Jury sees more sex videos as prosecutors wind down case against Sean 'Diddy'
Combs
[June 24, 2025]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — On the verge of resting their sex trafficking case
against Sean “Diddy” Combs, federal prosecutors on Monday showed jurors
more videos of the drug-fueled sex marathons at the center of
allegations that could put the hip-hop mogul behind bars for life.
The clips, totaling about 20 minutes of footage of so-called
“freak-offs” or “hotel nights,” bookended a prosecution case that began
seven weeks ago with jurors seeing security camera footage of Combs
brutally beating his former longtime girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles
hotel in 2016.
Prosecutors are set to rest their case on Tuesday once Combs’ lawyers
finish cross-examining the final government witness — Joseph Cerciello,
a Homeland Security Investigations agent whose testimony included
spending hours reading aloud text message exchanges, some of which
involved Combs or other people in his orbit.
As they questioned Cerciello, Combs’ lawyers played excerpts from the
videos, which were shown only to the jury and the parties — not
reporters or public observers of the trial — because of their graphic
nature.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey sometimes referred to the mostly
1- or 2-minute clips filmed by Combs as “explicit” videos, a signal for
jurors to put on headsets that enabled them to hear and view the
recordings without them being seen or heard by spectators in the
Manhattan courtroom.
Prosecutors have cited the drug-fueled multiday events as evidence of
sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, saying Combs relied on
employees, associates and his business accounts to fly male sex workers
to Miami, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, where his staff set up
hotel rooms for the encounters and cleaned up afterward.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. He’s been active in his defense,
writing notes to his attorneys and sometimes influencing when they stop
questioning witnesses.
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This courtroom sketch depicts Sean "Diddy" Combs sitting at the
defense table during his bail hearing in New York on Wednesday,
Sept. 18, 2024. (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)
 Last week, prosecutors showed jurors
about 2 minutes of footage from 2012 and 2014 involving Cassie, a
male sex worker and Combs. Cassie, an R&B singer whose real name is
Casandra Ventura, earlier testified that she participated in
hundreds of the “freak-off” events. She and Combs were in a
relationship from 2007 until 2018.
Cassie sued Combs in 2023, alleging years of abuse. He settled
within hours, and dozens of similar lawsuits followed.
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they
are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as
Cassie has done.
Defense lawyers last week showed the jury about 18 minutes of video
clips from the sex performances involving Cassie after a lawyer said
in opening statements that the videos prove sexual activity was
consensual and not evidence of a crime.
On Monday, prosecutors aired nearly 20 minutes of recordings from
2021 and 2022 of a single mother who was identified only by the
pseudonym “Jane,” male sex workers and Combs. Jane testified earlier
in the trial for six days that she was romantically involved with
Combs from 2021 until his September arrest at a New York hotel.
Cerciello, the federal agent, testified that dozens of the
recordings from late 2021 until last August lasted many hours. Comey
finished questioning Cerciello in the early afternoon on Monday.
After a cross-examination by the defense, the prosecution was
expected to rest.
Closing arguments were tentatively scheduled for Thursday after what
was expected to be a brief defense presentation.
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