Sean 'Diddy' Combs' lawyer complains about trial secrecy as a famous
rapper's name goes unmentioned
[June 13, 2025]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for Sean “Diddy” Combs protested the rising
tide of secrecy at the hip-hop icon’s federal sex trafficking and
racketeering trial on Thursday after Combs and the public were excluded
from arguments over whether another famous rapper's name could be
disclosed.
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo complained to Judge Arun Subramanian
after Combs was excluded from a meeting outside the courtroom between
lawyers and the judge.
That meeting delayed the final day of weeklong testimony from a woman
identified in court only by the pseudonym “Jane,” who dated Combs from
2001 until his September arrest.
When her emotional testimony ended, she hugged a prosecutor, Maureen
Comey, in front of the jury, which would have drawn an outcry from the
defense except she hugged defense attorney Teny Geragos too.
Her testimony likely helped both sides. She admitted still loving Combs,
but she said she now resents that she felt forced to have sex with
strangers to satisfy his sexual fantasies.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that carry a potential
prison sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Prosecutors say he used
fame, fortune, violence and threats to manipulate girlfriends into sex
with paid sex workers in multi-day events that they later regretted.
Defense attorneys say the government is prosecuting consensual sex
between adults.
Under cross-examination by Geragos, Jane testified Thursday that she
flew to Las Vegas in January 2023 with a famous rapper and his
girlfriend.
Geragos didn't identify the rapper but asked Jane if he had recorded
with Combs, “an individual at the top of the music industry as well ...
an icon in the music industry.” She also asked if Combs and the rapper
were “really close.”
“Yes,” Jane replied.
Once in Las Vegas, Jane testified, she went with a group including the
rapper to dinner, a strip club and a hotel room party, where a sex
worker had sex with a woman while a half-dozen others watched.
She said there was dancing and the rapper said, “hey beautiful,” and
told her he'd always wanted to have sex with her. Jane said she didn't
recall exactly when but she flashed her breasts while dancing.
The testimony followed the closed-door session Thursday, when lawyers
discussed what facts could be disclosed about the hotel room encounter.
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Sean Combs arrives at the Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry
Icons at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 25, 2020, in Beverly
Hills, Calif. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File)
 Agnifilo said the need for a public
trial was “an important issue, a constitutional issue” and objected
to so much happening out of the earshot of his client.
In response, the judge offered more secrecy, saying “If your client
wishes to be heard ... we can clear this courtroom if need be to
address it.”
Agnifilo rejected the offer.
“Part of the reason trials are fully public is so if other people
realize they know something about an event discussed in a public
courtroom, they can come forward and share their recollection of
it,” the lawyer said, adding: “That is kind of the practical side of
the constitutional right to a public trial.”
A monitor that is used to show exhibits to spectators has been shut
off throughout Jane's testimony, although lawyers, the judge, Combs
and jurors can view them. Some sidebar conversations between lawyers
and the judge have been sealed.
The judge also has banned the public from viewing any exhibits
containing sexual content, even though the defense has said images
from the group sex episodes proves they were consensual acts between
adults, and not proof of crimes.
And many of the letters to the judge from lawyers each day are filed
under seal, preventing the public from quickly knowing, for
instance, the details about why prosecutors want a Black juror
ejected from the jury in mid-trial. The judge has said he'll decide
the juror's fate Friday.
Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro has called the prosecution's
quest a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a Black juror.”
Jane and Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who testified for four days in
the trial’s first week about her relationship with Combs from 2007
through 2018, both said they participated in the sex marathons for
years, with Cassie calling them “freak-off” nights and Jane
referring to them as “hotel nights.”
Agnifilo said the defense consented to Jane testifying with a
pseudonym but did not consent to other events related to her
testimony and the testimony of other witnesses not being public.
Comey, the lead prosecutor, attacked Agnifilo's rationale for
disclosing more information publicly with the risk that it would be
easier for someone to guess Jane's identity, saying it was an
“attempt to harass and intimidate this witness.”
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