• Sean “Diddy” Combs’ trial in New York includes charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.
• Witnesses described violent incidents and coercion, with surveillance footage showing Combs assaulting Cassie.
• Combs’ defence argues the case involves “voluntary adult choices” and denies the charges of trafficking.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial has begun in New York with opening statements and searing testimony from witnesses who detailed alleged violence, paid sex acts and coercion by the music mogul.

Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to five criminal counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, entered the courtroom at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse, embraced his attorneys and greeted his family seated in the row behind him with a smile. He faces 15 years to life in prison if convicted on all counts.

After jurors were selected and sworn in by Judge Arun Subramanian, proceedings continued with witness testimony from former hotel security guard Israel Florez and sex worker Daniel Phillip, who detailed their interactions with Combs. The jury was also shown surveillance footage of Combs dragging and beating his then-girlfriend Cassie – whose legal name is Casandra Ventura – at a hotel in 2016.

During opening statements, prosecutors described Combs’ alleged “freak offs” – drug- and sex-fuelled parties – and the “high-ranking” employees tied to his alleged crimes. They also outlined how victims, including Ventura and another former romantic partner identified only as “Jane”, were forced or coerced into sex acts at these events.

“They will describe freak offs for you in painstaking detail,” Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson told the jury – with “some of the most painful and personal experiences of their lives”.

Johnson told the jury that some of the evidence would be disturbing and described how enablers among Combs’ employees facilitated his crimes and helped to control his victims.

The prosecutor conceded that Combs and Ventura had a rocky relationship ridden with jealousy and infidelity. “But only one of them had power, only one had control,” Johnson said.

Combs’ defence attorney Teny Geragos told jurors that “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case”. She described him as “extremely jealous” and said “violence did take place,” but said that it was unrelated to the charges he is facing. Combs has denied all of the allegations against him.

Geragos also brought up Ventura, who is expected to take the stand this week. “What Combs did to Cassie on this videotape is indefensible,” she said. “It is not evidence of sex trafficking. It is evidence of domestic violence.”

Geragos’ remarks underscored the defence’s central position: “The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual,” she said, but not someone guilty of racketeering, sex trafficking or prostitution.

The lawyer also argued that Combs’ accusers chose to remain in his orbit, saying the case was “about voluntary adult choices” and involved “capable, strong adult women”.

“They made free choices every single day for years,” Geragos argued.

Former hotel security guard accuses Combs of bribery

Among the first witnesses the prosecution called Monday afternoon was Florez, a former security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles where Combs was caught on camera assaulting Ventura in 2016. On the stand, Florez, who is now an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, testified that he was offered a bribe by Combs after intervening in the rapper’s attack on Ventura.

According to Florez, Combs presented a “stack of money” and told the officer not to tell anyone about what he saw. “I don’t want your money,” Florez said he told Combs.

In court, jurors were shown a phone recording Florez said he took of the hotel surveillance footage. A second video shown to jurors depicted Florez trying to calm Combs while the rapper can be seen shouting at Ventura from down the hallway. The officer said he saw Ventura with a bruised eye and first arrived to the floor where the pair fought to see her cowering in a corner and covering her face.

The videos, which are now part of evidence, were shown to jurors after Subramanian ruled last month that some footage of the assault could be admitted, rejecting Combs’ bid to exclude it. CNN first obtained and published video of the incident last year. At the time, Combs released an apology video and called his attack on Ventura as his “rock bottom”.

Combs’ lawyer Brian Steel conducted a lengthy cross-examination of Florez, repeatedly asking the officer why he didn’t include certain details in his report. Steel also seemed to suggest that Combs was not offering money as a bribe, but to pay for property damage.

Sex worker details encounters with Combs and Ventura

The Government’s second witness, Phillip, testified that Ventura paid him multiple times to have sex with her in the presence of Combs. During one encounter, Phillip said he witnessed Combs physically assault Ventura as she screamed and got dragged into a bedroom. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Ventura wailed, according to the witness.

“She was screaming, and I could hear what sounded like him slapping her,” Phillip testified.

According to Phillip, Combs filmed a couple of sexual encounters between Phillip and Ventura on a cellphone and a camcorder. He told jurors that these sessions with the couple, between 2012 and 2014, could last anywhere from an hour to 10 hours. He also recalled an instance when Combs took down Phillip’s driver’s licence information – “just for insurance, just in case”, he said Combs told him. Phillip said he understood that to be a threat.

The payments ranged from US$700 (NZ$1195) to $5000 or $6000, Phillip said, but “I didn’t care if I got paid one way or the other – they gave that to me every time I went to see them”. Phillip added that if he couldn’t perform sexually, sometimes he wouldn’t get paid, but that he would have been involved with them without compensation because it was exciting “to be in this world” and involved with the famous pair.

Xavier Donaldson led the defence’s cross-examination of Phillip, with questions ranging from the search optimisation practices of the male stripper business Phillip used to work for as a manager to why he was chosen to meet Ventura for the first time at the Gramercy Park Hotel.

Ventura, who is pregnant with her third child with husband Alex Fine, is expected to take the stand Tuesday.

The singer’s testimony is a key fixture in the Government’s case, following her explosive lawsuit against Combs in 2023 that ignited the rapper’s legal troubles. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount but it has since triggered nearly 80 sexual assault lawsuits against the rap mogul.

In September, Combs was arrested on charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking for alleged crimes dating back to 2008. He has been detained in a Brooklyn jail.

The scene in and outside the courthouse

Before proceedings Monday, longtime Combs supporters, attorneys, onlookers and reporters were packed outside the courthouse early morning to attend the trial, which will not be publicly broadcast.

Chenoa Laurencin, 53, lined up at 2am for a spot inside. “I really want to see it firsthand as much as I can,” said Laurencin, who noted she was “a little anxious” about Ventura testifying because “she’s looking real pregnant”.

“It’s surreal,” Laurencin added. “I have a love-hate relationship with [Combs]. … I was there for the whole Bad Boy era, but he has a reputation for other things, too, that weren’t really so great throughout the years.”

Combs’ mother and all six of his adult children appeared in court Monday. With the exception of his daughter Chance, who was dressed in white, they were all wearing black as the family presented a united front amid intense public scrutiny.

Also seated in the courtroom was music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who alleges in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that he was forced to “solicit sex workers and perform sex acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs” from 2022 to 2023. Combs’ legal team denied the allegations and called them “pure fiction”.

What to expect before in the trial

Last week, potential jurors were shown a long list of possible witnesses and people whose names may come up at the trial. It included Kid Cudi, who was named in Ventura’s lawsuit as the target of an alleged arson incident orchestrated by Combs.

Among other testimony expected during the trial, prosecutors told jurors they would hear from another girlfriend of Combs’, referred to as “Jane”. They say Combs forced her to perform in “freak offs,” videotaping the events and then blackmailing her with the videos.

Jurors will also hear from a former employee of Combs, who will testify that her boss “forced himself on to her sexually” on more than one occasion, Johnson said.