Jurors in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial on Wednesday heard from a former Combs employee who agreed to testify only after he was guaranteed that he would not be prosecuted for any crimes he might detail.
The episodes, according to the testimony, could be days-long affairs featuring illegal drugs and sex workers.
Combs has pleaded not guilty in the federal criminal case and faces the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted.
According to Kaplan, Combs allegedly asked him to buy illicit drugs on two occasions — a bag of MDMA in Miami and an unknown substance in Los Angeles.
Prosecutors have argued that the threat of violence allowed Combs to coerce his alleged victims to participate in freak-offs.
An ex-Combs employee testified before jurors in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial on Wednesday, but only after being assured he would not face charges for any crimes he might disclose.
That occurred during the seventh day of testimony in the widely reported case that has revealed details about the personal life of a man who has set trends in music and culture for over a generation.
George Kaplan, a former Combs assistant, testified for the prosecution in an attempt to demonstrate how Combs allegedly established a criminal business to satisfy his erotic cravings while preserving his public image.
Kaplan described to jurors the complex procedure of arranging hotel rooms for Combs to take part in what prosecutors claim were drug-fueled sex parties known as “freak offs” and how he personally cleaned the rooms afterward to “protect” Combs from possible embarrassment should hotel staff witness the aftermath. The testimony suggested that the episodes could involve sex workers and illegal drugs and last for several days.
In the federal criminal case, Combs entered a not guilty plea and faces a potential life sentence in prison if found guilty. Combs may have engaged in other crimes, such as abusing his ex-partner and using illegal drugs, but his attorneys have maintained that he did not participate in sex trafficking or racketeering, as the prosecution has claimed.
This week, federal prosecutors have been attempting to get through a long list of witnesses. On Wednesday morning, they summoned a federal agent and their first expert witness. Scott Mescudi, the Grammy-winning musician known as Kid Cudi, is scheduled to testify on Thursday, making him one of the most well-known witnesses the prosecution will call.
Public access is denied to the rest of the government’s witness list. Prosecutors may not call a witness named “Gina”—a third alleged victim who would testify against Combs—because defense lawyers are having problems getting in touch with her attorney and setting up her appearance, they indicated to the court.
The witness gives the jury an account of a typical day in the life of Sean Combs’ personal assistant.
Kaplan, Combs’ former personal assistant, started his testimony Wednesday afternoon by outlining how the rap mogul’s hotel rooms were set up and cleaned. His testimony is part of a larger effort by federal prosecutors to uncover Combs’ alleged criminal network and a pattern of behavior.
In his testimony, he stated that he frequently had only a few hours’ notice to arrange a room and arrived with a “hotel bag” that contained Combs’s necessities, including candles, baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, an audio speaker, and extra wear.
When Combs finished cleaning the rooms, Kaplan testified that he would be left in charge of doing so. He discovered “lots of empty bottles” and baby oil “on the table, on the floor, on the bed.”. He stated in his testimony that he was worried that hotel employees might try to sell videos of the freak-off aftermath if they had cleaned the rooms right away after Combs left.
Combs allegedly asked him to purchase illegal drugs twice, once in Miami for a bag of MDMA and once in Los Angeles for an unidentified substance, according to Kaplan. According to him, he later gave Combs the drugs.
Even though it may seem unremarkable, the testimony regarding the duties he performed during his 15-month employment as Combs’ personal assistant could help prosecutors demonstrate to the jury how a criminal enterprise was necessary to plan complex freak offs. He will be subjected to cross-examination tomorrow.
Toxic relationships are explained by an expert witness.
As the trial went on Wednesday, prosecutors made an effort to counter defense attempts to challenge earlier testimony from Combs’s 11-year partner, singer Cassie Ventura, a star witness. In order to satiate Combs’ voyeuristic fantasies, Ventura told the jury that she was subjected to abuse and assault by Combs, as well as coerced into having sex with male prostitutes and strangers.
Prosecutors called psychologist Dawn Hughes to tell the jury that many people choose to remain in abusive relationships because they feel trapped or develop an “intense psychological bond” that pulls them toward their abuser.
Hughes stated, “Even in the best of situations, it’s difficult for us to end a relationship.”. “You’re merely trying to get by on a micro level when there’s all this abuse and violence.”. She clarified that rather than planning a strategy to leave an abusive relationship, victims frequently focus their emotional strength on avoiding beatings.
Hughes provided oblique background for some of the subjects Ventura mentioned in her testimony, even though she was not permitted to examine Combs’ relationship with Ventura directly as an expert witness. Hughes told the jury that if victims are able to leave an abusive relationship, they frequently return, as Ventura described doing with Combs on multiple occasions.
Additionally, Hughes claimed that victims frequently use passive self-defense techniques like “curling up in a ball” that don’t agitate their abusers. Prior witnesses Kerry Morgan and Dawn Richard both stated in their testimony that they saw Ventura fall into a fetal position while Combs was beating her.
The defense team tried to paint Hughes as a hired gun for the prosecution during a protracted cross-examination.
Bach questioned, “Are you not aware that you have never appeared in court and testified on behalf of a man who is charged with a sexual offense?”.
Hughes answered, “That’s right, I don’t evaluate offenders.”.
On redirected examination, however, prosecutors attempted to thwart that courtroom tactic.
Mitzi Steiner, the prosecutor, inquired, “Have you also been retained by defense attorneys?”.
“Yes of course,” Hughes replied, adding that she was not called to testify in that case but was hired to work for one of Combs’ own defense lawyers in another.
Evidence from the raid on Combs’ Miami Beach home is shown to the jury.
Early in the morning, a special agent from US Homeland Security Investigations, which handled a large portion of the criminal investigation into Combs, took the jury through some of the evidence he claimed had been found at the rap artist’s residence on Star Island, a prestigious neighborhood in Miami Beach.
According to Special Agent Gerald Gannon’s testimony, federal agents found the components of two AR-15 assault-style rifles with defaced serial numbers just a few feet from the location where Combs allegedly kept sex toys, baby oil, lingerie, and platform heels for freak-offs. Prosecutors contend that Combs was able to threaten his alleged victims into taking part in freak-offs by using the threat of violence.
Jurors were also shown the loot of drugs purportedly discovered in Combs’ home, including a variety of pills, marijuana, powders, and other substances that prosecutors claim were used to coerce women into complying with freak-offs and to keep them performing for a long time after they were exhausted.
