May 13, 2025 • 21 mins
For years, Sean “Diddy” Combs was a music mogul unlike any other; once described as a “zeitgeist-dominating colossus” who helped hip hop become a global cultural force. But peppered throughout his years of living to extraordinary excess, were allegations of violence, and misconduct. He managed to escape much time in custody, until September, when he became inmate 37452-054 at a Brooklyn detention centre, after he was charged with federal crimes.
Today, we speak to North America correspondent Michael Koziol, who’s on the ground in New York City, where he has attended the first day of Diddy’s trial, and learned what the prosecution, and defence, plan on arguing in one of the biggest celebrity trials of the decade.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:01):
Well, I'm outside the Federal court for the Southern District
of New York, where we've just concluded the first full
day of the trial of Sean Combs. Today, we've heard
the opening statements from both the prosecution and the defense,
as well as testimony from.
S2 (00:17):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Salinger Morris. It's Wednesday,
May 14th. For years, Sean Diddy Combs was a music
mogul unlike any other. Once described as a zeitgeist dominating
colossus who helped hip hop become a global cultural force.
(00:41):
But peppered throughout his years of living to extraordinary excess
were allegations of violence and misconduct. He managed to escape
much time in custody until September, when he became inmate
37452054 at a Brooklyn detention center after he was charged
with federal crimes. Today, we speak to North America correspondent
(01:03):
Michael Koziol, who's on the ground in New York City,
where he has attended the first day of his trial
and learned what the prosecution and defense plan on arguing
in one of the biggest celebrity trials of the decade.
And just a heads up, some of the content in
this episode may be distressing to listeners. Okay, Michael, just
(01:27):
to start, I was hoping you might be able to
describe for us what the mood has been like both
inside and outside of the courtroom in New York City,
where Sean Diddy Combs has been sitting for, you know,
as he faces these federal charges because you have been there.
So walk us through this.
S1 (01:44):
Well, it's obviously a much anticipated case here in New York,
one of the one of the most anticipated cases, I think,
for for quite a while.
S3 (01:52):
Prosecutors are expected to paint combs as the head of
a criminal organization who exploited his fame and fortune to
sexually abuse women and men. Defense attorneys plan to counter
by saying Combs was not acting illegally and all relationships
were consensual.
S1 (02:06):
ABC it's the same courthouse as the Sam Bankman-Fried case
a couple of years ago, and I think one of
the most sort of, you know, watched cases since then.
One of the most watched entertainment cases since Harvey Weinstein.
The world's media are here. All the Australian journalists from
across the US have, um, those who aren't already based
(02:26):
in New York are in New York to cover this
on Worth Street in downtown Manhattan, in front of the
federal courthouse. So, uh, it was a big deal, and
it was a long queue to get in, and, um,
the overflow rooms themselves were packed. Let alone the the courtroom.
So definitely big interest in the start of this blockbuster
(02:46):
and lengthy trial. So he was dressed a sort of. Well,
there was some disagreement as to whether it was light
gray tan or oatmeal colored sweater, but yet you can
picture that over a white button up shirt and beige pants. He,
you know, look, he's, um, he's firmly in middle age now,
(03:07):
so he's got the grey hair. He, you know, would
put on these big, thick rimmed reading glasses from time
to time to. Read some papers. And for a lot
of the time during the testimony, he sort of would
just sit. Um, with his hands clasped in his lap,
sometimes with his legs crossed, watching, um, the person who was.
Giving evidence or, ah, outlining the opening statements. So look,
(03:29):
he was calm, you know, he seemed like he was
in control. So he he was occasionally smiling and even,
it seemed, joking at a point with his defence lawyers, but.
You know, I think the fact that he was so
keen not to appear in prison garb and sort of
to appear in. More respectable clothing, you know, that he
would think, perhaps befits a celebrity of his status. Um,
(03:50):
I think probably goes to show that. Yes. You know,
there is likely to be a sense of I'm a
big deal. And, you know, I can't believe that this
has happened to me.
S2 (04:01):
I mean, this obviously attests to really what a big
deal how famous Diddy is and how renowned his music
has been for so long. So just briefly, can you
tell us how famous is he? Because we do know
he had something of a startling rise. You know, he
started on the fringes of the music business, and he
really did reach global superstardom, right?
S4 (04:20):
I mean, he.
S1 (04:20):
Um, started a record label, Bad Boy Records, when he
was very young, in his sort of early to mid
20s and, you know, went on to become this pretty
massive figure in the rise of, of rap music, in
pop music. Um, you know, that time in the 90s
when pop artists were just starting to really kind of
(04:41):
incorporate rap into mainstream recordings?
S5 (04:45):
Let's pretend for a second you don't know who I
am and what I do. Let's just put it to
the side. I can feel your heart beating.
S1 (04:51):
You know, and not just a rapper, but a producer
and a music executive. Someone who kind of had his
hands in the till in all aspects of the music
industry and that that is, you know, why he became
this sort of monumental figure.
S5 (05:04):
It seems like yesterday we used to rock the show.
I laced the track. You locked the flow so far
from hangin on the block for dough.
S1 (05:11):
And even though, you know, I think it's fair to
say he's not at the height of his fame or
powers in the music industry. It was interesting, you know,
after court wrapped today, I was just speaking to a
few young guys who were hanging outside court. They must
have been in their, you know, early 20s tops, and
they'd come down just to kind of have a look
and check things out, maybe, you know, catch some people
(05:32):
coming out of court. And I said to them, oh,
you know, I'm surprised because, you know, you sort of
look too young. You guys look kind of too young
to have known him during his like, kind of, you know,
it's like peak, but like.
S6 (05:40):
His music is still like. I feel like when I
was in middle school, in high school, his music was
like a big thing. And he's obviously managed a lot
of artists. And even like, I know he managed Justin
Bieber and all those younger guys that like.
S1 (05:51):
That was still very interested. That was still very much like, yeah,
it's a big deal. So here in the US, it's
still certainly has had that cultural cachet.
S2 (05:59):
Okay. And it's safe to say he is living in
very different circumstances. We know that, you know, he used
to have a life of personal chefs in enormous mansions
and what's been described as a Gatsby esque appetite for spectacle,
you know, parties with celebrities and that. And for the
last eight months, he's been living in this Brooklyn detention center,
which has drawn complaints over the years for being rife
(06:21):
with mold, vermin and neglect. So let's talk about how
he's ended up here. What has he been accused of?
S4 (06:27):
So he's been charged.
S1 (06:28):
By federal prosecutors with essentially racketeering and sex trafficking. Um,
really the crux of the accusations. But what sort of
sits behind that is this idea that, um, uh, he
over the course of 20 years and prosecutors today, in
their opening statements, talked very much at the outset of,
(06:49):
you know, we will be running you through 20 years
of alleged criminality here, where he is essentially accused of
bringing women, you know, his girlfriends at the time into
sort of sexually abusive and exploitative situations that typically took
place in hotel rooms here in the US and internationally that,
(07:11):
you know, he apparently referred to as freak offs or
sometimes wild king nights or sometimes just a bit more
innocuously hotel parties. And at these parties, these women would
sort of be coerced, in prosecutor's terms, into having sex
with male escorts. Diddy would be there in the room.
He would sometimes participate, but usually not. He would often,
(07:33):
you know, be pleasuring himself in the room. And he
would often record these encounters on tape and their drugs
were often involved, according to the prosecutors. You know, the
women would be fed drugs, and then later these tapes
would kind of be used against them to force them
to stay with him and to stay silent about what
(07:55):
had happened and where the charges come into play are
the fact that the prosecutors allege that he essentially turned
his music empire into a criminal enterprise to enable and
to cover up this behavior. So, you know, the staff
would be involved in setting up the hotel rooms with
(08:15):
the right lighting and the right equipment and, you know,
the right lubricants and that sort of thing. And that,
you know, when people were crossed him, um, you know,
for example, uh, you know, one of his girlfriends or
lovers was hanging out with someone else and they went
to track that person down. You know, it was his
employees and his bodyguards and even chiefs of staff that
(08:36):
he would call upon to do this sort of thing
or to to cover up actions by offering bribes to people.
So that's where the sort of racketeering and indeed the
sex trafficking charges come into play. And in fact, those
are the federal crimes that he's been charged with and
he hasn't been charged with, say, assault or domestic violence.
(08:56):
And in fact, the defense case today, in their opening statements,
were perfectly happy to admit that he's behaved intolerably and
that he has, you know, he is a domestic abuser,
that he has hit his girlfriends. It's caught on tape.
The jury saw it today. Um, but the defense case
is essentially that, well, you know, these things were bad,
(09:17):
but they do not amount to racketeering and sex trafficking. Um,
and that the women who participated in these freak offs or,
you know, hotel parties, these sexual encounters, whatever you want
to call them, did so of their own free will.
They did so in the context of a consensual relationship
that may not have looked like the relationships that you
and I might have. Um, but nonetheless, these were, you know,
(09:40):
in the defense attorney's words, uh, capable, strong women who were,
you know, um, making free choices.
S2 (09:48):
We'll be right.
S7 (09:48):
Back.
S2 (09:53):
Okay. So tell us who the main witnesses for the
prosecution are, because we know that US federal prosecutors had
planned to call on five women who were expected to testify.
But then we saw some pretty dramatic headlines a couple
of days ago when it was revealed that one of
those key witnesses had gone missing, that federal prosecutors were
unable to contact this woman, who was due to give
crucial evidence about her alleged abuse by Diddy over a
(10:15):
number of decades. So tell us who is actually going
to be testifying on behalf of the prosecution?
S4 (10:21):
Well, the prosecution.
S1 (10:22):
In their opening today really said that their case would
focus on evidence from two women. And those are Cassandra Ventura,
who was Diddy's longtime girlfriend. Uh, they had a relationship
over the span of 11 years she's referred to in
court as Cassie. But we know her, her real identity.
She's a R&B singer, dancer, actor and another woman known
(10:47):
in court as Jane, whom Sean Combs met in 2020
and began a relationship with. Uh, continued to have encounters
with until as recently as, um, less than a year ago.
We were told in court now there will, I believe,
be other witnesses. Um, the prosecution talked briefly in their
opening statements about a woman known as Mia Um, who
(11:10):
was an employee. Um, and I think we'll be hearing
from her, but they did focus today's outline of the
case and indeed told the jury that their case would
focus on evidence from those two women.
S2 (11:24):
And beyond what you've told us already, which is that
the defense is going to claim that these were actually
consensual situations between Diddy and the people who've made the
allegations against him, that it might not look like what
most people might perhaps want out of a relationship, but
that it was consensual and that the prosecution is alleging that, no,
this absolutely was not. Are there any other revelations that
(11:45):
has come out of the first day of the trial?
S1 (11:47):
Well, look, a lot of it we were aware of already, um,
and certainly the gist of it, but we did get
a lot of detail and to hear it being told firsthand,
in some cases from the first two witnesses who were
called by the prosecution this afternoon. Does sort of change
the way that you understand these things. So, for example, the, um,
(12:09):
video footage, which I think a lot of people have
followed the case up until now, you would have seen
this video footage of Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura at
an LA hotel in 2016. It was hotel surveillance footage of, uh,
a really violent altercation where he is, uh, striking her
(12:30):
and kicking her in the hotel corridor. This footage aired
on CNN last year.
S8 (12:36):
It shows Combs in a towel chasing Cassie Ventura down
a Los Angeles hotel hallway back in 2016. Ventura, which
you'll see is grabbed by her neck and thrown to
the floor and then kicked twice and then dragged. Now
we're not going to show the entire video.
S1 (12:52):
And, you know, up until that point, he had denied
that he had been violent towards her and abused her,
and then of course, afterwards had to come clean and say,
you know, yes, I did this. And, you know, my
behavior was inexcusable. So we heard from a witness this
afternoon who was the security guard at the hotel that
day and attended to this altercation after receiving a phone
(13:14):
call about a woman in distress. And his name is
Israel Flores. He's now a police officer in LA. Um,
and he told the court about attending to this scene,
seeing Cassie Ventura sitting in the corner of the hotel corridor,
looking terrified, huddled in the corner, I think were his
exact words, and Sean Combs sitting in a chair, um,
(13:36):
with what he said was a a devilish stare on
his face. And this security guard told the court about,
you know, first saying to them, well, you're going to
have an argument. Let's take it back to the room, um,
and sort of escorting them back to the room. Cassie Ventura,
in his telling, then sort of indicated that she wanted
to leave. Um, Sean Combs didn't want that to happen.
(13:58):
They went back to the room. Cassie Ventura gathers her belongings.
The security guard talks about standing in the doorway so
that the door wouldn't close. He sort of watched what
was going on in the room. And then Sean Combs,
according to the security guard's evidence, comes out with a
stack of cash. And Israel Perez, the security guard, says he,
you know, obviously understood this to be an attempt at bribery.
(14:20):
You know, forget about what you've seen. Don't tell anybody.
And he says that he told Sean Combs, I don't
want your money. And he said, he goes back downstairs,
follows Cassie Ventura outside the lobby of the hotel into
the valet section. It's la. Everyone's got a valet. And, uh, where,
you know, he sort of suggested that you might want
to go to the police. Um, but she ultimately decided to, uh,
(14:43):
to leave, and she got into a black SUV. So
that was the evidence that was was given today by
the first prosecution witness. We also heard briefly, although we'll
continue tomorrow from a second witness who was a former.
I used to work on a male review and then
(15:04):
he was paid by Cassie Ventura and it's well, it's
alleged Sean Combs, um, to come and have sex with
Cassie in one of these hotel room parties. And where
we left off today was quite an interesting exchange, really, uh,
very telling for what the defense is going to do,
because the defense was cross-examining Daniel Phillip and cross-examining him
(15:25):
in quite excruciating detail about the first time that he
was called to have sex with Cassie Ventura. Uh, where
he rocks up to the hotel. He immediately offers him cash,
which he accepts. And then, um, they begin having sex,
and he describes it as kind of, you know, she
was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And in
(15:47):
his words, it didn't last that long as a result
of that. But. And that, you know, Sean Combs was
apparently sitting in the corner, you know, immediately begins pleasuring
himself once they start having sex and that once this
was over, he testified that he left. But, uh, Cassie
Ventura messaged him or called him within five minutes and
asked him to come back to do it again. Um,
(16:09):
she requested a picture of his genitals, and by all accounts. Well,
I think what the defense is trying to portray here
is that this was an encounter that she very much enjoyed.
So that testimony, that cross-examination will continue tomorrow. But I
think you could see the beginnings in this of what
the defense is going to be doing, which is to
(16:30):
portray all of these acts as something that the women
often enjoyed and certainly participated in willingly and could have
decided not to do at any time if they if
they didn't want to do it anymore.
S2 (16:41):
And I wanted to ask you about the video that
was played in the courtroom of Sean Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura.
As you mentioned, it was aired on television last year.
I'm just wondering, though, because you said it was sort
of a pivotal moment, I guess, during the day in court.
What was the response? I guess, from the people who
were seeing that? Like, was it quite confronting, even though
(17:03):
people had perhaps seen it before?
S1 (17:05):
Look, I think the most confronting thing and I'll be honest,
from where I was, I couldn't see the faces of
the jury members. So it's it's difficult to say with
any certainty how they reacted to it. But throughout the video,
throughout all the evidence that was given today, including that
really excruciating detail about this sexual encounter that, uh, Sean
(17:28):
Combs was witnessing and the video of him assaulting Cassie, uh,
his mother was sitting in the second row of the gallery. Uh,
his three of his daughters were sitting in the gallery,
and I believe that, um, and I've seen it reported
that they exited the courtroom, uh, at a couple of moments, um,
(17:50):
during some of that testimony. And, I mean, you would
have to imagine some of this stuff, uh, is, is, um,
pretty grueling to sit through as a family member.
S2 (17:59):
And so, Michael, is it fair to say that this
is perhaps a shock, I guess, in Sean Combs life,
in the sense that he's now facing these very serious
federal charges, and this comes after really, three decades when
he has faced various allegations of serious misconduct. And he's
been arrested several times, but never until this point spent
(18:20):
significant time in custody. Right.
S1 (18:22):
Yeah. Look, he's he's had, as you say, decades of allegations,
you know, ranging from serious misconduct to violence. Um, you know,
been in and around the apparent beating of a rival
music executive. Um, there was an occasion, uh, with, uh,
an assault of a college football coach and gunshots fired
in a nightclub. Um, now, some of those cases ended
(18:43):
with the charges being dismissed. Um, or in fact, modified.
There was another occasion, uh, in 2004, in which, uh,
Kimora Lee Simmons, uh, who was the former wife of
another hip hop mogul, Russell Simmons, uh, claimed in an
interview that, uh, Sean Combs had once threatened to hit
her while she was pregnant. So, look, a lot of
(19:05):
these accusations and allegations have been swirling around him for
a long time. And so, you know, look, perhaps, uh,
perhaps he had an inkling that the chickens were going
to come home to roost at some stage. But, you know, obviously,
this is the first time, as you point out, that
he's spent a long time in prison. And, you know,
now he's facing charges that do carry, uh, a really
(19:27):
long prison sentence as a penalty if the prosecution can
make them stick in front of a jury.
S2 (19:34):
And, Michael, how long is this trial set to actually
run for? And how much time could he actually face
in jail if he's found guilty?
S1 (19:42):
So the judge told us today that he doesn't expect
the trial will go past July 4th, obviously, Independence Day
in the US, so that would give it about eight weeks.
although of course there's always the possibility of it going longer.
And that will give prosecutors time to lay out their
case and the defense time to make their case. Um, and,
you know, we can expect that to be done in
(20:03):
great detail because both legal teams are enormous. If you're
looking at the the benches today, um, and because the
stakes are so high, because, um, you know, uh, Diddy,
if convicted on these charges, could go to jail for
I think it's about 15 years to a maximum of
life in prison. These are really serious charges. And, you know,
(20:24):
they are complicated charges as well. And I think the
jury has sort of not heard at this stage, the
sort of full extent of how those criminal charges work.
They've been told what he has been charged with. Um,
but the sort of complex nature of the boxes that
have to be ticked to fulfill those criminal charges, like racketeering,
will be explained in more detail to the jury at
(20:45):
a later time.
S2 (20:46):
Well, we are so lucky that you're reporting from the
ground there. So thank you so much, Michael, for your time.
S1 (20:52):
No problem.
S9 (20:53):
At all.
S2 (20:57):
This podcast contained details of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
If you need support, call the National Helpline on 1800 737 732.
Today's episode was produced by Josh Towers and Julia Katzel.
Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our
(21:17):
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
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(21:40):
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Links are in the show. Notes. I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris.
Thanks for listening.
Well, I'm outside the Federal court for the Southern District
of New York, where we've just concluded the first full
day of the trial of Sean Combs. Today, we've heard
the opening statements from both the prosecution and the defense,
as well as testimony from.
S2 (00:17):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Salinger Morris. It's Wednesday,
May 14th. For years, Sean Diddy Combs was a music
mogul unlike any other. Once described as a zeitgeist dominating
colossus who helped hip hop become a global cultural force.
(00:41):
But peppered throughout his years of living to extraordinary excess
were allegations of violence and misconduct. He managed to escape
much time in custody until September, when he became inmate
37452054 at a Brooklyn detention center after he was charged
with federal crimes. Today, we speak to North America correspondent
(01:03):
Michael Koziol, who's on the ground in New York City,
where he has attended the first day of his trial
and learned what the prosecution and defense plan on arguing
in one of the biggest celebrity trials of the decade.
And just a heads up, some of the content in
this episode may be distressing to listeners. Okay, Michael, just
(01:27):
to start, I was hoping you might be able to
describe for us what the mood has been like both
inside and outside of the courtroom in New York City,
where Sean Diddy Combs has been sitting for, you know,
as he faces these federal charges because you have been there.
So walk us through this.
S1 (01:44):
Well, it's obviously a much anticipated case here in New York,
one of the one of the most anticipated cases, I think,
for for quite a while.
S3 (01:52):
Prosecutors are expected to paint combs as the head of
a criminal organization who exploited his fame and fortune to
sexually abuse women and men. Defense attorneys plan to counter
by saying Combs was not acting illegally and all relationships
were consensual.
S1 (02:06):
ABC it's the same courthouse as the Sam Bankman-Fried case
a couple of years ago, and I think one of
the most sort of, you know, watched cases since then.
One of the most watched entertainment cases since Harvey Weinstein.
The world's media are here. All the Australian journalists from
across the US have, um, those who aren't already based
(02:26):
in New York are in New York to cover this
on Worth Street in downtown Manhattan, in front of the
federal courthouse. So, uh, it was a big deal, and
it was a long queue to get in, and, um,
the overflow rooms themselves were packed. Let alone the the courtroom.
So definitely big interest in the start of this blockbuster
(02:46):
and lengthy trial. So he was dressed a sort of. Well,
there was some disagreement as to whether it was light
gray tan or oatmeal colored sweater, but yet you can
picture that over a white button up shirt and beige pants. He,
you know, look, he's, um, he's firmly in middle age now,
(03:07):
so he's got the grey hair. He, you know, would
put on these big, thick rimmed reading glasses from time
to time to. Read some papers. And for a lot
of the time during the testimony, he sort of would
just sit. Um, with his hands clasped in his lap,
sometimes with his legs crossed, watching, um, the person who was.
Giving evidence or, ah, outlining the opening statements. So look,
(03:29):
he was calm, you know, he seemed like he was
in control. So he he was occasionally smiling and even,
it seemed, joking at a point with his defence lawyers, but.
You know, I think the fact that he was so
keen not to appear in prison garb and sort of
to appear in. More respectable clothing, you know, that he
would think, perhaps befits a celebrity of his status. Um,
(03:50):
I think probably goes to show that. Yes. You know,
there is likely to be a sense of I'm a
big deal. And, you know, I can't believe that this
has happened to me.
S2 (04:01):
I mean, this obviously attests to really what a big
deal how famous Diddy is and how renowned his music
has been for so long. So just briefly, can you
tell us how famous is he? Because we do know
he had something of a startling rise. You know, he
started on the fringes of the music business, and he
really did reach global superstardom, right?
S4 (04:20):
I mean, he.
S1 (04:20):
Um, started a record label, Bad Boy Records, when he
was very young, in his sort of early to mid
20s and, you know, went on to become this pretty
massive figure in the rise of, of rap music, in
pop music. Um, you know, that time in the 90s
when pop artists were just starting to really kind of
(04:41):
incorporate rap into mainstream recordings?
S5 (04:45):
Let's pretend for a second you don't know who I
am and what I do. Let's just put it to
the side. I can feel your heart beating.
S1 (04:51):
You know, and not just a rapper, but a producer
and a music executive. Someone who kind of had his
hands in the till in all aspects of the music
industry and that that is, you know, why he became
this sort of monumental figure.
S5 (05:04):
It seems like yesterday we used to rock the show.
I laced the track. You locked the flow so far
from hangin on the block for dough.
S1 (05:11):
And even though, you know, I think it's fair to
say he's not at the height of his fame or
powers in the music industry. It was interesting, you know,
after court wrapped today, I was just speaking to a
few young guys who were hanging outside court. They must
have been in their, you know, early 20s tops, and
they'd come down just to kind of have a look
and check things out, maybe, you know, catch some people
(05:32):
coming out of court. And I said to them, oh,
you know, I'm surprised because, you know, you sort of
look too young. You guys look kind of too young
to have known him during his like, kind of, you know,
it's like peak, but like.
S6 (05:40):
His music is still like. I feel like when I
was in middle school, in high school, his music was
like a big thing. And he's obviously managed a lot
of artists. And even like, I know he managed Justin
Bieber and all those younger guys that like.
S1 (05:51):
That was still very interested. That was still very much like, yeah,
it's a big deal. So here in the US, it's
still certainly has had that cultural cachet.
S2 (05:59):
Okay. And it's safe to say he is living in
very different circumstances. We know that, you know, he used
to have a life of personal chefs in enormous mansions
and what's been described as a Gatsby esque appetite for spectacle,
you know, parties with celebrities and that. And for the
last eight months, he's been living in this Brooklyn detention center,
which has drawn complaints over the years for being rife
(06:21):
with mold, vermin and neglect. So let's talk about how
he's ended up here. What has he been accused of?
S4 (06:27):
So he's been charged.
S1 (06:28):
By federal prosecutors with essentially racketeering and sex trafficking. Um,
really the crux of the accusations. But what sort of
sits behind that is this idea that, um, uh, he
over the course of 20 years and prosecutors today, in
their opening statements, talked very much at the outset of,
(06:49):
you know, we will be running you through 20 years
of alleged criminality here, where he is essentially accused of
bringing women, you know, his girlfriends at the time into
sort of sexually abusive and exploitative situations that typically took
place in hotel rooms here in the US and internationally that,
(07:11):
you know, he apparently referred to as freak offs or
sometimes wild king nights or sometimes just a bit more
innocuously hotel parties. And at these parties, these women would
sort of be coerced, in prosecutor's terms, into having sex
with male escorts. Diddy would be there in the room.
He would sometimes participate, but usually not. He would often,
(07:33):
you know, be pleasuring himself in the room. And he
would often record these encounters on tape and their drugs
were often involved, according to the prosecutors. You know, the
women would be fed drugs, and then later these tapes
would kind of be used against them to force them
to stay with him and to stay silent about what
(07:55):
had happened and where the charges come into play are
the fact that the prosecutors allege that he essentially turned
his music empire into a criminal enterprise to enable and
to cover up this behavior. So, you know, the staff
would be involved in setting up the hotel rooms with
(08:15):
the right lighting and the right equipment and, you know,
the right lubricants and that sort of thing. And that,
you know, when people were crossed him, um, you know,
for example, uh, you know, one of his girlfriends or
lovers was hanging out with someone else and they went
to track that person down. You know, it was his
employees and his bodyguards and even chiefs of staff that
(08:36):
he would call upon to do this sort of thing
or to to cover up actions by offering bribes to people.
So that's where the sort of racketeering and indeed the
sex trafficking charges come into play. And in fact, those
are the federal crimes that he's been charged with and
he hasn't been charged with, say, assault or domestic violence.
(08:56):
And in fact, the defense case today, in their opening statements,
were perfectly happy to admit that he's behaved intolerably and
that he has, you know, he is a domestic abuser,
that he has hit his girlfriends. It's caught on tape.
The jury saw it today. Um, but the defense case
is essentially that, well, you know, these things were bad,
(09:17):
but they do not amount to racketeering and sex trafficking. Um,
and that the women who participated in these freak offs or,
you know, hotel parties, these sexual encounters, whatever you want
to call them, did so of their own free will.
They did so in the context of a consensual relationship
that may not have looked like the relationships that you
and I might have. Um, but nonetheless, these were, you know,
(09:40):
in the defense attorney's words, uh, capable, strong women who were,
you know, um, making free choices.
S2 (09:48):
We'll be right.
S7 (09:48):
Back.
S2 (09:53):
Okay. So tell us who the main witnesses for the
prosecution are, because we know that US federal prosecutors had
planned to call on five women who were expected to testify.
But then we saw some pretty dramatic headlines a couple
of days ago when it was revealed that one of
those key witnesses had gone missing, that federal prosecutors were
unable to contact this woman, who was due to give
crucial evidence about her alleged abuse by Diddy over a
(10:15):
number of decades. So tell us who is actually going
to be testifying on behalf of the prosecution?
S4 (10:21):
Well, the prosecution.
S1 (10:22):
In their opening today really said that their case would
focus on evidence from two women. And those are Cassandra Ventura,
who was Diddy's longtime girlfriend. Uh, they had a relationship
over the span of 11 years she's referred to in
court as Cassie. But we know her, her real identity.
She's a R&B singer, dancer, actor and another woman known
(10:47):
in court as Jane, whom Sean Combs met in 2020
and began a relationship with. Uh, continued to have encounters
with until as recently as, um, less than a year ago.
We were told in court now there will, I believe,
be other witnesses. Um, the prosecution talked briefly in their
opening statements about a woman known as Mia Um, who
(11:10):
was an employee. Um, and I think we'll be hearing
from her, but they did focus today's outline of the
case and indeed told the jury that their case would
focus on evidence from those two women.
S2 (11:24):
And beyond what you've told us already, which is that
the defense is going to claim that these were actually
consensual situations between Diddy and the people who've made the
allegations against him, that it might not look like what
most people might perhaps want out of a relationship, but
that it was consensual and that the prosecution is alleging that, no,
this absolutely was not. Are there any other revelations that
(11:45):
has come out of the first day of the trial?
S1 (11:47):
Well, look, a lot of it we were aware of already, um,
and certainly the gist of it, but we did get
a lot of detail and to hear it being told firsthand,
in some cases from the first two witnesses who were
called by the prosecution this afternoon. Does sort of change
the way that you understand these things. So, for example, the, um,
(12:09):
video footage, which I think a lot of people have
followed the case up until now, you would have seen
this video footage of Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura at
an LA hotel in 2016. It was hotel surveillance footage of, uh,
a really violent altercation where he is, uh, striking her
(12:30):
and kicking her in the hotel corridor. This footage aired
on CNN last year.
S8 (12:36):
It shows Combs in a towel chasing Cassie Ventura down
a Los Angeles hotel hallway back in 2016. Ventura, which
you'll see is grabbed by her neck and thrown to
the floor and then kicked twice and then dragged. Now
we're not going to show the entire video.
S1 (12:52):
And, you know, up until that point, he had denied
that he had been violent towards her and abused her,
and then of course, afterwards had to come clean and say,
you know, yes, I did this. And, you know, my
behavior was inexcusable. So we heard from a witness this
afternoon who was the security guard at the hotel that
day and attended to this altercation after receiving a phone
(13:14):
call about a woman in distress. And his name is
Israel Flores. He's now a police officer in LA. Um,
and he told the court about attending to this scene,
seeing Cassie Ventura sitting in the corner of the hotel corridor,
looking terrified, huddled in the corner, I think were his
exact words, and Sean Combs sitting in a chair, um,
(13:36):
with what he said was a a devilish stare on
his face. And this security guard told the court about,
you know, first saying to them, well, you're going to
have an argument. Let's take it back to the room, um,
and sort of escorting them back to the room. Cassie Ventura,
in his telling, then sort of indicated that she wanted
to leave. Um, Sean Combs didn't want that to happen.
(13:58):
They went back to the room. Cassie Ventura gathers her belongings.
The security guard talks about standing in the doorway so
that the door wouldn't close. He sort of watched what
was going on in the room. And then Sean Combs,
according to the security guard's evidence, comes out with a
stack of cash. And Israel Perez, the security guard, says he,
you know, obviously understood this to be an attempt at bribery.
(14:20):
You know, forget about what you've seen. Don't tell anybody.
And he says that he told Sean Combs, I don't
want your money. And he said, he goes back downstairs,
follows Cassie Ventura outside the lobby of the hotel into
the valet section. It's la. Everyone's got a valet. And, uh, where,
you know, he sort of suggested that you might want
to go to the police. Um, but she ultimately decided to, uh,
(14:43):
to leave, and she got into a black SUV. So
that was the evidence that was was given today by
the first prosecution witness. We also heard briefly, although we'll
continue tomorrow from a second witness who was a former.
I used to work on a male review and then
(15:04):
he was paid by Cassie Ventura and it's well, it's
alleged Sean Combs, um, to come and have sex with
Cassie in one of these hotel room parties. And where
we left off today was quite an interesting exchange, really, uh,
very telling for what the defense is going to do,
because the defense was cross-examining Daniel Phillip and cross-examining him
(15:25):
in quite excruciating detail about the first time that he
was called to have sex with Cassie Ventura. Uh, where
he rocks up to the hotel. He immediately offers him cash,
which he accepts. And then, um, they begin having sex,
and he describes it as kind of, you know, she
was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. And in
(15:47):
his words, it didn't last that long as a result
of that. But. And that, you know, Sean Combs was
apparently sitting in the corner, you know, immediately begins pleasuring
himself once they start having sex and that once this
was over, he testified that he left. But, uh, Cassie
Ventura messaged him or called him within five minutes and
asked him to come back to do it again. Um,
(16:09):
she requested a picture of his genitals, and by all accounts. Well,
I think what the defense is trying to portray here
is that this was an encounter that she very much enjoyed.
So that testimony, that cross-examination will continue tomorrow. But I
think you could see the beginnings in this of what
the defense is going to be doing, which is to
(16:30):
portray all of these acts as something that the women
often enjoyed and certainly participated in willingly and could have
decided not to do at any time if they if
they didn't want to do it anymore.
S2 (16:41):
And I wanted to ask you about the video that
was played in the courtroom of Sean Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura.
As you mentioned, it was aired on television last year.
I'm just wondering, though, because you said it was sort
of a pivotal moment, I guess, during the day in court.
What was the response? I guess, from the people who
were seeing that? Like, was it quite confronting, even though
(17:03):
people had perhaps seen it before?
S1 (17:05):
Look, I think the most confronting thing and I'll be honest,
from where I was, I couldn't see the faces of
the jury members. So it's it's difficult to say with
any certainty how they reacted to it. But throughout the video,
throughout all the evidence that was given today, including that
really excruciating detail about this sexual encounter that, uh, Sean
(17:28):
Combs was witnessing and the video of him assaulting Cassie, uh,
his mother was sitting in the second row of the gallery. Uh,
his three of his daughters were sitting in the gallery,
and I believe that, um, and I've seen it reported
that they exited the courtroom, uh, at a couple of moments, um,
(17:50):
during some of that testimony. And, I mean, you would
have to imagine some of this stuff, uh, is, is, um,
pretty grueling to sit through as a family member.
S2 (17:59):
And so, Michael, is it fair to say that this
is perhaps a shock, I guess, in Sean Combs life,
in the sense that he's now facing these very serious
federal charges, and this comes after really, three decades when
he has faced various allegations of serious misconduct. And he's
been arrested several times, but never until this point spent
(18:20):
significant time in custody. Right.
S1 (18:22):
Yeah. Look, he's he's had, as you say, decades of allegations,
you know, ranging from serious misconduct to violence. Um, you know,
been in and around the apparent beating of a rival
music executive. Um, there was an occasion, uh, with, uh,
an assault of a college football coach and gunshots fired
in a nightclub. Um, now, some of those cases ended
(18:43):
with the charges being dismissed. Um, or in fact, modified.
There was another occasion, uh, in 2004, in which, uh,
Kimora Lee Simmons, uh, who was the former wife of
another hip hop mogul, Russell Simmons, uh, claimed in an
interview that, uh, Sean Combs had once threatened to hit
her while she was pregnant. So, look, a lot of
(19:05):
these accusations and allegations have been swirling around him for
a long time. And so, you know, look, perhaps, uh,
perhaps he had an inkling that the chickens were going
to come home to roost at some stage. But, you know, obviously,
this is the first time, as you point out, that
he's spent a long time in prison. And, you know,
now he's facing charges that do carry, uh, a really
(19:27):
long prison sentence as a penalty if the prosecution can
make them stick in front of a jury.
S2 (19:34):
And, Michael, how long is this trial set to actually
run for? And how much time could he actually face
in jail if he's found guilty?
S1 (19:42):
So the judge told us today that he doesn't expect
the trial will go past July 4th, obviously, Independence Day
in the US, so that would give it about eight weeks.
although of course there's always the possibility of it going longer.
And that will give prosecutors time to lay out their
case and the defense time to make their case. Um, and,
you know, we can expect that to be done in
(20:03):
great detail because both legal teams are enormous. If you're
looking at the the benches today, um, and because the
stakes are so high, because, um, you know, uh, Diddy,
if convicted on these charges, could go to jail for
I think it's about 15 years to a maximum of
life in prison. These are really serious charges. And, you know,
(20:24):
they are complicated charges as well. And I think the
jury has sort of not heard at this stage, the
sort of full extent of how those criminal charges work.
They've been told what he has been charged with. Um,
but the sort of complex nature of the boxes that
have to be ticked to fulfill those criminal charges, like racketeering,
will be explained in more detail to the jury at
(20:45):
a later time.
S2 (20:46):
Well, we are so lucky that you're reporting from the
ground there. So thank you so much, Michael, for your time.
S1 (20:52):
No problem.
S9 (20:53):
At all.
S2 (20:57):
This podcast contained details of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
If you need support, call the National Helpline on 1800 737 732.
Today's episode was produced by Josh Towers and Julia Katzel.
Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our
(21:17):
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
as they drop, follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our newsrooms are powered
by subscriptions, so to support independent journalism, visit The Age
or smh.com.au. Subscribe and to stay up to date. Sign
up to our Morning Edition newsletter to receive a summary
(21:40):
of the day's most important news in your inbox every morning.
Links are in the show. Notes. I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris.
Thanks for listening.
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