Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial enters third week with testimony from ex-employee

The federal sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs resumed on Tuesday morning, entering its third week of testimony.

The musician and businessman, 55, is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He was arrested in September 2024 and has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

On Tuesday morning, the prosecution called Capricorn Clark, a former employee of Combs, to the witness stand.

So far, the jury has heard from two of Combs’s former employees – ex-assistants George Kaplan and David James.

At the end of last week, Scott Mescudi – better known as rapper Kid Cudi – took the stand.

He alleged that Combs broke into his home in 2011 after discovering that he was dating Combs’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.

Mescudi also told the court how, a few weeks later, his car was set on fire with a molotov cocktail, and that he believed Combs was responsible. Combs and his lawyers have denied the allegation.

To date, more than 15 witnesses have testified so far in this trial. In addition to Mescudi, witnesses have included singer Dawn Richard, two of Combs’s former assistants, Ventura’s former best friend, Ventura’s mother, an exotic dancer, a male revue manager, a hotel security officer, a special agent from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a forensic psychologist, a makeup artist who worked with Combs and Ventura, the general manager of a Beverly Hills hotel, and a computer forensics agent from HSI.

Ventura, the prosecution’s key witness, spent four days on the stand detailing years of physical and emotional abuse she says she endured by Combs during their 11-year on-again, off-again relationship.

She testified that Combs orchestrated and directed drug-fueled sex performances with male sex workers – encounters that he referred to as “freak-offs”. She also testified that he coerced and blackmailed her into participating.

Attorneys for Combs have tried to undermine Ventura’s credibility and have sought to portray her as a willing and consenting participant in the freak-offs.

The trial is expected to continue for about six more weeks. If convicted, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison.