Prosecution Rests in Diddy's Sex Trafficking Trial

Federal prosecutors rested their case Tuesday, June 24, against Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations against him. Prosecutors allege that he coerced two women to participate in drug-fueled sex sessions that sometimes lasted days with male escorts and that he ran a criminal enterprise spanning two decades, deploying his employees to help him commit crimes.

The prosecution rested its case after seven weeks of testimony from 34 witnesses, including two of Combs’ former girlfriends; rapper Kid Cudi, who was allegedly a romantic rival of Combs’; some of the music mogul’s former assistants, as well as federal investigators who conducted raids on his homes in March 2024 or reviewed evidence from those searches.

Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who dated Combs on and off for more than a decade and filed a bombshell lawsuit accusing him of rape, sexual coercion and physical and emotional abuse, testified during the first week of the trial. She testified that they settled the suit in one day for $20 million.

Prosecutors allege Combs coerced Ventura and another former girlfriend, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane,” to have sex with male escorts — encounters that the women said he would refer to as “freak offs” or “hotel nights.” The women testified that Combs would direct and film the encounters and masturbate during them.

Jurors wore headsets as they viewed videos from those encounters on screens in front of them. The videos were not visible or audible to the media or spectators in the courtroom.

On Monday, June 23, they also were shown various records, including flight plans, hotel arrangements and financial transactions allegedly connected to the sexual encounters at the heart of the government’s case.

Combs’ attorneys have vehemently denied that he coerced anyone into sex. He has been denied bail three times and is being detained at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.