Live

Sean Combs trial updates: Former employee 'Mia' alleges Combs raped her

The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

WPVI logo
Last updated: Thursday, May 29, 2025 11:15PM GMT
'Diddy' trial recap: 'Mia' testifies Sean Combs raped her
Eyewitness News recaps testimony from a former personal assistant to Sean "Diddy" Combs who alleges the rap mogul raped her.

NEW YORK -- The third week of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs got underway Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege that Combs, a three-time Grammy winner, used his fame and fortune to create a deviant empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and beatings.

Combs' lawyers argue that all the sexual acts were consensual, and although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering.

This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.

"Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy," a new podcast from "20/20" and ABC Audio, traces how the whispers of abuse came to light and led to the downfall of Sean "Diddy" Combs, who was once among the most influential entertainers and entrepreneurs in hip hop. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

(ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

ABCNews logo
May 28, 2025, 7:21 PM GMT

Former Cassie stylist testifies she told him Combs was 'making her' participate in 'freak-off'

Deonte Nash, who testified pursuant to a subpoena, told the jury that he "quite often" saw Cassie Ventura with bruises and that he "quite often" knew her to spend nights with Combs in hotel rooms, allegedly against her will.

According to Nash's testimony, on her 29th birthday, Combs told Ventura, "F--- you. I do all this for you and you can't do this one thing for me."

"Cassie said, 'He's just mad that I don't want to go to the hotel and 'freak-off' with him,'" Nash testified Ventura told him.

Nash testified that back at Ventura's apartment, Combs told a small group gathered there that "Y'all's girl going to get some d--- tonight" and that Ventura allegedly packed a black bag with sex toys and cash.

Nash testified that Ventura told him she did not want to go but that Combs "was making her do that s---."

"Could you tell whether Cassie was under the influence?" prosecutor Maureen Comey asked.

"Oh yeah," Nash replied. "She was super high."

The stylist told the court that Combs allegedly was high too but Ventura more so.

Several years later, on New Year's Eve 2017 in Las Vegas, according to Nash's testimony, Ventura wanted to stay inside but Combs "pulled me in the hallway and told me he spent all that money that she needed to get ready."

At the end of the night, Nash testified, Ventura woke him up and said "Puff wanted to invite a guy over."

"I just went 'uck' and went to my hotel room," Nash told the court.

Nash told the court that he later saw a man knocking on the door of Ventura and Combs' room. "Somebody opened the door and he went in," Nash testified.

At the end of direct examination, Nash told prosecutor Maurene Comey that he's filed no lawsuits against Combs and has demanded no money from him. When asked how he feels about Combs, Nash told the court, "I don't hate him."

Court took a brief break before Nash's cross-examination.

ABCNews logo
May 28, 2025, 7:14 PM GMT

Stylist tells court Combs allegedly attacked and threatened Cassie Ventura

Former Cassie Ventura stylist Deonte Nash testified that he saw "a lot" of blood during one instance in which he alleged Sean Combs attacked his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.

Nash testified that he, along with Ventura and a Combs employee whom the prosecution identified with the pseudonym "Mia" were in Ventura's apartment helping her pack for a music festival when, Nash alleged, Combs arrived, "pulled her by the hair off the couch and hit her," referring to Ventura.

Nash told the court that an "enraged" Combs said, "Y'all got to stop f------ with me."

According to Nash's testimony, Ventura retreated to her bedroom and Combs allegedly followed and "continued to attack Cassie," hitting and kicking her "until her head hit the edge of the bed frame."

Nash testified that "when he saw the blood he just panicked."

The stylist testified that Combs then allegedly told him and "Mia," "Look what y'all made me do."

Nash told the court that he attempted to call 911 but was told to hang up. Combs instead said that Ventura would be taken by his bodyguard, known as D-Roc, to a plastic surgeon, Nash testified.

Nash further testified that on another occasion, he was with Ventura in her apartment when Combs allegedly came in, saying that he wanted to talk to her.

"He grabbed her as they were walking up. He grabbed her by the hair and said, 'You got to get the f--- out of my house,'" Nash testified.

Nash told the court that he tried to leave but Combs' security guards allegedly blocked him, preventing him from leaving, and told him to "wait for Puff to come down."

Later, when Nash and Ventura were able to leave and had driven off, Combs allegedly called and told him to pull over, Nash told the court.

"He came to the window and began to talk to Cassie," Nash testified, telling the court that Combs told Ventura "that she f----- up. That he was going to put her sex tapes on the internet. He was going to release them on schedule," referring to the video recordings of sexual encounters known as "freak-offs."

"He was going to start by sending them to her parents' jobs and her brother was a b---- and that Puff was the only one that protected her," Nash testified Combs told Ventura.

Nash testified that Ventura was in tears and that he told her to let Combs release the tapes because "he's on them, too." Ventura allegedly responded that the tapes depicted her "having sex with the other guys" and "that she didn't want to" release them, Nash told the court.

Nash testified that Ventura told him that she participated in the "freak-offs" because "Puff wanted her to."

ABCNews logo
May 28, 2025, 5:46 PM GMT

Cassie Ventura gives birth to 3rd child after testifying in trial

While her former boyfriend is on trial, elsewhere in New York Cassie Ventura has given birth to her third child, a source close to her told ABC News.

No other details were immediately available. The source said Cassie and her husband Alex would post an update in the future.

Ventura testified for four days against Sean Combs while visibly pregnant and the judge arranged frequent breaks to accommodate.

ABCNews logo
May 28, 2025, 5:01 PM GMT

Celebrity stylist testifies about what he witnessed between Combs, Cassie

At the start of his testimony, celebrity stylist Deonte Nash saw an airbrushed image of himself that he said, with a smile, was not a fair representation of what he looked like while he was working for Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura.

"I look amazing," Nash told prosecutor Maureen Comey, earning a laugh from the gallery.

Nash said he was around Cassie "all the time" and heard Combs call her names on regular occasions.

"He told her she was an 'outright ho,'" Nash said. He said he heard Combs call Ventura a b**** "quite a bit, that was his favorite."

And "quite a few times," Nash said he heard Combs tell Ventura, "He would beat her a**." He also testified he heard Combs tell her "that he wouldn't put her music out, that he would get her parents fired from their jobs, that he would put out sex tapes."

Federal prosecutors have alleged Combs maintained coercive control over Ventura that caused her to engage in "freak offs" that she did not desire.

Nash told the jury Combs required him to send photos of Cassie in different outfits.

"He would pick which one he liked and that would be the one we went with," Nash said.

He recalled arriving with Cassie at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscars afterparty.

"She looked bomb. Her hair was down," Nash said, but he told the jury Combs came over and said "I thought I told you she needs to wear her hair up."

Nash said Combs angrily grabbed him by his jacket and lifted him up. "I just started asking people at the party for hair pins," Nash said.

He also recalled one night in 2013 going to a gay club with Ventura, Rita Ora and others. The group returned to Ventura's apartment when he said she "got a call from Puff."

The phone call was on speakerphone and Nash said he heard Combs tell Ventura "that she ought to bring her a** to his house."

He recalled Ventura "started to panic" before Combs called back and told him "we were wild and that he thought he told us not to be going out."

He said Ventura "just packed her stuff and went to his house."

Court is taking its lunch break.