NEW YORK (AP) — The Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial continues its fourth week of testimony with prosecutors planning to call as a witness a woman who will testify under the pseudonym “Jane.” She alleges she was abused by Combs and made to participate in drug-fueled “freak-off” sex marathons.
She’s one of several witnesses to accuse Combs of violence toward them, including another former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie.
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Court adjourns until 1:30 p.m.
The judge advised jurors that their lunch is ready.
It’s an abbreviated break because testimony began around 11 a.m., later than usual, and is expected to go until 4 p.m.
Bongolan denies the defense’s suggestion that she lied about the balcony episode
Westmoreland closed her cross-examination by again challenging Bongolan on her claims that Combs harmed her on Cassie’s balcony.
Bongolan denied the lawyer’s suggestion that she was lying and that Combs hadn’t caused her injuries. But she didn’t explicitly say, “no.”
Rather, Bongolan softly told the lawyer: “I can’t agree with you.”
Questioned again by prosecutors, Bongolan said that while she doesn’t recall the exact date, she has no doubt that the balcony episode happened.
Defense sows more doubts about Bongolan’s assault claims
Defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland noted that Combs might not have even been in Los Angeles when Bongolan alleges he dangled her a 17th-floor balcony.
Combs was performing on tour for most of September 2016, including dates on the East Coast around the time she took pictures of her alleged injuries.
The tour stopped in Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Newark, New Jersey, from Sept. 22-25.
On Sept. 26, the day the injury photos were taken, Combs and his then-girlfriend Cassie were in New York City attending a charity benefit, Westmoreland said.
The lawyer also showed jurors an invoice showing Combs was staying at a Manhattan hotel from Sept. 24 to Sept. 29. Combs’ tour resumed in Oakland, California, on Sept. 30.
“You agree that one person can’t be in two places at the same time,” Westmoreland asked the witness.
Bongolan responded: “In like theory, yeah. It’s hard to answer that one.”
Defense questions whether Bongolan was actually terrified of Combs
During cross-examination, Bryana “Bana” Bongolan acknowledged that Combs did not squeeze her breasts so hard that they were bruised when he allegedly dangled her over a 17th-floor apartment balcony in 2016.
Bongolan said she fired the lawyer who made some erroneous claims, including about bruises to her breasts. Bongolan also acknowledged that she smoked a blunt with Combs not long after the balcony incident and later went to one of his concerts and one of his private parties.
“You weren’t too fearful enough to not go to Mr. Combs’ event, were you?” defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland asked.
“I always had a feeling inside, but yes, I went,” Bongolan said.
Bongolan has testified that the balcony encounter left her so traumatized that she had nightmares as recently as days ago and that she sometimes woke up screaming.
Media won’t be able to see evidence while ‘Jane’ testifies
Judge Arun Subramanian agreed to a prosecution request to turn off TV monitors that are normally used to display evidence to the audience in the courtroom and overflow rooms.
Prosecutors contend the exhibits contain the exhibits, including text messages and photos, contain personal identifying information about the woman, a Combs accuser testifying under the pseudonym “Jane.”
Instead, prosecutor Maurene Comey said she aims to provide redacted versions — with identifying information removed — the day after they’re shown to the jury.
News organizations had asked the judge to delay the trial or change the witness order to give prosecutors time to make redactions.
Bryana ‘Bana’ Bongolan resumes testimony
Bongolan is a graphic designer who worked with Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.
On Wednesday, she testified that Combs dangled her over a 17th-floor apartment balcony for 10 to 15 minutes in Los Angeles in 2016 when he was angry with her. She says it has left her so traumatized that she still has nightmares, nine years later.
Prosecutors eager for ‘Jane’s’ testimony to begin
The Combs trial got off to a slow start on Thursday. The judge had hoped to get the jury into the courtroom by 11 a.m. Discussions with lawyers about exhibits and ground rules for upcoming testimony delayed proceedings for about 20 minutes.
Time is considered crucial by prosecutors because they say they need to complete testimony by a woman who will testify under the pseudonym “Jane” in time for her to leave the country on a trip next Thursday. She’s expected to testify sometime after noon Thursday.
Judge orders media not to describe Combs’ ex-girlfriend ‘Jane’
Anyone who watches Thursday’s testimony by the woman who will testify under the pseudonym “Jane” cannot describe or sketch her in a way that could reveal her identity, Judge Arun Subramanian said.
Before the judge entered the courtroom, Combs conversed with several of his lawyers.
News outlets want evidence to be shown to the public while ‘Jane’ is testifying
Federal prosecutors have asked the judge to prevent reporters and members of the public from viewing text messages and other evidence shown to jurors while Comb’s ex-girlfriend “Jane” is testifying.
But lawyers for a dozen news outlets, including The Associated Press, filed a letter Thursday asking Judge Arun Subramanian not to deviate from the normal practice of showing evidence on audience monitors.
Prosecutors contend the exhibits contain identifying information about the woman, a Combs accuser testifying under a pseudonym. They said they’d release redacted exhibits after Jane testifies.
Subramanian had said he was inclined to go along with the prosecution’s request.
Cassie delivers her third child after testifying for four days
One of the week’s biggest developments came outside the courtroom. Cassie, 38, delivered her third child less than two weeks after testifying for four days as the prosecution’s prize witness.
The news of her son’s birth Tuesday reached the jury the next day when Cassie’s longtime stylist, Deonte Nash, testified that he was still close to Cassie and had sent her well wishes after the birth.
Cassie, known for the platinum-selling 2006 hit single “Me & U,” married personal trainer Alex Fine in September 2019 — about a year after breaking up with Combs for good. Their first daughter, Frankie Stone Fine, was born in 2019. They welcomed a second daughter, Sunny Cinco Fine, in 2021.
The defense is expected to continue questioning Bongolan
For the first hour of testimony Thursday, a defense lawyer is expected to continue the cross-examination of Bryana “Bana” Bongolan.
Thursday’s star witness
Sometime around noon or after, prosecutors are planning to call as a witness a woman who will testify under the pseudonym “Jane.” Prosecutors say her testimony will be similar to what the jury heard during the first week of the trial from Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.
Cassie testified for four days about enduring drug-fueled sexual performances for years known as “freak-offs” to satisfy the music mogul’s sexual needs.
Jane, who is older than Cassie, was a single mother who began dating Combs in 2020, about two years after the nearly 11-year relationship between Cassie and Combs had ended.
Prosecutors say the relationship with Jane began as a romance but soon became reliant on “freak offs” in which Jane would perform sexually with male escorts while Combs directed the action.
Defense lawyers have described Jane as Combs’ girlfriend of three years. They say he was more honest with Jane than he was with Cassie, telling her that he was dating multiple women while he was seeing her. Still, they say, Jane’s relationship with Combs was plagued by jealousy because Jane wanted a more exclusive relationship. They say the relationship became primarily sexual over time.
Ex-Combs aide says fear stopped her from calling police
Former employees of Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment described repeatedly witnessing him beat Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, but said they didn’t report the abuse to law enforcement because they feared Combs would harm them.
Clark testified that the day she started as Combs’ personal assistant in 2004, he threatened he would kill her if her previous work for rival rappers interfered with her work for him.
Then, she testified, she watched in shock as Combs viciously assaulted Cassie, his on-again, off-again girlfriend for more than a decade, in 2011 after learning she was dating Cudi. Clark said her “heart was breaking from seeing her get hit like that,” and neither she nor Combs’ bodyguard intervened.
She said she called Cassie’s mother and told her: “Please help her. I can’t call the police, but you can.”
Weeks later, Clark said, she reported what happened to Cassie to the president of Bad Boy Records.
Combs’ ex-aide says she was ‘brainwashed’ when she sent loving texts years after rape
A former personal assistant who accuses Sean “Diddy” Combs of rape testified Monday that she continued sending the hip-hop mogul loving messages for years after her job ended in 2017 because she was “brainwashed.”
The woman, testifying under the pseudonym “Mia,” pushed back at defense lawyer Brian Steel’s suggestions that she fabricated her claims to cash in on “the #MeToo money grab against Sean Combs.”
Steel had Mia read aloud numerous text messages she sent Combs. In one from 2019, she told Combs that he’d rescued her in a nightmare in which she was trapped in an elevator with R. Kelly, the singer who has since been convicted of sex trafficking.
It was one of many objections during a combative and often meandering cross-examination that stood in contrast to the defense’s gentler treatment of other prosecution witnesses. Several times, the judge interrupted Steel, instructing him to move along or rephrase complicated questions.
▶ Read more about Mia’s testimony
Combs paid to hide Cassie beating video because he feared career ruin, witness says
Soon after viciously attacking his longtime girlfriend Cassie in a hotel hallway, Sean “Diddy” Combs sought out a security guard and predicted accurately that his iconic career would be ruined — his image as the affable, successful “Puff Daddy” destroyed — if video of the beating ever became public.
Eddy Garcia, 33, testified Thursday that the hip-hop mogul made the comment repeatedly before giving a brown paper bag stuffed with $100,000 in cash to the then-guard, in order to buy what he hoped was the only copy of surveillance footage of the March 2016 assault.
Prosecutors at Combs’ sex trafficking trial in Manhattan have made the footage of Combs kicking, beating and dragging Cassie at the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles a centerpiece of their federal case against him. They contend it supports the claims of three women, including Cassie, who allege the Bad Boy Records founder sexually and physically abused them over two decades.
Prosecutors say Combs’ persistent efforts to hush up the episode fit into allegations he used threats and his fortune and fame to get what he wanted.
▶ Read more about Garcia’s testimony
A woman testifies Combs gave her night terrors by dangling her from a balcony
A former graphic designer for Combs testified Wednesday that he dangled her from a 17th-floor balcony while screaming profanities, leaving her so traumatized she still has night terrors nearly a decade later and would wake up screaming.
Bryana ‘Bana’ Bongolan, 33, a friend of Combs’ former girlfriend Cassie, told jurors that Combs lifted her over the railing for 10-15 seconds before pulling her back and throwing her onto patio furniture.
She said the September 2016 attack at Cassie’s Los Angeles apartment caused a bruise on her leg and pain to her back and neck. Jurors saw photos of her wearing a neck brace. Her bruise looked like it was the size of a softball.
Bongolan took the stand during the fourth week of testimony in Combs’ trial, and was a prelude to the next big prosecution witness: a woman using the pseudonym “Jane” who alleges she was abused by Combs and made to participate in drug-fueled “freak-off” sex marathons. She’s expected to testify Thursday.
▶ Read more about Bongolan’s testimony
