May 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Another victim in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial referred to by a pseudonym, “Mia,” former personal assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ and an executive at his film studio, Revolt TV, testifies Combs allegedly sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions.
Mia states he could become violent, once slamming her into a wall and, on another occasion, throwing her into a pool. She once worked five days straight without sleep and used the drug Adderall to stay awake. "Mia" was not allowed to lock her bedroom door when staying at Combs' and could not leave his sight.
She recalls a confrontation in 2012 when she and Cassie Ventura were barricaded in a beachside room, hiding from an enraged Combs during a vacation in Turks and Caicos, they push furniture against the door to block Combs from entering.
"I was looking at Cass and she was screaming for help and, 'You have to help me, Puff is going to kill me,'" "Mia" recalls. "She is usually chill and calm, and she was terrified."
"Mia and Cassie dash out a back door to the beach and out to a paddle board, fleeing into the water, however weather shifted drastically, sky turned black. We were both debating. I was trying to weigh if it was scarier to face Mother Nature or go back to Puff. We eventually went back to Puff."
In cross-examination, defense Brian Steel questions Mia on her social media posts with Combs and on her communications with him in which she said, “love you” and praised him as a “mentor and inspiration She said there were exciting times in the job and the “highs were really high, and the lows were really low.”
Follow Crime Stories with Nancy Grace for the latest in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
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Troy Slaten - Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, Slaten Lawyers, APC; X @TroySlaten
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Dr. Bethany Marshall- Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive
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Brian Fitzgibbons - Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons; Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security, former Marine and Iraq war veteran
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Irv Brandt - Former Senior Inspector, US Marshals Service International Investigations Branch, Chief Inspector, DOJ Office of International Affairs; Country Attache, US Embassy Kingston, Jamaica. Author: “SOLO SHOT: CURSE OF THE BLUE STONE” available on Amazon, also “Forever Solo: Knight of the Dragon” also “Flying Solo: Top of the World”, “Solo Journey: Buddha Knights a Jack Solo Mystery Novel:, “Going Solo: The Gospel of Luke” Twitter: @JackSoloAuthor”
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Lynn Shaw - Founder and Executive Director of Lynn's Warriors, an organization committed to ending human trafficking and sexual exploitation; Host of Lynn's Warriors on YouTube, X: @lynns_warriors, YouTube: @LynnsWarriors
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Kayla Brantley - Reporter-At-Large for DailyMail.com and Host of DailyMail’s podcast: 'The Trial of Diddy;' X: @_KaylaBrantley, Instagram: @KaylaBrantley
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Lauren Conlin - Podcaster, Reporter, Host- Co-Host of "PopCrimeTV" on YouTube, website: primetimecrimeshow.com; X- @Conlin_Lauren, IG: @LaurenEmilyConlin, YouTube: @PopCrimeTV
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Sydney Sumner - Crime Stories Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We learn that Sean Combs
Ditty's sex victims enduring so much paddle board out into
the ocean during a storm to escape further beatings and
(00:22):
rapes from Sean Combs, and they can see him at
a distance, pacing back and forth and back and forth
like a tiger on the beach. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Didty was menacing, threatening, intimidating.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Because of a power need, three guns across his lap.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
He gets angry and says, quote, I should kill you, and.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
He told his manager, I don't like this back and forth.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I prefer guns.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Because that's what criminal enterprise bosses do.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
He needs to go under the jail, joining me in
all Star panel to make sense of what we are learning.
As the testimony pours from the witness stand. That's right,
Sean Comb's aka Ditty aka Puff aka Puff Daddy aka
Love It goes on and on in court battling a
multi count federal indamond, including claims charges of sex trafficking.
(01:21):
Bombshells pouring from the witness stand on the stand right
now known only as Mia. Her passport has been shown
to the jury, so they know her real name, but
she is in such fear she doesn't want her name
out there. No one else is allowed to say her
name straight out to Kila Brantley joining us investigative reporter
(01:46):
reporter at large dailymail dot com. She is the host
of the wildly popular Daily Mail podcast The Trial of
Ditty Kella. Thank you for being with us. What do
you make of MIA's testimony today? Yeah, thank you for
having me, Nancy. So, Mia has taken the stand.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
We know that she was his assistant, working for him
from twenty nine to twenty seventeen. And one of the
most shocking things I think that she said was that
he sexually assaulted her multiple times. And not only that,
is that it was very sporadic. There wasn't any you know,
rhythm to when he would come and you know, sexually
assault her. But she really described some awful, awful behavior,
(02:28):
described a toxic work environment, and she had to stay
awake for five days at a time, was not allowed
to sleep, had to be on call twenty four to seven,
and wasn't even allowed to lock her bedroom door.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, hold on, I want to follow up on that.
Sidney Sumner joining US Crime Stories investigative reporter who has
been covering the child since the very beginning and before Sydney.
I want to follow up on what Cala Brantley from
Daily mil just said. So Diddy and his mansions would
not allow women to lock the door.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Explain what he had testified to was that employees were
not allowed to leave his property without his express permission,
so they frequently stayed in staff quarters at his mansions,
whether it be in La or Miami, and Colmes always
instructed them to not lock the doors because it was
(03:25):
his house. He was like, you cannot lock a door
in my own home.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
You know, I want to go to doctor Bethany Marshall
joining US. I need a shrink big time. Doctor Bethany
Marshall renounced Psychoanalysts, joining us out of LA. She's the
author of deal Breakers. You can find out on Amazon.
She is starring on Peacock right now. She's at doctor
Bethanymarshall dot com. And I heard Sidney Sumner reporting and
(03:50):
Kila Brantley reporting about how he refused to let females
and female staffers Cassie included lock their bedroom doors in
his mansion. Can you imagine After Mia was allegedly raped
the first time, she kept working there and was not
(04:13):
allowed to lock her door and just lay there in
terror at.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Nine you know, Nancy. She also was never allowed out
of his eyesight. She wasn't allowed to sleep. One time
she was on her mestraal cycle and blood was dripping
down her leg and he would not even let her
go to the bathroom.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
So basically he set the stage for like a total
raping environment by not letting them lock their doors and
so sadly, in MIA's testimony, she goes through all the
things she told herself to rationalize and justify the abuse
because she was so young, just a very young woman.
(04:49):
She thought that maybe she was being tested for whether
or not she would be a good assistant, or maybe
p did he didn't really mean to rape her, or
maybe he didn't remember it or even know that he
raped her because he had had so much to drink,
and on one occasion, his fortieth birthday party, he supplied
her with two shots of alcohol, asked everybody else to.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Leave the room.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I believe they were in the kitchen. She drank the
two shots, felt woozy, woke up in his bed and
realized that she had been raped. So this, to me,
it's not even just sexual assault. This is just plain
old slavery, Nancy. These people are enslaved in his house,
They're not allowed to shut their doors, and each rape
(05:33):
is one more attempt at dominance and control over them.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, Dr Bethany, you said something that I think
a lot of people that haven't studied it or haven't
been victims themselves. It's hard to understand, and there's no
reason they should understand. I'm glad they don't understand, because
if they did, that might mean that violent crime has
touched their lives. But rape victims think, oh did I
(06:00):
encourage that was? Did? Is that my fault? Did I
flirt with him? Did he misread what I said? Or oh,
he's drunk. We already see Shawn Combs. Did he claiming
he's bipolar? That's new, Nobody heard that before that. He
had substance abuse problems, drugs, alcohol that made him act out,
(06:22):
in other words, rape and beat people. Did she think, oh, Okay,
he's drunk, He's not going to do that again. I'm
just not going to say anything. I'll lose my job,
I'll be blackballed. They rationalize what happened, and I think
part of it and I'm not a shrink. You're the
shrink is because they don't want to admit to themselves.
I was just raped. Killa Brantley joining us from Daily Mail.
(06:42):
She's the star of podcast the Trial of Did He Kla?
You just heard doctor Bethany describing what I think was
MIA's first rape, alleged rape by Shawn Combs. What was
her exact position. I've heard her described as being and assistant,
but she had a lot of duties as just a
(07:05):
measly assistant.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Oh, absolutely, Nancy, I mean you talk about a toxic workplace,
this is completely next level. One of her tasks, she said,
was to crack Sean Combs's knuckles if he was writing
too much, and it was anything from doing that.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Oh, I hold on, Caleb Brantley White, there must be
something wrong with my earpace, because I swear I think
you just said one of her jobs is to crack
Sean comes knuckles for him, and that can't possibly be right. Okay,
what did you say?
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Yes, so her job was to crack his knuckles for him,
as if he couldn't do it.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Himself.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
But another one that was really disturbing was that she
would have to clean up after what she described as
a nightmare freak off.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
So you can only.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Imagine what the hotel room, what the bedroom looked like,
and before the cleaners came in and then potentially you know,
saw things that they shouldn't have and then reported that
back to the papers. She would have to go in
and clean up what she said was oils, stains, blood
even and so as an assistant, it ranged from you know,
(08:12):
small tasks to huge ones to things that you wouldn't
even think of.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Well, you're right, Caleb Brantley, I would never have thought
that King Colmb's had a nail, had a knuckle cracker.
That's new, okay, And I want to thank you for
putting that mental image up here, okay, because that's never
going to go away. Just like that video that we
dug up of him getting a facial, He's got all
(08:39):
these people working on his body, facial, the arms, the legs,
getting his feet done. To me, it looked like he
was getting facial on his feet. So now he has
a royal knuckle cracker. Okay. That said Simmy Summer joining
me Crime Stories investigative reporter. I know that she's titled
(09:00):
as an assistant, but she had some pretty heavy duty
responsibilities in addition to all that knuckle cracking. All of
comes as social media presence. That's a lot liaison with
Hollywood daily routine, keeping him on schedule, protect him at
all times in all caps, staying in his eyesight. What what?
Speaker 6 (09:26):
Yeah, that's a very odd requirement, but that was something
that Comb's demanded. If Mia was not in his eyesight
while she was working, he apparently had no idea what
she was doing. So that list that you're reading came
from when Combe's aingerly question, what do you do all day?
(09:46):
So she wrote to another employee, here are all the
things that I do. I'm with him from the moment
he wakes up till the moment he falls asleep and
doing a billion tasks at one time. I do one
thing and then he yelled at me that I'm not
doing another while I'm doing something else. So this was
kind of a be all the things that I do
(10:08):
every single day, it's a lot. I'm not doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Also, I say that one of her duties caler Brantley
was anticipating his needs, whims and moods. That's still what
does that mean?
Speaker 5 (10:22):
You talk about horrible bosses and micromanaging. This is completely
on a whole other level. So anticipating his needs is
basically asking her to be a mind reader and to
know what he wants, and to really know him so
well and so intimately that she can just anticipate anything
that he could possibly want to really try to keep
(10:43):
herself safe and keep him from blowing up.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Her real title, as I understand it, Kili Brantley is
with Revolt Films Director of Development and Acquisition.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Yeah, she held that position at Revolt TV, which of
course was Ditty's company, but clearly her duties went far
beyond that, and far beyond that of a personal assistant.
I honestly don't know what job would have stay in
someone's eyesight as a as a duty.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Straight out to the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan, standing by
investigative reporter Lauren Column, star of Pop Crime TV, Lauren,
what happened in court today?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yes, Mia, who is Ditty's former assistant and a director
of development at Revolt TV, also Cassie's very good friend.
She said they were like sisters and they still are.
She finished her direct testimony today and then we started
the cross examination with Brian Steele. What she said towards
(11:44):
the end of her testimony I thought.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Was really really chilling.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
She described, after Cassie's twenty twenty three lawsuit dropped, she
started getting text messages from Ditty's former security d Rock. Now,
she testified that Dee Rock didn't work for Ditty in
twenty twenty three anymore, but she knew that he had
landed in Miami and said that he was going to
take care of something in Miami that was pertaining to
(12:11):
Ditty's son. So again this is a few days after
cassie lawsuit dropped, he called Mia. He said he wanted
to talk to her. Said, oh, you know, this stuff
with Puff is crazy. Cassie and Puff were just fought
like a regular couple. And Mia described being very alarmed
because she thought to herself, look, I want no part
of this. And she was confused. She said, you know,
(12:34):
dee Rock was there. He witnessed a lot of this.
So Dee Rock tried multiple times to get in touch
with her. And then during Brian Steele's cross examination, he
started by giving or the defense started by giving the
jury binders and Inside those those binders were social media posts,
various social media posts from Mia throughout the years, you know,
(12:55):
thanking him for everything, calling him her best friend. And
then Mia would respond by saying, yeah, I you know,
that's kind of saying that's trauma. And it was clear
to me that she had been through therapy because she
referenced her therapist, she referenced being a survivor, and she
would say things like, you know, I will leave this
up to the experts. Additionally, they pointed out some birthday
(13:18):
posts that she made for Diddy, and the birthday was
significant November fourth, because she told us during her direct testimony,
this was one of the first times that he had
allegedly sexually assaulted her. So Brian Steele kept bringing up, well,
this was a really significant day for you in terms
of trauma, but you continue to post year after year
(13:39):
these loving birthday messages, you know, even though this day
doesn't really signify anything great that happened to you. So
that was the extent of what we saw today. And
I believe her cross examination may go until Monday.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
And Lauren Conlin, they have saved Brian's steel for the
cross examination of a very important win is Mia not
her real name on the stand. Tell me about his
demeanor as he cross examined Maya today.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yes, Steele, he has great pacing. He continues to move
things along. He's very polite to the judge and and
with and he's always polite to the judge by the way,
I think he's one of the most well spoken defense
attorneys that I've seen in a very long time. Sorry,
you know what, I'm sorry I said that that was
kind of rude to the other ones.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I'm sorry, I.
Speaker 8 (14:33):
Didn't mean that.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
You'll probably cut that, Okay, yes, thank you.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
Let me think.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Brian Steel's demeanor towards Mia is stern, but definitely not
even close to badgering. He's really just reiterating what we
are seeing and a lot of these images, and he's
having her read her own words, and it seems like
he's just trying to understand where or what her mindset
(15:03):
was when she was posting these posts, and you know,
when she was saying that she loved him but also
felt traumatized by him, and by the way, MEA's response
to a lot of that also was the fact that
we're seeing these pictures on Instagram and Instagram at one
point was a place really where everybody seemed to lie
(15:23):
about their life, wanted everyone to think that their life
was so great. And I think a lot of people
could could relate to that. But overall, Brian Steele, I
think he's doing a good job. Again, He's definitely got
to be careful. I think that there's a very fine
line that he really can't cross so he doesn't come
off as insensitive to the jury or he doesn't come
(15:45):
off as a bully. So he's got to be careful.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
But so far, so good. He always has somebody else
do his dirty work. He has his minions do everything.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
They've been known as dirty did He disciples. I am
not kidding when I use dirty Diddy.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
They order their little minions to do what they want,
and it's his power that controlled them.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
They are terrified of him.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Because of intimidation, because of a power need. We are
learning from the witness stand today. Mia not her real name,
on the stand describing an incident where she had another
victim go out on a paddle board a peddle board
out into the ocean in a storm to escape fur
(16:32):
their beatings and rapes. When Sean comes, as he paces
the beach and they can see him like a tiger
waiting on them to come back. Before I get to that,
I want to go to Brian Fitzgibbons, Special Guests joining
US Director of Operations usp A nationwide Security. He leads
a team of investigators. You can find him at uspasecurity
(16:53):
dot com. Brian, I want to talk to you about
as I'm calling them, minions. All right now, Shortly we're
going to hear from Troy Slayton, veteran defense attorney, and
he's going to try to tear down everything you and
I are about to say, just like Shawan Combs's defense
is going to do. But Brian, minions, it's important. It's
(17:15):
important everything that Mia is saying that she was forced
to do or coerced to do. At one point somebody
asked her on the stand, well why didn't you say no?
She said, I was afraid to say no about making
him a sandwich, much less argue with him about a
rape or anything else he told me to do. I mean,
come on, talk about Mina's He even had a royal
(17:38):
knuckle cracker. As that said, fitz Gibbons, think about it.
The reason the menings aren't important is because they did
his bidding and he was their boss. He ran bad
Boy Records enterprises, and he used his employees to commit crimes.
Specifically with you, I'm talking about Frank Black, a pseudonym,
(18:01):
a fake name that comes with forces employees to go
get there's one of them right there, prescriptions under fake names.
That's a crime, and he used his employee to do.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
It, absolutely, Nancy. And what you're seeing here is the
scope of this investigation and the scale of the number
of people within Ditty's organization that they're bringing up onto
the stand, and it's painting a picture and laying a
foundation for the jury for this racketeering conspiracy charge. So
(18:34):
you're seeing what's delegated, What activities are these folks are
carrying out on Ditty's behalf, and the fear that they
have should they not carry this out.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
These orders out to his specifications. Caleb Brantley joining us
from DLA Mail, star of the Trial of Ditty podcast.
I've learned well, I've her reports that Capricorn Clark was
shredded on Cross because at one point, after all the abuse,
(19:07):
she went back and tried to get her job back.
Now I've learned that she is the mom of an
autistic teen boy that has to have special schools and
has to have around the clock care. If she's not there,
that ain't gonna pay for itself.
Speaker 8 (19:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
She needed that job. She needed not to be blackballed
in the industry, exactly.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And that's exactly what we're hearing from Mia is that
she felt that Ditty's quote authority was above the police.
And like you said, Capricorn, Clark was a working mom.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
She needed this job.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
If you're black bed in the industry by someone as
powerful as Ditty, you will never find a job in
Hollywood again. And what I think is really interesting Cassie
was asked this, a previous assistant was asked this, and
I believe Deontay Nash said this on the stand, is
that none of them hate Diddy, that they don't have
any hate for him. And I think what that is
(20:06):
a testament to is kind of you know, I'm no psychologist,
but that Stockholm syndrome feeling that even though someone may.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Have what you're so kind and gracious, it's I don't
hate Diddy. I hold him in high regard in case
he gets out of jail. Yeah, exactly right, It's to
saying I'm here under subpoena. I don't want to testify
against you. Man. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a founder
(20:41):
and director of Len's Warriors, committed to ending sex trafficking
and abuse of girls and women. You know, this story
is as old as time. Women who are willing to
do anything, put up with anything to support their child,
to hold onto their house, else to hold onto their job.
(21:02):
I mean the way they cross examined Capricorn Clark, and
I dread, you know, I've been dreading throughout the day.
I dreaded when Mia would be subjected to cross exam,
which you know happened. But Capricorn Clark was cross exammed
over Well, you went back, You crawled back and try
to get a job, didn't you. They didn't mention anything
(21:26):
about her having to support her autistic son, about the
around the clock care that requires while she's at work.
I mean, that's a whole job in itself. You know,
my ninety three year old mom lives with me, and
when I'm at work, somebody's with her, and I'm constantly
juggling who's going to be here, Who's going to take
care of mom? Right, She's got a young teen boy
(21:49):
that she has to support. She would do anything, Lynn, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Moms will do anything to put food on the table,
to get medical care for their kids, to take care
of their We have to remember the public has to
be educated. That's why I'm so happy we are actually
talking about these issues in the media in the public. Nancy,
you know, when it comes down to being desperate and
really desperate and also being part of I'm going to
(22:15):
use the word brainwashed. When you've been involved in something
like this, you will do anything, and if you don't
have a job, you will go back to that job,
even if it's abusive. We deal with the warriors with
stories like this all the time. The women don't have
anywhere to go, they go back to that abuser. But
I really want to get real here about Triple D.
I like to call him dirty Diddy, degenerate, I'm I'm
(22:38):
you know, he's he has a lot of characteristics of
a pimp, of a trafficker. Force brought coercion is the
definition of human trafficking. So he's got sex trafficking charges.
But I'm hearing about it's like forced labor, forced into sex.
So I'm hoping, I'm praying because my heart is aching
hearing about me today and what she's gone through.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
I have heard this story a thousand.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Plus times, Okay, that this can really be laying the
groundwork for a criminal enterprise, and that those sex trafficking
charges can stick. We need accountability and this monster must
be held accountable.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
To doctor Bethany Marshall, doctor Bethany Mia, not her real name,
I believe, was very meek and mild on the stand
and I could see her not fighting back and rationalizing
and staying in during three rapes, thinking she was going
to get black balled in the business and she'd never
(23:36):
work again. That whole thing. It's so common, and each
one of these women that we're hearing from had a
lot to lose. Cassie Ventira had her whole career. She
wanted to be a star, a singer, and she's talented,
regardless of what everybody else is saying about her. You
have Capricorn Clark, who needed to support that son. Now
(23:58):
you've got Mia starting her job right, starting out in
the business. She thinks she's got the big break. They
all had so much to lose if they crossed Combes.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
They had so much to lose because they needed the jobs,
and they also knew that he was going to blackball
them if they ever tried to leave. They tried to
get positive job recommendations, he would get give them. So
he was also a stalker. You can't get away from
a stalker like this. And Nancy the fact that Capricorn
had this autistic son who needed full time care. This
(24:31):
is the sex traffickers reson to et. This is what
they do is they choose victims where there is a
power differential, single moms, disadvantaged youth, people are trying to
go over state lines.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Shawn comes on trial and the Monahana Courthouse, the federal
Courthouse in Manhattan, facing a slew of charges in a
multicount federal indictment. Can he persuade a jury the way
he's persuaded so many others to do his bidding, including police.
I'm sorry to say. Another incident regarding Mia, and remember
(25:10):
part of the significance of her testimony is that she
bolsters Cassie Ventura, victim number one that cried this case
wide open listen.
Speaker 9 (25:18):
Mia describes another violent incident between the couple on a
trip to Turks and Caicos. Cassie burst into the room
where Mia was sleeping, terrified and screaming that Combs was
going to kill her. The women piled furniture in front
of the door before running out through the back patio
and down to the beach. Cassie and Mia took paddleboards
out into the ocean to escape. Combs ran back and
(25:38):
forth on the beach, screaming at them as a storm
rolled in, and the women tried to decide if they
wanted to face some other nature or seawan.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Comb's, Shawn comes or death. Kileb Brantley dealing Mia what happened?
Speaker 5 (25:51):
Yeah, well you heard there. They were on a trip
to Turks and Kko's in twenty twelve, and Mia testified
that Cassie came into the room woke her up, running
and screaming, asking for help and saying that Diddy was
going to kill her. And what was interesting is that
she said, typically Cassie was always calm, cool and collected,
and she was really shocked to see her like this
(26:12):
in such a state of panic and really with fear
in her eyes. So, as you said, you know, they
escaped on a paddle board and really chose mother nature.
A storm was rolling in over going back to the
beach and facing Ditty. Eventually they did end up going
back to the beach.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
So Cidi Cumner joining US Crime Stories investigative reporter. What
more do we know about that incident? The two women
going out in a storm on a paddle boat turks
and kekos and that water there. I've dived there and
(26:48):
the beach starts like this before I had the twins,
by the way, the beach starts off like that, then
it drops down. You can see it in the daytime
turn really dark blue very quickly. They were out in
that deep water in a storm at night to get
(27:08):
away from Sean Combs.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Yes, they were so terrified. Mia, taking Pathy's demeanor the
level of fear she should feel that they stood out
on that water on those power boards for god knows
how long, debating whether or not it was worth just
(27:30):
sitting through that storm or going back to the beach
to face Sean Combs.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Again, joining me and all star pal and I want
to go straight now brace yourselves to a veteran defense
attorneys Troy Slayton. He is based in la at Slayton Lawyers. Troy,
thank you for being with us. Mia did an amazing
job on direct But then we've seen a lot of
(28:00):
the defense team up there. They bring in Brian Steele
to do her cross Let me tell you what I
know about Steel. He's very likable. I bet you thought
I was going to say something else. Steele is very,
very likable. I've seen him use as I call it,
the Andy of Maybury cross examination approach, which when you've
(28:23):
got a witness it's not going to be a hostile witness,
as that's a term of art under the law. When
a witness will not respond to your questions, you can
I sugjudge to declare the witness hostile witness, and you
can then cross examine your own witness if you have to.
I've seen him be very okay harsh on cross so
(28:47):
he's got me on the stand. This is what else
I know about Steel. He's very likable, likable to the
other members of the defense bar and to prosecutors. He's
always prepared, because there's a big difference Troy, as you know,
I know all about you. You're always prepared in court.
But there's a big difference in someone that's gregarious and
(29:09):
has this big personality that doesn't prepare right like Johnny Cochrane,
my old co anchor. He could carry the day in
a court just on his personality. And he wasn't grandiose.
He was just likable. He really was likable. Same thing
with Steel. I know he's a teetotaler, always been devoted
(29:30):
to his wife. Doesn't cheat that I know of anyway.
He drinks practically nothing but water.
Speaker 8 (29:39):
I know that.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I'm pretty sure I've seen him do this in the courthouse.
That he usually brings his own lunch, like he makes
a sandwich. Anyway. Those are just some tidbits that I
know about him. I'm pretty sure about the sandwich. Can't
swear to it. The rest I know. So is a
veteran trial lawyer, got a great reputation. I think you
(30:05):
just got young thug off that said, why have they
reserved steel for MIA's cross? Don't fight with me, I
need your insight. Why have they saved Steel for? I mean,
he's done other things. But they need a special touch
to cross examine Nia. This can go horribly wrong for them, Nancy.
Speaker 10 (30:26):
A case can be won or lost on cross examination,
And when you have a witness that is as sympathetic
as Mia is, you can't go in with the hard,
charging cross, trying to discredit her at every step, because
then you will lose the white hat in front of
the jury. You need the jury to like you as
(30:48):
an attorney, to believe you. And so here he has
to walk a very fine tightrope and just try and
be her friend and point out things, get her to
start agreeing with the narrative that he is going to present,
get her to start nodding yes the things that he said, Like,
(31:09):
you know, you liked there were other times that you
liked working for Diddy. There were times that you enjoyed
some of the benefits that came with working with all
that lavishness, all that money. You enjoyed living in the
mansion and being able to ride in the fancy cars
and go on the yachts and take trips all over
(31:30):
the world. There were benefits to that, and you never
went to the police department. You had an opportunity in
twenty ee.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You're saying that, well, to take the fancy trips and
drive around in the fancy car, it was worth getting
raped three times. Is that what you're saying, because it
sounds absolutely not.
Speaker 10 (31:47):
But what he's going to do is say that there
was a lot of great things that happened. There was
a lot of good things that happened during her employment,
and maybe those good things in her mind and outweighed
the bad. For example, and the the analogy that I
was thinking about as you were talking earlier was Harvey Weinstein.
(32:08):
There were women that were willing to sell their bodies
in order to get a role on a TV show
or a movie. And they, in their mind thought, you're.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Digging really deeply. I just got to ask you a question.
Do you hate yourself?
Speaker 10 (32:24):
Do I hate myself?
Speaker 6 (32:25):
No?
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Hear all that. You're just like, ah, it's great, my
tongue off is so tastes bad in my mouth. So
they're willing to sell their soul to what drive around
and Diddy's su They are you kidding? To go to
a white party or the freak Freakov goes on upstairs.
They get to go by Diddy's baby oil, oh joy.
Speaker 10 (32:49):
There was a million opportunities to do other things, to
work for other employers, to have other jobs to do.
This wasn't the only employer in the entire world.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And you're saying the same thing that rape apologists always say,
doctor Mathey. No, look, Nancy, Everything that He's gonna let
Bethany talk. Okay, Bethany hit it before survival.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
The reason they don't leave is that the survival instinct
is stronger than any other drive we have, and when
you believe you are going to be killed, you will
not leave a perpetrator. Also, domestic abuse is a crisis
of boundaries, meaning the victim often blames themselves for the
aggression of the perpetrator. So there's this confusion about well, is.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
It your fault? Is it my fault?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
And then everything becomes calamitous and breaks out into terror
like when they were out, you know, paddleboarding into a storm.
And that also when the amigdala is very activated, when
the fight and flight is activated, you can't think. When
we are anxious, we cannot think. So their capacity to
even strategize in a basic way was compromised.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Mia not her real name under cross examination on the
Standard Crime Stories with Nancy Grace straight out to Special
Guests joining US RV. Brandt, former Senior inspector with the
(34:26):
US Marshall Service. He has traveled around the world hunting
down the bad guys with the doj Atsha two embassies
around the world, and he's the author of a series
of Jack solo mysteries. Wow, I wonder who they're patterned
after on Amazon or brand. Thank you for being with us.
(34:47):
Do you ever get just exhausted hearing what victims endure
in this case rape working on godly hours? As a
matter of fact, I want you to hear this about
Mia getting her arm slammed in a door allegedly by
comes Colmbs.
Speaker 11 (35:06):
Wasn't just violent with Cassie. Mia describes an incident at
the Revolt production office when Combs asked to borrow her phone,
then ran off with it. Mia chased Combs and tried
to snatch it back, so he ran into a restroom.
MIA's arm was in the door, but Combs continued to
slam the door shut so hard. Mia thought her arm
was broken. When Combs finally came back out, he told
(35:29):
her he sent himself her compromising photos, so he had
something on her in case she had something on him.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
It's like he's got something on everybody. Do you ever
get tired? It's like second verse same as the first,
and Mia has been on the stand on a cross
exam all afternoon.
Speaker 12 (35:48):
Yes, Nancy, it is exhausting, and it's because my adult
life in law enforcement. I have the investigated cases like these,
just countless cases like these, and it's all the same.
He is a pimp and this is what pimps do.
They destroy people psychologically to keep control of them. And
(36:11):
I'm sure Lynnshaw and doctor Bethan he can talk more
on that subject, more of an expert than I am.
But I've seen it, and I've interviewed these victims countless times,
and we've gone to trial countless times, and it's all
the same. And people like him, the pimps, they punish
(36:33):
the people to keep them in line. I've heard pimps
talk about working their girls and they would and they
would intentionally put them out on the street in the rain,
in the cold, just to teach them a lesson. And
this is what they do and he is no different.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
I don't like anything you're saying. I hate everything you
just said, although our rant sadly it's all true. And
now I know where we get special trial advice from?
Who else? Shoug Night the convicted killer. Listen.
Speaker 8 (37:09):
I feel if he guilt till his truth, he really
would walk. If propably go out there and say, hey,
I wouldn't you know, I wouldn't control of my life
at the tiller or I shall not from.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
My friends at CNN. I feel like if he tells
the truth, he really would walk. Obviously he's not been
following the trial. If Puffy goes up there and says, hey,
I did all the drugs, I wasn't in control of
my life at the time, or myself. Troy Slayton from
the Expert trial advice from sug Not who's behind bars
(37:40):
for murder. His trial strategy didn't work out that well
for him. If Coms tries to say, when I commit
when I committed all these acts, I was high on
drugs or alcohol, that's not a defense under the law.
Speaker 10 (37:54):
No, that's not going to do it. But what we'll
do it for his defense attorneys is showing that all
of these things were just if they were done, they
were acts of an eccentric rock star, an eccentric billionaire,
but they were not all related to a criminal.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
They were not related to Shorn. He didn't rape anybody,
he didn't beat anybody. He's just eccentric. Did I hear that? Okay,
you said that. You just said that you're going to
expe away all of these felies by climbing. He's eccentric.
Speaker 10 (38:29):
Look, he may have done these things, but he hasn't
been charged. He wasn't charged with rape. He wasn't charged
with He was charged with sex trafficking, but he was
not charged with rape. He was not charged.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
You say tomato, I say tomato. Paddle was going to
do backflip.
Speaker 10 (38:50):
He was in charge with the battery of smashing someone's
arm in the door. All of these things have to
relate the do your bidding in order to advance him.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
She didn't bit his bidding, she didn't want her arm broken.
Speaker 10 (39:05):
How does that advance his business interests? That they haven't
tied that bow together yet, So I think all court
watchers are trying to watch and see how they tie
together all these disparate acts to show that it was
advancing his business.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Okay, listen to more trial advice from convicted killer sitting
behind bars. Should Knight he.
Speaker 8 (39:28):
Can humanize his old self in a jury magula shot,
but if they keep down, it's like he's scared to
face the music.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Now from my friends at CNN. Of course, there's a
fifth Amendment. He doesn't have to take the stand, but
I will say this, should Knight's write about this. Should
Knight very talented, still a convicted killer. He looks like
he's scared to face the music if he doesn't testify. Okay,
Lynn Shaw, did you just hear veteran trial lawyer Chroice
(39:57):
Layton refer to times his behavior as just eccentric.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I'm almost silent, but I'm never a silent person because
I can't believe what I had to hear. I'm going
to say this. This is the problem we have here
with a lot of lawyers with these cases. This is
sex trafficking. He's beating people up. This isn't fetishes or
a weird lifestyle rock star. This isn't just having sex
orgies and stuff like this. This is drugging people allegedly,
(40:26):
you know, feeding them drinks they don't know what's in it.
It's shoving people against walls. It's threatening them if they leave,
they can't lock their doors. They're paddling out in the ocean.
This is a little bit more than eccentric rock star
style lifestyles.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
This is a pimp.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
This is a human trafficker. He's going to go down.
He puts people in these positions they can't find their
way out of and you know what, I'm going to
say it again, force fraud, coersion, laying the groundwork for
sex trafficking and also for a criminal enterprise.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
And he can't.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Everybody just keep thinking about that Cassie video. He cannot
be humanized in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
MIA on the stand all afternoon, enduring cross examination at
the hands of a master trial lawyer, Brian Steele. We
remember American hero Sergeant Daniel Baker, or Dixon County Sheriff's Tennessee,
just thirty two years old, shot down in the line
(41:26):
of duty. Served LA law enforcement for ten years, leaving
behind grieving wife Lisa and daughter Meredith. American hero Daniel Baker.
Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. We learn that Sean Combs
Ditty's sex victims enduring so much paddle board out into
the ocean during a storm to escape further beatings and
(00:22):
rapes from Sean Combs, and they can see him at
a distance, pacing back and forth and back and forth
like a tiger on the beach. Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Didty was menacing, threatening, intimidating.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Because of a power need, three guns across his lap.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
He gets angry and says, quote, I should kill you, and.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
He told his manager, I don't like this back and forth.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I prefer guns.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Because that's what criminal enterprise bosses do.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
He needs to go under the jail, joining me in
all Star panel to make sense of what we are learning.
As the testimony pours from the witness stand. That's right,
Sean Comb's aka Ditty aka Puff aka Puff Daddy aka
Love It goes on and on in court battling a
multi count federal indamond, including claims charges of sex trafficking.
(01:21):
Bombshells pouring from the witness stand on the stand right
now known only as Mia. Her passport has been shown
to the jury, so they know her real name, but
she is in such fear she doesn't want her name
out there. No one else is allowed to say her
name straight out to Kila Brantley joining us investigative reporter
(01:46):
reporter at large dailymail dot com. She is the host
of the wildly popular Daily Mail podcast The Trial of
Ditty Kella. Thank you for being with us. What do
you make of MIA's testimony today? Yeah, thank you for
having me, Nancy. So, Mia has taken the stand.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
We know that she was his assistant, working for him
from twenty nine to twenty seventeen. And one of the
most shocking things I think that she said was that
he sexually assaulted her multiple times. And not only that,
is that it was very sporadic. There wasn't any you know,
rhythm to when he would come and you know, sexually
assault her. But she really described some awful, awful behavior,
(02:28):
described a toxic work environment, and she had to stay
awake for five days at a time, was not allowed
to sleep, had to be on call twenty four to seven,
and wasn't even allowed to lock her bedroom door.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Okay, hold on, I want to follow up on that.
Sidney Sumner joining US Crime Stories investigative reporter who has
been covering the child since the very beginning and before Sydney.
I want to follow up on what Cala Brantley from
Daily mil just said. So Diddy and his mansions would
not allow women to lock the door.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Explain what he had testified to was that employees were
not allowed to leave his property without his express permission,
so they frequently stayed in staff quarters at his mansions,
whether it be in La or Miami, and Colmes always
instructed them to not lock the doors because it was
(03:25):
his house. He was like, you cannot lock a door
in my own home.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
You know, I want to go to doctor Bethany Marshall
joining US. I need a shrink big time. Doctor Bethany
Marshall renounced Psychoanalysts, joining us out of LA. She's the
author of deal Breakers. You can find out on Amazon.
She is starring on Peacock right now. She's at doctor
Bethanymarshall dot com. And I heard Sidney Sumner reporting and
(03:50):
Kila Brantley reporting about how he refused to let females
and female staffers Cassie included lock their bedroom doors in
his mansion. Can you imagine After Mia was allegedly raped
the first time, she kept working there and was not
(04:13):
allowed to lock her door and just lay there in
terror at.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Nine you know, Nancy. She also was never allowed out
of his eyesight. She wasn't allowed to sleep. One time
she was on her mestraal cycle and blood was dripping
down her leg and he would not even let her
go to the bathroom.
Speaker 7 (04:28):
So basically he set the stage for like a total
raping environment by not letting them lock their doors and
so sadly, in MIA's testimony, she goes through all the
things she told herself to rationalize and justify the abuse
because she was so young, just a very young woman.
(04:49):
She thought that maybe she was being tested for whether
or not she would be a good assistant, or maybe
p did he didn't really mean to rape her, or
maybe he didn't remember it or even know that he
raped her because he had had so much to drink,
and on one occasion, his fortieth birthday party, he supplied
her with two shots of alcohol, asked everybody else to.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Leave the room.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I believe they were in the kitchen. She drank the
two shots, felt woozy, woke up in his bed and
realized that she had been raped. So this, to me,
it's not even just sexual assault. This is just plain
old slavery, Nancy. These people are enslaved in his house,
They're not allowed to shut their doors, and each rape
(05:33):
is one more attempt at dominance and control over them.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know, Dr Bethany, you said something that I think
a lot of people that haven't studied it or haven't
been victims themselves. It's hard to understand, and there's no
reason they should understand. I'm glad they don't understand, because
if they did, that might mean that violent crime has
touched their lives. But rape victims think, oh did I
(06:00):
encourage that was? Did? Is that my fault? Did I
flirt with him? Did he misread what I said? Or oh,
he's drunk. We already see Shawn Combs. Did he claiming
he's bipolar? That's new, Nobody heard that before that. He
had substance abuse problems, drugs, alcohol that made him act out,
(06:22):
in other words, rape and beat people. Did she think, oh, Okay,
he's drunk, He's not going to do that again. I'm
just not going to say anything. I'll lose my job,
I'll be blackballed. They rationalize what happened, and I think
part of it and I'm not a shrink. You're the
shrink is because they don't want to admit to themselves.
I was just raped. Killa Brantley joining us from Daily Mail.
(06:42):
She's the star of podcast the Trial of Did He Kla?
You just heard doctor Bethany describing what I think was
MIA's first rape, alleged rape by Shawn Combs. What was
her exact position. I've heard her described as being and assistant,
but she had a lot of duties as just a
(07:05):
measly assistant.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
Oh, absolutely, Nancy, I mean you talk about a toxic workplace,
this is completely next level. One of her tasks, she said,
was to crack Sean Combs's knuckles if he was writing
too much, and it was anything from doing that.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Oh, I hold on, Caleb Brantley White, there must be
something wrong with my earpace, because I swear I think
you just said one of her jobs is to crack
Sean comes knuckles for him, and that can't possibly be right. Okay,
what did you say?
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Yes, so her job was to crack his knuckles for him,
as if he couldn't do it.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
Himself.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
But another one that was really disturbing was that she
would have to clean up after what she described as
a nightmare freak off.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
So you can only.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Imagine what the hotel room, what the bedroom looked like,
and before the cleaners came in and then potentially you know,
saw things that they shouldn't have and then reported that
back to the papers. She would have to go in
and clean up what she said was oils, stains, blood
even and so as an assistant, it ranged from you know,
(08:12):
small tasks to huge ones to things that you wouldn't
even think of.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Well, you're right, Caleb Brantley, I would never have thought
that King Colmb's had a nail, had a knuckle cracker.
That's new, okay, And I want to thank you for
putting that mental image up here, okay, because that's never
going to go away. Just like that video that we
dug up of him getting a facial, He's got all
(08:39):
these people working on his body, facial, the arms, the legs,
getting his feet done. To me, it looked like he
was getting facial on his feet. So now he has
a royal knuckle cracker. Okay. That said Simmy Summer joining
me Crime Stories investigative reporter. I know that she's titled
(09:00):
as an assistant, but she had some pretty heavy duty
responsibilities in addition to all that knuckle cracking. All of
comes as social media presence. That's a lot liaison with
Hollywood daily routine, keeping him on schedule, protect him at
all times in all caps, staying in his eyesight. What what?
Speaker 6 (09:26):
Yeah, that's a very odd requirement, but that was something
that Comb's demanded. If Mia was not in his eyesight
while she was working, he apparently had no idea what
she was doing. So that list that you're reading came
from when Combe's aingerly question, what do you do all day?
(09:46):
So she wrote to another employee, here are all the
things that I do. I'm with him from the moment
he wakes up till the moment he falls asleep and
doing a billion tasks at one time. I do one
thing and then he yelled at me that I'm not
doing another while I'm doing something else. So this was
kind of a be all the things that I do
(10:08):
every single day, it's a lot. I'm not doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Also, I say that one of her duties caler Brantley
was anticipating his needs, whims and moods. That's still what
does that mean?
Speaker 5 (10:22):
You talk about horrible bosses and micromanaging. This is completely
on a whole other level. So anticipating his needs is
basically asking her to be a mind reader and to
know what he wants, and to really know him so
well and so intimately that she can just anticipate anything
that he could possibly want to really try to keep
(10:43):
herself safe and keep him from blowing up.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Her real title, as I understand it, Kili Brantley is
with Revolt Films Director of Development and Acquisition.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
Yeah, she held that position at Revolt TV, which of
course was Ditty's company, but clearly her duties went far
beyond that, and far beyond that of a personal assistant.
I honestly don't know what job would have stay in
someone's eyesight as a as a duty.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Straight out to the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan, standing by
investigative reporter Lauren Column, star of Pop Crime TV, Lauren,
what happened in court today?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yes, Mia, who is Ditty's former assistant and a director
of development at Revolt TV, also Cassie's very good friend.
She said they were like sisters and they still are.
She finished her direct testimony today and then we started
the cross examination with Brian Steele. What she said towards
(11:44):
the end of her testimony I thought.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Was really really chilling.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
She described, after Cassie's twenty twenty three lawsuit dropped, she
started getting text messages from Ditty's former security d Rock. Now,
she testified that Dee Rock didn't work for Ditty in
twenty twenty three anymore, but she knew that he had
landed in Miami and said that he was going to
take care of something in Miami that was pertaining to
(12:11):
Ditty's son. So again this is a few days after
cassie lawsuit dropped, he called Mia. He said he wanted
to talk to her. Said, oh, you know, this stuff
with Puff is crazy. Cassie and Puff were just fought
like a regular couple. And Mia described being very alarmed
because she thought to herself, look, I want no part
of this. And she was confused. She said, you know,
(12:34):
dee Rock was there. He witnessed a lot of this.
So Dee Rock tried multiple times to get in touch
with her. And then during Brian Steele's cross examination, he
started by giving or the defense started by giving the
jury binders and Inside those those binders were social media posts,
various social media posts from Mia throughout the years, you know,
(12:55):
thanking him for everything, calling him her best friend. And
then Mia would respond by saying, yeah, I you know,
that's kind of saying that's trauma. And it was clear
to me that she had been through therapy because she
referenced her therapist, she referenced being a survivor, and she
would say things like, you know, I will leave this
up to the experts. Additionally, they pointed out some birthday
(13:18):
posts that she made for Diddy, and the birthday was
significant November fourth, because she told us during her direct testimony,
this was one of the first times that he had
allegedly sexually assaulted her. So Brian Steele kept bringing up, well,
this was a really significant day for you in terms
of trauma, but you continue to post year after year
(13:39):
these loving birthday messages, you know, even though this day
doesn't really signify anything great that happened to you. So
that was the extent of what we saw today. And
I believe her cross examination may go until Monday.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
And Lauren Conlin, they have saved Brian's steel for the
cross examination of a very important win is Mia not
her real name on the stand. Tell me about his
demeanor as he cross examined Maya today.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Yes, Steele, he has great pacing. He continues to move
things along. He's very polite to the judge and and
with and he's always polite to the judge by the way,
I think he's one of the most well spoken defense
attorneys that I've seen in a very long time. Sorry,
you know what, I'm sorry I said that that was
kind of rude to the other ones.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I'm sorry, I.
Speaker 8 (14:33):
Didn't mean that.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
You'll probably cut that, Okay, yes, thank you.
Speaker 8 (14:37):
Let me think.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Brian Steel's demeanor towards Mia is stern, but definitely not
even close to badgering. He's really just reiterating what we
are seeing and a lot of these images, and he's
having her read her own words, and it seems like
he's just trying to understand where or what her mindset
(15:03):
was when she was posting these posts, and you know,
when she was saying that she loved him but also
felt traumatized by him, and by the way, MEA's response
to a lot of that also was the fact that
we're seeing these pictures on Instagram and Instagram at one
point was a place really where everybody seemed to lie
(15:23):
about their life, wanted everyone to think that their life
was so great. And I think a lot of people
could could relate to that. But overall, Brian Steele, I
think he's doing a good job. Again, He's definitely got
to be careful. I think that there's a very fine
line that he really can't cross so he doesn't come
off as insensitive to the jury or he doesn't come
(15:45):
off as a bully. So he's got to be careful.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
But so far, so good. He always has somebody else
do his dirty work. He has his minions do everything.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
They've been known as dirty did He disciples. I am
not kidding when I use dirty Diddy.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
They order their little minions to do what they want,
and it's his power that controlled them.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
They are terrified of him.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Because of intimidation, because of a power need. We are
learning from the witness stand today. Mia not her real name,
on the stand describing an incident where she had another
victim go out on a paddle board a peddle board
out into the ocean in a storm to escape fur
(16:32):
their beatings and rapes. When Sean comes, as he paces
the beach and they can see him like a tiger
waiting on them to come back. Before I get to that,
I want to go to Brian Fitzgibbons, Special Guests joining
US Director of Operations usp A nationwide Security. He leads
a team of investigators. You can find him at uspasecurity
(16:53):
dot com. Brian, I want to talk to you about
as I'm calling them, minions. All right now, Shortly we're
going to hear from Troy Slayton, veteran defense attorney, and
he's going to try to tear down everything you and
I are about to say, just like Shawan Combs's defense
is going to do. But Brian, minions, it's important. It's
(17:15):
important everything that Mia is saying that she was forced
to do or coerced to do. At one point somebody
asked her on the stand, well why didn't you say no?
She said, I was afraid to say no about making
him a sandwich, much less argue with him about a
rape or anything else he told me to do. I mean,
come on, talk about Mina's He even had a royal
(17:38):
knuckle cracker. As that said, fitz Gibbons, think about it.
The reason the menings aren't important is because they did
his bidding and he was their boss. He ran bad
Boy Records enterprises, and he used his employees to commit crimes.
Specifically with you, I'm talking about Frank Black, a pseudonym,
(18:01):
a fake name that comes with forces employees to go
get there's one of them right there, prescriptions under fake names.
That's a crime, and he used his employee to do.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
It, absolutely, Nancy. And what you're seeing here is the
scope of this investigation and the scale of the number
of people within Ditty's organization that they're bringing up onto
the stand, and it's painting a picture and laying a
foundation for the jury for this racketeering conspiracy charge. So
(18:34):
you're seeing what's delegated, What activities are these folks are
carrying out on Ditty's behalf, and the fear that they
have should they not carry this out.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
These orders out to his specifications. Caleb Brantley joining us
from DLA Mail, star of the Trial of Ditty podcast.
I've learned well, I've her reports that Capricorn Clark was
shredded on Cross because at one point, after all the abuse,
(19:07):
she went back and tried to get her job back.
Now I've learned that she is the mom of an
autistic teen boy that has to have special schools and
has to have around the clock care. If she's not there,
that ain't gonna pay for itself.
Speaker 8 (19:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
She needed that job. She needed not to be blackballed
in the industry, exactly.
Speaker 5 (19:32):
And that's exactly what we're hearing from Mia is that
she felt that Ditty's quote authority was above the police.
And like you said, Capricorn, Clark was a working mom.
Speaker 6 (19:43):
She needed this job.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
If you're black bed in the industry by someone as
powerful as Ditty, you will never find a job in
Hollywood again. And what I think is really interesting Cassie
was asked this, a previous assistant was asked this, and
I believe Deontay Nash said this on the stand, is
that none of them hate Diddy, that they don't have
any hate for him. And I think what that is
(20:06):
a testament to is kind of you know, I'm no psychologist,
but that Stockholm syndrome feeling that even though someone may.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Have what you're so kind and gracious, it's I don't
hate Diddy. I hold him in high regard in case
he gets out of jail. Yeah, exactly right, It's to
saying I'm here under subpoena. I don't want to testify
against you. Man. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a founder
(20:41):
and director of Len's Warriors, committed to ending sex trafficking
and abuse of girls and women. You know, this story
is as old as time. Women who are willing to
do anything, put up with anything to support their child,
to hold onto their house, else to hold onto their job.
(21:02):
I mean the way they cross examined Capricorn Clark, and
I dread, you know, I've been dreading throughout the day.
I dreaded when Mia would be subjected to cross exam,
which you know happened. But Capricorn Clark was cross exammed
over Well, you went back, You crawled back and try
to get a job, didn't you. They didn't mention anything
(21:26):
about her having to support her autistic son, about the
around the clock care that requires while she's at work.
I mean, that's a whole job in itself. You know,
my ninety three year old mom lives with me, and
when I'm at work, somebody's with her, and I'm constantly
juggling who's going to be here, Who's going to take
care of mom? Right, She's got a young teen boy
(21:49):
that she has to support. She would do anything, Lynn, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Moms will do anything to put food on the table,
to get medical care for their kids, to take care
of their We have to remember the public has to
be educated. That's why I'm so happy we are actually
talking about these issues in the media in the public. Nancy,
you know, when it comes down to being desperate and
really desperate and also being part of I'm going to
(22:15):
use the word brainwashed. When you've been involved in something
like this, you will do anything, and if you don't
have a job, you will go back to that job,
even if it's abusive. We deal with the warriors with
stories like this all the time. The women don't have
anywhere to go, they go back to that abuser. But
I really want to get real here about Triple D.
I like to call him dirty Diddy, degenerate, I'm I'm
(22:38):
you know, he's he has a lot of characteristics of
a pimp, of a trafficker. Force brought coercion is the
definition of human trafficking. So he's got sex trafficking charges.
But I'm hearing about it's like forced labor, forced into sex.
So I'm hoping, I'm praying because my heart is aching
hearing about me today and what she's gone through.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
I have heard this story a thousand.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Plus times, Okay, that this can really be laying the
groundwork for a criminal enterprise, and that those sex trafficking
charges can stick. We need accountability and this monster must
be held accountable.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
To doctor Bethany Marshall, doctor Bethany Mia, not her real name,
I believe, was very meek and mild on the stand
and I could see her not fighting back and rationalizing
and staying in during three rapes, thinking she was going
to get black balled in the business and she'd never
(23:36):
work again. That whole thing. It's so common, and each
one of these women that we're hearing from had a
lot to lose. Cassie Ventira had her whole career. She
wanted to be a star, a singer, and she's talented,
regardless of what everybody else is saying about her. You
have Capricorn Clark, who needed to support that son. Now
(23:58):
you've got Mia starting her job right, starting out in
the business. She thinks she's got the big break. They
all had so much to lose if they crossed Combes.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
They had so much to lose because they needed the jobs,
and they also knew that he was going to blackball
them if they ever tried to leave. They tried to
get positive job recommendations, he would get give them. So
he was also a stalker. You can't get away from
a stalker like this. And Nancy the fact that Capricorn
had this autistic son who needed full time care. This
(24:31):
is the sex traffickers reson to et. This is what
they do is they choose victims where there is a
power differential, single moms, disadvantaged youth, people are trying to
go over state lines.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Shawn comes on trial and the Monahana Courthouse, the federal
Courthouse in Manhattan, facing a slew of charges in a
multicount federal indictment. Can he persuade a jury the way
he's persuaded so many others to do his bidding, including police.
I'm sorry to say. Another incident regarding Mia, and remember
(25:10):
part of the significance of her testimony is that she
bolsters Cassie Ventura, victim number one that cried this case
wide open listen.
Speaker 9 (25:18):
Mia describes another violent incident between the couple on a
trip to Turks and Caicos. Cassie burst into the room
where Mia was sleeping, terrified and screaming that Combs was
going to kill her. The women piled furniture in front
of the door before running out through the back patio
and down to the beach. Cassie and Mia took paddleboards
out into the ocean to escape. Combs ran back and
(25:38):
forth on the beach, screaming at them as a storm
rolled in, and the women tried to decide if they
wanted to face some other nature or seawan.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Comb's, Shawn comes or death. Kileb Brantley dealing Mia what happened?
Speaker 5 (25:51):
Yeah, well you heard there. They were on a trip
to Turks and Kko's in twenty twelve, and Mia testified
that Cassie came into the room woke her up, running
and screaming, asking for help and saying that Diddy was
going to kill her. And what was interesting is that
she said, typically Cassie was always calm, cool and collected,
and she was really shocked to see her like this
(26:12):
in such a state of panic and really with fear
in her eyes. So, as you said, you know, they
escaped on a paddle board and really chose mother nature.
A storm was rolling in over going back to the
beach and facing Ditty. Eventually they did end up going
back to the beach.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
So Cidi Cumner joining US Crime Stories investigative reporter. What
more do we know about that incident? The two women
going out in a storm on a paddle boat turks
and kekos and that water there. I've dived there and
(26:48):
the beach starts like this before I had the twins,
by the way, the beach starts off like that, then
it drops down. You can see it in the daytime
turn really dark blue very quickly. They were out in
that deep water in a storm at night to get
(27:08):
away from Sean Combs.
Speaker 6 (27:10):
Yes, they were so terrified. Mia, taking Pathy's demeanor the
level of fear she should feel that they stood out
on that water on those power boards for god knows
how long, debating whether or not it was worth just
(27:30):
sitting through that storm or going back to the beach
to face Sean Combs.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
Again, joining me and all star pal and I want
to go straight now brace yourselves to a veteran defense
attorneys Troy Slayton. He is based in la at Slayton Lawyers. Troy,
thank you for being with us. Mia did an amazing
job on direct But then we've seen a lot of
(28:00):
the defense team up there. They bring in Brian Steele
to do her cross Let me tell you what I
know about Steel. He's very likable. I bet you thought
I was going to say something else. Steele is very,
very likable. I've seen him use as I call it,
the Andy of Maybury cross examination approach, which when you've
(28:23):
got a witness it's not going to be a hostile witness,
as that's a term of art under the law. When
a witness will not respond to your questions, you can
I sugjudge to declare the witness hostile witness, and you
can then cross examine your own witness if you have to.
I've seen him be very okay harsh on cross so
(28:47):
he's got me on the stand. This is what else
I know about Steel. He's very likable, likable to the
other members of the defense bar and to prosecutors. He's
always prepared, because there's a big difference Troy, as you know,
I know all about you. You're always prepared in court.
But there's a big difference in someone that's gregarious and
(29:09):
has this big personality that doesn't prepare right like Johnny Cochrane,
my old co anchor. He could carry the day in
a court just on his personality. And he wasn't grandiose.
He was just likable. He really was likable. Same thing
with Steel. I know he's a teetotaler, always been devoted
(29:30):
to his wife. Doesn't cheat that I know of anyway.
He drinks practically nothing but water.
Speaker 8 (29:39):
I know that.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
I'm pretty sure I've seen him do this in the courthouse.
That he usually brings his own lunch, like he makes
a sandwich. Anyway. Those are just some tidbits that I
know about him. I'm pretty sure about the sandwich. Can't
swear to it. The rest I know. So is a
veteran trial lawyer, got a great reputation. I think you
(30:05):
just got young thug off that said, why have they
reserved steel for MIA's cross? Don't fight with me, I
need your insight. Why have they saved Steel for? I mean,
he's done other things. But they need a special touch
to cross examine Nia. This can go horribly wrong for them, Nancy.
Speaker 10 (30:26):
A case can be won or lost on cross examination,
And when you have a witness that is as sympathetic
as Mia is, you can't go in with the hard,
charging cross, trying to discredit her at every step, because
then you will lose the white hat in front of
the jury. You need the jury to like you as
(30:48):
an attorney, to believe you. And so here he has
to walk a very fine tightrope and just try and
be her friend and point out things, get her to
start agreeing with the narrative that he is going to present,
get her to start nodding yes the things that he said, Like,
(31:09):
you know, you liked there were other times that you
liked working for Diddy. There were times that you enjoyed
some of the benefits that came with working with all
that lavishness, all that money. You enjoyed living in the
mansion and being able to ride in the fancy cars
and go on the yachts and take trips all over
(31:30):
the world. There were benefits to that, and you never
went to the police department. You had an opportunity in
twenty ee.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
You're saying that, well, to take the fancy trips and
drive around in the fancy car, it was worth getting
raped three times. Is that what you're saying, because it
sounds absolutely not.
Speaker 10 (31:47):
But what he's going to do is say that there
was a lot of great things that happened. There was
a lot of good things that happened during her employment,
and maybe those good things in her mind and outweighed
the bad. For example, and the the analogy that I
was thinking about as you were talking earlier was Harvey Weinstein.
(32:08):
There were women that were willing to sell their bodies
in order to get a role on a TV show
or a movie. And they, in their mind thought, you're.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
Digging really deeply. I just got to ask you a question.
Do you hate yourself?
Speaker 10 (32:24):
Do I hate myself?
Speaker 6 (32:25):
No?
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Hear all that. You're just like, ah, it's great, my
tongue off is so tastes bad in my mouth. So
they're willing to sell their soul to what drive around
and Diddy's su They are you kidding? To go to
a white party or the freak Freakov goes on upstairs.
They get to go by Diddy's baby oil, oh joy.
Speaker 10 (32:49):
There was a million opportunities to do other things, to
work for other employers, to have other jobs to do.
This wasn't the only employer in the entire world.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And you're saying the same thing that rape apologists always say,
doctor Mathey. No, look, Nancy, Everything that He's gonna let
Bethany talk. Okay, Bethany hit it before survival.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
The reason they don't leave is that the survival instinct
is stronger than any other drive we have, and when
you believe you are going to be killed, you will
not leave a perpetrator. Also, domestic abuse is a crisis
of boundaries, meaning the victim often blames themselves for the
aggression of the perpetrator. So there's this confusion about well, is.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
It your fault? Is it my fault?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
And then everything becomes calamitous and breaks out into terror
like when they were out, you know, paddleboarding into a storm.
And that also when the amigdala is very activated, when
the fight and flight is activated, you can't think. When
we are anxious, we cannot think. So their capacity to
even strategize in a basic way was compromised.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Mia not her real name under cross examination on the
Standard Crime Stories with Nancy Grace straight out to Special
Guests joining US RV. Brandt, former Senior inspector with the
(34:26):
US Marshall Service. He has traveled around the world hunting
down the bad guys with the doj Atsha two embassies
around the world, and he's the author of a series
of Jack solo mysteries. Wow, I wonder who they're patterned
after on Amazon or brand. Thank you for being with us.
(34:47):
Do you ever get just exhausted hearing what victims endure
in this case rape working on godly hours? As a
matter of fact, I want you to hear this about
Mia getting her arm slammed in a door allegedly by
comes Colmbs.
Speaker 11 (35:06):
Wasn't just violent with Cassie. Mia describes an incident at
the Revolt production office when Combs asked to borrow her phone,
then ran off with it. Mia chased Combs and tried
to snatch it back, so he ran into a restroom.
MIA's arm was in the door, but Combs continued to
slam the door shut so hard. Mia thought her arm
was broken. When Combs finally came back out, he told
(35:29):
her he sent himself her compromising photos, so he had
something on her in case she had something on him.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
It's like he's got something on everybody. Do you ever
get tired? It's like second verse same as the first,
and Mia has been on the stand on a cross
exam all afternoon.
Speaker 12 (35:48):
Yes, Nancy, it is exhausting, and it's because my adult
life in law enforcement. I have the investigated cases like these,
just countless cases like these, and it's all the same.
He is a pimp and this is what pimps do.
They destroy people psychologically to keep control of them. And
(36:11):
I'm sure Lynnshaw and doctor Bethan he can talk more
on that subject, more of an expert than I am.
But I've seen it, and I've interviewed these victims countless times,
and we've gone to trial countless times, and it's all
the same. And people like him, the pimps, they punish
(36:33):
the people to keep them in line. I've heard pimps
talk about working their girls and they would and they
would intentionally put them out on the street in the rain,
in the cold, just to teach them a lesson. And
this is what they do and he is no different.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
I don't like anything you're saying. I hate everything you
just said, although our rant sadly it's all true. And
now I know where we get special trial advice from?
Who else? Shoug Night the convicted killer. Listen.
Speaker 8 (37:09):
I feel if he guilt till his truth, he really
would walk. If propably go out there and say, hey,
I wouldn't you know, I wouldn't control of my life
at the tiller or I shall not from.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
My friends at CNN. I feel like if he tells
the truth, he really would walk. Obviously he's not been
following the trial. If Puffy goes up there and says, hey,
I did all the drugs, I wasn't in control of
my life at the time, or myself. Troy Slayton from
the Expert trial advice from sug Not who's behind bars
(37:40):
for murder. His trial strategy didn't work out that well
for him. If Coms tries to say, when I commit
when I committed all these acts, I was high on
drugs or alcohol, that's not a defense under the law.
Speaker 10 (37:54):
No, that's not going to do it. But what we'll
do it for his defense attorneys is showing that all
of these things were just if they were done, they
were acts of an eccentric rock star, an eccentric billionaire,
but they were not all related to a criminal.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
They were not related to Shorn. He didn't rape anybody,
he didn't beat anybody. He's just eccentric. Did I hear that? Okay,
you said that. You just said that you're going to
expe away all of these felies by climbing. He's eccentric.
Speaker 10 (38:29):
Look, he may have done these things, but he hasn't
been charged. He wasn't charged with rape. He wasn't charged
with He was charged with sex trafficking, but he was
not charged with rape. He was not charged.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
You say tomato, I say tomato. Paddle was going to
do backflip.
Speaker 10 (38:50):
He was in charge with the battery of smashing someone's
arm in the door. All of these things have to
relate the do your bidding in order to advance him.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
She didn't bit his bidding, she didn't want her arm broken.
Speaker 10 (39:05):
How does that advance his business interests? That they haven't
tied that bow together yet, So I think all court
watchers are trying to watch and see how they tie
together all these disparate acts to show that it was
advancing his business.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Okay, listen to more trial advice from convicted killer sitting
behind bars. Should Knight he.
Speaker 8 (39:28):
Can humanize his old self in a jury magula shot,
but if they keep down, it's like he's scared to
face the music.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Now from my friends at CNN. Of course, there's a
fifth Amendment. He doesn't have to take the stand, but
I will say this, should Knight's write about this. Should
Knight very talented, still a convicted killer. He looks like
he's scared to face the music if he doesn't testify. Okay,
Lynn Shaw, did you just hear veteran trial lawyer Chroice
(39:57):
Layton refer to times his behavior as just eccentric.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
I'm almost silent, but I'm never a silent person because
I can't believe what I had to hear. I'm going
to say this. This is the problem we have here
with a lot of lawyers with these cases. This is
sex trafficking. He's beating people up. This isn't fetishes or
a weird lifestyle rock star. This isn't just having sex
orgies and stuff like this. This is drugging people allegedly,
(40:26):
you know, feeding them drinks they don't know what's in it.
It's shoving people against walls. It's threatening them if they leave,
they can't lock their doors. They're paddling out in the ocean.
This is a little bit more than eccentric rock star
style lifestyles.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
This is a pimp.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
This is a human trafficker. He's going to go down.
He puts people in these positions they can't find their
way out of and you know what, I'm going to
say it again, force fraud, coersion, laying the groundwork for
sex trafficking and also for a criminal enterprise.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
And he can't.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
Everybody just keep thinking about that Cassie video. He cannot
be humanized in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
MIA on the stand all afternoon, enduring cross examination at
the hands of a master trial lawyer, Brian Steele. We
remember American hero Sergeant Daniel Baker, or Dixon County Sheriff's Tennessee,
just thirty two years old, shot down in the line
(41:26):
of duty. Served LA law enforcement for ten years, leaving
behind grieving wife Lisa and daughter Meredith. American hero Daniel Baker.
Nancy Gray signing off goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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