Opening statements begin in the racketeering trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

NEW YORK (AP) - Federal prosecutors began trying to prove Monday that Sean "Diddy" Combs turned his hip-hop conglomerate into a racketeering enterprise that forced women to satisfy his sexual desires for two decades.

Testimony in Combs' New York trial began Monday after a final phase of jury selection and opening statements from the lawyers.

Combs, wearing a white sweater and with his formerly jet-black hair now almost completely gray, entered the courtroom shortly before 9 a.m., hugging lawyers and giving a thumbs-up to supporters seated in wooden court benches behind him. Earlier in the morning, a line to get into the courthouse stretched all the way down the block. Combs' mother and some of his children were escorted past the crowd and brought straight into the building.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges including one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian is presiding. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey is the lead prosecutor, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson delivering the opening statement. New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo is leading the defense, with attorney Teny Geragos delivering the opening.

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Second witness describes encounters with Cassie and Combs

After Florez got straight to the allegations of violence by Combs, the second prosecution witness, Daniel Phillip, took the trial to the allegations of sex parties.

Phillip said he was a male stripper for women when he was called by Cassie to meet her and Combs at the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York in 2012.

Phillip said he was paid a few thousand dollars for the encounter in which Combs was wearing a white robe and watching as Phillip had sex with Cassie.

Phillip testified that Combs subsequently hired him on several occasions for a redo of the same experience.

Encouraged by a prosecutor's questions, Phillip got increasingly graphic in descriptions for the jury of the encounters.

Prosecutors show jury several videos related to hotel attack

In all, prosecutors showed the jury two cellphone videos and three hotel surveillance videos related to the attack by Combs on Cassie at the Los Angeles hotel.

Florez testified that he recorded the hotel's video of the attack on his cellphone because he wanted to describe what he saw to his wife and feared she wouldn't believe him.

Video shows attack on Combs' ex-girlfriend at hotel

Jurors were shown video surveillance footage of an attack by Combs on Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016 that prosecutors have maintained is a key piece of evidence in their case against him.

The video depicts Cassie with a bag at the hotel's elevators just before Combs rounds a corner, strikes her and throws her to the ground before kicking her and then dragging her back toward their hotel room.

Witness alleges Combs tried to bribe him to stay quiet

Florez said that when he responded to a call of woman in distress on the sixth floor of a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016, he came across Combs, wearing only a towel and sitting on a chair "slouched down, like with a blank stare … like a devilish stare, just looking at me."

He said he noticed that the hotel's floor display was destroyed and told Combs it'll be charged to the room. As he escorted Cassie and Combs to their room, he said Cassie indicated she wanted to leave and Combs told her: "You're not going to leave." Florez said he told Combs: "If she wants to leave, she's going to leave."

After Cassie left, Florez said, he was getting ready to leave their room when Combs called him back. Florez said he was holding a stack of money with a $100 on top, telling him: "Don't tell nobody."

Florez said he considered it a bribe and told him: "I don't want your money. Just go back into your room."

Prosecutors seek to show jurors recordings from inside hotel

Prosecutors were using the trial's first witness, Israel Florez, a former security officer at a Los Angeles hotel, to introduce recordings of Combs beating his then-girlfriend, the singer Cassie, at the hotel in March 2016.

Defense lawyers had unsuccessfully tried before trial to get the video banned from the trial on the grounds that a recording that aired on CNN last year was unfair because it was edited and incomplete.

Prosecutors say they are not airing the recording that CNN aired. Instead, they plan to show the jury recordings taken within the hotel.

Combs' ex-girlfriend is among the witnesses set to testify

The first witnesses at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial are set to testify after a hourlong lunch break.

The case kicked off Monday with opening statements from a prosecutor and a defense lawyer.

Among the witnesses expected to testify Monday: Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie and a security guard at the Los Angeles hotel where Combs was captured on security video violently assaulting Cassie in a hallway in 2016.

Combs' lawyer: He's charged with the wrong crimes

Combs' defense is taking a novel approach, arguing that the prosecution's evidence might show other crimes he committed - but they're not proof of the sex trafficking and racketeering crimes he's charged with.

Geragos conceded that Combs' violent outbursts might have warranted domestic violence charges. She condemned Combs' actions in the now-infamous security camera recording of him beating then-girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Geragos called the beating "horrible, dehumanizing violence," but argued to jurors that "it is not evidence of sex trafficking. It is evidence of domestic violence."

Geragos: Combs was a swinger, not a trafficker

Combs' sexual habits were part of a swinger lifestyle involving consenting adults, Geragos said.

She acknowledged that some jurors might not condone "his kinky sex and his preferences for sex" but she urged them to judge the case with an open mind.

Those sexual predilections, she said, do not equate to sex trafficking.

Combs' lawyer tells jurors they may think 'he's a jerk'

Geragos conceded Combs is extremely jealous and "has a bad temper," telling jurors that he sometimes got angry when he drank alcohol or "did the wrong drugs."

But "domestic violence is not sex trafficking," she said, and being mean is not running a racketeering enterprise.

Geragos took a relaxed tone, telling jurors they may end up thinking: "I think he's a jerk and I think he's kind of mean." But she said he's not charged "with being mean or a jerk."

She said he is physical and a drug user and has "a bit of a different sex life." She added: "We'll fight for his freedom throughout the next eight weeks."

Defense opens: 'Time to cancel that noise'

"Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money," his attorney began in her opening statement.

Prosecutors, she said, are trying to turn sexual relations between consenting adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case.

"There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year," Geragos told jurors, noting immense news media coverage and social media chatter. "It is time to cancel that noise."

Combs stood solemnly at the defense table, his hands clasped in front of his stomach, as Geragos introduced him to the jury.

During the prosecution's opening, Combs was repeatedly described as "the defendant.” Geragos told jurors that they may know him as "Puff Daddy," or "P. Diddy or "Diddy," but in the courtroom "he's going by the same name he was born with: Sean Combs."

Another woman, another attack

Johnson wrapped up her opening statement by warning jurors they'll see violence for themselves. She said they'll see videos of Cassie and Jane - identified by a pseudonym - as they "pretend they enjoy themselves during Freak Offs and will see Combs "brutally beating Cassie during a Freak Off at an L.A. hotel."

Johnson said Combs also brutally beat Jane when she confronted him last year about enduring years of "Freak Offs" in dark hotel rooms while he took other paramours on date nights and trips around the globe.

Combs chased the woman around a home, kicking in locked doors as she tried to hide from him in bedrooms and a bathroom, and then put her in a chokehold and kicked her to the ground, Johnson said.

Eager to get to another "Freak Off," Combs cursed at the woman and told her she wasn't going to ruin his night, Johnson said.

She said Combs then punched her in the face, kicked her while she was curled up on the ground, dragged her by her hair and slapped her so hard she fell over. Then he demanded that she call an escort, cover up her black eye and ingest ecstasy, the prosecutor told jurors.

"Like with Cassie, the defendant's violence had gotten him what he wanted," Johnson said.

Prosecutor describes a $100,000 payoff to cover up a beating

Johnson told jurors they will hear the lengths that Combs' inner circle went to as they helped him hide the attack on Cassie and get what they thought was the only video recording.

She said a security guard was given a brown paper bag full of $100,000 in cash while Combs' bodyguard and chief of staff stood by.

"This is far from the only time that the defendant's inner circle tried to close ranks and do damage control," Johnson said.

Combs apologized for the hotel assault

Prosecutors plan to show jurors a security camera video of Combs beating Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie in the hotel aired on CNN last year, Combs apologized and said he took "full responsibility" for his actions. "I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now."

Prosecutors won't be showing the CNN video - they've edited their own clips and there is also a recording made by a hotel security employee.

They also may see recordings of events called "Freak Offs," where prosecutors say women had sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed them. The indictment said the events sometimes lasted days and participants required IV-drips to recover.

The R&B singer Cassie is expected to be an early witness

Combs' former girlfriend sued him in 2023 accusing him of subjecting her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled within hours, but touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits from people making similar claims.

Combs sat stone-faced, looking toward Johnson and the jury as the prosecutor described what she said was a pattern of violence, sexual abuse and blackmail.

Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a "Freak Off" without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson said. And he threatened to ruin Cassie's singing career by releasing to the public videos of her engaging in sex with male escorts, the prosecutor said.

"Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy," Johnson said.

Jurors are told to expect details of 'Freak Offs'

Central to Combs' sexual abuse, prosecutors say, were highly orchestrated, drug-fueled sex parties he called "Freak Offs," "Wild King Nights" or "Hotel Nights."

Combs' company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the U.S. and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said.

Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said.

'Crime after crime'

Johnson is going directly to the prosecution's claim that violence was a critical tool for how Combs kept people in line.

She described a moment when he suspected that his longtime girlfriend Cassie, a key witness in the trial, was cheating on him. He said he kidnapped one of his employees to help him find her. And when he found her, she said, he "beat her brutally, kicking her in the back and flinging her around like a rag doll."

Johnson said Combs threatened Cassie that if she defied him again he would release tapes of her having sex with a male escort - "souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life."

That was "just the tip of the iceberg," Johnson said, telling jurors that Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited.

"For 20 years, the defendant, with the help of his trusted inner circle, committed crime after crime. That's why we are here today. That's what this case is about," Johnson said.

Combs is a cultural icon - and a criminal, prosecutor says

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson pointed at Combs as she stood before the jury.

"To the public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Larger than life," Johnson said. "But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise."

"During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes. But he didn't do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and cover them up."

Those crimes, she said, included: Kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction.

The hip-hop icon leaned back in his chair as she spoke.

Standard instructions take added weight in this celebrity trial

The jury and alternates - 12 men and 6 women - are now seated in the courtroom. Openings will start after the judge finishes explaining the law as it relates to this trial, along with incidentals such as that a light breakfast will be provided to them in addition to lunch.

The jury is essentially anonymous, meaning their identities are known to the court and the prosecution and defense, but won't be made public.

"We will keep your names and identities in confidence," Subramanian told jurors.

It's a common practice in federal cases to keep juries anonymous, particularly in sensitive, high-profile matters where juror safety can be a concern. Juror names also were kept from the public in Donald Trump's criminal trial last year in state court in New York.

Subramanian tells jurors to judge the case only based on the evidence presented in court. It's a standard instruction, but carries added significance in this high-profile case, which has been the subject of intense media coverage.

"Anything you've seen or heard outside the courtroom is not evidence," the judge said. "It must be disregarded."

Judge rejects claim of discriminatory jury strikes

The judge rejected the defense's claim that the prosecution's strikes of potential jurors were discriminatory because seven Black individuals were struck from the jury.

The judge said Comey had given "race neutral reasons" to explain each strike and that the defense had failed to show purposeful discrimination.

Some of the reasons why prosecutors said they excluded some potential jurors

Comey said one juror seemed favorably inclined toward 17 people she learned about by watching Combs' TV show "Making the Band," which Comey said will come up during the trial.

She said another claimed he would lose 30% of his income by sitting on the jury, but didn't seem bothered, which "made us worried that he had an agenda and was trying to get on the jury."

Another potential juror, she said, had difficulty speaking English, expressed doubts he could be fair and had a nephew who'd been jailed for shooting at a police officer.

Supreme Court ruled against excluding jurors solely because of their race

In the 1986 Batson v. Kentucky ruling, a Black man was convicted of robbery by an all-white jury after the prosecutor used what are known as peremptory challenges to strike all four prospective Black jurors.

During jury selection, each side is given a limited number of peremptory challenges that allows them to eliminate people from the jury pool without stating a reason.

Since the decision and subsequent rulings that have expanded its scope, the term "Batson challenge" has taken hold to describe an objection raised by one side when it appears the other could be excluding potential jurors based on demographic characteristics, such as race, gender, national origin, religion or sexual orientation.

A jury has been selected in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial

The defense announced its 10 strikes and prosecutors announced their six strikes for the creation of the main panel. Then, they struck jurors from the pool of alternates.

A defense lawyer claimed that prosecutors struck seven Black people from the jury, which he said amounts to a pattern. As a result, Comey gave reasons to explain why prosecutors struck each of the prospective jurors from the jury. She noted that at least one text message to be unveiled during the trial will describe Combs' behavior as "bi-polar or manic."

The witnesses and the evidence:

Without identifying them publicly, prosecutors have said four of Combs' accusers will testify at the trial. The prosecution will be allowed to show the jury security video of Combs beating and kicking one of his accusers, the R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Diddy's attorneys are expected to argue at trial that the government is demonizing and distorting the sexual activity of consenting adults.

About the defense

Combs' team of seven defense attorneys is sitting in two rows, with others behind them. They’re led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who along with his wife Karen Friedman Agnifilo is also defending Luigi Mangione, the man accused of the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

About the prosecution

The team has consisted of eight assistant U.S. attorneys, seven of them women.

The prosecutor who will deliver an opening statement is Emily Johnson. Leading the team is Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She was among the prosecutors in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

The judge warned a Mark Geragos, a lawyer for the music mogul, to tame his public comments last week, saying it was "outrageous" that he referred to prosecutors during a podcast as a "six-pack of white women."

About the judge

Subramanian is a Columbia Law School graduate and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and was appointed a federal judge by President Joe Biden in 2022.

Proceedings beginning with final stage of jury selection

This is when lawyers on both sides can strike several jurors from the panel.

For this trial, defense lawyers are allowed to eliminate 10 individuals and prosecutors can dismiss six to create a panel of 12 jurors. Each side is allowed to eliminate another three jurors from the group of six alternates. They don't have to explain their reasons unless the opposing lawyers claim they were striking jurors from the panel for inappropriate reasons, such as race.

This phase of jury selection usually takes less than an hour. One of Combs' lawyers claimed on Friday that it could be finished in 10 to 15 minutes. The lawyers are working from a panel of about 45 prospective jurors.

Combs gives a thumbs-up

Sean "Diddy" Combs entered the courtroom shortly before 9 a.m., hugging his lawyers and giving a thumbs-up to spectators who will sit on benches behind the well of the courtroom. The audience includes his mother and at least four of his children.

About the courthouse

Subramanian is presiding over the trial at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan, blocks from City Hall and overlooking the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The courthouse, opened in the mid-1990s, is next to the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, which was built in the 1930s.

Most of the federal judges work out of the newer courthouse. The older one, which was refurbished in the early 2000s, houses the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals and several district court judges have their chambers and courtrooms there as well.

The courtroom only seats about 100 people

And journalists probably get two to three dozen. So most of the people in line will end up in overflow rooms.

This courtroom is one of the larger venues in the courthouse that are used for the biggest trials, including when Donald Trump came early last year for E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. The line to get in stretched all the way down the block. One line-sitter was trying to sell his spot for $300 after holding his place overnight.

After a final phase of jury selection in the morning, federal prosecutors will begin trying to prove that Combs turned his hip-hop conglomerate into a racketeering enterprise that forced women to satisfy his sexual desires. Combs has pleaded not guilty.

Inside the Brooklyn federal jail where Sean 'Diddy' Combs is locked up: Violence, squalor and death

As they unsuccessfully fought to keep Combs out of jail after his sex trafficking arrest last year, the music mogul's lawyers highlighted a litany of horrors at the Brooklyn federal lockup where he was headed: horrific conditions, rampant violence and multiple deaths.

Combs was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn - a place that's been described as "hell on earth" and an "ongoing tragedy."

The facility, the only federal jail in New York City, has been plagued by problems since it opened in the 1990s. In recent years, its conditions have been so stark that some judges have refused to send people there. It has also been home to a number of high-profile inmates, including R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.

Diddy tried to obstruct justice from jail, prosecutors argued

In November, prosecutors claimed that Combs had tried to reach out to prospective witnesses and influence public opinion from jail in a bid to affect potential jurors ahead of the trial.

The accusations were made as the government opposed a bail proposal for the music mogul.

Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded jail calls made by Combs showed he asked family members to reach out to potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create "narratives" to influence the jury pool. They said he also encouraged marketing strategies to sway public opinion.

An attorney for Combs, Anthony Ricco, argued in a hearing that the prosecution's portrayal of Combs as "a lawless person who doesn't follow instructions" or "an out-of-control individual who has to be detained" was inaccurate.

Subramanian denied the bail application, saying evidence showed Combs to be a "serious risk of witness tampering."

The stories behind all of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' name changes

In the criminal indictment for the sex trafficking trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs, the document lists many of the hip-hop mogul's aliases.

Most people, especially music fans, probably already know them.

From "Puff Daddy" to "P. Diddy" and even the obscure "Brother Love," Combs has had many self-appointed names during his career.

What will become of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' musical legacy?

Combs is widely recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop, but his indictment further clouds his legacy. For some, it may change their relationship to his music.

Some experts believe the severity of the alleged crimes may tarnish his career moving forward.

"The chance to just be looked at strictly in musical terms, and that being the defining part of his legacy, is pretty much gone," says Peter A. Berry, a music journalist with work in XXL and Complex.

"You can't look at Diddy's music in a vacuum the same way you did before," he says.

Berry views Combs' indictment as "a continuation of a reckoning for the rap world," which includes sexual misconduct allegations leveled at Russell Simmons by multiple women, as well as R&B-singer R Kelly, who is serving a 30-year prison sentence for using his fame to sexually abuse young fans, including some who were just children, in a systematic scheme that went on for decades.

Key things to know about this trial

Sean "Diddy" Combs was arrested in September 2024 in New York after being indicted by a federal grand jury on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

The arrest followed a monthslong investigation and after a flurry of women came forward with allegations of sexual and other abuse.

Combs has been held in a federal jail in Brooklyn while awaiting his trial.

If convicted on all charges - which also include transporting people across state lines to engage in prostitution - Combs faces a possible sentence of decades in prison.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Combs has acknowledged one episode of violence - the caught-on-camera beating of his former girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie - his lawyers say other allegations are false.