The federal sex and racketeering traffic trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs ended his second week of testimonies on Thursday, the jury hearing a wide range of evidence while prosecutors try to prove that, for two decades, the rap and fashion magnate abused criminal women.
The defense of Combres auta these allegations this week with strategic crosss of most of the witnesses brought by federal prosecutors, aimed at discrediting and minimizing their allegations, testimonies and their status as an expert witness, because Combs maintains that it is innocent of all the accusations in the case.
A lively and difficult interrogation has permeated the trial, which should last five more weeks and, if it ends with a guilt of the eight and four women’s jury, could lead to the high -flying superstar from Rap World Prison for life. Here is an overview of some of the most convincing exchanges and moments this week at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan courthouse in the United States in Lower Manhattan.
The ex-assistant and the Compromise
On Tuesday, the former Combs assistant, David James, testified on a number of experiences he had during his stay for the magnate. An exchange he had with Combs following a party game may support the assertion that he was inclined to keep images of people as a security form, threatening to release it in order to keep them online.
Cassie Ventura testified last week that a similar threat was suspended from a large part of their relationship, with combs leading to release images of “panic” of her with male workers who, according to her, could destroy her career. The practice is also in accordance with what Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who worked as a combination videographer while living with him and producing his music, said in his civil complaint against Combs last year. Here is an overview of what James said to court this week.
James: A few days later, we returned to New York, we were in the executive office and he called me in his office. He examined images of the party.
Continuation: Can you explain what you hear by party images?
Yes, we would therefore have a videographer who has essentially recorded everything for his parties, and Mr. Combs examined the images to see what people were doing at the party, things like that.
What did Mr. Combs tell you about this video?
He was a bit like, I heard about it at first. And he says: “Yo, Playboy is that you do in the world”, and I said: “Yeah, I was dancing around the party.” And he said, “Were you in ecstasy that evening?” And I said, “Yes, sir, I was.” And in a way he hosted his head and he said: “Okay, I want to keep these images in case I need it.”
The magnate and the request of $ 20,000
This week, the jury and the public learned, while Combs had become aware of the Ventura affair with rapper Kid Cudi, he demanded that his mother, Regina Ventura, who spoke to testify this week, paid him compensation of $ 20,000 for the investment he had made in her as an artist signed to his bad Boys label.
Regina Ventura testified that she had paid money for the security of her daughter following her transactions and her relations with combs. A few days after the $ 20,000 was paid in Combs, he was returned without comment or explanation of Combs to the mother of her girlfriend on the point.
In particular, the Combs defense team refused to oppose Regina Ventura. Here is an overview of his exchange of the stand with the authorities.
When did you meet Sean Combs?
2006. My daughter signed with her Bad Boy files. He was his boss. Then they started to go out together. They moved to the
Read this message from December 2011.
Casandra wrote to me. She said Sean Combs had threatened to release a sex tape and continue her and M. Mescudi.
How did you react?
It made me sick. Sean Combs demanded $ 20,000, he said he recovered the losses because of Mr. Mescudi, my husband and myself
Why did you take a loan to pay Sean Combs?
For my daughter’s safety.
Punisher and freezer meat
Tuesday, Tuesday saw colorful testimonies of Sharay Dashawn Hayes, the sex worker known as “The Punisher”, who discussed his work with Ventura and Combres to “Freak-Offs”, several times. And for a man known as “The Punisher”, he was quite frank on a subject that could embarrass certain men and is certainly against his nickname.
Hayes work on “Freak-Offs” ended when his problems around erectile dysfunction in 2015 apparently frustrated combs to the point that he was no longer hired, Hayes said in court this week. The “assertive and aggressive” tone of the magnate demanding that Hayes and Ventura have penetrating sex before him, which was delivered nearby, threw him and “surprised”, he said.
Although Hayes said he believed, this is what ended his professional relationship with the couple, his story has a happy ending. He finally wrote a book, called Looking for freezing meatthat he described as “a self-assistance book for men who tells me in development and finally healing my erectile dysfunction through a penis implant.”
Here is an overview of the exchange of Hayes with the assistant lawyer of the United States Meredith C. Foster.
Why did you have these performance problems?
Just, you personally know a sexual scenario with the partner of a present woman, actively giving instructions and stuff, as it was not the norm for me. It therefore created discomfort that could affect me and my performances.
What would you do to solve these performance problems during these meetings?
Oh, I tried Cialis, Viagra, the corner store pill, all I thought could help me play. It was a lot of pressure.
About when when you go back the last time you had a sexual meeting with Ventura and Combs?
March 2015, somewhere at that time.
Can you describe what happened during this meeting?
Similar scenario where we started interacting on the sofa. This is specifically, I think I mentioned earlier that it was a time that Mr. Combras came, intervened, he put-threw condoms on the sofa, and he expressed that he was ready to start penetration. His interaction and his nearby being was not the norm, so it sort of throwing me and surprised me, so I had trouble getting an erection and I couldn’t play.
What did he say?
He said that I am ready – when he presented the condoms, he said, “I’m ready to see you kiss.”
And what did he do with condoms?
He threw them on the sofa where we interact.
What was his tone when he said I’m ready to see you kiss her?
Asset, aggressive.
How did she react?
She reacted a little surprised, similar to myself.
And you and Mrs. Ventura have you engaged in penetrating sex after that?
We tried to do it, but as I said, I had trouble achieving an erection and maintaining it, so it was a failure.
And what happened at the end of this meeting?
Finally, another similar scenario, Mr. Combs left the play, Ms. Ventura followed her, she could have returned a few minutes later, and I was always asked to finish. So I think I masturbated at a point of orgasm. Shortly after, they both left the room and she came back with money to pay me. We had a conversation where she thanked me for my – to be deprived and, you know, respect their privacy in terms of our interactions.
Rapper Kid Cudi (Center) leaves the Federal Court of Manhattan after testifying Thursday in the trial of Sean “Diddy”.
Photo by Timothy A. Clary / AFP) (Photo by Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images
Porsche and DNA
While Scott “Kid Cudi”, Mescudi, shared from the witness mark, as he testified on Thursday, a detail of the defense lawyer Brian Steel took the rapper by surprise. After the bombing of Mescudi’s Porsche in front of his Hollywood Hills house in 2012, the police launched an investigation. But according to Mescudi, he has never learned anything about the local police incident.
But Steel had information to share with Mescudi while he was opposed the witness. It turns out that a woman’s DNA was discovered on the vehicle during the investigation. Given the nature of DNA, it is difficult to say that if it could indicate the sex of the culprit which destroyed the vehicle with a Molotov cocktail, it was sufficiently convincing to be noted by the police and mentioned by Steel in court. But it certainly provided a real moment of surprise this week and could send amateur internet detectives in a rabbit burrow this weekend.
Here is how the exchange fell Thursday between the defense, the accusation, Mescudi and the judge supervising the procedure.
Defense lawyer Steel: You knew that DNA had been collected, true?
Mescudi: Yes.
Steel: You know that DNA comes back to a woman, right?
Mescudi: What did you say now?
Actor: DNA returns to a female.
American lawyer Johnson: Objection.
Judge Arun Subramanian: Grounds?
American lawyer Johnson: hearsay, speculation, foundation.
Subramanian judge: Mr. Steel, you may be asking a few additional questions.
Actor: Of course. And did you know that the results came back from the DNA he came to a woman? This is my question.
Johnson: Same objection.
Subramanian judge: supported.
Steel:: Do you know that there were DNA results?
American lawyer Johnson: Objection.
Subramanian judge: it is rejected.
Mescudi: I tried to reach out to the police. I have heard no follow -up on any of the fingerprints or anything.
