Takeaways from Day 1 of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial:
- Combs faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has vociferously denied the allegations against him.
- Prosecutors alleged in their opening remarks that Combs used his fame and power to run a criminal enterprise that facilitated his "freak offs," drug-fueled orgies involving paid sex workers. He allegedly used violence and coercion to force the participation of victims in the freak offs, including ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
- The defense in its opening statement admitted that Combs was jealous and occasionally violent, but insisted all the alleged victims participated willingly in his sex life. The defense said that his physical abuse and "love of baby oil" were not federal crimes.
- The first witness called to testify was a former hotel security guard, who said he responded to the 2016 incident where video showed Combs beating Cassie at the InterContinental hotel. Prosecutors also called a male escort to the stand, who said he was paid to have sex with Cassie between 2012 and 2013. He testified that he witnessed Combs beating Cassie on at least one occasion and heard him yelling during a separate incident.
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Male escort will return to witness stand tomorrow
Daniel Phillip, the male escort who testified last today, will return to continue cross-examination tomorrow.
The judge ordered Phillip not to speak to his attorney, even overnight, before he comes back to testify again.
Day 1 of testimony complete
Court was adjourned just before 5 p.m. EDT as Judge Arun Subramanian thanked jurors and said he'd see them again at 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday.
The day ended with the defense cross-examining Daniel Phillip, a stripper who testified that he was paid thousands of dollars to have sex with Cassie as Combs watched.
Sex worker recalls telling Cassie, 'You need to get help'
Asked if there was any other time Phillip could recall Combs yelling at Cassie, he testified that there was an incident he could hear while the couple was in a bedroom at the Essex Hotel.
"I heard her yelling, 'I’m sorry, I’m sorry,' someone was being slapped around and slammed around the room," Phillip said. "And I looked around the corner and I saw Mr. Combs walk out of the hotel altogether without clothes, he might have had a towel on."
Cassie then ran out of the room and jumped into Phillip's lap, shaking and terrified, he said. Phillip said he recalled wondering why Cassie stayed with someone who was "beating her like this."
"She basically tried to convince me that 'it's OK' and 'I’ll be OK,'" Phillip said. "And I said, 'It is not OK and you need to get help.'"
Sex worker describes witnessing Combs assault Cassie
Phillip said he once saw Combs assault Cassie because she didn't come to the rapper's side as soon as he called.
"I heard him yell out, 'Babe, come here,'" Phillip said, adding that Cassie then asked for a moment more time as she finished working on her computer.
"Combs came out of the room and I saw a liquor bottle fly past her and hit the wall," he told jurors. "He grabbed her by her hair and dragged her by the hair into the bedroom. She was screaming and he pulled her into the bedroom. And what I heard sounded like him slapping her."
Phillip said Cassie apologized, but that Combs responded by saying, "'B---- when I tell you to come, you come now, not later.'"
Phillip said he was "shocked" and "terrified" but that he "didn't know what to do." He said he "did not intervene," and that "there were four or five bodyguards in the other room."
Stripper says Combs urged him to keep quiet
Phillip told jurors that Combs made it clear that he was to keep quiet about the alleged work.
"He asked for my driver's license and took a picture of it and said, 'It's just for insurance,' that if I spoke about it to anybody, I understood it to be that he was threatening me," he said.
Sex worker alleges that Combs gave instructions during sex with Cassie
Phillip told the court that Combs would often instruct him on how to have sex with Cassie.
"He started really directing us after the second time," Phillip testified.
Some of those instructions allegedly included role play scenarios, when to orgasm, where Combs wanted Phillip to ejaculate, and what sex acts to perform. According to Phillip, Combs would occasionally stop him so that Combs could have sex with Cassie.
He also alleged that Combs offered him drugs, but Phillip said he didn't use substances. Phillip described one time in which he said it appeared Cassie might have been under the influence of drugs.
"Combs opened the door, he said I don't think this is going to happen today," Phillip said. "She looked like she was completely passed out, half on the couch and half off the couch."
Male stripper says he had sex in front of Combs
Phillip described a 2012 or 2013 gig when he was paid "a few thousand dollars" to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched.
The prosecution witness said he was "expecting to do a strip tease and leave" with $200 and a tip.
"At that point she gave me a few thousand dollars and said she would tip me when I leave," Phillip told jurors. "We ended up having sex, rubbed baby oil on each other for a couple minutes. He (Combs) was sitting in a corner masturbating."
After they had sex, Phillip said Cassie gave him "a couple of thousand more."
Male escort called to the stand as second witness
The prosecution has called a new witness: Daniel Phillip, who worked as a male escort and says he received money from Cassie to have sex in around 2012 or 2013.
Guard '100%' thought Combs holding up money was a bribe
Combs' attorney, Brian Steele, took up questioning Florez on the cross-examination and pushed the former guard on his belief that Combs was trying to bribe him.
"As far as the bribe, Mr. Combs held up a hundred-dollar bill. You took that as a bribe, you used the word bribe?" Steele asked.
"100%," Florez answered, later affirming the same belief when asked about the "sack of money" Combs held up.
Steele also pushed Florez about the report made for the hotel at the time of the 2016 incident. He asked Florez why he didn't include Combs' allegedly telling Cassie she couldn't leave.
Florez responded that he didn't think it was a "significant fact" to include.
Former hotel guard took cellphone video after Cassie incident to show his wife
Florez testified that he took some cellphone videos after responding to the hotel incident between Cassie and Combs.
He told the court that he made a video because he didn't think his wife would believe him if he went home and told her what happened. One video showed him motioning to Cassie to go into the room and another includes him picking up a phone and discussing the incident with his supervisor.
The former hotel guard testified that he hadn't reviewed video of the assault before writing the incident report. Florez said he didn't call the police because Cassie wanted to leave and no one was pressing charges.
