Sean Combs trial updates: 'Mia' details several 'violent' encounters with Combs

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

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Last updated: Saturday, May 31, 2025 12:21AM GMT
'Diddy' trial recap: Defense questions 'Mia' about social media posts
Eyewitness News and ABC News legal contributor Bernarda Villalona break down the defense's questioning of "Mia" about social media posts to undercut her rape allegations.

NEW YORK -- The third week of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs wrapped up on Friday.

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.)

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May 30, 2025, 4:30 PM GMT

Defense questions 'Mia' on social media posts featuring Combs

On cross-examination, defense attorney Brian Steel confronted "Mia" with a series of her social media posts to question whether Sean Combs really traumatized her the way she described on direct examination.

One post, from October 2013, showed a picture of Combs in a coffee shop with the caption "Just #1 guy on the Forbes list getting me a vanilla latte. No big deal." Steel noted the post came "about four years after you say Sean Combs has traumatized your life, right?" "Mia" testified, "Yup."

On Nov. 4, 2013 "Mia" posted a photo of herself in a hospital gown as if giving birth with Combs posed nearby playing the doctor with a caption that read, in part, "Thank you for always letting me give birth to my dreams."

Steel asked, "You chose this image?" "Mia" testified, "Mm hm."

Steel followed up, "And it's the image of Mr. Combs being a doctor and delivering a child, true?"

"Mia" testified, "The character yeah. It's a funny video that Andy Samberg directed. I was proud I was in a funny video."

Steel said it was four years to the day after "Mia" said Combs first sexually assaulted her at the Plaza Hotel.

Another social media post showed "Mia" wearing a tutu standing next to Combs. "It looks like he's holding his private part in his hand," Steel said. "If that's what you see I guess so," "Mia" said.

"And this is the image you picked out?" Steel asked. "Uh, yeah," "Mia" testified. "I didn't want my family and friends to know the misery I was in."

On Nov. 10, 2013 "Mia" reposted an image of a group of people in Combs' backyard pool with the caption, "The reason I never made it out last night."

Steel asked, "All of this is done voluntarily by you?" "Mia" testified, "Yes."

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May 30, 2025, 3:49 PM GMT

'Mia' testifies about messages from Combs after Ventura's 2023 lawsuit

In November 2023, after Cassie Ventura filed her explosive civil lawsuit against Sean Combs, "Mia" heard from Combs' bodyguard known as D Roc, according to messages read in court.

"DROC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hi, hi, hi. How are you. I miss you SO F------ MUCH. Ahhhh!!!" "Mia" wrote in the text messages read for the jury after she said D Roc reached out.

"I'm about to call you," he messaged back.

In the phone call, "Mia" testified that "D Roc first started catching me up on his life, what was going on. It sounded like a normal conversation and then he changed it to, it's crazy what's going on."

In her testimony, "Mia" quoted D Roc saying, "Because, you know, Puff and Cass would just fight like a normal couple."

"Mia" told the court the tone made her skeptical. "That's not how D Roc talks and D Roc was around that a lot," Mia testified. "He had witnessed the violence."

Prosecutor Madison Smyser asked, "Would you say the fights were normal?"

"Absolutely not," "Mia" told the court.

"Mia" testified that D Roc persisted and eventually said Combs was going to call her, which "Mia" testified he did.

"I threw my phone as far as it would go and I ran outside," "Mia" told the court. "It was just so triggering."

Then came a follow-up message from D Roc: "Your boy said to call you. He doesn't want or need you to do anything," the message said.

"Mia" testified she remembered thinking, "Oh my gosh it's not going to stop."

More messages from D Roc followed in February 2024, including one that said "Let me send you something," which "Mia" testified she understood to mean money.

On Feb. 4, 2024 "Mia" received a message from Combs. "Hey 'Mia.' It's Puff. Please let me know when you get 10 min. to talk."

She did not respond, she told the court. "I was terrified," she testified.

Another message followed three days later.

"Hey. I don't want to be blowing up your phone. Just needed to talk to you for 10 minutes. Just need my memory jogged on some things. You were my right hand for years so I just need to speak to you to remember who was even around me. And it would be good to hear your voice," the message read.

"Mia" testified she ignored that message too. Smyser asked why she did not respond when it seemed Combs was being nice. "I knew it was a front," "Mia" testified.

"Mia's" direct testimony ended by her explaining to the jury that she has been unable to hold a job since leaving Combs.

"I haven't been able to do it because I suffer from complex, severe PTSD," she testified. "I would be trigged by really normal situations with like an overwhelming sense of fear of being in trouble."

Smyser asked, "Who was the person who caused these feelings?"

"Mia" testified, "Puff."

Court is in a brief break prior to "Mia's" cross-examination.

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May 30, 2025, 3:15 PM GMT

'Mia' details several 'violent' encounters as Combs' assistant in testimony

"Mia" tried to run away from her job on New Year's Eve 2010, according to her testimony.

Combs' former assistant testified that she was with Combs, Kim Porter and their children on a yacht he chartered in St. Barth's when she alleged Combs called her into his cabin and asked her to count money.

"He got really angry with me and started yelling that I was counting too slow," "Mia" testified.

"He got really irate with me. I was trying to count the money. Because that wasn't my job, I wanted to make sure it was right." She then told the court that Combs said to her, "'You better learn to walk on water like Jesus, b----,' and chased me out of the room."

The yacht crew took her to shore but then received a call on a walkie-talkie saying she had to come back, "Mia" testified.

"Did you want to go back to the boat?" prosecutor Madison Smyser asked. "No," "Mia" told the court. "I just wanted to run and hide and figure out a way out of St. Barth's. I just wanted to get away from him."

Instead, she testified that she returned to the boat. "I felt I had to," "Mia" testified. "I obeyed Puff's orders."

Later she told the court she was informed she would be suspended. She testified it was one of several times that happened.

"There would be some sort of violent situations where I would be chased and be hiding somewhere," "Mia" testified of occasions when she would be suspended. "It was pretty much when I reacted."

"Who was violent in these situations?" Smyser asked. "Puff," "Mia" testified.

She told the court about one suspension in March 2011 after Combs entered his Los Angeles home and asked "Mia" to pull some workout clothes for him.

"He didn't notice that I had laid all the options out on the closet floor and had laid some out on the dresser in the entryway," "Mia" testified. "He began cursing me out, going on a rant about the lack of options and how he hated certain things and as he's yelling I tried to point to the other options and also say 'And if you don't like any of these I can help you find something.'"

She testified "something violent happened" after that but she did not recall what.

In a subsequent email, James Cruz, who worked for Bad Boy as talent manager, asked her, "Who's handling tix for Kids Choice awards?" "Mia" emailed back, "I'd totally help...but he's firing me at the moment."

That same day, "Mia" received an email from one of Combs' bodyguards, known as D Roc, who asked her, "What happened?"

"Mia" said in an email, "He's so psycho d...he's so mean. He just went bat---- crazy on me because he didn't see all of his workout options folded-organized" and asked D Roc, "Give me a warning before you guys come back."

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May 30, 2025, 2:29 PM GMT

'Mia' testifies about threatening messages from Combs while on trip with Ventura

In October 2015, when "Mia" accompanied Cassie Ventura to South Africa where she was shooting a movie, she testified that she received WhatsApp messages from Sean Combs demanding to speak with Ventura on the phone.

"If you don't call me now f--- it all. And imma tell everything. And don't ever speak me again. You have 2 min. F--- her. Call my hs now or never speak to me again. F--- abc and all lawyers. Let's go to war," the message from Combs read.

"Mia" told the jury the message contained several threats.

"I thought he was going to tell Cass about the sexual assaults framed on me," she testified, explaining that she believed Combs would portray the alleged sexual assaults he committed as consensual encounters initiated by her.

"Mia" explained the next part of the message.

"I had finally created and developed and started writing a comedy TV show based on a funny version of a character like me in his world and we had sold it to ABC. And when I was in South Africa the press broke, and it was the most exciting thing. He's threatening to take that away," she testified.

"Did the show end up airing?" prosecutor Madison Smyser asked. "No," "Mia" testified.

In subsequent messages Combs insisted, "Call me now. Call me now. Call me now. Call me now. Call me now." "Mia" told the court she tried to assure him she and Ventura were not ignoring him but were busy on the movie set.

"I've come to the conclusion it's best that we no longer have any dealings. Pls don't call me. I won't call you," a message from Combs said.

The jury saw other messages in which "Mia" would sign off "love you" or "you know I love you" but she testified that was meant to placate Combs and was not expressing romantic interest.