Judge threatens to take away Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs from courtroom for nodding at jury

The pass judgement on within the federal sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs threatened to take away the tune magnate from courtroom for having a look and nodding on the jury throughout testimony on Thursday.

The courtroom additionally heard from a girl, below the pseudonym “Jane” and who in the past dated Combs, as she started attesting about feeling “obligated” to participate in “freak-offs” with different males.

During a lunch spoil after the jury left the room on Thursday, Judge Arun Subramanian stated that he noticed Combs having a look on the jury and “nodding vigorously” throughout the cross-examination of Bryana Bongolan, a former graphic dressmaker for Combs and an established pal of Combs’s former female friend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.

The pass judgement on warned Combs’s attorneys that if he noticed it once more, it “could result in the exclusion of your client from the courtroom”.

“There should be no efforts whatsoever to have an interaction with this jury,” the pass judgement on added.

Combs’s attorney stated that it might now not occur once more.

Earlier on Thursday, Bongolan resumed the testimony she started on Wednesday. Bongolan in the past testified about her friendship with Ventura and described an alleged incident from 2016 through which she says that Combs dangled her from the balcony of Ventura’s 17th-floor condominium in Los Angeles for 10 to 15 seconds, sooner than throwing her on to a few balcony furnishings.

She testified that the incident left her bruised and emotionally scarred and that she stories nightmares and paranoia.

During cross-examination, Combs’s attorneys challenged Bongolan’s credibility, mentioning inconsistencies between her present testimony and prior statements she gave in regards to the alleged balcony incident.

On Thursday morning, Combs’s attorneys pressed her at the timeline. They claimed that the alleged balcony incident may just now not have happened when she stated as a result of Combs used to be acting at the east coast for a lot of September 2016.

Before concluding the cross-examination, Combs’s attorney urged that Bongolan used to be mendacity concerning the balcony incident and the wounds.

“I can’t agree with you,” Bongolan spoke back, including that she may just now not recall the precise date of the alleged incident, however she “will never forget him holding me on that balcony”.

Another former female friend of Combs’s, who alleges she used to be abused and made to take part in drug-fueled intercourse classes referred to as “freak-offs”, started attesting on Thursday afternoon.

Testifying below the pseudonym “Jane”, the girl has been described through prosecutors as a unmarried mom who first met Combs in 2020..

Jane testified on Thursday that she met Combs in 2020 throughout a women’ go back and forth with a pal who used to be courting him on the time. Jane recalled discovering Combs “really charming” and stated they exchanged numbers.

They started courting in early 2021, she stated, and had been nonetheless courting on the time of his arrest closing September.

Jane stated that she fell “pretty head over heels” for Combs after their first date in early 2021, and that a number of months later, Combs started introducing her to his sexual fantasies and the theory of her having intercourse with different males.

One night time in May 2021, she stated she agreed as a result of she sought after to make him satisfied. Within hours, she stated she used to be in a lodge room observing his assistants get ready the room for a so-called freak-off.

Soon after, she stated a person from an escort carrier arrived, and he or she stated she had intercourse with him whilst Combs watched and masturbated.

Jane testified that the May 2021 come upon opened a “Pandora’s box” of their courting, including that “it was a door that I was unable to shut for the remainder of the relationship.”

Jane advised the courtroom that she most effective sought after to have intercourse with Combs, now not different males, and that she again and again advised Combs this throughout their courting however that he can be dismissive.

Jane stated that she felt “obligated” to conform since Combs managed facets of her lifestyles, together with paying her hire.

The courtroom used to be then adjourned for the day and Jane is anticipated to go back to the stand to proceed her testimony on Friday morning.

Prosecutors have stated that Jane’s testimony is very similar to that of Ventura, Combs’s former longtime female friend, who testified throughout the primary week of the trial.

Ventura, who dated Combs off and on from 2007 to 2018, advised jurors closing month that she used to be subjected to years of bodily and emotional abuse throughout the connection. She alleged she used to be coerced, thru violence and blackmail, into participating within the so-called freak-offs which she stated had been orchestrated and directed through Combs and concerned medication and male intercourse employees.

During cross-examination, Combs’s lawyers sought to painting Ventura as a keen player within the freak-offs, framing the encounters as a part of a “swingers lifestyle”.

Now in its fourth week, the trial has featured graphic and emotional testimony from a number of witnesses. To date, greater than 16 witnesses have testified, together with the singer Dawn Richard, 3 of Combs’s former assistants, Ventura’s mom and rapper Scott Mescudi, additionally recognized as Kid Cudi.

Combs, 55, used to be arrested in September 2024 and faces federal fees of intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to interact in prostitution. He has pleaded now not accountable to all counts.

Prosecutors allege that Combs ran a legal endeavor since no less than 2004 that engaged in or tried to interact in crimes together with intercourse trafficking, kidnapping, pressured exertions, arson, bribery, enticement to interact in prostitution and obstruction of justice, with the assistance of his buddies and staff.

While Combs’s attorneys have said his historical past of home violence, they argue that the ladies participated within the freak-offs consensually they usually handle that Combs is now not accountable of intercourse trafficking or racketeering, or of working a legal endeavor.

Prosecutors have stated that they’ll relaxation their case subsequent week, with the protection anticipated to start out calling its personal witnesses quickly after.

However, Combs’s attorneys have signaled that their presentation might take longer than expected, probably extending the trial into early July.

If convicted on all counts, Combs may just face lifestyles in jail.

The Associated Press contributed reporting