Considered Victim-2 in the Southern District of New York’s sex trafficking and racketeering case against Combs, prosecutors kept much of Jane’s experience under wraps until she took the stand.
Dated September 13, 2015, the lengthy exchange seems to follow the aftermath of a fight between Combs and Ventura.
In separate testimonies, Ventura, Combs’ former personal assistant Mia and celebrity stylist Deonte Nash all spoke about Ventura discovering Combs’ affair with a woman named Gina in October 2015, while she was filming a movie in South Africa.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband took out a home equity loan to muster up the funds on such short notice.
In her own testimony, Ventura said she quickly broke things off with Kid Cudi and got back together with Combs, explaining that she believed it was the safest thing to do.
A distraught woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” was the second alleged victim of sex trafficking in Sean Combs’ criminal trial, which began in the fourth week. “.”.
Given the single mother’s repeated testimony that she continued to have sex with male escorts in front of Combs because she loved him and was desperate for one-on-one time with the hip-hop mogul, prosecutors have stated that they believe Jane to be a victim of sex trafficking by fraud.
Jane asserted, however, that after she engaged in a “freak-off” in May 2021, opening “Pandora’s box,” she was unable to stop that part of their relationship, which was now dominated by what she saw as “hotel nights.”. Jane claimed that despite her attempts to express her feelings to Combs verbally and via text, the Bad Boy founder was contemptuous and allegedly started controlling her financial support.
Combs, the man who funded Jane’s veneers, replied, “Well, get over it please,” after she resisted planning an “all-star” night in August 2023 that would include having sex with three men. “Observe the roof above you. that lovely smile, too. As long as that problem persists, I don’t want to take any action. Forget about it. Love you. “”.
As Jane testified, the 55-year-old remained mostly unaffected, even as she sobbed as she described spending whole days in crimson hotel rooms having sex with male escorts for Combs’ erotic pleasure. U had already issued a warning. S. Arun Subramanian, the district judge, was observed “nodding vigorously” at jurors during witness Bryana “Bana” Bongoloan’s cross-examination when defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland questioned her account of events.
Combs faces five federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution, which carry sentences ranging from 15 years to life in prison. He entered a not guilty plea.
These are the primary highlights of the fourth week of the trial.
The first Freak-Off recording was played in court.
On Thursday and Friday, Jane, a single mother who used a pseudonym to conceal her identity, gave testimony. Prosecutors largely concealed Jane’s experience until she testified, citing her as Victim-2 in the Southern District of New York’s sex trafficking and racketeering case against Combs.
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Jane often sobbed as she claimed that between 2021 and 2024, Combs forced her into highly staged “freak-offs” with male escorts and fed her drugs. She claimed that she attempted to express to Combs her desire to stop having sex but was constantly relegated to dark hotel rooms for days at a time.
Jane explained to the jury that the night had “opened a Pandora’s box in the relationship.”. It simply set the tone for the rest of our relationship. For the rest of the relationship, I felt like I couldn’t close that door. “.”.
In the middle of the anticipated eight-week trial, jurors were played audio from a freak-off for once. As music pulsed in the background, Combs’ thick, slurred voice interrupted Jane’s request that the male escort wear a condom.
Assistant U. asked Jane, “What did you understand Sean saying if you don’t touch yourself right now?”. A. Maurene Comey, the lawyer, asked Jane while the recording was playing.
Jane answered, “If you don’t just move on from this and just forget about it, I understand what he’s saying.”.
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Combs, according to the woman, dangled her off the balcony of the seventeenth floor.
During her terrifying testimony, Bryana “Bana” Bongolan described how Combs allegedly cornered her on her close friend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura’s 17th floor balcony in Los Angeles in September 2016, lifted her up, and “held” her over the edge as she feared for her life.
According to Bongolan, Combs was furious and yelled at her, saying, “You know what the fuck you did!” She remembered telling Combs she had no idea what he was talking about while she was trying desperately to hang on and avoid falling to her death. She testified that Combs eventually gave in and “threw” her into some patio furniture after about 15 seconds. She claimed that she suffered from severe emotional distress, neck and back pain, and bruises as a result of the alleged assault.
“I scream in my sleep and have paranoia and night terrors,” she admitted to the jury.
Photographs of Bongol were shown to the jury.
An said that she had a large purple bruise on the back of her leg with a puncture wound in the middle, which was her injury from that night. The photo’s metadata indicates that it was taken on September 26, 2016.
Bongolan claimed that the date of the photo was taken immediately following the alleged balcony incident, which Combs’ defense team exploited. According to Combs’ defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland, they retrieved images and hotel records that demonstrate Combs was in fact in New York on that particular date, proving that he could not have been in “two places at the same time.”.
“Yes, in principle,” Bongolan answered. “I’m unable to respond to that question. “.”.
During the redirect, Bongolan was asked if she was certain Combs had dangled her from the seventeenth story. “I am certain,” she declared. He held me over the balcony, and I’ll never forget it. “”.
After Bongolan departed the witness stand, prosecutors presented jurors with a September 2016 text exchange between Ventura and Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, in which Ventura informs Khorram that he has learned about the balcony incident.
Motion for Second Mistrial.
Bongolan’s testimony was “demonstrably false in key respects,” according to Combs’ all-star defense team, which filed its second motion for a mistrial over the weekend. “”.
“As claimed, the incident is powerful and unsettling evidence, and the government has used it to paint Mr. Combs in a very bad light, as a violent and angry man who scared Ms. Ventura and her friends,” Combs’ lawyers wrote in a letter on Saturday. The harm caused by suppressing the perjured testimony was made worse by all of this improper behavior. “”.
A Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigator testifying about the aftermath of musician Kid Cudi’s car having a Molotov cocktail thrown inside his Porsche has already requested a mistrial on behalf of Combs’ team. During his investigation, the official claimed to have only recently discovered that fingerprint cards taken from Kid Cudi’s front door had been inexplicably destroyed.
In their recent letter, Combs’ lawyers cited the LAFD’s official testimony, stating that “the government’s motive all along must have been to suggest that Mr. Dot Combs had corrupt influence over the LA authorities when it tried to create the impression that he was responsible for the destruction of the fingerprints.”. “.”.
The five-page letter ended, “Therefore, the Court ought to grant a mistrial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct.”. Subramanian has not yet made a decision regarding the motion. ).
Combs’ chief of staff’s devices provided evidence of the alleged hotel bribery.
Kristina Khorram, Combs’ longtime chief of staff, has been mentioned frequently during the trial, but this week marked the first significant instance in which prosecutors used evidence from her devices, which were found during the raids on Combs’ residences in March 2024.
The jury was shown photos of the documents Garcia signed and the driver’s licenses he turned over during the testimony of Eddy Garcia, the former InterContinental security guard who claimed to have assisted in arranging for Combs and other security personnel to have the hotel videotape vanish in March in 2016.
Later, the prosecution claimed that Khorram’s electronic devices contained these pictures. It remains to be seen if Khorram will testify for the government against her more than ten-year boss.
Khorram has already been brought up by numerous witnesses, who have referred to him as Combs’ right hand. She was described by prosecutors as an “agent and a co-conspirator of Mr. Combs” prior to Friday’s jury selection. “”.
“Why Wasn’t She Hiding Herself?”.
Prosecutors used a series of text messages exchanged between Combs and D-Roc, one of his security guards, as evidence during testimony. The lengthy conversation, which was dated September 13, 2015, appears to be the aftermath of a fight between Combs and Ventura.
D-Roc messages Combs, saying, “Cass is calling studios looking for you.”. She informed me that she wanted to visit the studio and kept asking for you. “You are feeling bad about what happened,” I said, telling her to calm down. “.”.
Combs responded, “Stay on top of Cassie,” after D-Roc said he had given Ventura an ice pack. “How is she doing? Does the eye look better?”.
Justin, who is most likely Combs’ son, had reportedly seen Ventura’s eye, D-Roc informed Combs, adding that he clarified that the apparent injury resulted from a “fight [that] broke out last night in the club.”. “”.
Combs’ first thought was, “Why didn’t she have herself hiding?”.
Additionally, Combs and D-Roc appear to have discussed another woman, known as “G,” earlier in the conversation. “.”.
D-Roc is told by Combs to “hit my shorty and ask her what is going on.”. Tell her that you just left me and that when you inquired about her, I simply replied that I wanted to discuss it with you right now. asking what’s happening. Additionally, I assumed you were attending this weekend’s major concert. Let’s say last week he informed me you were. “”.
Combs inquired, “What did Shorty say?” and added, “G. “”.
According to Combs, the “big concert” he was referring to was the Bad Boy family’s performance at the iHeartMusic festival, which took place prior to the reunion the following year. Ventura, Combs’ ex-personal assistant Mia, and celebrity stylist Deonte Nash all discussed how Ventura learned of Combs’ affair with Gina in October 2015 while she was in South Africa filming a movie.
Unusual Look at Combs’ Bank Accounts.
Former Chief Financial Officer Derek Ferguson of Bad Boy Entertainment testified Tuesday afternoon, giving the public a unique look into Combs’ personal financial records. The executive, who served Combs and his companies from 1998 to 2017, was brought in to confirm the companies Combs owned alone and the bank records linked to those companies.
A December 2011 bank statement was presented to Ferugson. The account, which was linked to an LLC for Combs’ previous Alpine, New Jersey residence, saw a rapid inflow and outflow of over $3 million in that month alone.
The mogul’s numerous companies, including Combs Enterprises, which was primarily financed by Combs’ alliance with the massive liquor company Diageo, contributed up to $800,000 to the personal account in a single day. Combs may have paid Barbara Gladstone Gallery $500,000 in advance of Christmas. Additionally, on December, he transferred $20,000 to an account for “Casandra Ventura.”. 14. .
It reveals a record of $20,000 being transferred from Ventura’s parents into Combs’ account the following week, amidst the hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in and going out of the account.
According to the RandB singer’s mother’s earlier testimony at the trial, Combs called her directly shortly after learning of Ventura’s liaison with musician Kid Cudi and “demanded” that she reimburse him for $20,000 he allegedly had invested in Ventura’s career.
In order to raise the money so quickly, Regina Ventura and her husband took out a home equity loan, according to their testimony. Regina cited an email she had received from Ventura in which she said Combs was threatening to release sexually explicit videos of her, saying, “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.”.
Ventura stated in her own testimony that she promptly ended her relationship with Kid Cudi and reconnected with Combs, stating that she felt this was the most secure course of action. Before I left L, Sean told me, “I mean.”. A. “He was going to harm us both,” Ventura remarked. I kept that in mind, thinking that we would both suffer if I stayed in this circumstance. Without me, there won’t be anyone. “.”.
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According to bank records, $20,000 was returned to the original sender a few days later. This was consistent with Regina Ventura’s testimony that the money was returned without any explanation.
Next Week.
Assistant U. A. Attorney Maurene Comey stated that she will spend a significant portion of Monday directly questioning Jane, and that the cross-examination may continue until Thursday. The following witnesses have not yet been revealed by the government, but they have previously stated that they may rest their case before the six-week deadline they had previously projected.
