This page reflects the news from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial on Monday, June 9. For the latest updates from Diddy’s trial, read USA TODAY’s live coverage for Tuesday, June 10.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ ex-girlfriend testified that she pleaded with him to stop pressuring her into sex acts with male escorts, and she was shocked when she learned of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine’s bombshell 2023 lawsuit.
The witness identified as Jane, who dated Combs on-and-off from 2021 to 2024, alleged years of coerced sex with escorts. She’d initially thought the couple would just have a one-night escapade with a sex worker – but it allegedly turned into frequent “hotel nights” where Combs pushed her to have sex with several men consecutively, lasting as long as three and a half days.
“I don’t want to be used and locked in a room to fulfill your fantasies,” Jane said in a message to Combs while they were dating, which was shown in court during the rapper’s sex-crimes trial.
“I’m not a porn star. I’m not an animal,” she sent in another text.
Jane also said she fainted when she learned of Ventura Fine suing Combs in November 2023 on allegations he trafficked, sexually assaulted and physically abused her. Jane told the court she felt “like I’m reading my own sexual trauma” as she poured through Cassie’s lawsuit.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Jane’s testimony wrapped with her most recent interactions with Combs and how feelings toward him now.
On Sept. 9 2024, she said, Combs asked Jane to send explicit videos and expressed his desire for her to join him in New York, but she didn’t because he got arrested.
Jane was subpoenaed to testify for a grand jury in September, and she hadn’t spoken to law enforcement about any of it. The first time she told anyone about him attacking her in June 2024 was in a meeting with his defense in April.
In late 2024, Jane got a lawyer in connection with the criminal investigation; Combs is paying for Jane’s legal representation along with her rent. She said she doesn’t plan to sue him.
As for how she feels about him now, she told the prosecution, “I just pray for his continued healing, and I pray for peace for him.”
Jane’s cross-examination is scheduled to start June 10.
As the day started coming to a close, for the first time Jane detailed an alleged violent incident with Combs that left her with visible injuries. She described being choked, punched, kicked and dragged by the hair – acts of violence that resemble the way he’d assaulted Ventura Fine at the InterContinental Hotel in 2016.
On June 18, 2024, Jane said, she and Combs got into an argument during a date night at home. She’d accused him of being with another woman during the Utah vacation with his family that he’d just returned from.
“I was bottling up a lot of anger and resentment toward him. I told him, ‘You’re a pedophile,'” Jane said, noting she believed the woman was over 18 but “25, 27 years” his junior.
She’d allegedly shoved his head into a marble counter when he’d bent over as if to tie his shoes, then she started throwing candles and glass. When she’d sensed things would escalate, she’d locked herself in a bedroom, but Combs kicked open several doors, Jane testified. As she tried to flee the house, “He picked me up in a chokehold. I couldn’t breathe, and I was on my tippy toes,” she said.
She fled six blocks away and hid for two hours, and when she’d returned home Combs continued to attack her, Jane said.
Jane said she’d punched Combs in his forehead; Combs had punched her back twice in the head. She had been balled up on the ground trying to cover her head, and Combs started to punch and kick her. Jane told the court he’d then grabbed her hair and started to drag her. Later, as she showered, she started smacking her in the face then instructed her to “put some ice on” her injuries “and put an outfit on,” meaning high heels and lingerie.
After the alleged violent altercation, Jane testified, Combs saw she’d been texting an adult entertainer she called Anton. Combs suspected she and Anton were having relations behind his back and started yelling at her, per Jane’s testimony, then invited him over.
“Did you cheat on me?” he allegedly asked her.
In the bathroom, Jane testified while crying, Combs got an inch from her face and instructed her to take ecstasy and perform sex acts with Anton. “I don’t want to,” she’d allegedly replied, to which Combs said: “Is this coercion?”
“It just felt like forever. I just felt sick, like I wasn’t in my own body. I felt disgusted. I felt terrible,” Jane testified.
Despite this, she said, she saw Combs a couple days later and they both expressed contrition. Combs had allegedly told Jane that she broke his trust and they would be breaking up but were still going to be “best friends.” In a video shown to the court, Jane’s bruised eye and welts on her forehead could be seen.
Jane testified that she was in Miami with Combs and his family in May 2024 when surveillance footage of the rapper assaulting Ventura Fine at a hotel in 2016 was leaked to the press.
She said she was disturbed by the violent video, which she viewed with Combs. “I was about to eat breakfast, but I lost my appetite,” Jane said, adding that it was “a very eerie day.”
Jane told the court she and Combs, along with the music mogul’s family, later gathered in the backyard as they began to strategize “some sort of sincere apology post.” Combs later posted a video on social media, in which he said he took “full responsibility” for his assault of Ventura Fine.
Combs’ apology post was played for the court during Jane’s testimony. While Jane reflected that the initial draft of Combs’ statement was “heartfelt,” she said the final version shared online didn’t seem “genuine.”
Jane added that she and Combs further discussed the incident around June or July 2024, claiming the rapper assured her “that was the only time” he and Ventura Fine were violent in their relationship, although he also described Cassie as “a hitter.”
Ventura Fine and other witnesses have testified in recent weeks that he repeatedly physically abused her for years of their on-and-off relationship.
When Homeland Security agents served a search warrant and raided Combs’ Los Angeles and Miami homes in March 2024, an official came to her house, Jane testified, and she didn’t answer the door.
She said she called Combs, but he didn’t answer. Later, he allegedly hired a lawyer, but she recalled she didn’t employ him for very long. He hired different legal representatives for himself.
Jane read out her communications with Combs from the end of 2023, in which she told him, “I became a side chick and sex worker in my own relationship.“
Combs told her to stop making accusations, telling her “you sound like you’re setting me up.” Jane testified that she never told anybody about what she and Combs did privately. She said it “was a shameful, dark secret I had.”
In the December 2023 text exchange, she also told Combs he was gaslighting her. She said via text, “I feel extremely exploited by you. Being high and coerced into this demeaning lifestyle.”
On the stand, Jane said she and Combs were on a break between November 2023 and February 2024. Around that time, she texted Combs and said “please stop drugging women,” and “leave women alone who don’t want to do those nights with you. Hire prostitutes and stop emotionally harming women who love you.”
The court saw that Combs wrote back, saying, “Are you trying to set me up? You’re crazy. Are you recording my calls?”
She reiterated that she didn’t want to have sex with any more strangers, after Combs mentioned she had helped set up some of the escorts for the alleged “freak offs.” In response, Jane clarified that she would text the ones that she as familiar with, which she called a “protective instinct for myself.”
Jane recalled a particularly upsetting conflict she had with Combs around the same time they took a break in their relationship. As she accused him of exploiting her, Jane alleged Combs told her to “charge me for your resentment,” meaning she could come up with an amount of money to “make peace.”
Jane said she suggested $100,000 per year, and Combs called her a “liar and opportunist,” among other demeaning names.
The witness teared up as she read a message she sent during the intense exchange: “I’m gonna kill myself, you won’t use me and break me.” Jane explained, “I just wanted everything to go black. I was just so overwhelmed with the evil energy. This time was very very evil and dark.”
While Combs initially replied that he was there to support her, Jane alleged that he later told her over the phone “I’m just gonna show your child’s father these tapes, I have nothing to lose,” referring to videos of her having sex.
“Mind you, these tapes are of me heavily drugged, and doing things he asked of me,” Jane said in a text about the alleged threat to Kristina “KK” Khorram, Combs’ former chief of staff.
In 2024, Forbes magazine estimated Combs’ net worth at $400 million – a significant drop from its 2019 figure of $740 million. Both Combs and his team later claimed he was a billionaire, Forbes said, despite offering no documentation to back up the claim.
According to publicly available documents and news reports, Combs’ most valuable personal possession is likely his 17,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom mansion, appraised at more than $61 million, in the tony Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. It was raided as part of a criminal probe and listed for sale last September.
Jane testified about a conflict she had with Combs over text in October 2023, when she wrote that she didn’t want to “fulfill your sick fantasies.”
Combs told Jane to call him and texted her 10 times when she didn’t respond. The rapper subsequently sent Jane a screenshot of a conversation with his doctor saying he might need surgery, which prompted her to speak with him again.
Jane said she then went to Combs’ Bel Air home and a concert where he was performing, and Combs allegedly insulted her with a demeaning term when he became impatient.
A few days later, Jane texted Combs asking him to “put something in my account please,” appearing to request money, but he didn’t respond.
Two days later, Jane wrote to Combs that he was “making me feel crazy, like I got used,” adding, “I feel violated and manipulated by you.” They continued to argue over text, with Combs telling Jane that neither of them had to do anything they didn’t want to do – which Jane took as a threat that Combs would stop paying her rent.
She told him to “stick to your word like I stuck to this toxic relationship.”
Jane said she was shocked when Ventura Fine‘s November 2023 lawsuit made news. “I almost fainted. In fact, I think I did,” Jane testified.
Asked why, Jane started crying on the stand. “Because there was just three specific pages that had a harrowing resemblance to what I’d been through,” she said. “These pages just resembled my own experiences.”
She told the court she felt “like I’m reading my own sexual trauma” as she read Cassie’s lawsuit.
“I couldn’t sleep. I was reading these pages, and it just felt like a nightmare … I can’t believe I’m reading my own story,” Jane said on the stand.
When she asked Combs about the case, she alleged he acted “like he didn’t know what I was talking about when there was this whole other woman feeling the same thing.”
Jane said she only met Cassie in passing once in 2015 and had never met her in person or communicated with her otherwise.
In a text exchange from Nov. 17, 2023, Combs texted Jane about Ventura Fine’s bombshell lawsuit: “Smh, I’m stressed and sad about how this is being handled.” Jane responded, “I didn’t want any more of these nights,” calling the alleged “freak offs” a “toxic, sad cycle.”
“Four in one night and now I’m going to the doctor,” she said in a text, referring an alleged incident in which she was forced to have sex with three escorts and then Combs.
In texts from Nov. 19, 2023, Jane said she had been crying for three days and told Combs he had “forced men on me for days.” She talked about the “forced nights and all the times I couldn’t say no,” writing, “this is just the sick game you play.”
The court heard a recording of a phone call between Combs and Jane on Nov. 19, 2023, captured by someone on the music mogul’s team who was not identified.
On the call, Jane told Combs through tears, “I’ve been crying for three days. I can’t sleep. Just reading it all, it’s just so like word for word,” in a seeming reference to Ventura Fine’s lawsuit.
“I need you to be there for me,” Combs said. Jane, asked in response “Who’s there for me” when she relives some of the sex acts Combs allegedly forced her to do. On the stand, she clarified that she was referring to “every time I had a flashback. I just wanted to wash it away.”
Combs responded, “Let’s get through this together. You need to get some rest,” adding, “I shouldn’t be talking on the phone.”
On a trip to New York in 2023, Jane recalled texting Combs restaurant recommendations for the visit. But she was instead driven to the Trump International Hotel, where the couple went to a lounge and had an argument, she testified.
Jane said Combs was defensive when she told him she didn’t like being surprised with entertainers or hotel nights. He gave her an ecstasy pill, Jane said, and they ended up at an alleged “freak off” with a new escort. She alleges Combs gave her coronavirus on that trip.
“Yes, he gave me COVID,” she said, adding she traveled back to Los Angeles to recover.
The jury saw a series of texts in which Jane told Combs she didn’t want to participate in the alleged sexual performances that became common in their relationship.
She wrote that the nights in hotel rooms made her feel “disgusted with myself” and like she opened a Pandora’s box she couldn’t close. The witness recalled her frustration with feeling pressured to sleep with male escorts in front of Combs through tears.
“It’s been three years of me having to” have sex “with strangers,” Jane wrote in another text. “I’m tired.” She also told Combs “I’m not a porn star. I’m not an animal.”
She began crying on the stand as she read a text message about how she couldn’t stand the thought of “being in another hotel room, doing drugs and performing.” Jane also mentioned in “having sex for days” in the message, and she told Combs that she was having brain fog from all the drugs they were allegedly using without sleeping.
In a message Jane sent Combs on Sept. 16, 2023, she said she had come to realize what their relationship was, writing, “I don’t want to be used and locked in a room to fulfill your fantasies.”
The text exchange went back and forth, with Jane texting at one point that the alleged “freak offs” felt like an obligation because Combs was paying for her home.
“I feel it’s the only reason you have me around and pay for the house,” she wrote. She alleged that Combs would make her feel guilty, often referencing the home he paid for her to live in.
“He had made such a big purchase, and this was something I had to do,” she said on the stand.
On Sept. 15, 2023, the same day Combs received a symbolic key to New York City from mayor Eric Adams, Jane and the music mogul shared a tense text exchange.
Sending loving texts about how she was looking for flights to visit him in New York, Combs wrote back, asking for videos of her “being bad.” In response, Jane, realizing he was with another woman, wrote: “Whoever you’re with needs to figure out how to” please him “on their own.”
“Just do what I say,” Combs said, adding, “Stop it, don’t say no to me.” She said in response, “It’s clear you just want me there for a hotel binge.”
Jane, a single mother who prosecutors claim was roped into Combs’ alleged empire of sex parties and abuse, has a child with one of Combs’ rivals, she testified June 5.
Jane, a social media content creator who dated Combs on-and-off from 2021 to 2024, will remain anonymous in the courthouse — a request granted by Judge Subramanian, who has explicitly warned jurors and court attendees against sharing information that could reveal her identity.
Combs’ trial is expected to last for approximately eight weeks in total.
Judge Arun Subramanian, who’s presiding over the sex-crimes trial in New York, has said he’s hopeful proceedings will wrap up by the July 4 holiday.
The disgraced music mogul remains in custody, and, despite repeated attempts at bail, has remained confined to the Special Housing Unit in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. He has been in jail since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024.
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to all five counts against him.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of.
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff; Reuters
This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental and/or substance use disorders, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration‘s free and confidential treatment referral and information service at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). It’s available 24/7 in English and Spanish (TTY: 1-800-487-4889).
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINNoffers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
Contributing: Reuters
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