The blockbuster sex-trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is hurtling through its seventh day, with huge tranches of evidence unleashed in the first week alone.
Combs is charged with racketeering conspiracy, two charges of sex trafficking and two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutors claim Diddy coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using sex and violence. The rapper has denied all accusations, saying all sex acts were consensual.
As the 55-year-old music mogul faces at least another six weeks of grilling, the Daily Mail unpacks the drama which has unfolded in the Manhattan federal courtroom so far.
Horror images of ex-girlfriend Cassie’s injuries
The court was shown horrific photographs of injuries Cassie, 38, sustained allegedly at the hands of the music mogul.
They included pictures of dark bruising on her back and lower thigh that she said came during an altercation with Diddy in Christmas 2011.
Other photos show her badly swollen lips after the infamous 2016 assault Diddy launched on her in the hallway of an LA hotel, as caught on camera.
Evidence images included the above photograph of dark bruising on Cassie’s back she said Diddy inflicted on her during an altercation in Christmas 2011
The singer, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, said she chose to not report who had assaulted her when police showed up because she wanted to protect Diddy.
Another image shows what Cassie described as a ‘pretty significant gash’ above her left eye.
She said Diddy threw her into a bed frame while she was packing to go to Drake’s music festival in Canada.
Cassie’s graphic verbal testimony
Cassie said Diddy beat her mercilessly and ordered her to have ‘disgusting’ sex with strangers during drug-fueled, multi-day marathons he called ‘freak offs.’
The singer sniffled and dabbed her eyes with a tissue, sighed heavily and paused to compose herself through about five hours of grueling testimony.
She recalled the ‘freak offs’ in graphic detail, including one alleged instance where a male escort urinated in her mouth at Combs’ request.
Cassie said Diddy beat her mercilessly and ordered her to have ‘disgusting’ sex with strangers during drug-fueled, multi-day marathons he called ‘freak offs’
Cassie told jurors that his demands for her to engage in often-revolting sex acts – sometimes as he watched from another room via FaceTime – left her feeling ‘heavily objectified.’
But, she said, she endured them for more than a decade between 2007 and 2018 because she was in love with Combs, and because when she did try to leave, Combs would punish her.
‘I just felt it was all I was good for,’ she said as she broke down in tears on the first day in court.
‘I felt pretty horrible about myself. I felt disgusted. I was humiliated, I didn’t have those words to put together at the time, how horrible I felt. I couldn’t talk to anybody about it so.’
Dawn Richard corroborates Cassie’s claims, while citing Usher and Ne-Yo
Former Danity Kane star Dawn Richard corroborated Cassie’s claims about the violence against her.
Richard said on the stand Monday that Diddy punched Cassie in the stomach during a private argument at a West Hollywood restaurant in 2010.
She claimed several celebrities were at the dinner, including Usher, Ne-Yo and superstar music executive Jimmy Iodine.
Dawn Richards, a former member of girl group Danity Kane that was signed to Diddy’s Bad Boy Records label, testified that she often witnessed Diddy beating Cassie
‘Mr Combs punched Cassie in the stomach,’ Richard told the jury.
‘They were having a private conversation, we were all sitting eating at the tables together. Some of Bad Boy label mates, some celebrities were in the room.
‘They were secretly arguing [and] he punched her in the stomach.
Richard added: ‘[Cassie] immediately bent over and he told her to leave, I could see him point out and she went out.’
Disturbing freak-off photographs
The New York courtroom fell silent as the jury members viewed five still pictures of so-called ‘Freak Offs’ on their screens, which were blocked from public view.
One male juror’s eyebrows went up as he saw the images, while a female juror swallowed hard and appeared to move her head side to side.
Cassie spoke in a flat voice while she described the photographs, which showed her with three male escorts.
One picture depicted her and an escort called Greg in the middle of a ‘freak off’. Cassie said she was wearing ‘very high shoes’ and had baby oil on her skin.
To ensure her privacy, the court allowed only the singer, the jurors, Combs and his lawyers, and the prosecution to see the images.
Diddy’s medicine bag: Viagra, diet pills and drugs with Obama’s face on them
Diddy’s former assistant told the court the mogul always traveled with a medicine bag that contained about 30 pills.
‘Some Advil, Tylenol,’ David James said.
A former personal assistant to the rap mogul said partiers would pop pills with the former president’s face on them (a stock image is pictured)
‘He had water pills to help him lose weight, Viagra, pills that helped increase his sperm count.’
James said Diddy would take Percocet pills throughout the day and ecstasy at night.
When asked, James said one of the ecstasy pills Diddy took ‘was in the shape of former president Obama’s face.’
Diddy’s lawyers show texts where Cassie said she loved freak offs
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ legal team introduced salacious text messages from Cassie claiming the R&B singer ‘loved’ Combs’ infamous ‘freak offs.’
Diddy’s lawyer Anna Estevao used the messages in court on Thursday in an effort to paint Cassie as a willing participant in the drug-fueled sex sessions that could last up to four days.
![In one text exchange, Cassie admits that she 'love[s] our [freak offs] when we both want it'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/05/20/21/98428303-14732237-In_one_text_exchange_Cassie_admits_that_she_love_s_our_freak_off-a-33_1747774293678.jpg)
In one text exchange, Cassie admits that she ‘love[s] our [freak offs] when we both want it’
‘I love our FOs when we both want it,’ she wrote in one missive, adding: ‘I want to Freak Off right now LOL. I want to have fun with you.’
Diddy replied: ‘Let me know if you want to have a late night. Jules is available. If you’re not into that NP. We can just do a thing. Love you.’
Cassie simply replies with a ‘love you’ back. Diddy asks: ‘If you’re not super horny wtf?’ ‘Horny. Of course I am,’ said Cassie.
Testimony from ‘The Punisher’ escort Sharay Hayes
Hayes described his first encounter with Diddy and Cassie to the court on Tuesday, revealing that Diddy wore a veil the first time they met.
‘There was an area for me to sit and her to sit and there were little bowls of water and bottles of baby oil,’ he said of the meeting at the Trump International Hotel on Central Park West.
‘Ms Ventura got on the sofa opposite me and I followed, mimicked what she did. She got a bottle of baby oil and started pouring it on herself and I did similar.
Sharay Hayes, (pictured) also known as ‘The Punisher’, operates a male dancing service in New York City
‘A few minutes (later) I could see her husband enter the room. The man was nude but I could not see his face, there was a veil and I could see he had a bottle of Astroglide.
‘At some point the man stood up and left the room. Ms Ventura follow him out.’
He said he was paid an additional $1,200 when he was done.
When asked, the witness said he had between eight and 12 total encounters with the couple.
He said he’d also met with them at Essex House, a luxurious hotel on Central Park South, just a stone’s throw from the Trump International Hotel.
Hayes added that as Combs became more comfortable in his presence, he switched from wearing a veil to a baseball cap.
Testimony from Diddy’s former assistant David James
James told the court that he quit as Diddy’s assistant after an incident involving the mogul’s rival Suge Knight in 2008.
James said Diddy’s friend D-Roc noticed Knight at a famous diner in LA and approached him.
Knight allegedly asked D-Roc: ‘What you doin’ in my city?’
Diddy’s team returned to the mogul’s house, and the rapper allegedly grabbed three guns and instructed James to drive back to the diner to threaten Knight.
Diddy’s former assistant David James (pictured arriving at court) said he quit the role after a disturbing incident involving the mogul’s rival Suge Knight in 2008
‘This was the first time as his assistant that I realized my life was in danger. I told them I want to leave but give six months notice so I could train the next assistant,’ James told the jury.
He also gave bizarre insights into the rapper’s life, including his favorite hotel being the Trump International hotel in New York, and how he ‘demanded ketchup for every meal’.
James claimed that Diddy kept an ’embarrassing’ drunken video of him to assert control as a form of blackmail to keep him on side.
Testimony from Cassie’s mom Regina Ventura
Ventura testified that Diddy demanded that Cassie pay him $20,000 after he learned she was dating rapper Kid Cudi.
Pictured: Regina Ventura and Rodrick Ventura, parents of Cassie Ventura, depart the Manhattan Federal Court during the Diddy trial on May 20, 2025
She said she and her husband took out a home equity loan because ‘that’s the only way we could get the money’ and they were scared for Cassie’s safety.
‘[Diddy] was angry he’d spent money on her and she’d been with another person,’ she said.
‘His bookkeeper emailed me the wire information. I went to the (bank) and wired the money to the account.’
Regina said the money came back about ‘four to five days later.’
Images showing Diddy’s hotel room set up for a ‘freak off’ as feds closed in on him
Incendiary images shown at the trial reveal the disgraced rap mogul was preparing for a hotel ‘freak off’ despite knowing he was about to be arrested, prosecutors say.
Bombshell images shown in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ trial allegedly reveal the disgraced rap mogul was preparing for a hotel ‘freak off’ despite knowing he was about to be arrested
The shocking images were shown to jurors as Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie testified at his federal trial on Monday – after she previously alleged how she was coerced into a life of manipulation and abuse.
On Monday, prosecutors brought up a set of images taken by law enforcement when Diddy was arrested at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in September 2024.
