emphasize to the viewers. I took lots of notes, and sometimes these just get kind of lost in this shuffle. But as far as Mia goes, she was another person that the government had talked about. You know, she had worked for Diddy for years, but the government was saying that she was subjected to sexual assault, too, that Diddy would allegedly put his hand up her skirt, snuck into her bedroom, and essentially sexually assaulted her. And so this was another person in addition to both Cassie as well as Jane Doe that we really got to see, you know, just kind of the lengths of these allegations. And what kind of makes me a little bit differently is that she worked for Diddy for a number of years and continued to do so even afterwards the government was talking about.

She couldn't talk about, you know, what she had gone through until recently. And so, yeah, they really just were kind of, essentially the jury was playing very close attention to, you know, this very complicated case. Because, you know, Jesse, you and I, we've obviously been in it since we work here at Law and Crime. We've been covering this case since November of 2023 or when it first started with Cassie's lawsuit. But for some of these jurors, they're really getting finally, they're really just now getting the full case at them. And a lot was thrown at them in just day one. Well, hopefully they don't know everything about it like we do, and they were being honest during the jury selection process. Okay, so now let's talk about the defense.

Teni Garagos, female attorney delivering the opening statement. I think that was deliberate in a case of sex trafficking and racketeering and prostitution. What were the highlights of her opening statement? What is the defense they're moving forward with? Yeah, absolutely. I was kind of surprised that Tenney Garagos gave the opening statements for the defense. It seemed like for the longest time, Mark Agnifola was running the show. But it makes a lot of sense as to why it was Tenny Garagos giving those opening statements.

Alexandra Shapiro, she's a great defense attorney, but she is kind of a spitfire. So I think Tenney was kind of the right approach here. She just like Emily Johnson kind of gave it very, just, you know, matter of fact, who came up there with her notes or for her opening statements and just kind of laid it out for the jury. There wasn't a lot of animation, even with her defense openings as well. too. But, you know, from the defense's perspective, they were painting Diddy and they were honest about it. He's a complicated man, but this isn't a complicated case. Essentially, the defense was saying this is about real relationships that the government is turning into RICO charge and sex

trafficking. And this isn't the case that a lot of people may have heard on the news. That's what the defense says. And so they said that essentially Ditty's story will be told over the next two months. You know, one point that came up probably within the maybe the first five minutes of the defense opening was, you know, Tennie Garragos introduced Diddy officially to the jury where it's like, this is our defendant, Sean Combs, because they refer to him as Sean Combs. It's never really Diddy or P. Diddy or Puff Daddy inside that courtroom. It's always Sean. And so he kind of stood up, sat back down a little bit after his introduction. And, you know, this was something that we were expecting is for pretty much the government, or excuse me, the defense to say that the government should. didn't have any type of place inside of Diddy's bedroom that, you know, they admit that Diddy had a temper, especially when he drinks, you know, sometimes he gets so angry. They admit that Diddy lied, and he was not very, not the best boyfriend or partner. He was kind of mean to his girlfriends, but he's not charged with being mean. He's not charged with being a jerk to his girlfriends.

Essentially, he's charged with criminal acts that they say isn't criminal at all. They pretty much kind of talk about that they'll see domestic violence in this child. And while they do take it seriously, it doesn't amount to sex trafficking from their perspective at all. You know, they admit to Diddy doing drugs. They admitted to Diddy using baby oil. They said it's not a federal crime to use either of those things. They'll continue to fight for his freedom. You know, they, you know, painted the picture.

And this was something we kind of got a glimpse of last week where they were kind of painting the picture that these alleged victims in this case, including Cassie, including Jane Doe, were capable, strong women that were making adult choices. They were free choices, and they came with both the pros and the cons, and that essentially they were getting something out of Diddy, which was, you know, their rent was paid for, Cassie got a car from him, that type of thing, you know, and they said essentially that Diddy was a jealous man, but also that he, you know, that women were jealous of him too, and a lot of his relationships were driven off of jealousy, and that, again, Diddy was extremely jealous and that, you know, the jealousy and the drugs, they'll take responsibility for. you know, and he's not being charged with being a flawed person. Now, when it comes to Cassie specifically in the defense's opening, you know, they talked about how Cassie was in a relationship with another man when she had met Diddy, that Diddy was in a relationship with Kim Porter until her death, which I thought was pretty particularly interesting, given that for the most part, you know, and, you know, I've seen this family, like, out on social media and that type of thing.

And from my perspective, I always felt like Kim Porter and Diddy kind of gave all this notion that they were just co-parenting, that it was never that she was Kim Porter was still with Diddy while Cassie was with Diddy. I was expecting for them to talk about the 2020 BET award moment where Diddy had specifically mentioned Cassie and that talking about how Cassie had held him down and that type of thing because from the defense's perspective, they were pretty much saying that Kim Porter was the love of Diddy's life, that once Cassie kind of knew that she'd never be Diddy's soulmate, that she would never be his wife, that type of thing. That's when she called off the relationship.

And so that was a pretty interesting moment or just interesting openings that, you know, some parts weren't kind of talked about necessarily. And then even when it comes with Jane Doe, you know, the defense says that Diddy and this and Jane Doe dated for three years. Their relationship was also plagued by jealousy. Jane wanted to be out in the public with Diddy. but for the most part they kind of stayed inside they were away from the public and that's kind of where the issues kind of came about is that Jane wanted to be public like Diddy was with other

women you know I can even point to Young Miami for example as somebody that Diddy was kind of public with and dating around that time same with Lori Harvey that type of thing but apparently Jane Doe was kind of in the background as a figure in all of this and so pretty much another interesting part that the defense kind of talked about towards the end of their opening statements was that Cassie was having financial trouble at the time that she had filed her civil lawsuit. They claimed that she had never gone to the police. Instead, she went to a civil lawyer to make money. You know, they talked about the claim that she had made a demand for $30 million, that type of thing. And so those were just some of the biggest moments as far as

defense openings go. As far as Mia's concerned, the defense was talking about how, you know, they had asked jurors to pretty much evaluate her motive as testifying, you know, because remember she isn't, she was an employee of ditties and that type of sort. And so, yeah, that was pretty much the biggest moments of the defense opening as I kind of just like recap essentially all of it. No, I get it. And look, you don't have the ability to have a computer there. They don't allow electronic devices. So you're literally reading from your notes. It reminds me of when I was covering the Harvey Weinstein trial. I had to read from my notes too. Look, the big theme, I think, for the defense, love, jealousy, money. I think that was articulating.

well in the sense that this is what the motivations were behind the people who are coming forward against him now. And I think it's fascinating that they have owned up and admitted to a lot of what he did, but saying it doesn't amount to sex trafficking or racketeering. They mentioned Cassie filing, the public lawsuit, millions of dollars, an incentive to lie. I thought it was really interesting how they went through a number of the predicate crimes to meet racketeering. So in order to prove racketeering, a criminal enterprise, a pattern of criminal activity.

They say, there was no bribery of a guard. It was to prevent bad PR for Sean Combs and Cassie about paying off to make sure that tape from the 2016 hotel doesn't come out. Kidnapping? Well, you have somebody who asked to be with him for 10 years. Drug trafficking was about personal use of drugs, that there was no conspiracy here. There was no criminal agreement. I thought this was interesting. And real, real quick on this, Elizabeth.

You know, did I hear this correctly that they're arguing he didn't pay for sex workers, for prostitution purposes, right, transportation of people for purposes of prostitution, what he's charged with, maximum of 10 years in prison, he was paying them for their time and experience? That I, just correct me if I'm wrong, that's the defense there, that he allegedly paid sex workers for not what we think he paid sex workers for, allegedly paid sex workers for? Tell me if I'm completely wrong. No, you're not completely wrong at all. That is essentially what they are saying is that, You know, he didn't pay these escorts.

He didn't have people pay for these escorts for sex necessarily. It was all for time, whether that time be possibly in the bedroom, whether that time be just for time spent. But you are definitely correct, Jesse, where the defense is definitely trying to paint it as, you know, this isn't transportation to engage in prostitution. And I know we'll talk about this more with one of the witnesses that took the stand today. But it's definitely something that the defense is alleging that this was just time. This was not for prostitution. This is not payment for sex work or anything like that, but just time. And real quick, before we now get into the witness testimony, which I think is fascinating,

did you get any sense from the jury about how they were interpreting the defense's opening statement? Not too much different from the government's opening statement, honestly. Again, from where I could see, I wasn't really seeing, like, head nods or any type of, like, confirmation that, oh, wow. any like big eyeballs i couldn't see that from where i was sitting but you know it was kind of the same as the government where a lot of people were just paying attention they were taking their notes and just kind of absorbing what the openings were for the case and talking about this so i thought the way the prosecution began their case first witness first evidence introduced was fascinating because they started with arguably the most important piece of evidence in this case as far as we know the first

witness laid the foundation for it, right? We're talking about the 2016 hotel hallway video of Sean Combs, purportedly beating Cassandra Ventura. Talk to us about who the first witness was, what the government introduced, and what we should take away from it. Yeah, so the first witness on the stand was Officer Israel Flores. He's a police officer for LAPD, but more notably is before he used to work for Securitas and he had worked at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City in California. So when they were talking about March 5th of 2016, you know, this witness, who again was for the government, he got a call about a woman in distress on the sixth floor of this hotel. And so he says

during his testimony, he had observed a male and a female in the lobby. He recognized that this male was Sean Combs. And so at the time he was working as the assistant director for the Intercontinental hotel. So, you know, his responsibilities were to respond to incidents, train trainees, pretty much, and then he later on became the director. And that's kind of important, mainly because it kind of controlled what he was and wasn't able to do when it came to this surveillance video. So, for example, as an assistant director, he wasn't able to rewind it past a certain time frame. He wasn't even able to download it or even download this video to attach onto the incident report or anything like that. So again, he was serving as an assistant director. And that,

capacity at the time that this incident had occurred. You know, when they were talking about the surveillance video, Officer Flores was talking about how every floor of the hotel had cameras. They were motion-activated cameras, by the way. Again, they had the capacity to rewind and download these types of videos, but only the director of security was able to do so. And he didn't take over that role until later on. But as far as, you know, him writing up incidents reports, because We got to see that exhibit was the, we got to see the exhibit of the incident report from that day in 2016. So before he responded to the call, he said he looked at the cameras. He saw a black man pacing back and forth.

Then when he arrived onto the sixth floor, he saw Diddy or Sean Combs in a towel and then saw Cassie in the corner covering her face. He said he didn't know it was Cassie immediately. He just pretty much recognized Diddy. He said that Diddy's demeanor, and this is a pretty interesting point, Jesse was a blank stare and said it was a devilish stare. Did he at this point is still in his hotel, or excuse me, it's still in his towel. He's still wearing socks. Another interesting point is that they refer to Cassie as Cece, but that she was pretty

much scared and frightened, according to Officer Flores. He noticed upon arriving up to that floor that the elevator lobby flower base was destroyed, something that we had seen in the video prior to that. You know, he said there was a mess in the hallway. that he had told Diddy that this would be charged to his room, told him and Cassie to go back to their room just so that way other guests in the hotel couldn't hear or notice anything that was going on. Diddy told Cassie that she wasn't going to be leaving this hotel. Officer Flores said that he didn't close the door all the way back to the hotel room because

he thought that something was about to happen. But he said he did notice another blackmail inside the hotel room. And this is also pretty important because the government has alleged this black or excuse me this um person was an escort um they didn't necessarily say that um during the direct or anything like that but that officer flores didn't put this person or just this person's activity even inside or in that incident report something that the defense definitely harped on during their cross examination but i'll get to that in just a little bit um but as far as um this male that was inside the hotel room he was fully cloved he was just sitting in the corner of the bed which is something that officer

Mr. Flores noted as kind of weird, why was this person just sitting in the bed while all of this stuff was going on outside in the hallway. But pretty much after Cassie left, Did he called him and was holding a stack of money and pretty much said, don't tell anyone. Now, Officer Flores says he didn't take this money, but noticed that it was a $100 bill wrapped in lots of, lots of cash. And so pretty much we got to see something that is very, very important, is that. that we got to see more of when that video kind of cut off from when we saw it on that CNN report, right? Like we got to see, you know, at first Cassie, she was with her bag, she's putting her socks on, and Diddy comes, he grabs her, hits her, stomps on her, something that we've all seen, right? But then afterwards, she gets up, she goes to the hotel phone, she called someone,

and then Diddy comes back, they go off camera. You also couldn't hear anything on this particular video because there was no sound. Then all of a sudden, Diddy comes back. Cassie's like putting her hands up to get away from Diddy. And then the surveillance kind of glitched in and out. And it was pretty standard that this was pixelated video. That's what Officer Flores said. But she had called someone on the hotel phone.

Then we saw another camera view also of Cassie going down a hallway when security arrives. Diddy goes the opposite way. So they're going completely two different ways. Diddy's still in his towel throughout all of this. When Cassie returns back to where Diddy is going, It was essentially because she wanted her bag and she wanted her phone so that way she could leave. And so Officer Flores says he didn't call the police because Cassie was adamant that she just wanted to leave. Whereas Diddy said, you know, this stuff can't be made public, which is where those allegations of like him allegedly bribing Officer Flores with that $100,000 according to the indictment.

But Officer Flores, because of just the capabilities of, just the capabilities of. not being able to rewind or download the video actually snapped a video on his cell phone so that's when you could kind of see audio and it was because it was just background noise of when he was kind of taking a video from his phone he was making kind of like silly commentary about his shiny shoes that type of thing but so this incident happened he was gone from work the following two days because that was his weekend and then when he returned to work he said a lot of staffers were talking about this incident, but he said that the video wasn't there anymore. He never saw that video again until he saw it on the news, presumably when CNN first showed it. And when he was cross-examined

by Brian Steele, he was questioned about the incident report, question about why he didn't describe Did he as devilish and the incident report, question why he didn't mention the discoloration in Cassie's eye in the incident report, because he said under direct that Cassie had a purple eye. He said that they admit that no one at the hotel, had called law enforcement about this, but everyone was talking about what had happened and that type of sort. So those were some of the big takeaways

from just witness number one, just the first one, but a lot of eye opening, an eye opening picture there, especially as we got to see more of what happened after the moments that we had saw all from that brutal assault video. We didn't get to see the apology or anything like that,

but maybe that will come into evidence later down the line. So under direct examination, Officer Flores says, that there was a point where, you know, Diddy was trying to grab his phone and that type of thing and pushed Diddy against the wall. But when he was questioned about this incident under cross-examination, Steele questioned him on why he didn't put, you know, the whole Diddy up against the wall incident on this incident report. And pretty much he said, you know, well, he was trying to grab my hand. I did put that and include that inside the incident report. So when asked on redirect by the government, pretty much the summation of that was just that, you know, they weren't required

to divulge every single detail inside these incident reports. Even though under direct, he also said these incident reports are about who, what, when, where, why, that type of thing. And so they under direct, the government reminded, you know, the jury essentially that, you know, this was what's in the incident report. He wasn't, he didn't have to go into every single specific detail when he was summing up that report. which came a few hours after the incident that day. We know what the prosecution is doing here, right? They are setting the foundation for Cassandra Ventura to take the stand.

I've said it before. I'm going to say it again. When she filed her lawsuit against Sean Combs, I think people were like, how do we know this is true or not? But as soon as that hotel video came out, it not only corroborated that particular moment, that particular section of her complaint, but some would say it corroborated her entire account about what happened with Diddy. starting with talking about the hotel incident and building that up it is building the jury's view

to say when she takes the stand she already looks more credible in their eyes her accounts is already backed up by at least one witness and also the videotape which brings me now to the next witness we heard from today Daniel phillip who is daniel phillip and what did he have to say Well, let me tell you something, Jesse. When they called Daniel Philip to the stand, honestly, at first I thought he was just another police officer. He was very muscularly built. He had on a pretty tight suit, but he essentially was a male dancer, something that I was very surprised at was introduced so early on as far as the witnesses go. But, you know, Maureen Comey did this questioning for the government.

Daniel Phillips said that he had received money from Cassie back in 2012 to pretty much have sex. with her. He met Cassie through his boss. He was contacted by his boss after receiving a request for Black Dancers. So the boss sent him to the Gramercy Park Hotel. Essentially when Daniel Philip came to this hotel, and by the way, the Gramercy Park Hotel is just uptown from where we are right now. He was expecting that he was doing a strip tease for a bachelorette party. So he arrived at the hotel around about nighttime. So when Cassie had opened the door, she was wearing lingerie. She was wearing a red wig. She had sunglasses on. She referred to the other man in her room as her husband. And she made it a point to tell Daniel Philip, allegedly, that

you know, her husband wasn't gay, that he wouldn't touch the dancer. So essentially that he would feel more comfortable. Daniel Philip testified that Cassie gave him a few thousands of dollars when he walked inside that hotel room. The candles were lit on the table. There was Astroglide in the room, something that, you know, was both talked about in the super, or in the indictments, as well as Cassie's now settled civil suit. It was a dark room, and then a man also came. He was in a white robe. He had a bandana over his nose and pretty much his mouth.

So if you can picture, like, people go into music festivals in the desert, that type of thing. That was kind of what I was picturing a little bit. And then he also was wearing a hat. So just by that description, you could tell that this person just didn't want to be identified. But according to Daniel Phillips, this man was referred to as baby. and then he recognized the voice as being that of Sean Combe. So he said that Diddy didn't say much, but that Diddy, while he was kind of going under this, like, you know, persona, was working in importing slash exporting, which I thought was an interesting kind of tidbit to talk about if you're going to come up with a fake job, but I guess so. But Daniel Phillips, he talked about, he testified that he and Cassie had had sex, that she had rubbed baby oil on him.

she he had rubbed it on her as well too now this is a part where you know it gets very very graphic something that you know they talk about in the indictment as well too that you know diddy was watching he had pleasureed himself during it um that daniel philip wasn't wearing protection during this encounter and i talk about this specifically because at this moment when it started to get more into these graphic details that's when i saw ditty's daughters get out of the courtroom you know imagine listening and being inside that gallery and listening to your father's proclivities and alleged crimes, especially sex crimes at that and just having to go into the full detail of it. I saw them kind of all just walk up. They stayed outside of the courtroom for a little bit.

They came back, but then I think their guardians, their moms were kind of like, you know, and I say Chance's Mom, excuse me, but they were just kind of like, you know, let's get you out of here. And so they didn't stay for most of the duration of this testimony because you're really kind of getting into the weeds of just what she was wearing, what he was wearing, the kind of acts that were going on, that type of thing. Now, Diti's sons were still inside that courtroom when all of this was being testified to. And so, you know, they were just, you know, and they're older than the girls in that type of thing. So it makes a lot of sense. But Daniel Phillips testified that Cassie had messaged him after this, asking for a picture of his genitalia. and then asking him to even come back.

They were in the room for a few more hours the second time. And this entire time, Diddy was pleasuring himself throughout this whole second sexual encounter, as well as the first encounter, too. He said he didn't really know who Cassie was until his boss had actually looked her up. But essentially, you know, when Marine Comey was questioning him, it was, you know, did they do anything else besides to have sex and besides have sex in front of Diddy? He didn't seem like that according to his testimony. So he said he did this from 2013 to 2014.

They did this, these kind of threesomes in a way, you know, at Gramercy Park Hotel, at Essex Hotel, at Cassie's apartment, at Diddy's Home and just other places here in New York. And so there was a name, actually, that he had to check into or that the name was tied under, and that was the name black. And so he would go to the hotel, tell the person at the concierge, or just a name. at the front desk, you know, I'm here for black, and then they would be given, or then he would be taken up to the room, and then more things would happen. But, you know, there were points where Daniel Philip had even referred to or even thought of Cassie as a friend, said he stopped

kind of participating in these sexual encounters, mainly because he saw Diddy being physically abusive towards Cassie. He said that he's, you know, there was one incident where he had taken her to the back of a room and was he heard slapping noises as he kind of described it but even when it was talking about just like what all went on inside these rooms when all of these things were going down it was you know did he giving directions like slow down separate from each other you know doing a role play like they had recently met at the airport don't ejaculate just yet and if he were to do so to do it on her stomach or inside of her, that type of thing. He even said that there was one moment where Cassie wanted him to urinate on her

and Diddy pleasure himself to that. And so there were just a lot of graphic details about it. But then there was another interesting point where Daniel Phillips thought that there would be any type of point that he could be killed allegedly by the defendant because, you know, Diddy allegedly made him turn over his driver's license and he took a photo. of it. So he thought that, you know, this is somebody with a lot of power, with a lot of money who could essentially find him anywhere at any place. He has my driver's license. He knows my identification. He has my ID, that type of thing. Now, he didn't say that, but, you know, we all know what a driver's

license looks like. And so there were moments that he did say that he was fearful of his life and that he pretty much couldn't even sexually perform, especially with Diddy inside that room. So it was a lot of, a lot of graphic details, a lot of stuff that was talked about there. And then even we're not even in the thick of the cross yet because you know Xavier Donaldson said he has about an hour left across on him tomorrow morning and so we're probably going to see a lot more of that cross-examination which you know it seems like from the defenses aspect or in point right now it seems like it's attack credibility that's their strategy you know you know why was um why was Daniel philip doing this type of service when you know his service didn't provide prostitution it

prohibited it. He said that he wasn't even necessarily a male dancer whenever he was working at this company, or this company that was a male review shop, essentially he was just a supervisor and that there were, the company was using fake addresses to optimize searches and Daniel Philip didn't know it was fraudulent, that type of thing. So it seems like from the defense's perspective, it's definitely attack, attack, attack the credibility of whoever is going to be on that witness stand. And let me add, it seems that they're saying that Cassandra Ventura was a willing participant in all of this. And I think I understood the reporting to suggest that Mr. Philip had asked Cassandra Ventura,

why are you still with him, right? I mean, that's going to be a big theme. Why did you keep coming back to Diddy? And correct me if I'm wrong, Elizabeth. Did we learn a little bit more about the text message history between her and Philip? Because the more that the defense can highlight that, you know, if she was sending him these messages and recruiting him, how much was it, Diddy's direction versus how much she was doing it herself?

I mean, weren't the text messages between them quite explicit? Well, the problem is we couldn't see the text messages whenever the defense was talking about them. They were displayed essentially just for the parties only. And so we inside the gallery couldn't even see the text messages, so we don't really know the full extent of what was said on them. Even from my view, really, I could only see just kind of the out scope of just one message. and my eyesight's not the best, and so I couldn't really read in-depth

these types of text messages, but it seems like from the government's perspective that these text chain will actually be brought back when Cassie does get on the stand, so that's probably when we in the gallery will probably be able to see what this text chain really includes,

but from what we saw when Daniel Philip was on the stand, we could not see the full extent of this particular exhibit, that being the text messages. I saw reporting indicating that at least one message might have been Mr. Philip writing to Cassandra Ventura, I want to, you know, have sexual relations with you.

Real quick, before I let you go, Elizabeth, just what was Combs' demeanor as he was listening to this witness testimony from both, you know, Mr. Flores and Mr. Philip? Well, he definitely was paying very close attention. I would say even more so with Daniel Philip on the stand, probably more than Officer Israel Flores, but Diddy was definitely paying attention very closely because also just even think about it. This is somebody who, you know, Diddy had encounters with and the sexual nature, just by from what Daniel Philip was describing while he was on the witness stand. And so he definitely was somebody that he had kept close eye on was probably likely passing notes to his defense attorney.

He can't verify that 100% because from where I was sitting after we returned from lunch. I was actually sitting on the opposite side of the courtroom. So I didn't get the full. kind of look or anything like that. But from what I could see, I definitely saw a head up, definitely looking very intently, especially when Daniel Philip took the stand. Elizabeth Milner, thank you so much. Great reporting. I know you're exhausted. You had an incredibly long day. Go get some dinner. Thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. Thanks, Jesse. And that is all we have for you right now here on sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify,

wherever you should get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.