Attorneys current opening statements in Sean Combs intercourse trafficking case

Phillip instructed the court docket that Combs would typically instruct him on tips on how to have intercourse with Cassie.

“He began actually directing us after the second time,” Philip testified.

A few of these directions allegedly included position play eventualities, when to orgasm, the place Combs needed Phillip to ejaculate, and what intercourse acts to carry out. In line with Phillip, Combs would often cease him in order that Combs may have intercourse with Cassie.

He additionally alleged that Combs supplied him medication, however Phillip stated he did not use substances. Phillip described one time through which he stated it appeared Cassie may need been beneath the affect of medication.

“Combs opened the door, he stated I do not assume that is going to occur right now,” Phillip stated. “She regarded like she was fully handed out, half on the sofa and half off the sofa.”

Philip described a 2012 or 2013 gig when he was paid “a number of thousand {dollars}” to have intercourse with Cassie whereas Combs watched.

The prosecution witness stated he was “anticipating to do a strip tease and go away” with $200 and a tip.

“At that time she gave me a number of thousand {dollars} and stated she would tip me once I go away,” Phillip instructed jurors. “We ended up having intercourse, rubbed child oil on one another for a pair minutes. He (Combs) was sitting in a nook masturbating.”

After they’d intercourse, Phillip stated Cassie gave him “a few thousand extra.”

The prosecution has known as a brand new witness: Daniel Philip, who labored as a male escort and says he obtained cash from Cassie to have intercourse in round 2012 or 2013.

Combs’ legal professional, Brian Steele, took up questioning Florez on the cross-examination and pushed the previous guard on his perception that Combs was making an attempt to bribe him.

“So far as the bribe, Mr. Combs held up a hundred-dollar invoice. You took that as a bribe, you used the phrase bribe?” Steele requested.

“100%,” Florez answered, later affirming the identical perception when requested in regards to the “sack of cash” Combs held up.

Steele additionally pushed Florez in regards to the report made for the lodge on the time of the 2016 incident. He requested Florez why he did not embrace Combs’ allegedly telling Cassie she could not go away.

Florez responded that he did not assume it was a “important truth” to incorporate.

Florez testified that he took some cellphone movies after responding to the lodge incident between Cassie and Combs.

He instructed the court docket that he made a video as a result of he did not assume his spouse would consider him if he went dwelling and instructed her what occurred. One video confirmed him motioning to Cassie to enter the room and one other contains him choosing up a cellphone and discussing the incident together with his supervisor.

The previous lodge guard testified that he hadn’t reviewed video of the assault earlier than writing the incident report. Florez stated he did not name the police as a result of Cassie needed to go away and nobody was urgent prices.

Movies from the March 5, 2016, incident the place Combs was seen beating Cassie within the hallway of the InterContinental lodge had been formally submitted into proof.

Prosecutors approached Florez with a thumb drive, which the previous lodge guard stated contained 5 movies from that morning. He was requested to explain the movies as he watched them on the witness stand.

Florez, describing one video, stated Cassie comes down the corridor and places down a bag earlier than “Combs comes up behind her in a towel and slams her within the head and drags her to the ground, begins to tug her again to the room.”

In one other video of the identical hallway, Florez stated Combs barrels down the corridor towards Cassie and tries to seize the cellphone from her.

After describing the sack of cash Combs supplied him as “a bribe,” Florez then testified that Combs tried to take the telephones of lodge safety guards.

“He got here to the door, closed the door behind him, he grabbed the cellphone my colleague was holding as a result of he thought he was being recorded. He finally gave the cellphone again,” Florez stated.

“We stated we aren’t recording you and de-escalated the state of affairs,” he continued. Florez then stated that when Combs tried to seize his cellphone, he pinned Combs to the wall.

At the very least 20 followers of Combs camped out in a single day forward of the court docket’s doorways opening at 8 a.m., together with some who slept in tents.

The circus-like ambiance — dozens of cameras and spectators exterior — suggests this trial has a ton of curiosity from the general public.

The turnout serves as a stark distinction to the comparatively muted turnout for former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s retrial.

Florez testified that he was on shift the day on the InterContinental lodge in March 2016, the place surveillance video confirmed Combs dragging and kicking Cassie within the hallway.

The incident occurred round 11 a.m. and Florez was known as to a lady in misery on the sixth flooring. He testified that he acknowledged Combs, who was in a towel, however didn’t acknowledge Cassie on the time.

“She was scared,” Florez testified. “She was within the nook, hood on, lined up. I could not see her face, she was just about within the nook. On the ground was a destroyed flower vase.”

Florez stated that Combs instructed him they had been arguing on the time. He seen Cassie making an attempt to stroll away and get her cellphone, however Combs instructed her she wasn’t going to go away.

The previous lodge guard stated he put his physique within the doorway and stood for a couple of minutes till Cassie left the room.

“I began to go away and (Combs) known as for me,” Florez stated. “He had a sack of cash and he threw it at me and stated, ‘Do not inform anybody.'”

The federal government known as the primary witness of its case: LAPD officer Israel Florez, who as soon as labored in lodge safety.

He was on responsibility the day Combs was caught on digicam attacking then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura within the hallway of a Los Angeles lodge in March 2016.

Earlier than lunch started, Combs’ attorneys spoke to the choose about objections they’d concerning proof that the prosecution needed to submit into proof together with its witness.

Comey instructed the choose the witness is a safety guard who labored on the InterContinental lodge who would testify to incident reviews and private observations following an incident between Combs and “Sufferer-1.”

Combs’ legal professional, Brian Steele, argued that the witness had “no private information” of the incident and contains hypothesis. Steele instructed the choose that the paperwork have prejudicial components and does not consider they’re reliable.

Subramanian dominated towards Combs’ attorneys and stated that as long as the federal government establishes a basis, the displays can be allowed into proof.

There’s a circus-like ambiance exterior of U.S. District Court docket in Decrease Manhattan with dozens of cameras roaming round on the lookout for members of the family who stepped exterior for lunch.

The defendant’s son, Justin Combs, was chatting with supporters of his father who’ve been attending court docket lengthy earlier than right now.

They had been then swarmed by TV information cameras and he was compelled to flee right into a sprinter van with different members of the family.

There’s been a lot hypothesis in regards to the nameless victims talked about within the Combs indictment, and right now we’ve got a number of extra solutions.

Prosecutors have supplied pseudonyms for 2 of the victims: Sufferer 2 is known as Jane and Sufferer 4 is known as Mia.

Throughout opening statements, Jane was described as a single mom who met Combs in 2020. Prosecutors stated she “fell in love” with Combs shortly and had a nonexclusive relationship with him, which included alleged abuse and coercion.

Mia was described as a former private assistant who labored for Combs for years, in response to the prosecution throughout openings. She allegedly is “simply starting to grapple with” the occasions that Combs compelled himself on her and “needed to maintain the key to her grave.”

The jury had the Combs household’s undivided consideration in the course of the opening statements.

Combs’ mom and kids all had their our bodies turned proper to face the jury field, holding their eyes on the jury and Combs’ protection legal professional this morning.

Combs too centered on the faces of the jury, however did not present response himself. His solely notable second was when Geragos launched him, standing up when she stated, “That is Sean Combs.”

The jury was excused for its first lunch break of the trial.

They’re going to return at 1:15 p.m. ET and attainable testimony as soon as the protection, prosecutors and choose hash out evidentiary points.

Geragos ended the protection’s opening statements by asserting that the victims, together with Cassie, had been motivated to “lie” as a result of they had been looking for a “cash seize.”

“They are going to inform you they had been victimized. Ask your self, what’s their motive?” Geragos stated. “The reply is easy: cash.”

Combs’ legal professional insisted that Combs was conspiring with “nobody” and that the medication had been obtained for private use. Combs additionally didn’t knowingly pay intercourse employees to journey for industrial intercourse acts, his lawyer insisted.

“It’s cash for time, he was paying cash for that have,” Geragos stated, noting the precise cost.

Geragos instructed the jury they aren’t there to guage as “the ethical police,” however solely to see if the proof meets the burden for the costs.

Combs’ protection instructed jurors it can present how his accusers weren’t compelled into intercourse and will’ve parted with him at nearly any time.

“She was a prepared participant of their intercourse life,” Geragos stated of alleged sufferer and certain prosecution witness Cassie Ventura.

The accuser referred to as “Jane” had her eyes open throughout her relationship with Combs, in response to the protection.

“After a time period, their relationship turns into principally sexual,” Geragos stated. “She was a succesful, sturdy grownup girl.”

Cassie ended her relationship with Combs as a result of she realized she would “by no means” imply as a lot to him as his former girlfriend, Kim Porter, Combs’ legal professional Teny Geragos alleged her in opening assertion.

Geragos instructed the jury that when Porter died of pneumonia in 2018, Cassie went to the funeral to assist Combs.

“When Combs stated Kim Porter was his soulmate, Cassie realized all of the issues she wouldn’t be, she needed to be Combs’ spouse,” Geragos stated.

Porter and Combs had an on-and-off relationship for over a decade and share a number of youngsters. Geragos alleged that there have been years of “jealousy” on the middle of Combs’ relationships with Cassie and Porter.

Cassie then left on her personal phrases when it was clear “she would by no means be that, by no means be his spouse, by no means be his love of his life,” Geragos added.

The protection will not battle allegations that Combs has dedicated acts of home violence or used child oil throughout intercourse — saying none of these actions quantity to potential federal crimes being adjudicated right here.

Combs is “not happy with that however he’ll personal” that “he has a foul mood and generally he’s so indignant and jealous that he will get uncontrolled,” Geragos stated in the course of the protection’s opening assertion.

“We won’t draw back from the issues he did, however we won’t personal the issues he didn’t do,” she instructed jurors. “He’s bodily, he’s a drug consumer, you might know of his love of child oil. Is {that a} federal crime? No!”

Combs faces prison counts that embrace alleged racketeering conspiracy; intercourse trafficking by power, fraud or coercion; and transportation to interact in prostitution.

Teny Geragos previewed the protection’s case, and commenced by acknowledging that “Combs is a sophisticated man, however this isn’t a sophisticated case.”

Geragos stated Combs’ life is about “real-life relationships,” however accused prosecutors of making an attempt to show them right into a racketeering sex-trafficking case, “and it’ll not work.”

“You’ll hear why individuals stayed round him and why it issues, he gave individuals alternative and probabilities,” Geragos stated, including that “they did not all the time like what he did or how how he behaved, however they really beloved him, and by being with him, they had been a part of one thing particular.”

“The one individuals who knew a couple of racketeering enterprise are the prosecutors,” Geragos stated. “This case is about Sean Combs’ personal private intercourse life. The federal government has no place in his personal bedrooms. They are saying it isn’t about his personal intercourse life, however the proof will present that it’s.”

The prosecution instructed jurors that, after all of the proof is heard a number of weeks from now, they’re going to haven’t any selection however to seek out Combs responsible on all prices.

“I ask you do three issues,” Johnson stated. “Please pay shut consideration to the proof, observe the choose’s directions on the regulation, please use and belief your widespread sense.”

She concluded her opening assertion for the USA: “In case you do all of that, you’ll attain the one verdict — that the defendant, Sean Combs, is responsible.”

Prosecutors of their opening assertion stated jurors may also hear from “Mia,” a pseudonym for Combs’ private assistant who labored with him for years.

“She is simply starting to grapple with the occasions he compelled himself on her sexually. She needed to maintain the key to her grave,” Johnson stated.

“They labored punishing hours for the defendant with out sleep. … They had been anticipated to maintain quiet of what they noticed and heard within the defendant’s houses,” Johnson added.

A single mom, whom prosecutors name “Jane,” was allegedly beneath Combs’ complete management, forcing her to have unprotected intercourse with escorts and do medication, prosecutors stated.

Jane and Combs met in 2020, when she shortly acquired caught up within the defendant’s internet of abuse, Johnson stated.

“She needed the escorts to put on condoms, however he wouldn’t allow them to. Then he would make her take medication; she broke down and took ecstasy,” Johnson stated. “One time she vomited, he instructed her to rush up and get again within the room the place an escort was ready.”

Combs and his bodyguards tried to cowl up surveillance video of him assaulting Cassie in a Los Angeles lodge hallway in 2016, by making an attempt to “get what they thought was the one copy” of the footage, Johnson instructed jurors.

She alleges the defendant gave “a brown paper bag stuffed with $100,000 in money” to a safety guard to “dealer a deal.”

“Nothing may put his public picture in danger,” Johnson stated of Combs, including, “They lined up brutal beatings whereas holding Cassie locked up for days.”

The video, key proof within the trial, was made public by CNN a 12 months in the past.

The prosecution warned jurors to brace themselves for troubling proof of “freak offs,” dayslong, drug-fueled orgies allegedly orchestrated by Combs.

“Among the particulars of what occurred to them might be exhausting to listen to,” Johnson stated of victims. “He used lies, medication, threats and violence to power and coerce first Cassie and later Jane to have intercourse with him in entrance of male escorts.”

There have been allegedly no borders that might restrict Combs’ want for these acts.

“He directed freak offs week after week, across the nation and generally overseas,” Johnson added.

Cassie, Combs’ former girlfriend, tried to run away from years of abuse however was threatened by the discharge of movies of intercourse acts Combs compelled her to take part in, the prosecution alleged.

“Her life and security relied on holding him completely happy,” Johnson stated in her opening assertion.

The singer met Combs when she was a 19-year-old with successful tune. Combs allegedly started his abuse of her early on and compelled Cassie to often take part in his “freak offs,” or intercourse events that always included intercourse employees.

“Cassie tried her first freak off as a result of she beloved him and needed to make him completely happy. … If Cassie didn’t do what he needed, the implications had been extreme,” Johnson stated.

Johnson listed off a spread of allegations of abuse that Cassie endured between 2006 and 2018, together with the beating that was seen on lodge surveillance video and made public by CNN.

Prosecutors wish to paint Combs because the kingpin of a prison enterprise, accusing him of utilizing an unlimited community of staff to hold out any variety of alleged unlawful acts.

“He generally known as himself the king and anticipated to be handled like one,” Johnson stated, “to cater to all his wishes.”

She added: “He used his corporations to control ladies, forcing them with male escorts to have intercourse whereas he watched. He and his inside circle made positive he acquired every little thing he needed.”

Prosecutor Emily Johnson started her opening assertion by describing Combs as a “bigger than life” determine who ran a prison enterprise enabled by an “inside circle” of staff.

One instance Johnson gave was an evening he was “on the hunt” for his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura after studying she had a brand new man in her life. Johnson alleged that Combs compelled an worker into an SUV to take him to the brand new man’s dwelling.

“When he lastly discovered her he beat her brutally, kicking her within the again and flinging her round like a rag doll,” Johnson stated.

He needed to “be certain he had management over Cassie as soon as once more.”

“So he threatened her and stated if she defies her once more he’ll launch video of her having intercourse with male escorts,” Johnson instructed the jury. “Souvenirs of probably the most humiliating nights of her life.”

That is simply the tip of the iceberg in 20 years of Combs utilizing his inside circle to cowl up “crime after crime,” Johnson stated.

Choose Subramanian reminded the newly impaneled jury to type completely no opinions throughout trial — and positively not put up something about it on social media.

“I’m ordering you to not speak about this with anybody,” he stated. “Don’t type any opinion till all of the proof is in.”

U.S. District Court docket Choose Arun Subramanian thanked jurors for his or her service and focused the Fourth of July for the attainable finish of Combs’ trial.

The jurist stated he hopes the trial could possibly be carried out by Independence Day, although it “may go longer, however I do not count on that it’s going to.”

The jury’s day by day schedule will embrace a “mild breakfast” at 8:30 a.m. and a 30-minute lunch break later within the day, the choose stated.

“I’ll make each effort to maneuver trial alongside,” he added. “We are going to maintain your names and identification in confidence, that non-public data won’t be made public and that is by no means uncommon.”

The jury consists of 12 individuals in the primary pool and a further six individuals who could also be requested to step in as alternates. It contains residents from Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester, and contains an funding analyst, a doctor assistant, a therapeutic massage therapist, a deli clerk, a scientist, a social employee and an architect. A number of have stated they’ve seen the video of Combs’ assaulting Cassie Ventura in a L.A. lodge hallway.

That is what we find out about the primary 12 jurors:

• Juror No. 2: A 69-year-old male who works as an actor and therapeutic massage therapist. He lives in Manhattan.
• Juror No. 5: A 31-year-old male who works as an funding analyst. He lives in Manhattan.
• Juror No. 25: A 51-year-old male who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology and neuroscience. He lives in Manhattan.
• Juror No. 28: A 30-year-old feminine working as a deli clerk. She lives together with her mother and brother within the Bronx.
• Juror No. 55: A 42-year-old feminine who’s an aide in a nursing dwelling. She lives in Manhattan.

Present extra

Prosecutors and protection attorneys agreed to a jury of eight males and 4 ladies, paving the way in which for opening statements shortly.

Six alternates, 4 males and two ladies, have additionally been seated because the court docket is in a short recess as each side put together to ship their opening statements.

Emily Johnson is ready to open for the federal government and Teny Geragos for the protection.

Protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo questioned whether or not the federal government was deliberately going out of its solution to maintain Black jurors out of the field.

Agnifilo stated seven Black individuals had been eliminated, “which results in a sample and they should give good reason for strikes.”

“We now have carried out ourselves with none bias,” prosecutor Maurene Ryan Comey responded. “The jury is various with a variety of nonwhite (panelists).”

The choose denied the movement from Agnifilo, saying the defendant failed to indicate discrimination.

The choose entered the courtroom with greetings for all, together with, “Good morning to you, Mr. Combs.”

There was no different enterprise to take care of so each side are going by way of who they want to strike from the juror pool.

Given the size of this trial, the events agreed to provide a while to see if anybody would get chilly toes. Now that the case has been known as, each side’ attorneys will weed by way of the remaining pool to safe a jury and some alternates.

Lead prosecutor Maurene Comey and protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo entered the choose’s chambers.

The courtroom is ready on Choose Arun Subramanian earlier than both sides can finalize jury choice and provides opening statements.

After eight months in federal jail, Combs arrived for his first day of the trial in a beige sweater over a white-collared shirt and khaki pants.

He greeted each member of his household with a hug earlier than sitting down alongside his attorneys. After settling in his seat, Combs nonetheless circled to blow a kiss towards his mom and kids.

Janice Combs, the rap mogul’s mom, is a presence within the courtroom. She made positive to take a seat in the midst of her grandchildren, with Combs’ twin daughters on her proper aspect and Combs’ sons on the left.

Combs placed on studying glasses and poured himself a glass of water because the events put together to start.

Combs’ sons and teenage daughters arrived on the federal courthouse this morning, exiting a black van as they walked by way of a sea of onlookers blocked off by police.

His sons Christian, Justin and Quincy first stepped out into the group earlier than Combs’ three daughters Probability, Jessie and D’Lila. It appeared that the women held fingers as they squeezed by way of the small walkway made my officers.

Combs’ mom, Janice Combs, was additionally in attendance and sat with the youngsters within the second row.

Along with Combs, the following eight weeks will convey a number of well-known names.

The lead prosecutor is Maurene Ryan Comey, a veteran of the Southern District who helped safe a conviction towards British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein. Comey is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.

Whereas Southern California celeb lawyer Mark Geragos isn’t representing Combs, his daughter, Teny Geragos, is without doubt one of the attorneys representing the rapper. The elder Gergaos, half of the “2 Indignant Males” podcast, was not too long ago chastised by the choose when he known as prosecutors a “six-pack of white ladies.” 

And lawyer Lisa Bloom, the daughter of feminist legal professional Gloria Allred, could also be seen within the press because the civil litigator representing a few of Diddy’s accusers.

The choose who’ll be on the middle of this trial is U.S. District Court docket Choose Arun Subramanian.

He’s the primary jurist of South Asian or Indian descent to take a seat on a bench of the Southern District of New York.

Subramanian was nominated to the Southern District by President Joe Biden in 2022 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, 59-37, on March 7, 2023. The Columbia Regulation College grad as soon as clerked for U.S. Supreme Court docket Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.