Rotten Mango - We Ran Into Some WEIRD People During Diddy’s Trial…

Episode Date: June 1, 2025

We have been having a lot of weird encounters during the trial of USA v. Sean Combs. Too many people have been persistently asking the same questions and now it’s starting to just feel weird.  The...re are people outside the courthouse swinging wooden planks at reporters, spitting on news anchors, and threatening to take someone out with a sock filled with pool balls.  These are all the strange encounters we have had during the Diddy trial. What is really happening here?   Full show notes at rottenmangopodcast.com

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 I know our episodes have been later than we wanted them to be, and there have just been a lot of things that have been happening at the court behind the scenes. The first 20 minutes of this video are going to have no relation to the actual trial and the actual happenings of the trial with all the testimonies of the witnesses. So the first 20 minutes are honestly just some behind the scenes information on things that we've been kind of working with so if that is no interest to you, just skip ahead i will say though, it has been a rough few weeks this is our fourth time moving locations one of them was completely unrelated to the case and the rest of the times that we've moved to different places to stay
Starting point is 00:00:38 it's just been getting weird and we're taking all the necessary precautions to keep the entire team safe and i feel like i haven't really spoken about any of the things that have been happening behind the scenes so I just want to fill you guys in there has been so much happening inside the courthouse or right after the court or the entire team like right before we go into the courthouse and it's just things that we can't really put our finger on
Starting point is 00:01:01 and it just feels off and at the risk of sounding like we're overly paranoid, I'm just gonna try and tell you and explain why I think that we've been on edge recently. Before I get into the things that have been happening that are actually a little bit creepy, I'm just gonna paint the picture for you. This is not creepy, it's just pure chaos. Outside the courthouse, it is a literal zoo every single day. I see TikToks here and there of people capturing this chaotic tornado that's happening, and it is wild how desensitized everybody is getting
Starting point is 00:01:30 to just how incredibly messy everything is. A few days ago, there was a man who came to the courthouse with this giant two by four plank of wood, and he was in a rather menacing way slamming it against the street poles. He swung it at a reporter. Thankfully, she did not get hit, and he was in a rather menacing way slamming it against the street polls. He swung it at a reporter. Thankfully she did not get hit, but it was still terrifying nevertheless. And this is actually the second time within the span
Starting point is 00:01:53 of like a few business days that the police have been called on this specific person. He has been around the line for a while. He has been consistently standing in the line to get into the courthouse and then in the morning he tries to sell his spot. I will say that this man is very intense. Our only interactions with him personally is that he is very aggressive and he will aggressively scream ni hao at us and expect us to say it back. And so we do because we're terrified. His friend is also very intense. There was one morning where I was going over transcripts before the
Starting point is 00:02:24 courthouse opened so I'm like sitting on the There was one morning where I was going over transcripts before the courthouse opened. So I'm like sitting on the ledge of the sidewalk and I'm going over the transcripts. He's standing towering over me and he's just asked, he's like demanding to know what I thought about Cassie's testimony. I told him I'm busy. I have work to do. I'm like going over the transcripts and he keeps insisting me in a pretty threatening way.
Starting point is 00:02:43 He's like towering over me. Why can't I help you? You don't think I can help you? You don't think I'm capable of helping you? I'm telling you I can help you right now. And it just took so long to get him to finally walk away. He was definitely erratic, unpredictable. It felt like he wanted me to answer his persistent questions about what I felt about Cassie's testimony so that he would have a reason to start freaking out. That was a feeling. There was another incident where a man was believed to be holding a pool ball inside of a sock.
Starting point is 00:03:09 So he's like threatening to swing it around and hit people with it. We didn't see it, we were warned about it. So we like stayed in the courthouse a little bit longer before exiting that day. And it's the same guy that allegedly we heard again that he spat at a reporter, he was screaming homophobic slurs at people in the line.
Starting point is 00:03:24 And the NYPD, they will just take the people harassing the public and the press outside waiting to get into the courthouse, will lead them across the street and then send them off. They literally just cross the street with them. We've seen this happen almost every other day. I mean I think they can't really do anything unless someone demands to press charges or I don't know actually God forbid gets injured so that's great. There is heavy police presence there, the US Marshals are out there every single day but there are just non-stop people unwarranted, unponted, just spawning out of thin air,
Starting point is 00:03:55 screaming at everybody. I honestly feel like some of these people are coming to the courthouse to get a fight out of their system. That's the feeling, that's the only way I can describe it. People are trying to argue about pretty much everything outside of this courthouse. I am told that this is very New York, which we have spent some time in New York and had a place here for a while, and it feels like every interaction, like every bad interaction I've had in New York, amplify it times 1,000 and then add it all up, and then I have to relive that experience every single day. I don't know if it feels New York, it just feels horrendous. So we try our best
Starting point is 00:04:30 to just remain respectful. We're trying to keep to ourselves. We're really just trying to mind our own business, but even so just a few days ago one of our team members was waiting in the line super early, gets harassed to the point of tears. A passerby is cursing at her, screaming belligerently at her, tries to snatch her phone from her hand. We've been told that she's been starting quite a few fights outside the courthouse. This is completely unprompted.
Starting point is 00:04:54 She's screaming racist slurs at our team members face. Nobody cares, nobody helps. Like people are just standing around, live streaming it, filming it, watching it, and then afterwards, after the crazy lady leaves, the same people that were filming, that did nothing to help our team member, are now filming her as they comfort her. And they're like trying to rub her back and tell her it's okay. It is so dystopian.
Starting point is 00:05:17 We were inside the courthouse so we didn't even know until after the fact, but it's just been kind of stressful for I think everybody, not even just the RM team, like everyone that's in that line. There were briefly a group of protesters wearing free Diddy shirts across the street from the courthouse. They were allegedly getting paid $20 an hour to stand outside and wear free Diddy t-shirts
Starting point is 00:05:38 to promote the Diddy coin, which we've also received an email about. It's like a crypto coin for Diddy, so there's that. There are people seemingly thirsting after Sean Combs' sons when they arrive and leave for court, with one supporter, supporter of the son, not Diddy's supporter, kissing Justin Combs on the cheek, which, speaking of, I will say,
Starting point is 00:05:57 there has been an uptick of Diddy supporters coming into the courthouse through the public side. One supporter even tries to hand Sean Combs a stack of papers, which Officer Riz promptly put an end to, but there was a futile attempt. The supporters staying outside the courthouse, they've been slightly confrontational with the press and confrontational with a lot of others that are just live streaming right outside.
Starting point is 00:06:20 So that's just setting the scene of what's been happening outside the courthouse. Also, why is Fresh and Fit Myron in the courtroom? Like he was in the main courtroom for I think at least a few days last week. I haven't seen him the past few days, but he could be in the overflow rooms. I did see him outside while he was when he first started coming around. He's recording outside while a woman is undressing down into her underwear. This is like right outside the federal courthouse. This is how chaotic it's been,
Starting point is 00:06:46 which if you're not familiar, Myron is the Fresh and Fit guy. If you're luckily unfamiliar with his podcast, which I don't even think is around anymore, he would have this format where he would bring a bunch of women onto the podcast, many of them being OnlyFans models, and he just essentially berates them for being alive.
Starting point is 00:07:02 I mean, that's factually incorrect, but emotionally, that's what you're gonna feel from the podcast. There are at least five times I wrote in my notebook, why is Myron here? Like, I don't know why he's here. But what's interesting about him is he's actually quite meek in real life. Not that I think he should carry himself
Starting point is 00:07:18 as he does on his podcast in the courthouse, but he's rather, like he has a very soft demeanor. Softer than other content creators that I run into in the elevators which is not what I expected of him like we were in the elevator with him once and everybody's shuffling out and we were waiting for him to leave and he's just like oh yeah please go ahead but like very softly nevertheless that's just like painting the picture of the chaos there have been a lot of incidents though that have us feeling just weird. I mean we've been encountering a lot more people. in the
Starting point is 00:07:49 first few weeks we're running into a lot of people outside the courthouse and things are like they feel a little more normal the first few weeks but as of recently there's just been random whispers and speculations amongst the press pews that there might be people recording and listening to the press line. So in order for any of this to make sense, I got to give you an idea of how things are set up. So right outside the federal courthouse, there is this one gigantic line that is filled with press and public. You got members of the press, you got members of the public, all in one singular line. The only way that you can kind of differentiate
Starting point is 00:08:25 is like maybe they have on their press badge at the time. Now this line typically starts the day before. The line sometimes starts before we get out of court sometimes, so the line starts while we're inside the courthouse, clearly nobody can be at two places at once, so a lot of the press members, they will hire line waiters. And just to give you an idea, a lot of the press pews,
Starting point is 00:08:44 yes, there's a few independent journalists in there a good number of them are all with legacy media and legacy media has a lot of money we're a small team and just to keep up we're having to spend about a thousand dollars a day to have lion sitters actually more to just make sure we get into that main courtroom to be able to give you all the details that we really want to provide for you guys. So there's this giant line outside, press and public all in one line, and then right before the security line into the courthouse, the US Marshals will come out and divvy up the line.
Starting point is 00:09:18 So they'll make a press line and they'll make a public line. So it's in order. So if you're like the fifth in line, you might be the second member of the press or you might be the third member of the public and they'll just kind of sort you one by one, depending on the order. Now, I will say that a good chunk of the public line are content creators, so it's kind of like a mini press line. Also, these days though, lots of supporters of Sean Combs that are not part of his friends and family that are going in through the public side as well. So right outside the courthouse, giant line, mixture of press and public.
Starting point is 00:09:48 And then right before the courthouse opens, the line gets separated by the US Marshals. And then once you get inside the courtroom, the press pews are on the right side and the public pews are on the left side. Now this is just painting the picture, but recently there have been so many whisperings and just confusion because there have been people many whisperings and just confusion
Starting point is 00:10:11 Because there have been people different people each time that will lurk around this gigantic main line outside Before it's separated and you'll see that in the beginning. I think the legacy media There are a lot more intense about getting spots in the main courtroom So the a lot of good chunk of the first half of the gigantic line are press. There will be random people that will walk up and down this line, primarily focusing on the press members at the very front, and they'll act like they're just walking up and down for exercise, and they will be secretly recording everyone on their phones. Now, mind you, there are a lot of people live streaming outside, so it's not like they're live streaming. It's like they're trying to be discreet, like they're recording, it's like they're trying to be discreet like they're recording but they don't want the press members to know that they're recording so it's becoming incredibly
Starting point is 00:10:50 uncomfortable and all the press members are trying to warn each other once they spot someone like this and it feels like it's every other day that they spot someone secretly recording members of the press and it's confusing because you know a lot of the members of the press these people are very impressive producers reporters journalists that have been in the industry for years they work with legacy media they're not the type of people that are just gonna say unhinged stuff in broad daylight in a public setting or air out confidential information on the side of the street so it's not like you're recording the press members saying anything salacious or juicy or even worse capturing on camera it feels like they're recording to get a general vibe of the members of the press because right before we go in we might have Small small talk about maybe yesterday's testimony or like what's to be expected when we walk in today Who's testifying today? Like there's little conversations like that where maybe you could see each members of the press Maybe you'll see a little bit of their feelings about how it's going. Maybe you'll see like tiny bits of their opinions
Starting point is 00:11:51 Nothing salacious. Maybe it's more like, oh, I almost cried when she was testifying Like those are the types of comments you hear It's really not worth recording and I say that it's been weird because those same people that are trying to discreetly record, they will often approach members of the press asking questions about how they feel about the case thus far, and they'll try to do it in a very casual manner, but again, we're all warning each other that they're recording us. so it's just been... it's not particularly alarming, it's just weird. it just makes everybody feel very watched. in any event, that has been happening.
Starting point is 00:12:25 It's strange, but it's not the creepiest thing. I think this is where it starts getting very uncomfortable. I think it's been pretty easy for my researchers and I to tell if someone that we meet near or outside or even sometimes inside the courthouse is a genuinely curious person, or if they're asking a lot of strange questions. And that's why it's so hard to explain any of this in a way that doesn't make us seem super dramatic because we'll get similar questions asked by people who we feel are genuinely just supporters of the podcast or just intrigued because maybe
Starting point is 00:12:56 they themselves are trying to start social media so the past two weeks we have had almost I want to say it's like more than a handful I think it's been like eight or nine times in the past like week, not people that we see in the courtroom every single day, completely new faces that will come up to us, tell us that they love our show Rotten Mango, and then they keep asking us where we're staying, which hotel we're staying at, which part of the city we're staying at, and of course we give them very non-committal answers because that's a very invasive question to ask. And I will say, obviously if it's someone that I've seen in the courtroom every single
Starting point is 00:13:29 day and they're like a fellow content creator or a- Not only that, they even ask like, who's here? Yes. Oh, I'm going to get into that. Where are they? So like just to give you an idea, like clearly if someone is a member of the press or if it's a fellow content creator or somebody that I see every single day and we have some sort of foundation,
Starting point is 00:13:47 and they ask me, where are you staying? It feels like, oh, because we're all trying to get a gauge of all the hotels nearby, which one's a good one, which one has good amenities for after court. But these are random people that are like, hey, by the way, I love your show, nice to meet you, my name is blank, where are you staying? It's like instant.
Starting point is 00:14:05 It's just nonstop questions about which hotel we're staying at. And then if we evade the question, it becomes what part of the city? Which area? How long does it take you to get here? Do you Uber or do you walk? Who's all staying with you? Is it just you guys? Is it just you and your researcher here?
Starting point is 00:14:22 Like, do you go home during the weekends if you're not from the city? Do you fly back home? Do you take the train? It's just non-stop. What are some of these questions going to provide for this person? There's no need for anybody to ask these type of questions. And the worst part is, it's pretty clear that we're so uncomfortable with these questions. Because we'll literally be like yeah
Starting point is 00:14:49 and then they'll just keep asking and they don't some of them don't seem like they've really watched anything from you yeah because now like our researchers do this thing where they will try to have conversations about the show and most of them have no clue what the show is even about is the feeling yeah and then this person will just vanish that'll be like the first conversation we have with them and then we'll never see them in court again. So it's weird. It's like what's happening. I mean, this is not a member of the press. It's not a content creator. It's just like a random interrogation that does not feel normal. It's nonstop pressing for answers. It's so clear that we do not want to have this conversation. And it's happened so frequently that now that when we catch
Starting point is 00:15:25 someone asking these types of questions, we're very alert to it. So one specific time, there was a man, an older guy who's asking us where we're staying, just pressing. And he's in the main courtroom, in the public section. He's asking us all these invasive questions. And then he's waiting for us in the hallway
Starting point is 00:15:41 during each break, just casually lingering near us the entire day and then just rerouting every conversation back to which hotel you're staying at, pressing details, my researcher passes me a note later in the day saying, look at him right now. He doesn't even have a notebook. So usually, because you can't bring your phone and you're not just like staring. I mean, even members of the public, they're all taking notes even if they're not content creators. Sure enough, I look, no notebook, no notes are being
Starting point is 00:16:08 taken, nothing. And then he never shows up to court again. It's just so odd because even if you can't make it into the main courtroom, there's overflow rooms and that giant line, you can still see everyone that's gonna get into the overflow rooms. Another odd instance, this is a completely separate person that's asking non-stop where we're staying, we is a completely separate person that's asking nonstop where we're staying. We give a noncommittal answer to him. He keeps asking. And again, it's not giving that, hey, I'm genuinely curious because I'm also staying at a hotel. It's just so unsettling. We refuse to answer. We keep laughing it off. He keeps pressing. Later
Starting point is 00:16:41 during a break, he approaches my researcher outside while I'm in the bathroom. And then he asks her where I'm staying. And she again does not respond because he just asked us while we were together. It was just weird. He literally just asked us. We didn't respond, so now why is he just targeting the researcher, my researcher,
Starting point is 00:17:00 and asking her while I'm in the restroom? It feels like he thought that she would tell him. It was odd. She was very on edge. So these instances have just been very unsettling because I mean, it's not really something that has ever happened to us before. Usually people only ask these types of questions after some sort of general foundation is established
Starting point is 00:17:17 or they know after the first non-answer we give them that maybe they should stop asking, but it's been so consistent. This has been happening like every other day. There are other odd questions that are asked by people that don't necessarily look like they even care about the show in the slightest. So one person in particular asked a series of questions
Starting point is 00:17:37 trying to gauge how much quote power I have over my audience. Like they kept asking, like, can you make them do anything? And I was like, do you think I like run a cult? I think half of them don't even like me that much. Like, what do you mean? What do you mean? I can't make them do anything, period. But they kept asking, like, well, you don't think
Starting point is 00:17:54 if you say something, they would listen to you? And I'm like, I don't think so. I think they would do their own research. It just was nonstop. And it did not seem like this person cared at all about this show. Now this could be completely unrelated and in addition to everything else that I've just talked about and everybody's already pretty intense There was one instance where we were walking out of the courthouse. We run into someone who's like, hey, I love your show That's it. And then they like come in for a hug. It was kind of abrupt
Starting point is 00:18:23 I was a little bit taken off guard because I love hugging you guys, but it usually is like two sentences three sentences in It's like wait, what's your name? And then we get to know each other and then it's like, okay, let's take a picture Let's hug but it was like I love your show Pulling me in for a hug and my researcher snatches my arm pulls me back and is like we got to go our car is here And I thought it was kind of strange so we get into the car and she's telling me their hand was like elbow deep into your tote bag it's clear that they're looking for something now I will say that my tote bag opening is quite large but it's right under my armpit so you would have to attempt to stick your arm in there it would not be an accident
Starting point is 00:19:00 like oh I'm hugging you and my hand just ended up in this side it's like elbow deep so I mean I guess they could have been trying to steal my wallet but it was weird there's a lot of other small incidents that have taken place over the past week week and a half it feels like the weirdness and the influx of all these odd questions of where are you staying how much influence do you have have increased especially the where are you staying, how much influence do you have, have increased, especially the where are you staying ones. I mean, I've never had that many people ask me where I'm staying. But I think that these are the main consistent
Starting point is 00:19:32 weird happenings that have us on edge. And maybe it's coupled with all the chaos outside, with the people like threatening to hurt people with a pool ball and a sock outside. Maybe it has to do with the intensity of the case itself and it's just all cumulated into this very stressful situation but we have been just taking a bit more time to worry about our surroundings.
Starting point is 00:19:56 Honestly, nothing really happened. It's just, you know when you have a gut feeling like something's not right, it's kind of a lot of those that have been creeping us out and we're just trying to stay on top of it before it escalates to anything. We could definitely just be paranoid but I wanted to keep you guys updated on everything that's going on behind. But as of right now, nothing has really happened. Don't be worried. Nobody here is terrified. It's
Starting point is 00:20:18 just been weird and we're trying to be alert. We've been moving around to different places where we stay a bit more, been more mindful to just not come straight back to where we stay after court. Just taking all these like necessary small steps and it just takes time. Because it's not just me, it's my researchers, it's my whole team. We're all just trying to make sure everybody feels safe and comfortable. And that's what we've been dealing with more in the past week, but I think that we should be able to get episodes up more quickly. I think we have a really good plan in place for all of us to feel safe and hopefully it works. So with that being said,
Starting point is 00:20:50 let's get into the actual episode. We would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support Achievement Centers for Children. They're a non-profit organization helping children and adults with disabilities to achieve their greatest potential. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team and also her constant moving around in the city, bringing the team to the city. And we'd also like to thank you guys for your continued support as we work on our mission to be worthy advocates.
Starting point is 00:21:36 As always, full show notes are available at rottenmangopodcast.com. A few disclaimers, there are mentions of physical assault, kidnapping, firearms. Many of the quotes and statements included have been shortened and condensed for brevity. And you guys know the drill, Sean Combs is presumed innocent until proven guilty. That burden of proof is the responsibility of the government. Any descriptions or observations regarding Mr. Combs' legal team, anybody inside that courtroom, are personally noted by myself or my other researchers who are present in the courtroom. They should not be used as like a definitive source on how you should feel about anybody. are personally noted by myself or my other researchers who are present in the courtroom.
Starting point is 00:22:05 They should not be used as like a definitive source on how you should feel about anybody. So with that being said, let's get started. In other news, I think Diddy might know us. Okay, I'm kidding. I don't know if I'm kidding. I don't know, maybe. So I'm just gonna explain.
Starting point is 00:22:21 The first time it happened, I didn't even say it in an episode because my researcher and I are like, it was weird, but like, we could be dramatic. The second time it happens, I'm like, wait, maybe I'm not being dramatic, not that it means anything regardless, but here's what happened and you tell me,
Starting point is 00:22:36 because what is going on? Usually, Sean Combs will do this thing where he does a sweep of the press pews when he first walks into the courtroom. He's like hugging his attorneys, he'll look to the public side which is on his right, and then we're kind of diagonal from him. And he oftentimes, since more of his supporters are coming to the courtroom these days, he'll shoot them little hand hearts, he'll put his hand to his chest, he'll mouth thank you,
Starting point is 00:23:00 and then the press pews, we get a simple glance over and sometimes a nod. Like a quick head down nod. Now, clearly this stands out to both my researcher and I really strongly, because on Thursday, we even write the time down at 850 a.m. Jurors are not in the courtroom. Attorneys are doing their thing. They're going through their documents. They're conversing about certain aspects of the day.
Starting point is 00:23:21 Sean Combs sits down at his chair and he turns in his chair to the right. This is our eye direction, like we can see him now. He makes eye contact with the press pews. We're at the very first row of the press pews, so there's two rows behind us. Now he glances over the press pews, he starts staring in what felt like in our general direction or perhaps right behind us and it's a pretty lengthy stare and then he starts nodding while mouthing the words dramatically I know you. You don't hear it you only see the mouthing right? Yeah and it was clear that he was doing it so whoever is receiving it can understand what he's saying because it's not like mumbling he's like I know you
Starting point is 00:24:06 like very clear he mouths it twice with what we perceive to be a smirk then as he's turning back around to face the front he's like ever so slightly shaking his head while he's still smirking and at that point the feeling was he was saying that towards you right yeah so my researcher wrote like it looked like he was looking at Stephanie I wrote like listen, you know when you can like make eye contact with someone it feels like they're looking at you Because you know when you're talking to someone and they're looking behind you you start like looking behind you Without even thinking about it subconsciously because you're like wait, what's going on? Why are you looking behind me? It felt like he was looking at me. But again, I'm not trying to be dramatic
Starting point is 00:24:43 I don't know if he was looking at me. He could have been looking behind me, right? But then right at that moment, the jury comes in, we all stand up. And as there's noise in the courtroom, because we're not allowed to talk when the judge is on the bench, a reporter from a major media network, I mean, she's been doing this for years and years. She's like a professional professional. She turns to me and she whispers, quote, you're putting that in your video, right? Cause that was at least seven seconds. So then I was like, wait, was he looking at me?
Starting point is 00:25:12 I don't know, right? And seven seconds does feel like an eternity in that courtroom. It's not only just looking, but like the mouthing of I know you is weird. And it was a pretty long time. Like usually when he, you know how in the beginning, I'm like, this guy loves to stare
Starting point is 00:25:26 he kinda dropped a lot of the staring at least towards the press but when he did stare it was still a little more brief it feels like a turn at the but it's more brief this one was quite lengthy so maybe certain i we both felt it was weird we both wrote it down independently in our notes in the court room we talked about after and we're like you know what we can sure. We don't want to be dramatic. Then it happens again on Friday, a week later. So not the following Friday, but a week later. And this one felt more like, okay, are we crazy? It feels a little more real. I don't know. I could be wrong still, but
Starting point is 00:25:58 so Friday we're sitting in the same exact seats. First row of the press pews. However, there is a row of counsel in front of us. Now, a lot of the witnesses, they'll have their attorneys, family, and friends. Like, that's why we were sitting behind Cassie's attorney and Cassie's husband. They'll sit right in the pew in front of us. Mia, she was testifying, her friends and family and her attorneys are in the pew right in front of us and it's packed. It's jam-packed. And the whole day on Friday, all the press members are complaining about how they can't see anything. And we're in the first row of the press. And it was difficult for me to see sitting like this. Like I couldn't see the witness and the defendant. Like I could
Starting point is 00:26:36 see the witness, I could see Mia, but I can't see the defendant that well. So I, my entire neck was crooked the entire time. So my researcher is focusing on the witness and her body language and I was like, okay, I'm going to focus on the defendant then because I got to turn my neck. We can't just keep moving our heads because we don't want to bother the press behind us. So my head is poked out like this. I had to put pus on my neck. That's how I'm trying to describe how much my neck was turned. So on Friday, there's this moment where there's a sidebar. Sean Combs' attorneys are near the front of the courtroom with the judge and regardless the jurors are
Starting point is 00:27:11 still sitting on the side. Sean Combs turns around but he turns to his right. So his mom is right behind him. It might have been easier for him to turn left. Maybe not because maybe he's right-handed but he does like a full turn. So he turns right, he glances over at the our side of the courtroom, not like our side, but where we're sitting, and then he talks to his mom and then he's smiling, nodding at her, he's like mouthing, I love you, and then my neck is tilted still because I'm observing him and I'm taking notes about him talking to his mom during this sidebar, and as he's making his turn back to the front, it felt like we make awkward eye contact.
Starting point is 00:27:49 And I say awkward to the point where I'm like, you know when it's so awkward, you almost instinctively smile or look down because you're like, oh, I just got caught staring at someone. That was the feeling. It was like, oh, I literally just got caught staring him down.
Starting point is 00:28:04 And he starts rubbing his chin with his left hand and mouths what appears to seem like I know you I know you and this time it seemed more pronounced because as he's rubbing his chin with his left hand he does like a slight index point it's not like a point he's not pointing his finger but it's kind of like a slight index point. It's not like a point. He's not pointing his finger, but it's kind of like a hand gesture, like, I know you, like kind of like you, you, like almost pointing at you, whoever you is. Then he turns to the front. And it was just so odd. Because I'm like, okay.
Starting point is 00:28:37 And then it was different people behind us in the press pews. And again, it could have been directed at someone behind us, but it was just a very intense stare. And regardless, to us, not to us, it was intense. It was odd. Maybe he's talking about the whole press as a whole? I don't know. Weird. So to clarify, right? So Stephanie clearly feels like it was really uncomfortable eye contact along with mouthing, I know you. And even the phrase itself, I know you sounds really off. Like what does that mean? You know me.
Starting point is 00:29:11 Yeah. Okay. So even the first time that he did it, the previous Thursday, right? Like my researcher was a bit more firm than me and she's like, no, he was literally looking and I saw it. Like I'm watching from the side. And also just to clarify I think it is normal for them to know a lot of the press
Starting point is 00:29:29 Oh, yeah, they're doing research every day seeing what everyone's talking about I think it's completely normal and we're expected of that But the fact that he's mouthing that feels a little bit more intentional like what does that? Yeah Yeah I think if they don't know every single person in the press pew the attorneys are not doing their jobs right especially if he's paying that much money I think that they should probably know every single person in that courtroom maybe not the public but everybody else yeah I mean you're having a lot of the same familiar faces over and over again and these are the people that are going outside and telling the world what is happening
Starting point is 00:30:02 that's maybe not on the transcript and so it makes sense that he would know every single member of the press, right? But it was just like, I think the intensity of the stare was a lot. It just is an intense moment. And I think the first time it happened, my researcher was a bit more firm in the sense of like, no, he was saying I know you. Because I thought, well, maybe he was saying, how are you to somebody? Who knows, right? But then the second time he does like the finger point, so it was just weird.
Starting point is 00:30:29 And again, he knows us, he doesn't know us, does it really matter? I don't think so. But I did almost pee myself, like that's all I'm trying to say. It's just very intense. So things have just gotten everybody on edge, I think recently. Now with that being said, Sean Combs walks into the courtroom, black sweater. This is a different day. And the attorneys, it's so interesting.
Starting point is 00:30:50 I feel like as the trial progresses, he can't even hide it. His real mannerisms are starting to show because every single thing just reminds me of a commanding businessman. And I'm just gonna give you like a scale of his businessman poses anytime He sits and he listens to a witness testimony He will have a default businessman pose that he sits in and sometimes it's a lot more pronounced than others
Starting point is 00:31:14 But right when he walks into the courtroom He looks like the president of the board meeting all the attorneys are standing waiting to hug him waiting to greet him Meanwhile the prosecution, they look like they're not here to play games. Combs sits down on his chair on either side. He's got Nicole Westmoreland standing behind him on his right side. On his left side, he's got Brian Steele.
Starting point is 00:31:36 And they're both standing behind him with one hand on the back of Diddy's chair and they're crouched over and talking to him. They're both whispering to both sides of his face. And it's like two consultants going over a business deal with the CEO and Sean Combs is just staring straight ahead. Meanwhile, Tenny Garagos and Mark Agniflo walk in. Combs stands up, he pulls out Tenny's chair for her, even helps her scoot in,
Starting point is 00:31:59 which apparently she's four months pregnant with her second child. Mark Agniflo also very busy. He is the type of student that I feel even before a test everybody else in the classroom is like you know what if I fail I fail. He's the one that still knows in his textbook until the very last moment. He's not talking to anybody he's just studying his notes. And to give you an idea Judge Arun, the judge, very firm but he's also kind of sick of everyone right now. For example, in a sidebar, both sides are only allowed
Starting point is 00:32:30 to have two lawyers from each side at the sidebar. But the defense team, because they have practically a whole football team of lawyers, they always consistently have more than two lawyers that go to the sidebar. And maybe Mark Agnifilo can see that the judge is getting annoyed because he mentions to him, I know you have a two-lawyer rule at the sidebar and I know we've been breaking it so I'm guilty. And the judge just says, well, it's like who wants to be a millionaire? You get a few lifelines, but you're running out. So everybody is getting sick of everybody's shit.
Starting point is 00:32:58 And it's going to be a very intense day. The next witness on the stand is Capricorn Clark. Everybody has been anticipating her testimony considering she's the one that has claimed she was kidnapped by Sean Combs. I mean that's a lot to unpack. Capricorn Clark, she walks in looking so casual. Like a lot of the other witnesses they've come in very well dressed, very well refreshed, they don't look happy but they look like they're ready for a fight, they look like they're ready for battle, they look like they're ready for testimony, they look like they're prepared. Capricorn Clark walks in and she looks like...
Starting point is 00:33:35 This doesn't even look like Monday at her work, this feels like a Wednesday after a crazy Taco Tuesday, like that's the vibe. Her hair is tied back, she has on these giant eyeglasses that cover half of her face she doesn't look like she has much makeup on she's wearing a white shirt super thin and a pinstripe skirt what's interesting is if you actually look at photos of her leaving the courthouse she's not wearing that same outfit she's actually wearing a pinstripe vest and nothing underneath so it's like a tank vest and you can see her belly button it's cropped you can see the tattoos on her arm and it's a perfect match with her skirt.
Starting point is 00:34:09 I don't think the prosecutors liked that. So someone gave her a long sleeve white t-shirt. Oh. Yeah, I don't know who's- When she walked in, someone made her change. It seems like it. I don't know if it was the prosecutors or her own counsel or maybe it was one of her friends, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:34:23 But someone was like, maybe you should wear this so someone changed her out of the the vest yes okay cuz you could see tattoos you could see a lot of shoulder which I mean it's court right I guess no shoulders and you could see her belly button so I don't know who shirt it is she walks in and you can just I think the minute she walks in you can kind of tell that she's already gonna have a very interesting testimony because She just looks like she is not very prepared for the testimony and it seems like everybody else is very prepared for the testimony They've talked it over with counsel like this is something that they knew and they were anticipating was gonna happen Capricorn Clark looks like she's already crying on the way to the witness stand. Like she looks very relatable in the sense of like, because
Starting point is 00:35:09 same, I would also be a wreck. That's what it feels like. Now, Combs is doing the same thing where everyone, everyone in the pews, they're turning with Capricorn Clark as she's walking like she's a bride down the aisle. We're all like watching and turning our bodies facing the front with her. Sean Combs does not look back until she's in his view. And then he'll just watch her go to the witness stand. And with that, she takes the stand. Now we did a quick sweep of some old gossip blogs, just to get an
Starting point is 00:35:36 idea of how this was going to go. Capricorn Clark, if you knew about the music industry, well, if you knew some of like the more figures in the music industry So not just oh this celebrity this artist this musician, but their managers their assistants their staff their personnel You would probably know Capricorn Clark. She was combs his assistant and manager of his clothing brand But she's also friends with celebrities like Rihanna and ASAP Rocky. She seems a bit like a socialite in her own, right? That's how people talk about her in these gossip blogs. But out of nowhere, someone that has always been with Sean Combs, she suddenly gets fired. And so all these gossip blogs, like 10 years ago, they start speculating why did she get
Starting point is 00:36:16 fired? Why did she get fired? There's rumors that she was fired for stealing from Diddy. He shut those rumors down. There were rumors that she was having intimate relations with Diddy and then Cassie found out. Those are later shot down. It's just so much is happening. With one post from 2014 on a gossip website reading, old tea but I heard Diddy brought Cassie into the bedroom with Capricorn. One gossip blog enthusiast writes in 2015, she and Cassie developed a very close bond like sisters and Capricorn. One gossip blog enthusiast writes in 2015, she and Cassie developed a very close bond like sisters and Capricorn started noticing that Diddy was rejecting Cassie's music to keep her under his thumb. This is in 2015.
Starting point is 00:36:53 So Cap would tell Cassie that she could do better and Diddy didn't like that so he would start telling Cass that Cap was the one leaking bad stories about her and that whenever Cass wasn't around, Cap would belittle her and eventually Capricorn quit. So that's what they're hypothesizing is why Capricorn is no longer in Diddy's circle. But now Capricorn's Instagram is private. Her bio just reads, nothing to see here. Everything not saved will be lost. Tell the truth.
Starting point is 00:37:17 Shame the devil. With a lot of people thinking that Sean Combs is the devil. Because even around the time of Cassie's lawsuit, there was a tweet that has since been removed and her ex has gotten private, but Capricorn Clark allegedly tweeted, "'Don't take the path of the wicked. "'Don't follow those who do evil.
Starting point is 00:37:35 "'Stay away from that path. "'Don't even go near it. "'Turn around and go the other way.'" Another one, she adds, "'Doors be unlocked. "'You gotta be willing to walk away from the money. "'Full stop. "'2011 was hell.
Starting point is 00:37:45 Tragic kingdom. She also does another one that's more clearly aligned with Sean Combs. Black women end up being the sacrifice. For the last 11 years of my life, I had to deal with everyone's nonsensical allegiance to the devil. They will skin you and wear you, baby girl, and then pretend that they never wanted your skin. Kim was the only person who didn't switch up.
Starting point is 00:38:08 The only one. Dark times. I'm personally very triggered. I pray it's over. I never deserved this. Stop. Hashtag protect black woman IRL hashtag RIP Kim. And it's a picture of her and Kim Porter.
Starting point is 00:38:22 Wow. So clearly she has very strong feelings and she starts off the direct by giving some background. She says that she's always been in the music industry, she interned at Def Jam Records which which is a massive music label. Then she was with Death Row Records, with Suge Knight, which is Bad Boy Records constant nemesis. This is the origins of the Tupac and Biggie rivalry. She also mentions that quote, "'My mother died and then shortly thereafter,
Starting point is 00:38:58 "'my father died.'" And this is like two seconds of her taking the stand. She's already about to cry and she sounds like she's crying already. And some of the defense attorneys look at each other like what the fuck. I guess that they don't like the instant going into sympathetic territory. I will say that Capricorn Clark is probably the most okay well second top three most captivating witnesses I mean she just talks in a way where I feel like you just know everything she's saying she's probably
Starting point is 00:39:26 Oversharing that's the feeling you feel like she's gonna get very messy on the stand But maybe it's good because it makes her feel very transparent even when she's asked to identify combs She closes her eyes dramatically and she's like blue sweater It was like a nearly black very dark navy blue sweater It was like a nearly black very dark navy blue sweater So everyone did kind of look at each other like wait, are we sure? But yes now she's very intriguing She sounds like a smoker has a very raspy voice and she sounds like she is two seconds away From sobbing with every question. It's not like she's two seconds away from being emotional so she's getting choked up. It sounds more like... you know when people sob and it's more like audible?
Starting point is 00:40:10 Like, ahhh. It sounds like she's two seconds away from that. She mentions that she works with Death Row. Then her very next job is Bad Boy Entertainment with Sean Combs in 2004 as his personal assistant and it's a bit of a switch considering she didn't just work for Sean Combs as nemesis and Competitor shook night. They're actually very close in some respects Capricorn's best friend has children with shook night So it's very complicated And right off the bat prosecutor Steiner is coming in asking all the questions and miss Clark I want to direct your attention to December of 2011. Were you working for Mr. Combs at that time?
Starting point is 00:40:45 Yes. So I'm trying to... And again, like... Because you only get the transcript, and I feel like it's very hard to understand why the jurors might have different receptions to different testimonies. And a lot of it is so much in the delivery
Starting point is 00:41:01 and the voice and the tone, because I think a lot of the times it conveys whether or not you believe this person. So if I'm just like reading the transcript, it's like she says yes, right? But in reality, it's more like yes, like it's very like raw. What occurred at that time?
Starting point is 00:41:17 I was kidnapped. So the jurors, they immediately start taking notes, which if it were me, I would also be taking notes, okay? They look back up and Combs is very still statuesque. Generally, what were your duties as a personal assistant? To shadow him from before he wakes up until he releases me at night? Which even just the way she words things is very interesting. Like what do you mean he releases you at night? She explains that after working as his personal assistant, she quits and then comes back a little while later
Starting point is 00:41:47 to work as the director of marketing for Sean John Women's and then the global of Sean John Women's. And then later she comes back as Cassie's manager, or like the creative director for Cassie. And so when she's asked about Sean John, she says, it's a new tentacle from the master brand of Sean John's that I was in charge of. And again, everyone's just taking notes.
Starting point is 00:42:08 And meanwhile, Combs is still just staring right ahead. His mom walks in late during the direct testimony. He doesn't even notice. Everybody is so absorbed in Capricorn Clark's testimony. Capricorn has shown pictures of a few of the security guards for Combs. And it's interesting because even when she's looking at the pictures on the evidence screen she looks like these security guards are about to jump up and attack her out of the screen like she looks scared to look at the screen she's like wincing and kind of
Starting point is 00:42:33 glancing at the screen and she is very descriptive she likes to give her like put her arms out to describe people's stature she says D rock is a bit more he's about six three six four more slender, very solid. I would say quarterback, running back type of body. And Paul Offert, that everybody calls Uncle Pauly, he's the head of security for Sean Combs. Can you please describe his general appearance? Quiet, stoic, a bit menacing.
Starting point is 00:42:59 Physically, he looks like a linebacker. There's a picture admitted into evidence. And is this picture how Mr. Offert typically looked? No. What's different? He doesn't have his glasses on, his blacked out sunglasses that he wears 100% of the time. So Capricorn Clark testifies on the very first day of the job, working as Combs' personal assistant at like 9 p.m. It's dark outside of New York City, Sean Combs and Uncle Pauly take her to Central Park. Capricorn says Sean Combs tells her I had no clue that you had anything to do with Suge Knight when I
Starting point is 00:43:33 hired you. This is her first day on the job and he basically says to her according to her if anything happens if you do anything to I guess mess Sean Combs up or give information or intel to Suge Knight quote he would have to kill me. Mark Agniflo during this entire direct testimony is a whack-a-mole he's constantly standing up. Objection judge sustained. Miss Clark what was Mr. Combs demeanor when he threatened that if anything happened he would have to kill you? Calm. How did you perceive his threats? Very serious? Why is that? I felt like there was some gravitas to the fact that he might have had issues with Shug. How did you react when Mr. Combs threatened you?" And she starts sobbing and her voice gets very high pitched. She's like, I said, we'll just have to see. That's the tone and it seems very emotional like she can't even hold it back
Starting point is 00:44:25 and yeah she's like we'll just have to see like it's like she's starting to get very emotional well and this is like still early on right it's like three minutes in it's like three minutes in during this combs is very stoic he's sitting still but his head is kind of cocked to the side a tiny bit meanwhile Capricorn Clark is sitting there and she seems very anxious. She's moving around nonstop. Mark Agnifilo keeps jumping up out of his chair to object to everything, and the prosecutor asks, what do you mean by that? It meant that there was nothing I could do in Central Park to convince him that I was
Starting point is 00:45:00 a trustworthy person. And I wrote down in my notes you know when someone is drunk and emotional I'm not I don't think she's drunk at all I think she's completely sober but just to give you an idea of her tone like when someone gets very drunk they get emotional and they start talking it almost becomes like a kid do you know what I'm trying to explain so it's more like there was nothing I could do to explain? So it's more like there was nothing I could do to convince him that I was a trustworthy person. It sounds like
Starting point is 00:45:28 like when you're drunk and you're trying to like explain something as you're crying, as you're emotional, but you're a little drunk. So it sounds kind of like that. And how does that make like the jurors feel when there are a few jurors that never seemed that intrigued by anyone even during Cassie's testimony I felt like they would rather be anywhere else on this planet like they seemed honestly I don't want to use the word but they seemed bored like a few of them I think most of them were very in tune and taking notes but a few of them they just look bored every single day that I'm there. During Capricorn's testimony, they're jotting down notes like passionately every single one of the jurors because the emotion is so raw. I think Cassie's testimony, a lot of the words she says evokes emotions in people, but when she says it most of the time she does not convey a lot of emotions. She's saying it matter of the fact, this is how I felt, this is what happened. Capricorn Clark, you can't not feel her emotions
Starting point is 00:46:30 because she feels it so heavily. So like when Stephanie came home that day, like she was saying this is one of the most like impactful. Most impactful testimony I think everybody felt that way because here's the thing that everyone kept saying about Capricorn Clark and like this is the best way I could phrase it a lot of people said she's just captivating My feeling is if you don't already believe her you want to believe her because of how transparent she feels
Starting point is 00:46:54 She just feels like a mess like a friend that you're like, oh my god You're kind of a mess and I want to help you. Yeah, so she's like crying I knew that I didn't have anything to do with any of that stuff that he possibly could have had Objection judge. So Mark Agniflo is just non-stop objecting to everything Capricorn explains that she still works for combs after the Central Park threats because she felt like yeah Maybe I could have been more transparent about telling him that I worked for a Suge Knight prior to all of this But there were just other alarming things that happened during the course of her employment. There's this one time. We were at MTV. He was doing MTV press with 50 Cent. And after the interview wrapped up, myself, Puff, and Chris Leidy, which is 50
Starting point is 00:47:35 Cent's manager at the time, got in the elevator. So 50 Cent is not in the elevator. It's her, Puff, Chris Leidy, which is 50 cents manager. What happened in the elevator? Capricorn is explaining that Combs had an issue with 50 cent. She doesn't dive much deeper into it, but if you watched our previous four-part series, you know that 50 cent is amongst a long list of, you know, he's got a lot of career accomplishments, but he is also a professional ditty hater. He also has recently discovered AI generated images and how to produce them, so he's just been spamming the feed with AI generated pictures of him in court wearing free Diddy shirts. Regardless, Capricorn Clark says,
Starting point is 00:48:12 Puff told Chris because they were having some sort of issue, like I don't really like all this back and forth. I don't like that. I like guns. What was Mr. Comes's demeanor when he said that he liked guns? Very serious. During the testimony about 50 Cent, Diddy looks over at Mark Agnifilo, who asks him a question. Diddy purses his lips like a duck and just nods slowly. I don't know what that means. Is he confirming like, yeah, I did say that?
Starting point is 00:48:39 Like, I don't know. Meanwhile, 50 Cent will later take to Instagram to write, cut, cut. Wait a minute, Puffy's got a gun? I can't believe this. I don't feel safe. Frowny face. LOL. He's responding to this testimony.
Starting point is 00:48:52 Yeah. But it does not get better from here. Capricorn Clark says, Within a few months of working for Combs, she gets accused of theft. She's had the job for a few months, and she gets accused of stealing very expensive high end jewelry that was on loan from Jacob the jeweler so this isn't even Sean Combs's jewelry a lot of celebrities will get loaned big pieces for events she says it was a diamond necklace with a cross diamond bracelet and a diamond watch miss Clark
Starting point is 00:49:17 had you stolen the jewelry I did not but it was in her possession at one point Combs gave it to her for safekeeping because she's the assistant. They're traveling to Miami. She's to keep it safe. And on this travel, like before they even get on the plane to go to Miami, she realizes the jewelry is missing. What did you do when you realized
Starting point is 00:49:36 that the jewelry was missing? I told the driver to stop the car and I called security and I told them to lock everybody in and search them. She tells Combs that the jewelry is missing and he's telling her, okay, well, I'm gonna head to Miami for the event. You go back home to your place with Uncle Polly, the head of security, with the blackout sunglasses. She goes back to her house in Queens
Starting point is 00:49:55 where Uncle Polly starts questioning her about the events leading up to the jewelry being missing and then he starts searching through her entire house. She says, quote, he went through my belongings, he went through my common areas, I had a roommate and he just searched, he didn't find anything. But he tells her he's gonna be back tomorrow,
Starting point is 00:50:10 like we need to figure this out. The next day Capricorn says Uncle Polly comes to pick her up and he takes her to 1710 Broadway, which at this time was being converted into the new Bad Boy Entertainment headquarters, but she did not know that at this point. She just knew that when she walks in there, the whole place looks like it's under construction
Starting point is 00:50:28 and abandoned. They walk in through the glass doors, her and Uncle Polly. She says that someone she doesn't know comes and locks the front door behind them from outside the building, like you would lock your house from the outside. That's crazy. They walk in, she says the building is just quote,
Starting point is 00:50:43 dilapidated. She says post move out, post pre move in in the floors weren't even really done on the levels We were on the floor wasn't done. There was like old pieces of like, you know permanent fixtures around that were sort of taken out It's pretty much a gutted building They go up to the sixth floor and it looks similar dilapidated floor isn't done Nothing built yet some old built ins and quote There was a six foot folding table with some chairs in the middle of the room, and there's another person there. So now it's Uncle Polly, Capricorn Clark, and this gentleman
Starting point is 00:51:14 who's sitting there waiting for them, which Capricorn describes as a heavyset gentleman who was chain-smoking cigarettes and she'll like do hand motions and drinking black coffee. cigarettes and she'll like do hand motions and drinking black coffee. Can you describe the individual's appearance? Very wide, very heavy, looked like the size of two linebackers. He wasn't tall, he didn't stand very much either. So Uncle Polly is a linebacker. This man is two linebackers. When you say size and width, he was very large. Yes. Can you describe this man's size relative to your own? Capricorn looks at the prosecutor, then she turns to the jury and it looks like she's
Starting point is 00:51:56 trying to think in her mind like, how do I describe someone's size to a whole group of people? And she just goes for it. Five of me across, I mean, he was very wide. Some of the jurors, they're doing like full teeth smiles and giggles because the way she's delivering the information is so, again, she's like looking at the jurors and she's like,
Starting point is 00:52:20 five of me, like very. Like, very descriptive. It's a pretty goofy moment in light of how serious everything's been in depressing in this courtroom. I mean, just the way that she, like, stands with her arms out, it's a lot. We're not used to that. The only person not amused, naturally, is Sean Combs, who just cocks his head to the right. Nevertheless, Capricorn Clark and Mr. Two Linebackers are left alone. Uncle Polly leaves, and Mr. Two Linebackers, whom she states she never learns his name,
Starting point is 00:52:50 he tells her that she has been brought to this building so that she could take a lie detector test to find out what happened to the jewelry. What, if anything, did he say would happen if you did not pass the test? He said, if you fail these tests, they're gonna throw you in the East River. And she starts sobbing.
Starting point is 00:53:05 The minute those words come out of Capricorn Clark's mouth, the jurors are jotting down notes. Combs looks around like he's looking at like, hello? Why is someone not saying anything? Hello? What's happening? And then finally Agnifilo stands up, your honor, I'm gonna object. Move to strike, the last answer. Can we approach for a second?
Starting point is 00:53:23 During the sidebar, Combs is leaning his elbows on his armrest, using his right hand to touch his chin. He seems very pensive. Just sitting there. Meanwhile, Capricorn is up there. She's kind of reminiscent of like a like a loud mousy cartoon character, and I'm trying to paint the picture. That's the best way we could come up with how to describe her and I don't mean that in a way to diminish the severity of what's happening but because cameras aren't allowed I'm trying to find the right words to convey the exact vibe because of course I can just use vague words of like she seems anxious and exhausted and unfiltered but
Starting point is 00:54:00 like what does that even mean right so during the sidebar she's like she's got these giant aviator eyeglasses and she'll like lift them up and wipe her tears and then push them back down and she's like fidgeting with them. And then she'll do this very animated side where her shoulders go all the way up and then she slumps it down
Starting point is 00:54:18 and then she uses the tissue to wipe her nose. I feel like if anybody else had done that, it would come off performative and fake. But I don't know why when Capricorn Clark does it, you're just like, I don't even know her but it feels genuine. Like that's the message and image that I think the jurors are getting. And you feel for her? I think everyone did. Everyone in the press pews was like she might be one of the more gripping testimonies because of how you can relate to her. She just feels like a
Starting point is 00:54:48 normal girl that just got thrown up on the witness stand. Just way in over her head and she's kind of a wreck. Meanwhile at the sidebar, Mr. Agnifilo is very stressed. There's no indication that any of this is coming from the defendant. We don't even know who this man is. Which, even if it is to be believed, I'm not here to quarrel with that at this point. There's nothing saying that Mr. Combs wanted any of this to happen, so it's unduly prejudicial. So I think for that reason, we object to it and we move to strike it. She's with this unknown man who is giving her a lie detector test,
Starting point is 00:55:20 and that connection between that man and Mr. Combs is just non-existent at this point. The judge does not agree. He rules I don't think that's a fair characterization of the testimony but I understand your argument. Objection is overruled. After the objection, prosecutor Steiner goes back to asking Capricorn about what it was like to take this lie detector test in this dilapidated building after being told that she's been thrown in the East River if the results are bad. Capricorn says they strapped her up to some quote stuff to your chest and then strap some stuff to your arms and then they ask you a series of questions over and over and over again. What types of questions were
Starting point is 00:55:58 you asked? Did I steal the jewelry? Did I come up with an idea to steal the jewelry? Did I plan with somebody to steal the jewelry? Had I ever stolen from him? Just a lot of stealing-centric questions. From him, was that Mr. Combs? Yes. Did this man tell you the results of the test? They said that they were inconclusive. What if anything did the man tell you about the results being inconclusive?
Starting point is 00:56:20 It's like, I'm not getting a good reading. You need to calm down. You're going to be in the East River if I can't get a good reading on this and she's kind of sounds again like The drunk panicked voice and again, I'm not insinuating that she's drunk She's like completely sober and I think the reason that her testimony Resonated a lot with the jurors at least from the perception that I saw and like even the people in the pews is that Like the words she's saying are sad and you can like resonate with the sadness of like yes if I were in that situation I too would be panicked right you can resonate on that level, but on a secondary level. She's incredibly Likeable in a sense of like it's not just overwhelming sadness
Starting point is 00:57:01 It's like you almost like want to give her a hug because it's like, oh my gosh, like what is happening right now? Like it just feels very relatable. I don't know how to put it in a way that doesn't sound like I'm minimizing her testimony because I'm not at all. It's just in the sense of like,
Starting point is 00:57:20 you feel like she's your friend. The way that she communicates feels like she's a friend and now your friend is telling you some of the worst stuff that's ever happened to her. So you almost resonate on a deeper level. She feels like she's just telling you like exactly what's happened and how it made her feel. There's no intentional like, let me tell you in a sophisticated manner. Let me tell you in a way where I think you'll understand. She's just like saying as she's feeling it is what it's perceived as
Starting point is 00:57:48 When he told you to calm down, how had you been reacting in that moment? I couldn't calm down I wasn't doing a good job at calming down So she's very passionate. She has a way of sounding incredibly honest and she sounds just Honestly relatable. I hate that word, but I don't know how else to describe it The whole time she's sniffling wiping her tears mind you she keeps pushing those giant glasses up She's lifting them to wipe her tears meanwhile combs is just stoically looking ahead with very little movement The jurors are rapidly taking notes and here's the interesting thing to note. All the jurors' notes are naturally kept in the courthouse. They're collected every single day and given back at the start of each court day.
Starting point is 00:58:30 But at the very end, after the verdict, notes are permanently destroyed. So they're writing in their notes. Capricorn is telling them as they're taking their notes that she was there for a full work day that Monday. They're intermittently all day taking the lie detector test, taking it. We weren't allowed to leave. The door was locked from the outside. She did not attempt to leave the building because she says, I was there to prove my innocence. At the end of the day, Uncle Polly takes her home and he tells her that they're going to do this all over again the next morning. And they do for the next five days. She said she's doing a nine to five getting a lie
Starting point is 00:59:03 detector test all week long. Why did you continue to go with Mr. Offord, Uncle Pauly, to the building? I wanted to prove my innocence. I didn't like the threats. I felt like it was the only way to prove that I had nothing to do with it. I was in a different head space. I was just trying to survive it. She says that she never tried to reach out to law enforcement for her five-day lie detector marathon because she worked under an NDA. She didn't even think about calling the cops, and after those five days Uncle Polly just tells her, yeah you're gonna go home. Next Monday she just goes back to work. Sean Combs acts like nothing ever
Starting point is 00:59:35 happened. Nobody ever did find the jewelry. It didn't make sense for Capricorn to quit because she's saying, I mean I felt like if I had left it would have been written off as I had stolen it anyway. And then likely she would never be able to work in the industry. Now side note, during the entirety of the lie detector testimony, one of Combs closest friends who's known him for decades, he's been inside the courtroom every single day sitting in the friends and family pews and he's falling asleep. And I really try to focus mainly on jotting down notes
Starting point is 01:00:05 on everyone's reactions to things rather than getting absorbed in my own personal reaction. But that was kind of interesting to me because sir, is that like a normal Tuesday? Like have we just all gone through lie detector tests? Like the way that he was, because I'm thinking if I'm sitting there and there's a woman on the stand spewing lies
Starting point is 01:00:22 about my childhood best friend, would I not be like awake and this is crazy? on the stand spewing lies about my childhood best friend. Would I not be like, awake and this is crazy? But he was falling asleep. He was like fully enrubbed. Now Capricorn has asked, generally what hours were you required to work as Mr. Cone's personal assistant? Probably start the day at his townhouse at 74th and park at 9 o'clock in the morning and finish at daddy's house or wherever we were sometime around 4 a.m. Daddy's house is the studio, not at daddy's house or wherever we were sometime around 4 a.m. daddy's house is the studio not like daddy's house she says that she would get no breaks throughout the day for basic needs like eating on a
Starting point is 01:00:51 good night getting four hours of sleep on a bad night two hours of sleep and this is probably putting it very lightly two of Sean Combs is other former assistants testified and this is how David James he was another former assistant he describes it and side note there is a really weird skit of David James and Diddy that I'm gonna put in the video because maybe it gives you an idea of like his tone of voice and stuff but it's about Diddy being allergic to bitch-ass disease which don't be a bitch-ass is I guess the end statement of the video David James walks into the courtroom.
Starting point is 01:01:26 Dave James was before Capricorn. Yeah, days before Capricorn. He seems less prepared in the sense of like, not the answering of the questions, but he walks in and it's like a restaurant. He's kind of waiting for the hostess to guide him to the witness seat is like what it feels like. He's just awkwardly staring and it's just uncomfortable. And in court he's asked, generally speaking Mr. James what were your responsibilities as a personal assistant for Mr. Combs? How long do we have? He just starts listing everything he needed to do. Make every environment for him comfortable so he could perform his duties. There was a lot of organization of his personal items traveling around the world with him basically be at his right-hand side
Starting point is 01:02:04 wherever he was so what you want to do with him, basically be at his right hand side wherever he was. So what you want to do is you have to arrive at his house before he wakes up in the morning. It's important that you set the environment up as soon as he wakes up so he's able to have a successful day. So that would be to compile different documents. One of those documents, we have a folder on the table that would be everything that he needs to approve from a business perspective. If there is a certain artwork for an album he's doing, certain advertisements, he has to approve.
Starting point is 01:02:27 There would be a file of business documents, and next to that would be his business schedule for the day that he would have laid out. We'd also have a folder for all the press clippings for any news mentions of Mr. Combs in the last 24 hours. So like this man knows everyone in the press pews. Like you can't tell me he doesn't know everyone in the press pews. He just seems like tell me he doesn't know everyone in the press pews.
Starting point is 01:02:45 He just seems like he's intrigued by the press on him, okay? Which, I'm just saying, but more on that later. Continuing on, I would turn on the TV for him to his preferred channel and I would work with the chef to make sure breakfast was getting started and then I would knock on the door to get the day going and get his feedback as to if he was ready to wake up, if we needed to make adjustments to his schedule. From there he would wake up and we would wait for him to be done with his breakfast. We would call down a security to let them know that Mr.
Starting point is 01:03:08 Combs is getting ready to move out for the day and we would travel around the city, especially New York City. Then it's dinner, which he later notes it's pretty standard for Combs to have a three-hour dinner. Then it's studio for work on an album, quote, that would take us to about three, four o'clock in the morning and then from there we would either go back to his personal residence or to a destination of his request. And we would get a call time at the end of the night. It was important that I didn't leave his side until I got the call time to know what time
Starting point is 01:03:31 to be back tomorrow. I would text the executive team, his security staff, and let them know what time I'd be back for tomorrow once I got that call time. At like 4am? 5am? Yeah. So generally what were your hours? I would say my hours would start 30 minutes before he woke up until he gave me that call time at the end of the night
Starting point is 01:03:47 Which could be anywhere between you know 4 in the morning to 8 in the morning How many days per week were you on duty depending on the personal staff at the time? Some days it would be six days a week. There were times I worked three weeks straight when we had more executive staff. I would work sometimes five days a week All of that and David James was paid $70,000 a year. Which, side note, it seems that Mr. Combs is very particular about how he likes everything done. Another former personal assistant
Starting point is 01:04:14 that testified, George Kaplan, he says, he used to make sure all of Combs' toiletries in his bathroom are facing forward, and the process of making sure all of these little things and adjustments were made before he wakes up would take at least 30 minutes. Now back to the press part, there was one incident where David James says he was off that day but still at the Combs residence. I was sitting at the computer in his office, I was working on a research project for Mr. Combs, he wanted
Starting point is 01:04:38 to get new tattoos so I was looking up different options for him. He entered the house at the time, he had been at the club with Ms. Ventura, another assistant and security. As soon as he entered the door, he beelined straight towards me and he came right over to me, looked over my shoulder, asked me what I was doing and I said, I'm doing a research project for you, sir. He told me that someone was lying on him and someone did a blog post that somebody hit Cassie and he looked at my browser history to see what websites I had been visiting that night. So he was following gossip blogs too. Did he was? Yeah. And then he comes home and he's like, are you the one that wrote the gossip blog?
Starting point is 01:05:10 And he's like checking the browser on David James's history. David is like, I did not. It was jarring. He'd never done anything like that. Now side note, I did find the old gossip post. I think this is the one that they're referencing, but it reads, according to a reliable source, did he beat the shit out of Cassie for talking to another guy? He pushed her to the ground and kicked her in the face and this is not the first time he's hit her. Details to follow. David James says that during his interview, Vashta, the senior VP of Human Resources, pointed to a picture, this is before he's even hired, pointed to a picture of Sean Combs on the wall and she allegedly tells him this is mr. Combs's kingdom we're all here to serve in it it's very intense there's a whole multi-step interview
Starting point is 01:05:53 process where at the end David James is asked by Sean Combs why he should be hired and he tells mr. Combs I can't stop I won't stop and he said that at that point Sean Combs was nodding his head like, yeah, I like that. David James also mentions in his direct that he was given a lie detector test after a Cartier bracelet went missing. And he says that Uncle Polly came, searched his things, did not find anything, and then gave a lie detector test. At this point, Combs passes another note to Tenny Garagos. He rests his arm on the armrests and then he's like watching for her reaction as she's reading his little post-it in the courtroom. It's weird. Sometimes he does that. He'll like watch the attorneys react
Starting point is 01:06:39 to his post-it note. And then I always wonder because you know like- Does the attorney react or say anything or- Like they'll give him a nod and then sometimes Like I think he wants them to pass it to the person doing the cross. So then he'll like kind of motion for them to like hello It's very interesting. Yeah, he's definitely heavily involved like these attorneys are not running their own defense And he's just their client like he's calling a lot of shots are not running their own defense and he's just their client. Like he's calling a lot of shots. Oftentimes even during cross examinations, they'll say, one moment, your honor, and then the attorney that's doing the cross examination will go talk to Diddy, come back and say, no further questions. So it's interesting. Now David says that he took two lie
Starting point is 01:07:19 detector tests during his time working for Combs. He says, I was invited to what almost looked like a government building. It was kind of a tall skyscraper. And I met with a gentleman who said he was a former FBI lie detector detector. And at this point, the whole courtroom laughs. Is it funny? No.
Starting point is 01:07:36 Are we just like full of tension? Yeah. He's like, lie detector, detector. I guess you could call it. And he was like the most, you know, special, specialist lie detector agent in America. Who told you that? The gentleman did.
Starting point is 01:07:52 The lie detector detector? Yeah. And again, everyone giggles again. It was very intimidating. I don't know if you've ever taken a lie detector test before, but you basically sit in a chair where they monitor your movements. They put a heartbeat monitor on your chest. I believe they put something on my head and something in my hand. The lie detector detector tells him, you know Mr. Combs does not like people who steal. That's like one of his big things. And he basically told me we had to get rid of the rat on the team.
Starting point is 01:08:20 He takes the first for the missing Cartier bracelet, the second one for a Jacob and Co watch. He takes the first for the missing Cartier bracelet, the second one for a Jacob & Co watch. Also, Combs seems super paranoid, if not already evident, by the copious amounts of polygraphs he allegedly forced everyone to take. But David James states, every time they're in the car, if Mr. Combs had a Maybach, he would want to have a second car to his right. That way someone couldn't pull up on him, for example, and try to assassinate him or shoot him which is how big he died so he would always follow him around like security detail who would? a second car? yeah like is he driving the second car? so combs would be in the first car and then the second car would be filled with staff
Starting point is 01:08:56 so david james would probably be in the back of the second car wow and combs was never without security detail honestly this whole thing just sounds like the worst job on the planet They said the motto at the combs enterprise company was what rhymes with tired fired All of this and Capricorn Clark is just getting paid $65,000 she states on the stand while working for combs. She developed a medical condition called alopecia
Starting point is 01:09:23 Side note very odd, but right at this moment, Sean Combs takes out his retainer out of his mouth. Like he has a retainer in his mouth and he just fully just like slobber and all takes it out of his mouth. Puts it on the table? He like wraps it in a napkin. Oh. What is alopecia? It's a stress-induced condition where you get bald patches on your head. Capricorn says that she went to HR at this point to tell them, hey look, quote, I'm working basically 24-7 and I'm not making enough money. And she sat with me to calculate my overtime.
Starting point is 01:09:54 Vashta from HR. The same Vashta Dunlap, okay? And they go to calculate Capricorn's overtime. She comes back with this giant sheet of paper and tells Capricorn, and now Sean Combs who's sitting there, you know, she said that I was owed $80,000 per three month period in my assistant era. How did Mr. Combs respond?
Starting point is 01:10:12 Wait, she's owed? Yeah, for all the overtime. She's owed $80,000 by Sean Combs. Oh, okay, okay, okay. And how did Mr. Combs respond? He ripped up the paper. She was not paid the overtime. Instead, Sean Combs would seemingly make her sit
Starting point is 01:10:27 through life lessons where he would sit a bunch of women down that work for him and work with him once in the kitchen of his massive LA mansion. What did Mr. Combs discuss with you at that time? He was discussing with us why we didn't have a man like him. What did he do? He said, let me show you something. What did he do next? He called
Starting point is 01:10:46 Cassie over and he asked her to sit down, stand up, turn around, and she's like using her hand, she's full into this. Turn the other way. Well, walk over there. Grab that. Hand me that. Walk back. Turn back. Go back to the other room. What did Miss Ventura respond? She did it. She followed each of his instructions. Yes. And after Ms. Ventura left the room, what if anything did Mr. Combs say? He said, did you see that?
Starting point is 01:11:12 He said, you bitches don't do that. That's why you don't have a man. So anytime she does Sean Combs' voice, she's like fully in it. So she's like, he said, did you see that? He said, you bitches don't do that. That's why you don't have a man. to which we said, you're motherfucking right. And the jurors are giggling. Meanwhile, Tenny Garagos looks over at Mark Agnifilo.
Starting point is 01:11:33 She looks disgusted. Her mouth is slightly ajar, like shock. I don't think that she's looking disgusted at her client per se. I think she's trying to come. I don't think she's trying to convey anything in her reaction. I think her reaction is like, I can't believe she would make up such a wild lie. Now, do we think it's a wild lie?
Starting point is 01:11:51 I mean, I guess that's up to you, but that's what Tenny is showing Mark. The jurors don't see it because they're all smiling. Like just the way she said, your motherfucking right was like a lot, like the whole, I think we didn't even know how to respond. Eventually, Mark Agnifilo requests a sidebar motherfucking right was like a lot like the whole i think we didn't even know how to respond eventually market never quest aside by work homes turns around and says i love you to his mom and she melts i love you back
Starting point is 01:12:15 system this is a lot of like tongue movements i don't know how to describe that uh... and again i don't know if this is even worthy of including in an episode, but I'm just trying to see like all the things that we've noticed and like we have, like my researchers and I have all noticed similar things and we've almost like coined different terms for it. Like, you know how everyone says Mark Zuckerberg is a lizard? I feel like maybe all billionaires are lizards.
Starting point is 01:12:39 A few members of the Combs family have very interesting mannerisms with utilizing their tongue. So Sean Combs, he will lick mannerisms with utilizing their tongue. So Sean Combs, he will lick his lips and when he licks them, he does them so quickly. And he'll like stick his tongue out and do like three licks of his lips very rapidly. And we always try to understand when and why he does it. And if it's just his lips are dry or if it's like a something else, I don't know. And then Christian Combs does this thing where it seems like when he feels defensive, He kind of sticks his tongue out of his mouth to the side like But it's always in very specific moments
Starting point is 01:13:13 So I think we're just trying to understand what those moments are and then even when his mother is saying like she very dramatically says I Like her tongue almost touches the tip of her nose when she says love and love Wow yeah and we both wrote it down and I thought maybe I'm like paying too much attention to random stuff but my researcher and I were cross-referencing notes and we're like oh yeah that was kind of intense I don't think it means anything I mean it seems like his mom really does love him he blows kisses she smooches the air. Meanwhile, Mark Agneffolo is very busy at the sidebar.
Starting point is 01:13:47 This is becoming just a wholesale character assassination. I'm not sure what many of these things have to do with the charges. The judge tells the prosecutor to move on with the line of questioning. But I think the effect on the jury is already kind of done. I've never seen the jurors more engaged in Capricorn's testimony. She just has this way of done. I've never seen the jurors more engaged in Capricorn's testimony.
Starting point is 01:14:06 She just has this way about herself. Again, the best way I described it to my husband when I got home after the testimony was, if you don't already believe what she's saying, you want to believe what she's saying. Because she's just so emotionally transparent that you cannot fathom someone could make this up Like for example even listening to her is just fascinating when she's asked about what mr Combs did when he received a hundred thousand euro for a club appearance in Europe. She just responds like crinkling her eyebrows She looks at the prosecutor like what kind of dumb question is that and she goes Keep it and they're like trying to ask where did he keep it? But she's like, keep it, I don't know.
Starting point is 01:14:48 So it's just very real. Capricorn goes on to detail that Sean Combs likes to throw phones at people when he's upset. He would do that often, that's like his thing. And he was not just violent with Cassie, he was also violent with his staff, including Capricorn Clark. She says there was this one time in his mansion
Starting point is 01:15:04 on Two Star Island in Miami, where he sends Capricorn on an errand. Pharrell Williams who was a music producer now the he's Louis Vuitton. You know who he is yeah. His manager came over and was dropped off by boat because this is an island everybody has like a boat driveway on Two Star Island or on Star Island and so he's dropped off by boat, but then he has to go to another island where Pharrell Williams is shooting a music video So mr. Combs is like hey Capricorn and I say mr. Combs. Sorry because the prosecutors call him mr. Combs Sean Combs is like hey Capricorn go drop him off at the other island She hops in the boat with him drops him off But then she decides to stay on that island for like about an hour hanging out.
Starting point is 01:15:45 An hour into it, she gets a phone call from Sean Combs. He's like, where the fuck are you? And again, when she is doing Sean Combs' quotes, it's very intense and all the jurors, they're engaged. What did you do after you got that call? I went back to Star Island. What if anything did Mr. Combs tell you when you returned to Star Island? He said, see, your problem is you want a life,
Starting point is 01:16:06 and you can't have that here. And then she's just wiping tears. So the next morning, Capricorn wakes up. She goes to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I was making my plate. The chef was there. She was tired. I asked her where the turkey bacon was,
Starting point is 01:16:19 and she said, there is no more fucking turkey bacon. She was very upset from a long night. And I just said, I hate it here. And then the chef walks outside quote to where Puff was standing on the back deck and told him what I said. It exacerbated her. He immediately looked at me and he said you hate it here and then he charged at me. At this point she's holding herself in a hug while she's telling this story. When you say he charged at you can you describe what he physically did to you? He ran towards me with his hands open and like pushed me by my shoulders and she's using her hands
Starting point is 01:16:54 to like motion. He's still pushing me back. In what direction was he pushing you? Out, out towards the front entrance of the kitchen through the butler's pantry. Approximately how far did he push you? About 25, 30 yards. The jurors are incredibly engaged. Even Sean Combs is taking down notes. And how was he pushing you? Just to make sure the record is reflecting the witness with open hands. Open hands like right on my shoulder, like you know, and she shows again the top of your shoulders what if anything was mr. combs telling you while he was pushing in this way he said you hated here get the fuck out of my house you
Starting point is 01:17:33 hated here get the fuck out of my house yeah and he repeated it until we were outside can you describe the amount of force that Mr. Combs was using when he was pushing you? I would say like 75%. I never fell. I kept catching myself. Eventually Uncle Polly comes to tell her to pack her things and she does and then she leaves. But she comes back to work for Mr. Combs again and this time she says she only came back because her role was not his personal assistant. It was as his global brand director for Sean John. So he told her
Starting point is 01:18:05 specifically he's not gonna interact with her as much and that's the only reason she came back. He was very impressed with her new work when she was gone so at this point she signed with a record label. She was managing Sierra's newest album and R. Kelly's newest album at that point. She says Puff was very impressed with my work and was like I I'm starting a woman's line, you wouldn't have to work directly with me, but you can work for me and it'll be something right up your alley. And it was paying more than Samba Records was. She also worked closely with Cassie. I was her creative director and manager.
Starting point is 01:18:36 And in 2011, she became more close with Cassie. She starts learning that she's dating Kid Cudi, Scott Mascotti, which she kind of admits put her in a tricky situation because she can't tell combs about the relationship obviously. But one day in particular, Cassie sends Capricorn a text and this is where it all started kind of making sense. Remember I was like, why is Brian still asking Kid Cudi about exercising? She says quote, I was picking Cassie up one day. We were going to Runyon Canyon, which is a place in Los Angeles where you hike and she asked if Kid Cudi could join us.
Starting point is 01:19:06 Cassie texted Capricorn, how did you react when you received that text message? Not well. It was a bad idea. I responded I don't think we should go to Runyon. There's too many people there. If he comes we need to go to Freiman Canyon. Delete this text. Combs lizard licks his lips a little and then slightly shakes his head whilst kind of turning to the jurors. You see that? They're all plotting a cheat. It felt very like I've been wronged type of head shake.
Starting point is 01:19:34 Why did you direct Ms. Ventura to delete the text? Because that's the second everything got so tricky when she texted me. Mr. Combs paid for my phone. She's texting me on the phone he pays for. On a phone he pays for for it's not a good idea After what happened did miss Ventura change the way that she communicated with mr. Muscati? Yes, I took her to Best Buy to buy a burner phone
Starting point is 01:19:54 So she's saying she's the one that bought the burner phone Why did you take her to Best Buy to buy a burner phone the way she was moving? She was gonna get us all killed she was moving she was gonna get us all killed. Mark Agniflo stands up I'm sorry sustained before he even says objection sustained the jury should disregard the witnesses last answer. At this point there's kind of an awkward laugh in the courtroom because it's like we all expected him to jump up with an objection. Like Capricorn really just be saying things I'm not saying like saying things as in they're not true I I'm just saying like no filter,
Starting point is 01:20:26 truly saying everything on her mind. Everybody knew that these objections were coming. Now the day that Capricorn Clark is kidnapped is the same day that Kid Cudi's house is broken into and it's all connected. So remember the same day Scott Miscutty, Kid Cudi, gets a call from Cassie that Combs found out about them and she gave him his address.
Starting point is 01:20:43 So he picks her up and they go to the Sunset Marquis. Well Capricorn at the same time, she hears banging on her apartment door, she wakes up, runs to the peephole and she sees quote, a very upset puff. He was pacing and she like does the motions. He was moving around a little bit, he was just anxious, I could tell, but he was furious, that was evident. Can you describe the movement of his body outside your door? His pacing and the body language looked like he had something in his hand. Why do you say that? Can you describe what you observed?
Starting point is 01:21:11 Just like the body language. I could see his shoulder it was like something in his hand. He was moving in his hand. I mean I couldn't really see the people all the way down in his hand but the body language was giving me like he's holding something. The way that Capricorn is acting it out again adds a lot to her credibility in my opinion and it's just very descriptive like you really see everything that's happening. Meanwhile Sean Combs is sitting in the courtroom absolutely still. Why did you open the door for Mr. Combs? He was upset. Part of my job is to make sure that the name and likeness is okay and he's outside my door.
Starting point is 01:21:46 I just... You know, I gotta be like, what is this? Can you describe Mr. Combs at the time? His pants were gray and they were split open from knee to knee through the crotch so I could see his underwear. Kind of like, you know like assless chaps, but it seems not to have been on purpose. So like, it's at the inseam It came like this or someone cut it open or you could buy pants like this like It's like a fashion thing, but I don't think this was on purpose I think it ripped maybe in a fit of anger or something. Oh His pants ripped. Yeah Did you notice anything in his hand a gun? And she says it like that. And what
Starting point is 01:22:26 did Mr. Combs tell you once he was inside your apartment? He said, why didn't you tell me? And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. He said, who is Scott? I said, I don't know any Scott. What did he say? What did Mr. Combs say after that? He said, Kid Cudi. I said, oh, Cassie's friend. Then he just says, according to Capricorn, quote, get dressed. We're going to go kill this. At this point, the jurors and combs, they're all taking and jotting down notes passionately. And it's just like the way that she's doing his voice and like her, it was a lot in a good way in the sense of like, I think people are receiving her testimony.
Starting point is 01:23:02 Well, when Mr. Combs directed you to get dressed dressed how did you respond? I don't want to go. How did Mr. Combs respond when you said you don't want to go? He says I don't give a fuck what you want to do go get dressed. I had never seen anything like this before. I had never he had come to my house and like I hadn't he had never come to my house in the entire time I'd known him I've never seen him with a weapon I've never seen him making me do something like this. Combs is done taking notes he puts his pen down on the table leans back all the way crosses his legs and he's about to put his arm right elbow on his armchair rest and bring it
Starting point is 01:23:35 up to his face this is his like rank 10 business move this is like full businessman he likes to sit like he's watching someone present like an intern present a new business deal But he stops himself. So then he takes his arm off the armrest and just sits cross-legged Because I think it's not a good look. Yeah. Yeah Did you make any attempt to escape your apartment? I did not why not the way he was acting I just felt like anything could happen I'm gonna object judge! Okay, let's move on, Miss Steiner.
Starting point is 01:24:09 Capricorn says she's forced to get dressed. They leave her apartment. So it's Rube, who is Ruben, another security detail. He's actually D-Rock's little brother, but anyway. He's in the driver's seat of the Black Escalade. Combs hops in the back with Capricorn, and she's back there, and he now has his gun on his lap as they're driving through the Hollywood Hills to get to Kid Cudi's house. What if anything did Mr. Combs and Rube do after you arrived at Kid Cudi's home? They enter the house. Capricorn says that she stayed
Starting point is 01:24:34 in the car but she couldn't leave. Why were you not able to leave? I probably could have left but I didn't. What were you afraid of if you left? Mark Agnifilo, Whack-a-Mole, he's back up. Objection to the leading! Sustained. What were you afraid of if you left? Mark Agniflo, whack-a-mole, he's back up. Objection to the leading! Sustained. What did you observe Mr. Combs and Rube do on the property? Fidget around trying to gain access, and then they gained access? What if anything did you do while Mr. Combs and Rube were on the property out of the car? I called Cassie.
Starting point is 01:24:58 Capricorn says that she was just waiting to call Cassie on her burner phone to warn her because she didn't know if Kid Cudi was in the house. She has no clue that he's already with Cassie by this point and she's freaking out. And what did you tell Cassie when you called her? Cassie, what the fuck? And I asked her like where she was at. What if anything else did you tell her? I told her that Puff came, got me with a gun and brought me to Kid Cudi's house to kill
Starting point is 01:25:18 him. When she says brought me to Cudi's house to kill him, Combs looks over at Mark waiting for him to pop up with an objection. Mark looks at him and does a small shake of the head and does not object. Yeah. When you were speaking with Ms. Venter on the phone, did you hear anyone else on the phone?
Starting point is 01:25:34 Yes. Who did you hear? I could hear yelling in the background. What did you hear? I heard someone say, he's in my house. Like she literally does it like that. And I said, who is that? She said, Scott. And I could does it like that. And I said, who is that? She said, Scott.
Starting point is 01:25:46 And I could hear him running out. And I said, Cassie, stop him. He's gonna come get himself killed. And she was like, I can't. After they hang up the phone, Combs comes out and wants to see her phone because he saw her hanging up. Capricorn being smart had put Cassie's burner phone number
Starting point is 01:25:58 as another friend of hers, Stormy, who is also, I think, shares children with Suge Knight, but besides the point, Stormy. But that's not good enough because now, Combs is asking to see her phone. He calls back the last number I was speaking to. And what did he say when he called that number back? Bitch, what the fuck number is this? And how, if at all, did Mr. Combs react to Cassie having or Ms. Ventura having a new number? Wait, so he called it back and he found out it was Cassie?
Starting point is 01:26:26 Yeah. Oh my god. And Capricorn says he's livid more so than already. What if anything happened after Mr. Combs spoke with Ms. Ventura on your phone? We heard a very fast moving engine coming up the hill. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that it was Cuddy. Puff looked at my face. I guess I gave him a visual cue that it was him and he goes there's that right there
Starting point is 01:26:45 What happened next? Cuddy pulled up next to the Cadillac Escalade came to a complete stop looked and then took off and sped up the hill Puff and Rube jumped in the car and we started chasing him. How long was the chase? It felt like forever, but it couldn't have been longer than a minute. Cuddy lost us. We turned south down Laurel Canyon We heard sirens and we passed the police. They were headed north on Laurel Canyon, we were headed south on Laurel Canyon. Were the police headed in the direction of Mr. Muscatti's residence? They were. Capricorn says this is when Combs finally starts to calm down.
Starting point is 01:27:15 They drive to the Key Club, which is at the bottom of the Hollywood Hills. For people who lived in LA, it was formerly known as One Oak. I think it's the Key Club now. I think that's what she also said, but one oak was a thing Yeah And they're in the parking lot of one oak or key club and they don't get out there's in the parking lot because she's saying like There's no service in the Hollywood Hills, which also valid So they come down and they're just using the phone and it's just Rube the security Combs and Capricorn and Combs is telling Capricorn
Starting point is 01:27:40 To get Cassie on the phone and quote. He told me to tell Cassie that he has me and he's not gonna let me go until I get her. He has me, he won't let me go until I come to you, to which Cassie said, Okay, come get me. They get back to Combs' house and Combs tells Capricorn, Once you get Cassie, you guys need to go tell Cuddy and convince him not to tell the police that it was me. Did he tell you anything else? He says if you guys don't convince him of that, I'll kill all you motherfuckers. In the courtroom, Combs visibly starts shaking his head back and
Starting point is 01:28:08 forth. Capricorn explains that after they get to his place, she gets into the work car, picks Cassie up from the Sunset Marquis where Cassie and Capricorn head to Kid Cudi's house and convince him not to tell the police that this was Sean Combs. And then they get back to Sean Combs' residence. Now it's maybe 11 a.m. Like this all started out like 6 a.m. What happened after you and Ms. Ventura entered the home? Puff was standing there in a robe in his underwear and he immediately began kicking Cassie.
Starting point is 01:28:36 100% full force in her legs to begin with. She was facing him to start and he kicked her in her thigh and in her leg. He kept kicking her, He never used his hands. Combe starts taking notes in the courtroom. The jurors are also taking intense notes. And you said he kept kicking her. Was he kicking her more than once? Yes, he repeatedly kicked her and she just kept with each kick. She would crouch into a more of a fetal position. And does Miss Ventura was crouching more and more into a fetal position.
Starting point is 01:29:03 Can you describe where she was physically located? Outside by now, we were in the courtyard of his home, just like outside the vestibule. Every time he kicked, she moved back, and every time she got kicked, she moved back. And approximately how far did Ms. Ventura get moved back from the kicks? Couple steps each time, and in total, all the way to the street, maybe 20 feet. And by the time she reached the street, can you describe what her body looked like? She was all the way on the ground in a full fetal position and crying silently. What was Mr. Combs doing to Ms. Ventura in the street when she was on the ground and
Starting point is 01:29:34 in a full fetal position? Kicking her? Where? It was her back, her backside. She was on the ground. He's kicking her. Capricorn says she and Rube, the security, were both there and she's freaking out and Rube is calm and Combs tells Capricorn he said if I jump in he was gonna fuck me up too, and she's like sobbing at this point
Starting point is 01:29:54 she said she didn't intervene because I'd never seen him do anything like that and I was in shock and in my heart I was my heart was breaking seeing her get hit like that and like the way I'm delivering it is not the way she delivered Like she's full sobbing like she's a wreck. I'm gonna object to your honor Objection is sustained the jury should disregard the last sentence of the witnesses answer. What if anything did Rube do to intervene? Absolutely nothing Who if anyone did you contact after you observed that Rube was not intervening? I called D Rock so D Rock is Rube was not intervening? I called D-Rock.
Starting point is 01:30:25 So D-Rock is Rube's older brother and he was on the security team longer. I said, tell your brother to stop him. What did you explain to D-Rock what was happening? That he was kicking the shit out of Cassie? Capricorn reaches for a tissue and starts rubbing both her eyes. She's not rubbing them. She's sobbing. You could see.
Starting point is 01:30:44 It's just streaming down her face Did you contact anyone else aside from D rock? I did uncle Polly. Did you contact any? I didn't why did you contact anyone aside from D rock? I didn't see Rubes phone ringing meaning like D rock is not calling his little brother. What did you inform? Mr. Offert? Same thing. I said Paul he's kicking the shit out of her and Mr. Offert. Same thing I said Paul he's kicking the shit out of her and help her and she starts like fully choking up. Combs is completely still. What if anything did Mr. Combs tell you after you made these calls? He said matter of fact you get the fuck out of my house. Did you leave his house? On foot yes I
Starting point is 01:31:18 walked. She takes off her glasses now like her face is completely soaked in tears. Who if anyone else did you call when you left the property? Regina Ventura, Cassie's mom. And what did you- what if anything did you inform Ms. Ventura? I told her mom, I said, he's being the shit out of your daughter. I'm in over my head. And she starts like really choking up.
Starting point is 01:31:42 Please help her! Like it's like a whining sob. Like please help her! Like that's the best way I can try to... I can't call the police and then she does it again like but you can! Like please help her!
Starting point is 01:31:58 It was it was really rough to listen to. I think everyone was having a hard time because I think it was just... I think a lot of the testimony so far, in the courtroom, the emotions don't sink in as quickly because even Cassie's testimony, aside from the few times she was very emotional, everything she says is matter of fact and then you're so busy trying to understand where we are in the timeline and then it's like once you get home it soaks in and then you like you feel a little heavier right but in this it's like all you hear are her sobs like echoing in the courtroom and it's so hard not to
Starting point is 01:32:32 like like a lot of people are like wincing after that call miss Clark did you call the police I did not meanwhile combs head is cocked to the left why didn't you call the police the mission of the day was not to get Cuddy to involve the police, so that was certainly counterintuitive. The prosecutor pulls up an email we went over during Cassie's testimony, the one from December 23rd, and the prosecutor asks her to read it out loud. And it sounds like she's being held hostage to read it. She's just constantly wiping her tears. It's the one that Cassie writes to her mom and Capricorn Clark about all the threats and that the sex videos might be released.
Starting point is 01:33:09 She says later the arson investigator would reach out to her about Kid Cudi's car, and she just did not want to talk to him either. She said, I just wanted this whole thing to be over and that was just gonna make it worse. She's sobbing out loud. It sounds like she's almost underwater. to make it worse. She's sobbing out loud, it sounds like she's almost underwater. Following the incident in December of 2011, what if any questions did Mr. Combs ask you about Ms. Ventura's relationship with Mr. Muscati? He has the same thing. When did I know about it? Why didn't tell him? She says that he was very very angry and he said quote, I should kill you bitches and I should cut her face. In the courtroom, Combs slowly closes his eyes and shakes his head no towards the jurors almost giving like this is absurd
Starting point is 01:33:50 How frequently after this incident in December of 2011 was mr. Combs making threats to you approximately how many times I'd say once we got to December of 2011 into that summer I Would say 50 she does mention that she told the CEO of bad boy Harv Pierre about it, to which she says, he just says, that's crazy but it's going to be okay. Capricorn says he also tells her that she, Capricorn, and Cassie can't really be friends anymore, that they can only interact for work. Now there are other parts of her testimony that were cross-referenced with other testimonies and it seems like Cassie was not the only one that was participating in freak offs.
Starting point is 01:34:28 I know that in our four part series that we did before the trial even started, this was in 2024, there were allegations online and rumors circulating that Kim Porter was also part of the freak offs. David James, the other assistant, says that he was part of the hotel setups. He called it advancing the hotel. So you go in advance and you make sure it's ready for combs.
Starting point is 01:34:46 He says, in New York City, for example, if he asked me to advance a hotel room, I'd go back to his apartment, I'd get like a Jordan sweatsuit, fresh pair of underwear, some socks, some slides. I'd also bring a toiletry bag and I would bring the iPod speaker base. And then next to the Trump Hotel, which he loves,
Starting point is 01:35:02 there's a Duane Reid there, and I'd go get there like a few different food items, applesauce, Jell- Hotel, which he loves, there's a Duane Reed there, and I'd go get there like a few different food items, applesauce, jello, Fiji water, and then we'd always have some Serox vodka and Simply Lemonade as well. Side note, while David is listing out everything Combs likes, Combs is sitting there like nodding,
Starting point is 01:35:17 ever so slightly, like yes, okay, checking off the list. Like if someone is recounting your grocery list to them, that's the vibe. David James just continues, basically everything that he may need. He didn't always use these items but I was always taught to provide everything just in case he needed something that way he wouldn't need to call you later on. He also needs his infamous Louis Vuitton med bag and that he always carries according to David. Also $10,000 in cash sometimes more. When describing the med
Starting point is 01:35:42 bag David says there are probably 25 to 30 different pill boxes or pill bottles. Some of them are unmarked, so I was not familiar with what they were. Some were just like Advil, Tylenol. He had water pills to make him lose weight. He had a Viagra in there. He had some pills that helped increase his sperm count, for example. He had ecstasy and Percocets in there as well. Side note about those ecstasy pills, he says there were various kinds, but one in particular that stands out is quote, It was in the shape of a former president's face. Which former president?
Starting point is 01:36:13 President Obama. Yeah. That's crazy. The prosecutor asks David, when you set up these hotel rooms, did Mr. Combs stay in these hotel rooms alone or with others? I don't think Mr. Combs ever stays alone. Who did he stay with? His girlfriend at the time, mostly Cassie, but other women as well. There is an odd moment in David James' cross where Mark Agniflo starts asking about all of the traveling and all of the advancing of the hotel rooms and he- David James goes into a whole ketchup monologue
Starting point is 01:36:41 when they travel to London to the United Kingdom ketchup Heinz 57 ketchup, like they needed that. I don't know if this is what he's saying. I don't know if you guys have ever been to London before, but the ketchup in the UK is not similar to the ketchup in America. He would not be happy. I mean, ketchup was a big item
Starting point is 01:36:56 that he always needed for his food. So it's just the consistency to create a consistent environment. So during this ketchup rant, Combs is just like smiling and happily nodding along and everybody's in a lighter mood, but then it goes from ketchup to applesauce. Side note, he eats applesauce on his cheeseburgers, like he eats applesauce with a lot of things. Then the conversation goes from ketchup to applesauce to astroglide and baby oil, and at this point I think Combs is
Starting point is 01:37:19 uncomfortable with the sudden emotional shift because he raises his hands at the mention of baby oil, he rubs them in his lap like he's putting lotion on but then he like realizes it's weird because he's not putting lotion on so then he puts them in prayer hands and then he leans his head forward presses his forehead into his fingers and then moves on it was just like a very odd set of movements it felt like he was instinctively rubbing his hands but thought it would be perceived weird, so he carries out the rest of this awkward set of movements.
Starting point is 01:37:48 Now, Capricorn Clark also testifies that she advanced many of hotel rooms, but she said mainly it was for Combs and Kim Porter. How frequently would he stay at a hotel with Miss Porter? Once a week. And what, if anything, was your role with respect to hotels when Mr. Combs would travel? To pack and bring and unpack his personal effects?
Starting point is 01:38:08 And what did those belongings include? Clothes, toiletry bag, and camera bag? Camera box, actually. Camera box? It was a silver, like at the time it was a silver, like 45 record carrier repurposed, and it had three click in, like three point and shoot cameras and one small mini DD camera.
Starting point is 01:38:25 Was there anything else in the camera bag? A small bottle of baby oil and a small bottle of lube. What if any lighting was used in the hotel? No lighting, we brought his diptyque candles, that was that. She says on every single hotel trip with Kim Porter, they would have to bring that camera bag 100% of the time. What if any responsibilities did you have after one of Mr. Combs' hotel stays? To pack up his belongings and sweep the room for anything that might be left behind? What if any damage did you observe in the hotel rooms after his stays?
Starting point is 01:38:53 Just baby oil. At the Intercontinental, I would see handprints in oil on the ultra-suede walls. Yeah. How frequently did you observe damage from baby oil in the rooms? Frequently, but it was a lot like... It was just a lot of baby oil. It was just everywhere. It wasn't necessarily only on the walls And if you would which women would he bring to hotels most frequently at the time? Kim Porter, Cassie Ventura
Starting point is 01:39:16 This entire part when Capricorn is talking about freak-offs with Kim Porter the kids are not there Sean Combs his mother is there and she's just frozen. Just listening. Later, Capricorn says she was ultimately fired for not applying properly for vacation time, but she thinks it's probably because she kept mentioning all the threats. And what do you recall, Mr. Combs, in these discussions following your termination? That I would never work again? That he would show me that all these people weren't my friends? That he would make me kill myself? In the courtroom, Combs scratches his left cheek with his left hand, just like scratches his face. This is the interesting part. Later Capricorn is asked if she reached out to Combs' attorneys and she says yes, in which a settlement is reached, but
Starting point is 01:39:55 this was in her previous termination, wrongful termination. So she quit, got terminated, and rehired so many times, but on one of the occasions she did get paid. So she's asked by the times but on one of the occasions she did get paid so she's asked by the prosecution under the terms of the agreement approximately how much were you paid for I'm gonna object, Judge which is so fascinating because of anything the defense has been so passionate about women who receive money from Sean Combs they've been very passionate about the figures and passionate about the demands that were made and suddenly they do not want Capricorn to release how much she settled for. There's probably a few reasons for it. Probably one, because it was such a low amount that it would
Starting point is 01:40:38 probably make the jurors go, wow, that's actually crazy. And two, there was a rumor that Suge Knight was on a podcast and he said the money to pay Capricorn Clark, that's actually crazy. And two, there was a rumor that Suge Knight was on a podcast and he said the money to pay Capricorn Clark, that settlement money was done by Interscope Records. So that would add to Rico racketeering. Like it would make it very messy if a settlement for this type of behavior is paid by a company. So it depends. Now there's a quick sidebar in which Combs puts his chest in the air and this is really awkward. So he like stretches his chest up as he's sitting and then his arms are reached bent at the elbows like he's doing a bench press, right?
Starting point is 01:41:14 It looks like he's just stretching, but he has this very awkward moment where he just like kind of pumps his fist twice. And then he stops and I think like the whole- I think he felt awkward doing it. Just felt weird maybe he wanted to do a bigger movement or maybe he realized this is not a movement he wants the jurors to see he stops himself it's just weird meanwhile Capricorn Clark is sitting there super emotional Sean Combs's sister and the person next to her are giggling perhaps about something unrelated I don't know they're just in the pews giggling during the sidebar. Mark argues during the sidebar. So the objection, I don't know the amount. I don't know that the amount is relevant. And I mean, I would say it's unduly prejudicial. I mean, I don't
Starting point is 01:41:53 intend to get into it. I don't know how it advances the relevant issues in this case, what the settlement was for. Again, interesting. But they get back and the prosecutor makes sure that Capricorn states she has no pending civil litigation against Combs She has received no other compensation aside from that, but she's also asked Why did she keep going back to work for Sean Combs? I wanted to try and give my life back She says that she was unable to obtain any other work She says she did get civil attorneys in 2023 after Cassie filed a lawsuit and she was upset about it Did her complaint
Starting point is 01:42:25 reference you? Not at all. I was traumatized because it did not reference you. Is that what you're referring to? She did not mention me at all. Did there come a time when you met with Mr. Combs' attorneys in April of 2024? I did. Now, side note, the attorneys that she met with are Mark Agnifilo and Tenny Garagos. Wow. And during that meeting did you inform Mr. well what did you inform Mr. Combs' attorneys? That I wanted my life back. And did you discuss what had occurred during December of 2011? I did. What did you inform his attorneys? I told them that he kidnapped me and I went through the events of the day. Your Honor, I'm going to object this as hearsay, which is
Starting point is 01:43:05 actually interesting because they were the ones at the meeting. The prosecutor asks Ms. Clark, were there any discussions about you working in some capacity again for Mr. Combs's companies? There was. And just generally, what was discussed? Like, what would it look like? Like, if I came in as chief of staff, got him up out of there, put him in rehab so that somebody that was around in the inception of a lot of those business deals would be back in place? Did you hear from Mr. Combs' attorneys again? No. The direct is finished soon after and the judge starts to speak. Alright, so this is a good time for us to
Starting point is 01:43:41 Mr. Agniflo stands up. Like he's wound up like a spring. Can I start and then can we have a break unless we all wanna stop now? Whatever you wanna do. Well, we're taking a break, which is what I was doing, and then we'll come back. Oh, okay, I'll take a break too. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:43:59 Members of the jury, we will take a short break. It's 1114, we'll come back at 1140. All rise for the jury. As everyone is is leaving the courtroom Brian Steele starts rubbing Sean Combs' back during that break Combs and his mom are just like having full mouthing conversations everybody is ushered back in Capricorn is ushered back in at the end of the break Combs has his right elbow on his armrest and he's got his fist up in the air and he kind of hammers it into the air three times it's weird it's like waiting I didn't know what that was. That's the feeling.
Starting point is 01:44:27 And then the cross-examination begins. Mark Agnifilo takes the stand and immediately he starts talking about the setup of the conference table when they all met in 2024 because Capricorn met with him and all the, you know, Mr. Combs was there. Sean Combs was there. He's drawing the picture. Even Combs is looking at him, mouth slightly agape, just blinking his eyes. And Mark's whole point is how during the meeting in 2024, Capricorn asked Combs to come back to work as his chief of staff. Which Capricorn states, yes, she did bring that up. And tell me if this is right, what you said was, you've always been able to take care of him. I don't recall saying that.
Starting point is 01:45:02 Okay, do you remember saying he wouldn't be in this mess had he kept me around? And then she looks at the jury and said, I probably said something like that, yeah. So I think Mark is again trying to prove a point, but she's just so honest. She's like, yeah, I probably did say something like that. Doing cross-examination, especially when they're working in his favor, Combs loves looking towards the jurors. So he's doing that a lot. And you said, tell me if this is right. You said you didn't think that Ms. Ventura was good for Mr. Combs.
Starting point is 01:45:31 Correct. And you believe that? Correct. Okay, do me a favor. Tell the jury and your words why you think that's true. I just felt like they were toxic as a couple. At one point, Mark says he's gonna call Sean Combs puff because that's what Capricorn is comfortable with
Starting point is 01:45:46 and the judge is constantly, like this has happened multiple times, the judge keeps saying, no, we're gonna call him Mr. Combs. Okay, judge, that ends that, we're gonna call him Mr. Combs. Why does he wanna call him puff instead? I guess it makes him more,
Starting point is 01:45:59 and then I think the timeline, a lot of the jurors look like they would be from the era that Sean Combs was Puff or Puffy Versus I feel like my age everyone knows him as Diddy I see and like the older groups know him as Puff, Puffy and then just making them sound a little bit more relatable Yeah Now there's a few other notable moments Mark Agnifilo wants Capricorn to tell the jury about Capricorn's friendship with this woman named Jeanette Mark Agnifilo wants Capricorn to tell the jury about Capricorn's friendship with this woman named Jeanette, to which Capricorn is very, again this is why I think her testimony comes off very well received,
Starting point is 01:46:30 is even during the cross she comes off so suggestible, like Mark is telling her, tell the jurors, and they say that a lot during the cross examination, it just means say it out loud, but she will literally turn her body towards the jurors and start explaining her friendship like she's doing the icebreaker at work. So Mark will tell her, so tell the jury about your friendship. She turns to the jurors. I'd moved to New York, I was working in advertising. I was living in the Bronx, hated the Bronx. My friend Jeanette, I met her through a mutual. My roommate had a girlfriend and they were friends and then we kind of got closer and then the girlfriend because they were vegans and whatever, of got closer and then the girlfriend because they were
Starting point is 01:47:05 Vegans and whatever whatever so me and Jeanette we formed a friendship and she would like she went out a lot She was like a popular in New York City Lower East Side girl New Yorker and she would hang out with different people But she would often hang out with mr. Combs and would invite me and then just sort of like start hanging out us three as like a little friendship group So it's like it's even during the cross, it's hard to not like her. Right. Okay.
Starting point is 01:47:29 Another it's likable. It's very, very likable. It's, it feels like you kind of almost want to protect her. It's like, Oh my God, this whole front area of attorneys, the prosecutors, the defense attorneys, I mean, these are all sharks in the water. Like these are polished. Yeah. And you just want to be like, oh, okay, don't wait. Can you stop oversharing?
Starting point is 01:47:51 Like you want to almost protect her in a sense. Another time he's telling her quote, tell the jury that story of how she starts working for combs. Again, she turns her chair completely. So I was, I was working in an advertisement and then September 11 happened. And then I went to a film company called Crossroads. Awesome people. They paid off my student loans. They were great. And then I put my resume on Monster. It was like a new website at the time where you could upload your resume, you know, similar to I guess whatever the ones are now. So like
Starting point is 01:48:33 she's a fairy, like she's talking to the jurors like best friends. Mark also tries to ask her if Combs was doing drugs when Capricorn met him, meaning was he using drugs at that time in his life? But Capricorn hears, was he doing ecstasy when you met him? Not when I met him! No, I don't mean at the time, I mean in that time period. Yeah, yeah, in that time period. And I'm trying to, do you remember telling Mr. Combs
Starting point is 01:48:59 that you had a crush on him, even going back to when you were friends? No? All right, I'm gonna just ask to show the witness defense exhibit 946 this is just for the witness in the parties and if we can blow it up. Can you read that? Is that big enough for you? Yes I can see it and she looks at it and it looks like Capricorn is looking at a picture of a UFO that landed on the tippy top of the Eiffel Tower. She looks flabbergasted. Even Sean Combs is glasses on, booty scooched to like
Starting point is 01:49:25 the edge of his chair, looking at the screen like where's Waldo? It's a text message thread between Capricorn Clark and Combs, with Capricorn texting Sean Combs, totally unrelated to our current conversation, but did you ever know that I had the biggest crush on you before I started working for you? We hung out all the time, I played it super cool. Jeanette might be the only one that knew. I don't think you knew. I couldn't tell if it was mutual. I just knew for sure that we liked that you like to have me around. We called you Chuck short for chocolate. I was just thinking about them nights before everything. So nice. Great memories. 20 years ago. Time is wild. Do you have any memory of that at all? I
Starting point is 01:49:57 really don't. No? No. So before you worked for him, am I right? You liked him. Forget about crushes for the time being. You liked him. I liked him as a friend. You liked him as a friend, right? Yes, as a friend. Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm gonna have to keep doing that to you. And after this, like it's so interesting because I feel like in any other witness cross examination, this might be like an aha moment. But for some- Got you. Yeah, but it doesn't feel like that at all
Starting point is 01:50:25 like even the email reads like Capricorn Clark like she just seems like the type that says a bunch of things when she feels it and then doesn't feel it anymore like she seems like that personality so it doesn't feel damning even in the slightest so like whatever uh Mark is trying to do is not working on her? No, no. Not at all. Okay. Yeah. After this slightly embarrassing perhaps moment, instead of letting Capricorn put her guard up, Mark Agnifilo is doing the best he can.
Starting point is 01:50:55 He's pretty good at crosses other than his filibustering. It seems like he talks to her about working at Def Jam and he references like back when like run DMC type thing like all back that far or not that far not that far I'm not that old sir so like everyone giggles and Mark is giggling and he says well I am and he's just making her comfortable again she states I'm more Foxy Brown red man method man Jay-Z days got it got it even during the cross Capricorn is a likable witness in the sense that nothing feels like a reveal, nothing feels like an aha moment,
Starting point is 01:51:31 even though there were so many times where it could have been. Even when answering another question, she's like whispering and counting months. She's like, if I started in, I think it was April, so April, May, June, July. Like she's just so, it feels like such a normal person just counting out the months eventually Mark Agnifilo leads the conversation back to the missing jewelry in which he asks if Capricorn knows anyone else in the company that had a lie
Starting point is 01:51:56 detector test administered so we actually do know that David James remember he had the lie detector but Capricorn states Mike B who is is Mike B? Mike B was his stylist Now side note I did not think that this part was that important because I'm like if he testifies later or if his name comes up more frequently Because like Uncle Polly, D-Rock, Bonds like these people's names come up non-stop. Gina, like Vasta, Christina Coram, these are all people that are coming up repeatedly. This is like my second time hearing Mike B. Until I see Combs' best friend in the pews. He had his notebook closed on his side with his pen inside and he was falling asleep.
Starting point is 01:52:35 Like he's fully falling asleep, his eyes are closed. He hears Mike B. He startles awake, grabs his notebook and starts writing. So then I start writing in my notebook, who is Mike B? Exclamation, exclamation, exclamation. That's crazy. Yeah. Like just that name. Yeah. And you start writing something. Yeah. I don't know why. Eventually, Mark goes into the actual lie detector test. He's trying to question the credibility of the story because I guess to some people it could sound crazy He's trying to lean into that but Capricorn is firm and you were all hooked up to the lie detector test equipment all day for five days Not all day. He would unhook me to review the test
Starting point is 01:53:17 Okay, and this man you had no idea who this man was other than the description you gave us you have no idea who he is No, I do not. And you were hooked up the whole time? I wasn't hooked up the whole time. I would take the test, he would unhook me, we would review it, we would do it again. Okay, so how many individual light detector tests did you get?
Starting point is 01:53:35 I didn't count, but I kept doing it every day. He starts trying to ask, why didn't you tell HR? Which I thought was kind of a goofy line of questioning. Did you call Vashta and say, I've been locked up in a New York City building that locks from the outside for five days. I didn't, you know, I feel like this is some kind of violation. I did not. Vashta was approachable, right?
Starting point is 01:53:56 Feudal conversation. But yes, she was approachable. Okay, and you never called Vashta to say, you should know an employee of this company is being kidnapped, locked in a building in New York City that locks from the outside on the sixth floor, being given lie detector tests after lie detector tests every day for five days straight. You never had that conversation? I did not.
Starting point is 01:54:11 And you said that Paul brought you to the five times as white as you, man, right? Again, trying to poke holes in her story, pointing out things that maybe some jurors would find too crazy to be true. But Capricorn is looking at him like, oh my God, finally someone who gets it. Yes. She's like yes He's the one that brought me to the five times as white as me man
Starting point is 01:54:29 so it's like It just it's it's not working in the way that it would work Maybe with any other witness it just doesn't really work and then Mark goes on to point out that Capricorn was fired multiple times She just keeps coming back to work for Sean Combs, sometimes even taking a pay cut. Capricorn emotionally states, I worked for him in many roles over a long period of time. I think I was a really good employee for him. And she starts kind of crying.
Starting point is 01:54:57 And he would tell you that? He would. Combs is just nodding along, which... I don't know, I feel like a lot of this is getting into slightly culty territory. I'm not alleging that anything is a cult, I'm not getting conspiratorial, but it does feel really icky. Like I get what the defense is trying to do, but also it just feels like everyone worked really hard for him, gave up their lives for him, and he's just like, yeah, nodding, like, don't forget my toiletries. He just shows no sympathetic emotions. He's just sitting there like, okay, cool.
Starting point is 01:55:27 Mark Agnifilo says, and from what you could see, a lot of the people in this orbit worked hard for him, right? I don't think they worked as hard as me, but yes, people were working hard. Separate from all this stuff, I did learn a lot of stuff from Puff, I mean, Mr. Combs. So she, remember the judge told Mark Agnifilo
Starting point is 01:55:44 to call him Mr. Combs. So she, remember the judge told Mark Agnifilo to call him Mr. Combs. So she says puff by accident. She like, startles herself, looks at the judge and is panicked and is like, I mean Mr. Combs. Like she looks genuinely scared that she said puff instead of Mr. Combs. Like this is what I mean by saying she feels very genuine on the stand. He has ideas, he knows how to execute, he's tenacious, he wanted to break the glass ceiling as it related to what we were allowed to do as black people in the business world, and it was... It helped when you worked so hard to be working with somebody
Starting point is 01:56:15 who would match wits with you on the fervor to be successful. And she's sobbing at this point. Mark asks her if she needs a minute. No, I'm fine, sir. Sorry. I mean, this is just very complicated. Combs, again, is just a lean back in his chair looking like a bored businessman. He will frequently glance over at Mark
Starting point is 01:56:35 with his mouth slightly agape, just blinking and staring. But I feel like the crazy thing is he looks at the jury to kind of the feeling that I get as he's looking at them like you see they love me but I feel like if I were on the jury the feeling I would get is like wow you don't even care like this girl that you've known and like worked with for that many years is this falling apart on the sand like there's nothing in him that showed any sort of like, I didn't know she felt that way. Or like, damn, what a shitty situation that I put her in. Nothing. It's just like, you hear that? She said I was amazing. She said I was breaking a glass ceiling.
Starting point is 01:57:14 Did you hear that? Like, that's the feeling. And if I were on the jury, I'd be like, I'm getting the ick. I don't know if it relates to the charges, but I'm getting the ick. And you were saying, like, even at times you were getting like Emotional, right? Yeah with yeah, and like this is him and her had such a long running Relationship and there's it doesn't seem like he showed much of emotion There's actually one part where a lot of people in the press later
Starting point is 01:57:42 commented that they almost started crying and like same with me I almost had like, I was getting a little stressed that I was gonna start crying. But in that moment, I don't know why I thought this. Because I think recently it's been in the forefront of my mind that he's been pandering a little bit to the jury. Like he's been doing the I'm so cold shivering thing with the jury to try and relate to them. I was like, in this moment, if he also cried with Capricorn Clark, it would be such a human side. Like he would finally feel kind of human. But instead, he's just looking. He's just staring at her breaking apart. Yeah, he looks cold. Yeah, and it was just so like, I don't know, it just felt so sad. It may it pushed me so much more towards Capricorn Clark than I already was in feeling for her
Starting point is 01:58:25 testimony. I will say she's so honest. Eventually Mark is like, I want to talk about Cassie Ventura for a bit. Okay. Capricorn says that she got along with Cassie really well until they didn't. I would say our issues developed after she started dating him. I would say she got a little more and she starts kind of moving her head around in 2008 I would say perhaps and so just so the record reflects you said she got a little more and then you moved your shoulders oh sorry yeah no it's all right what were you conveying what are you telling the jury she got a little more bravado as being his girlfriend the longer it lasted when you say she got more bravado how did that manifest itself to what you
Starting point is 01:59:04 could see? Sometimes she thought that I was being paid to help her, just that her expectation level was increasing. She went from more being a sweet model to like a feisty girlfriend. Okay, and did you think she was very talented? Okay, this is the part where literally the next day everyone in the press was like, why is everybody catching strays nonstop in testimonies? I think she had talent and I think she was very, a very beautiful girl. Okay, so I asked if she was very talented and you said she was not very talented,
Starting point is 01:59:33 but she had talent as far as you're concerned. You said she had talent. Why do you think that she has talent as opposed to being very talented? Talented to me is Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey. Very talented is that level of performer, entertainer. Cassie was more of a studio artist. A little more comfortable in the vocal booth
Starting point is 01:59:54 to have a little bit of things equalized for you and you know, engineered properly. Less of a live performer. She states that Cassie is a hard worker but also not a hard worker. And in what ways was she not a hard worker? Oh, well, I would say that most of the time she preferred to be with her boyfriend. But she does mention that Cassie's hard work decreases once Kim Porter has her twins, the
Starting point is 02:00:15 Combs twins. After that, you saw that she wasn't working as hard. Not as hard. And it doesn't come off as Capricorn is trying to talk badly about Cassie on the stand. It just seems like she's very unfiltered and just says everything that's on her mind at another point She's talking about a hairstyle that she worked on Cassie with and she describes it like she liked it. She loved the hair She was like, yeah, let's do it I said we could cheat it with a weave but it would be cooler if you dye your hair and she was like, ooh
Starting point is 02:00:40 I love that. So it was cool. Like, she's just so expressive. Meanwhile, Combs is rustling through his little notes like he's looking for something, and later Mark Agnifilo asks Capricorn, okay, now at what point do you and she go to Best Buy and get her a burner phone? So remember, because she's the one that recommended Cassie get the burner phone?
Starting point is 02:01:02 After we went hiking with Cuddy that day, Capricorn is explaining that she told Cassie she needs a burner phone. And where did you get that idea from? I mean, I know it sounds naive, but where did you get that idea from? Capricorn looks at him like he's growing three heads. Like my parents died when I was 17. I'm from Los Angeles. I don't know how to answer this question. I'm smart. And then everyone's just giggling because it's just... Two of Capricorn's attorneys, they even look at each other and they smile. And they're right in front of us. But Mark is not done. He's never done. This is filibuster Mark Agnifilo.
Starting point is 02:01:36 So he's able to sneak in a question telling and asking Capricorn where Sean Combs was in December of 19th, 2011. So mind you, all of the Kid Cudi stuff is happening right before Christmas in 2011, but he's like honing in. Do you recall if he was on December 19th, 2011 at an orphanage in Kazakhstan? I just remember he was in Russia. I don't remember exactly, but I just remember he was in Russia or something like that. Okay. Do you remember seeing photographs of him on the internet at an orphanage in Kazakhstan in December? And it just felt so random. It felt like he was throwing it in there to be like, hey, by the way, my client is a philanthropist. Hey, my client saves
Starting point is 02:02:15 dying puppies. Is anybody listening? Brian Steele's not listening. He's falling asleep. He's over this. Meanwhile, Sean Combs full smiles. I'm seeing so much teeth. Sean combs smiles and then he leans over to Teni Gyaragos and mentions something and it's like super quick. And then Teni nods, but then after nodding, she leans in towards him, whispers something super quick and then suddenly his full smile, gone. It was giving like, hey, maybe don't smile when they're talking nicely about you. And it was just like so goofy. Brian Steele, fully asleep. Mark goes on moving on to the next thing, and he goes on to debate whether or not
Starting point is 02:02:53 the day of the alleged kidnapping, Combs pointed the gun at Capricorn or if he was just waving it around. Capricorn states that he was waving it around. But Mark says, according to the government meeting notes, it says that previously she said he was pointing it at her, which the feeling being pointing it around, waving it around. I mean, still kind of a gun, right? At one point during this very intense line of questioning,
Starting point is 02:03:16 we hear a scream from the other side of the gallery. I, my heart dropped completely cause I, it was like a very intense moment. Even my researcher was like grabbing my arm because she was startled but it was actually just somebody sneezing on the other side but it genuinely sounded like a full-on scream and there's this brief moment before Mark continues about the night of the alleged kidnapping where he wants to know the location of the car and all the pertinent questions there's a lot of back and forth and then Mark establishes that Ruben, Combs,
Starting point is 02:03:46 and Capricorn get into the Escalade. They drive to Kid Cudi's house. They park on the side of the street. The car is on a hill. So it's going up the hill when they're parked. Meanwhile, Capricorn is like sneaking a call to Cassie when they leave and they break into Kid Cudi's house. And he's like, you saw them go through this door.
Starting point is 02:04:03 This is like the outside door into the courtyard. Yes, sir. OK, did it seem like anyone had a key? No. Did it seem like they pulled the door hard and it opened? Like, what did you see that allowed them to get through the door? They were whatever they were doing. Their backs were to me. I don't know.
Starting point is 02:04:18 But I was not really engaged in how they were getting in. I was very I was waiting for them to get away from me so I could use the phone. But wouldn't you be watching them to see if they're actually going to be getting away from you? I mean the key thing here is they don't get through this door. This ends right here. No? Objection? Let me ask a different question. Why wouldn't you be staring right at the door to see if they can get in through the door? Objection? Argumentative? Rephrase. Were you looking at the door to see if they could get through the door? I was looking at their backs.
Starting point is 02:04:47 Okay, as you're looking at their backs, what on the other side of them is this door, right? Yes, but I would say at this point, I was kind of sort of not really paying attention. I was so in my head trying to think about the next step and I was praying that Cuddy wasn't inside of there. Okay, so what you're telling us is you haven't the vaguest idea
Starting point is 02:05:03 how they got through this door. Is that about right? I don't. She says after they get past the door they run into the courtyard towards Kid Cudi's actual front door and Presumably break into his actual house. She grabs her phone and calls Cassie Could you tell from your side of the call if Cassie was on the phone with speaker with Scott Mascotti present with her when You called? Yes, and they're asking her what she said, which is interesting because Kid Cudi testified he didn't know that Sean Combs had a gun. Capricorn is testifying she specifically told them on the
Starting point is 02:05:33 phone call that Combs had a gun, but she didn't know that Kid Cudi was there. She's asked, what exactly did you say about the gun? I said Puff came to my house with a gun. We came to Cudi's house to kill him. He's in there right now, and then I heard, they're in my house! Okay, so you said it quickly. I said it very quickly, I didn't want him to see me on the phone. My question is, you would want to make it absolutely clear that Combs had a gun, right? It wasn't about being clear, I was furious at her now, and I was like, what the hell? And I'm just letting her know as fast as I can without him knowing I'm on the phone, what the hell is going on with me? I'm asking about the gun part. I
Starting point is 02:06:06 said yes he came to my house with a gun and he took me to Cuddy's house and we're here to kill him sir. At this point Combe starts shaking his head rather intensely like no we're not. To them did anyone say anything back? A gun? He has a gun? Was there any acknowledgement on the fact that you said gun? No! I heard he's in my house!" And everyone just kind of started giggling because it's like how many times is she gonna have to say that in that voice? Now when you were on, when you called Cuddy and Cassie, were you on a three-way call with Lauren London? This is a friend. No, do you remember telling the government that you were?
Starting point is 02:06:47 She was on the phone, but not the whole time. Okay, when did you call Lauren London? Right before I called Cassie. Let's break this down for a second. I wanna understand this. You're in front of the house, Combs has a gun, right? Combs and his gun and Rube somehow get through that door and are now in Cuddy's house, right?
Starting point is 02:07:03 Who is Lauren London? Lauren London was a... She was Nipsey Hussle's partner for a really long time and then he passed away and then there were rumors that Sean Combs and Lauren London dated. I see, I see. So they're just... Okay, got it. You don't know at that moment whether Cuddy is there or not, right?
Starting point is 02:07:22 I don't. So you call Lauren London. She was the only one that was sort of in our orbit as related to me and Cassie and she was like my sister at the time. I will say this is confirmed by gossip blogs. They're like everyone thought they were blood sisters. They're not their like best friends and just wanted somebody to know where I was if if he was in that house and that he did get killed. I didn't know. I just needed somebody to know where I was in that case. that he did get killed. I didn't know, I just needed somebody to know where I was in that case. It all went really bad, so I called her for my protection.
Starting point is 02:07:47 I just needed somebody to be aware. So tell us exactly what you said to Lauren London. I'm just like, Lauren, I'm at Cuddy's house. Puff brought me up here and I'm gonna run, but I'm scared of the mountain lions. Scared of the mountain lions? Yeah, it was early. If you're familiar with the Hollywood Hills, there's mountain lions and coyotes. I was just scared.
Starting point is 02:08:03 And I just needed to talk to somebody to get my head on straight It was so early in the morning Which interestingly enough even though Capricorn is quote changing her story with any other witness like Don Richard It felt damning because I think of the way that Don Richard did the testimony the way that she was responding to some of the questions And judging by the jurors faces, but nobody seems fazed at all by this by the jurors faces but nobody seems fazed at all by this. In what way is her story changing? I guess she never mentioned. Lauren Lendon.
Starting point is 02:08:30 Yeah but like you know the defense attorneys are going to say that's a story change and I'm sure when it's the defense case in chief the prosecutors are going to do the same thing. Right right right. But the way she explained it's like well duh. You know. Yeah she's like why wouldn't you call your best friend? I call my best friend is that crazy? Yeah yeah. Did you wake Lauren Lend best friend? I call my best friend. Is that crazy? Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 02:08:45 Did you wake Lauren London up? I don't remember her status. Okay, how long did you talk to Lauren London? Seconds? Maybe 30 seconds? It was fast. I had to get off the phone because Puff kept popping out into the walkway and in the courtyard. I really don't remember. But I do remember making a call to Lauren and I do remember making a phone call to Cassie. Are you aware that Lauren London and Combs were friends for years after this? I am. You are, right? They're still friends.
Starting point is 02:09:08 I mean, not at the moment, but they were friends until a couple years ago, right? Which I felt like, I get his point that Lauren London is still friends with Combs after her best friend Capricorn is allegedly kidnapped by him by gunpoint, but the last part, I mean, they're not friends now. Definitely also doesn't help the defendant I just find it interesting you know it's just very hard
Starting point is 02:09:29 to destroy Capricorn's credibility even when geographically sometimes Capricorn's story does not make sense she says after calling Cassie she hears kid Cuddy coming to the house soon enough she sees him pull up in the Porsche and what happens next he stops next to us, next to the Escalade. Puff and Rub look at him, see if he's going to get out of the car or what's going to happen and then he speeds off and they jump in the car and we chase him. Up the hill, up the hill. And are you aware of the fact that when you go up the hill the only way to get back down to the main roads is to come exactly the way you came? That's not true. Mark and the defense team pull up a map
Starting point is 02:10:03 of where Kid Cudi's house is and he is explaining more so to the jury that Capricorn said that this is where they went, but all of this leads to a dead end. That doesn't make sense. And he's confirming with the map, but they all seem to be dead ends. Do you see that, Capricorn, Ms. Clark? I mean, I would imagine that this is a big aha moment, but Capricorn is firm. But they're not. To the point where Mark Agnifilo is so taken aback he says, Do you know something we don't know? I mean you can ask somebody that's a technical person, but Skyline, if you go from Hollywood Hills Road to Skyline,
Starting point is 02:10:34 you can get yourself back on Mulholland, and then you can get yourself back to Laurel Canyon, and then you can go towards Beverly Hills on Mulholland, or go back down Laurel Canyon. She says this with so much confidence that I had to go home and research whether or not Markek Niflo used older maps to try and confuse Capricorn.
Starting point is 02:10:50 I'm looking up if maybe the maps of the Hollywood Hills are not as accurate. It's not, it seems like it's quite the accurate map. However, this is how convincing Capricorn is in her story. I feel like maybe there's some sort of misunderstanding. Maybe like she meant they went a different way because if you go the different way you do see skyline You do see Laurel Canyon And then she said she was going south on Laurel Canyon when the police were going up Laurel Canyon
Starting point is 02:11:13 So I'm like I feel like this but that's crazy because that's how She came see yes She came across like not convincing in the sense of like we don't think she's telling the truth But in the sense of like she's so firm with her answer She's been so transparent but the whole time Combs is just shaking his head in disagreement Like I can't believe how crazy this story is which honestly there have been a lot more of these like I'm so confused However, everybody is giggling to release some tension in the courtroom So I guess we will all giggle and a lot of those moments come from previous employees of combs like Capricorn
Starting point is 02:11:46 But also David James David James another former personal assistant. He talks about the time that he took ecstasy He says it was a New Year's Eve party and mr Combs gave me the night off, but he invited me to the house to the party and to celebrate New Year's Eve So I went to mr Combs is bag and I took a pill of ecstasy that night. So he's doing this without Sean Combs' knowledge. And then he has asked, what happened after you took the ecstasy? I was feeling pretty good.
Starting point is 02:12:12 Can you describe the feeling of taking ecstasy? I would say it's ecstatic. So I was also drinking syroc that night. So I was drinking and on ecstasy. Normally I'm very straight edged, don't normally have too much emotion, but this night I was like dancing, said I was I was diddy bopping all over the party And the gallery starts giggling a few of the jurors are sharing glances
Starting point is 02:12:32 What happened after you started diddy bopping as you describe it? I was just vibing and even Combs is smiling But he explains that afterwards after diddy bopping he gets called into Combs's office where Combs tells him yo playboy is that you dancing around the party and I said yeah that was me dancing around the party he said you were on ecstasy that night and I said yes sir I was and he kind of nodded his head and said okay well I'm gonna keep this footage in case I ever need it what footage of him diddy-bopping to embarrass him later in the cross marketniflo is asking David James about his title and he's like but your title was personal Assistant just so I know what to call you and David is like call me David and there's just so many of these moments where it's Like what is happening other times David James is asked by Mark Agniflo the same one that's doing Capricorn's cross
Starting point is 02:13:21 That whenever it comes ran into fans at McDonald's, let's say, you know, Mark says, in your opinion, did he intend to be gracious around these sort of things? I don't think gracious is a word I would use to describe Mr. Combs. Okay, but he keeps doubling down. Did he ever sign autographs for fans? He did not. Actually, sometimes I would sign autographs, or his executive staff would sign autographs. He would send those out if we got fan mail for example he did not sign many autographs he also tries to make David James feel good saying things like long days were never a problem for David James though because he never gets tired to which David James responds that's not true one day I was actually driving home from the
Starting point is 02:13:59 studio in LA and I was actually driving the car this night and I blew through a red light and mr. Combs got very upset with me and he was like, what are you doing, man? We can't be blowing red lights. We'll be pulled over by the cops. I just turned around and I said, I'm tired, man, like I'm exhausted. So then Mark is like, okay, let's move on. And the whole time, Sean Combs is sitting there
Starting point is 02:14:19 and he's kind of making these very specific expressions, which he does for all of his personal assistants when they share stories like this, which is, I've never heard this story before. Like he is, in my opinion, trying to appear very confused. Like where is this story coming from? There's another part where David James admits during the cross-examination that one of the security staff members, Roger Bonds, had picked up two women that were sex workers. And he says,
Starting point is 02:14:45 I wasn't familiar at the time that they were prostitutes. That's how he words it. Tell us what happened. Roger Bonds and I went out to eat, we went out to have drinks one night, we were off, we went to the hotel lobby, we met two women, and we brought these two women back to Mr. Combs' residence. Combs was not there at the time. He was at a hotel. Did you ask anyone if you could bring these women back to the house? I mean, Roger Bonds, it was his idea to do it.
Starting point is 02:15:07 Okay, Roger Bonds made you do it. It was often that security detail would actually invite women over to the house without Mr. Combs' knowledge. And it turns out that these weren't just women, they were what? Well, after we had intercourse, they asked me for $200. I was very surprised. I was like, what do you mean?
Starting point is 02:15:23 And I called Bonds and I said, why is this woman asking me for money? I had was very surprised. I was like, what do you mean? And I called Bonds, and I said, why is this woman asking me for money? I had no idea she was a person to ask for money after that. And I was against paying her, so I told Bonds, I don't want to pay her for this. I don't understand why. He said, you better pay her, because we don't want any problems here at the house, so pay her.
Starting point is 02:15:41 And you paid her? I did, and then she wanted to take a shower, so I asked her to pay me $200 to take a shower. How did that turn out? I got my money back. You got your money back, congratulations. And everyone in the courtroom is giggling because we don't really know what else to do.
Starting point is 02:15:57 Even Sean Combs is glancing around to check, like, am I allowed to giggle? And he glances around, and then he gets a little chuckles in. I will say though, to offset these lighter moments, there is this odd feeling that whenever a former personal assistant talks about Sean Combs, and I say this so that you understand the vibe, a lot of them sound like they were in a cult. They will get so emotional talking about the trauma of working for Combs, they will be so firm in their insistence on seeing violence between amongst themselves or with cassie and others, like whether they are receiving the violence or whether sean combs is putting that violence on cassie
Starting point is 02:16:33 but the second they're asked to talk about sean combs as a boss, it gets strange george caplan is another assistant who was subpoenaed by the government to testify and i feel like most of his testimony helped the defense he does state that some parts of his job were hard. It was my first week on the job. He asked me to go to Whole Foods and get a BPA gallon water bottle and they didn't have it. Like a BPA free gallon water bottle and I didn't want to be coming back late so I got two half gallon water bottles to make up the whole gallon and that was insufficient. How did Mr. Combs respond when you brought him two half gallon water bottles instead of one gallon water bottle?
Starting point is 02:17:08 He was angry. He told me that I did not bring him what he asked for. Meanwhile, when he talks to Mark, the entire cross is just making Sean Combs looks good. He says everything that Mr. Combs did and does, diversity is a very important part of it, especially for the African American people. When you work with him, Mr. Combs, part of the job, no matter if you're close to him or not, he has an extremely infectious vibration. I mean, you are around him and you feel his excitement, you feel what he feels, and he's very adept at projecting that.
Starting point is 02:17:36 I have never worked harder in my life. Mark Agnifilo asks George Kaplan, you've never worked harder in your life. And they always say, don't ask a question you don't know the answer to. But here I go. Looking back at it, was that a good thing or a bad thing? I can't answer that question. It's proven to be one of the most complicated pieces of my life. Is he the one that had a immunity before he started talking? Yes. Although nothing he said was particularly crazy.
Starting point is 02:18:00 He, I mean, there was some drug conversation of purchasing drugs. He says it was sad when he would get yelled at for not being able to Although nothing he said was particularly crazy. He, I mean, there was some drug conversation of purchasing drugs. He says it was sad when he would get yelled at by Sean Combs because, quote, I'm a young man and this is, you know, this is a god among men talking to me. But he also says he didn't just push me to my deepest depth. He introduced me to depths that I did not know that I had. It helped me not only professionally, but that peace helped me grow up as a man. He also mentions that the entire company gets paid time off on Biggie's birthday
Starting point is 02:18:36 because it's a holiday. He says that he still reaches out to Sean Combs for his birthdays, and he says, I invited him to my wedding. I did not hear back. And again, it's like that moment of like, wow, these people are talking about how they gave up everything for Sean Combs. And he can't even message you back. And I told him that I had a baby. And yet you still sit here today on the witness stand of his trial
Starting point is 02:18:59 and you have respect for him? Yeah, I'd say that it's a complicated relationship at this point. I think I have lots of complicated relationships in my life and I think this perhaps falls in that bucket. So it sounds like, you know, Sean Kong is this like very high status person. And it's not like Sean Kong's like necessarily kind to them or very nice to them. Like he pushes them to their nice to them like he pushes them to their maximum but still he's this very influential person that you know did a number on their yeah you know it's not it's not because Sean is like nice to them in any way right I don't think so correct is that the feeling from him yeah he'd never say that Sean was like
Starting point is 02:19:40 yeah you know cares about him or anything like that but I think this is the feeling that most people would have working for someone like Sean Combs. I think it's just a natural human thing when you work for someone that is at such a high level and they might be so cutthroat you almost rationalize it in your head as this is what it takes to be great and then once they do compliment you or they say one nice thing about you, you feel so validated. Because it's like, it's not a random person saying this to you. This is one of the more powerful people in the industry.
Starting point is 02:20:13 This is, you know, it's like it feels really real. I wonder if this is just a normal thing that happens. And you didn't want to come here today. I desperately did not want to come here today because you have nothing against Sean Combs, right? Correct. So it's very interesting. Now, same with Capricorn.
Starting point is 02:20:33 During her cross, she's shown an email between her and the head of HR where she's just like wiping tears and she's talking about how she got fired. And even though she had so much trauma from her job, she's so sad about getting fired. Now after her termination she does get hired by Chris Leidy to be 50 cents day-to-day manager but right before her very first... Wait she worked for 50 cent? No because right before her very first day
Starting point is 02:20:56 at work Chris Leidy ends up passing away. So I think Chris Leidy works for 50 cent. Yes and Chris Leidy hired her but then Chris Leidyie passed away. I think it's probably a whole new team that takes over the management of 50. So she didn't get the job. No. Then another email is brought into evidence. Then a text thread between Capricorn and Combs and it reads with Capricorn asking, are you okay? Is your mom okay? Hope all is well xx. Sean responds, yes, we're great. How are you? Hopefully you'll forgive me soon. It's been long enough.
Starting point is 02:21:28 I feel like you forgave everyone but me. Anyways, be well xx." She's like sobbing while Mark Agnifilo is reading this out loud. Then another email chain from Capricorn to Sean Combs, where she writes to him, Hope you're well. Your grace period to be mad at me has long exceeded the agreed upon time, man. LOL.
Starting point is 02:21:45 Mark has her read out the second paragraph and she's just crying nonstop. My hope for this year is too, for you to make good on your promise to get other things and actually be my friend again. Hopefully retrospect has taught you that I just minded my own business and grown people did what they wanted to. She was clearly never my real friend because she didn't clarify that to you. So many of your other so-called friends knew things to you and you still f*** with them. She just must have wanted me in particular gone. So she's talking about Cassie, she's talking about the kid Cuddy, and she's talking about how there are other people in Combs' life that have done worse
Starting point is 02:22:17 and he's still friends with them. And she's upset. So much so that Mark is telling her, take your time, take your time. Take a second if you need. Take as much time as you need. Sorry. There's nothing to be sorry about. And she's explaining, I felt again,
Starting point is 02:22:32 I told you this is just so complicated for me. I felt that I was somewhat of a protector for Paphif. And if you could get me away from him, he wouldn't have someone looking after his back that actually was looking out for him. So that email is me pleading like, dude, just let it go. And she starts sobbing. She apologizes again for being emotional. That's all right. That's okay. Take all the time you need. There's no rush. And yeah, it was just
Starting point is 02:22:57 sad. Diddy's just nodding. He has no reaction in the courtroom. And the judge is very sweet with Capricorn. He tells her, Ms. Clark, is it okay if we go on I'm sorry don't be sorry please even Mark Agnifilo chimes in you're okay Capricorn looks at the judge I apologize for my language today the judge looks at her do not apologize mr. Agnifilo when you're ready you ended up coming back and working with him again right yes from your, he heard you. I don't think that was the case. I think that he did what Cassie wanted
Starting point is 02:23:28 and Cassie wanted me back. All right, can I ask you a question? Did that hurt that he would only take you back because that's what Cassie wanted? Yes, absolutely. And she starts breaking down again. This is my whole life and they're shenanigans. I have no parents.
Starting point is 02:23:44 My son has autism, he's non-verbal and my stakes are higher, sir. This is the part where I said a lot of people were tearing up. I think it's like, because with everyone, you just keep hearing, if you were so scared for your life, why did you keep going back? Which I think is already like not the best question
Starting point is 02:24:02 to ask anyone, but I think with her, it's the way she says it puts it so much in perspective. Sometimes not everybody has hundreds of millions of dollars and choices. So yeah, you know? And you just feel. Okay, so you reached out to him consistently, right? And I'm sorry, through the year 2018, 19, 20, 21, 22, you wanted him to forgive you, am I right? I wanted my life back, sir. And your life, when you say I want my life back,
Starting point is 02:24:31 you wanted to work with him again. I wanted to work with the music industry and use my core competency. During the redirect, Capricorn mentions that part of her settlement agreement was that Combs would give her a positive recommendation to get a job, which he doesn't even do that. How long were you looking for work? I was looking for work until I pretty much got pregnant.
Starting point is 02:24:52 In what year was that? 2015. Were you able to obtain work? No. Why not? I was blacklisted. Did you return to work for Mr. Combs? I did. Why did you do that? I wanted to take the opportunity so that other people could see that I was a valuable person and that I wasn't disposable. Why did you need Mr. Combs' approval for that? At this level of business, he held all the power as it related to me. During the recross, Mark Agnifilo focuses mainly on Cassie with asking, do you remember saying at our meeting in 2024 that Cassie said to you that if she, you told Cassie you have to, you should move away from him and date other people, right?
Starting point is 02:25:31 Yes. And she said to you that Jay-Z was taken, who would she date? True. She said that. She did. Nothing else. Thanks, judge.
Starting point is 02:25:42 And that is the end of Capricorn's entire testimony So you feel like this didn't do Sean call any favor this one no and And you notice a shift from this one It's very interesting because prior to this I felt like I was living in two worlds So I would go into the courtroom and I know that the jurors are not supposed to be making I felt like I was living in two worlds. So I would go into the courtroom and I know that the jurors are not supposed to be making faces or like nodding their heads, but you can kind of get vibes. And I felt like even throughout Cassie's testimony, there was a disconnect and what
Starting point is 02:26:16 felt like a very big difference between the energy inside the courtroom versus the online sentiment of her testimony. I felt like a lot of the jurors were, some of them looked to me not perceiving Cassie's testimony well. And you're kind of like frustrated a lot of time when you come home. You're like, man, why is it not? Yeah, because it's like when you actually take a second to think about it, and maybe the jurors go home and they take a second to think about it. When you think about it, there's so many reasons why certain things
Starting point is 02:26:48 unfolded the way they did. But when you see some of the jurors' reactions, it's like there's one person who I feel like they're constantly smirking during Cassie's testimony. So it always felt like a lot of the case was not working really for the government, and then this is when things started going the opposite way like Capricorn Clark's testimony I think it's really hard for jurors to a not believe her or be not resonate with her I think even if you have doubts about some parts of her story I feel like it's so hard to not resonate with her emotions. I Just didn't see a single person smirking or like looking like this is so I don't believe you like it didn't look like that at all so it's been very this was a very noticeable shift what
Starting point is 02:27:30 are your thoughts I think you know you even see it online I think with Cassie's testimony maybe it's more complicated and everybody walks in with the bias already established and people want a victim blame people want to do these things but with Capricorn it's like it seemed a little more clean cut and her emotions felt so real. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments and we will be back to more regular episodes because We just had a lot to figure out and we figured it out. But um be safe and I will see you in the next one Bye Bye!

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