Bryana ‘Bana’ Bongolan has testified about being held over a balcony by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in 2016. She also told the court about her regular drug use with her friend Cassie Ventura. Ms Bongolan was questioned by Diddy’s defence lawyer about her memory of events.Frank Piazza, a forensic audio and video editor, also gave evidence about the CCTV video which showed Diddy assault Cassie in a hotel in 2016. He told the court that the footage had not been altered.Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty speaks to BBC New York correspondent Nada Tawfik about the day in court.Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is on trial in New York, facing federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. He denies all the charges.The Diddy on Trial podcast is here to investigate the rumours, confront the theories, and give you the answers that you need.We also want YOU to be part of the conversation. Have you any questions about the case? Heard a theory that doesn’t sit right with you? Get in touch now via WhatsApp: 0330 123 555 1.Details of organisations in the UK offering information and support with some of the issues raised are available at bbc.co.uk/actionlinePresenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Mark Burrows Senior Digital Producer: Matthew Pintus Senior Producer: Chrystal Genesis Executive Producer: Louise Clarke Production Coordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Clare Fordham Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Assistant Commissioner: Will Drysdale Commissioning Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Assistant Producer: Rechmial Miller
Chapter 1: What charges is Diddy facing in trial?
BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadauti. It's the middle of week four in Diddy's trial where he's facing federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. Sean Diddy Combs denies all the charges against him.
Now, a warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence and drug use. Today, more witnesses for the prosecution have taken the stand, including Frank Piazza, a forensic audio and video specialist, and also Brianna Barna-Bongolan, who we've mentioned on this podcast before. Go back and check out that bombshell balcony dangling allegation episode that we did in the run-up to the trial.
With me today is Neda Telfik, the BBC's New York correspondent. who's going to break down for us what went on in the courtroom. Neda, what did we start with today?
Chapter 2: Who is Frank Piazza and what did he testify about?
We started with Frank Piazza, who is a forensic video expert essentially hired by the government. He was asked to compile the various videos from the hotel incident, the CCTV footage from 2016 that we've seen numerous times now of Diddy beating Cassie in the hotel hallway. And he basically was on the stand just to show that the videos weren't tampered with. Because remember, this was a big issue.
The defense suggesting the videos were manipulated. They wanted them out of this case. But what Frank Piazza said on the stand was that this was an accurate video. It was not tampered with. That even though the system was not able to produce smooth motion throughout, that was just because of motion sensors and other things. But the video was absolutely accurate.
accurate it was important of course for the prosecution to remove any doubt whatsoever about that video
And that video just cannot convey how important that video is to both the prosecution and the defense. What did the defense do with that on cross-examination?
Well, it was interesting. Tenny Garagos, who was doing the cross-examination, tried to just talk about how many gaps there were in time, which didn't really land because at points it was three seconds, five seconds missing from the video. But again, it was just because...
of a little glitch and, you know, the video correcting itself or motion detection not catching certain points, but nothing dramatic.
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Chapter 3: What did Bryana Bongolan testify regarding the balcony incident?
But the main witness today was Barna Bongolin. Now, if you've listened to the podcast since the beginning, since we were covering all those civil lawsuits that were coming out, you'll know she has a $10 million civil lawsuit out against Diddy for an alleged incident of dangling her over a balcony. What did she tell the court today about that incident?
Well, the balcony incident was mentioned within a few seconds of her testimony. But then we return to it in greater detail. She said that it happened at Cassie's apartment in Los Angeles, that her apartment was on the 17th story. This was September of 2016. And that she said she was there with Cassie and her ex-girlfriend. Cassie was in the bedroom.
She said Bonna and her ex-girlfriend were on the couch. She couldn't recall if they were doing drugs, but she just remembers Diddy banging loudly on the door and waking her up. She was sleeping. And she says she was stressed out, woke her ex up and rushed her to the bathroom. And on the stand, she put her finger to her mouth and she said she told her ex to, you know, shh.
not to say anything because she didn't want to expose her, is the way she put it, to Diddy and the things she had witnessed between him and Cassie. Then she said she ran to the balcony to kind of look casual.
Now, we see in court at that point a picture of the balcony of Cassie's apartment, and Bonna describes how the ledge we're seeing came about to her waist, that she's 5'1", she was weighing about 100 to 115 pounds. And she says she was looking out at the view and all of a sudden Diddy came up from behind her, put his arms under her armpit and lifted her up.
Now, she says he held her up with her feet on the railing and she was trying not to slip, that she was pushing back on him. And that, for a split second, she was worried she was going to fall, but he just kept repeating, you know what the F you did, you know what the F you did. And she said she was screaming back, no, I don't know what I did.
And she said to this day, she still doesn't know what it was. And she just remembers him throwing her back on the balcony furniture. This is her testimony. And she said it hurt, but there was just so much adrenaline in the moment that she just got back up.
And she remembers as she's falling, hearing Cassie's voice just in disbelief, saying something along the lines of, did you just hang her over the balcony? And she said after that, she heard Diddy and Cassie essentially talking about how her girlfriend was there in the apartment and that he swiftly left after that.
Did she speak about injuries that she suffered after this?
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Chapter 4: What injuries did Bryana Bongolan suffer after the incident?
And then after that, she filed her civil lawsuit.
Yeah. So she says that she got a lawsuit a month or two later filed. She insisted it was because she wanted to seek justice for what happened to her. And she was asked, you know, how much her lawyer on her behalf requested. And they requested $10 million. She says it's a figure her lawyer came up with, not from her. And she says, look, I'm not expecting to get any money from the criminal trial.
And yes, I would give the money back if I could take away everything that happened to me.
Now, I came and joined you inside the court for the cross-examination of Barna. Cross-examination is always trying to destabilize the narrative that's been offered through the direct testimony. But it was one of the trickiest ones I've seen. There were lots of I don't remembers or can you rephrase the questions. So it was quite stop, start, stop, start.
But a lot of it centered around inconsistencies in Barna's story. Yeah. So this, I think...
was a day that the defense were celebrating, probably. I mean, in my notebook, I can't tell you how many I don't remembers I wrote or I can't recall, or can you rephrase the question? So we go back through several different incidents. But if you look at the balcony incident in particular, Nicole Westmoreland, the defense lawyer, really zeroed in on the inconsistencies in their story.
And she suggested under cross-examination that actually Cassie and Bona spoke. They were working together in November of 2023 and December of 2024. Bonna was aware of Cassie's lawsuit and that they were speaking throughout this whole entire time discussing past claims. Well, in cross-examination, Nicole Westmoreland made it seem like the two of them were essentially plotting together in a way.
She said, you know, isn't it true that you discussed the locations of where you said this happened? Cassie said it happened at a hotel. You said it happened at her apartment. Isn't it true that you two were discussing specific dates? She said one, you suggested another. Isn't it true that you were asked who was there? And on and on and on it went.
And it was to kind of give this sense to the jury that, you know, here are two people who are still talking and are colluding to go after Diddy and make money off of him. That's the impression they were trying to leave the jury with.
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Chapter 5: How did Diddy interact with Bryana after the balcony incident?
The defense's strategy wasn't just about weakening the credibility of
vana they also wanted to weaken some of the narratives offered to us by the prosecution namely one that diddy held back cassie's career this is central to the coercion element of the sex trafficking charge and they spoke about beyonce and rihanna basically the defense uh pointed out that vana and cassie were working to put out a clothing line that they were working over a two-year period and this was at a time when they were
doing drugs almost every single day. And they said, weren't you competing with the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna? And Bana agrees with the defense that the reason, you know, the company didn't work out was not because Diddy was holding Cassie back in any way, but it was actually because of their own problems in getting the business together. And there was one very pointed question where she says,
Isn't it hard to be productive in business when you're getting high every day? So it was an attempt by the defense to show that Cassie was failing at other ventures and other things at a time when she was also pursuing a music career.
Chapter 6: What was the nature of Bryana and Cassie's relationship?
And that Vonna was somebody who wasn't just doing drugs with her, but was acting almost as her supplier, actually getting part of her income on the drugs she was selling to Cassie. And that was a big part of their dynamic and why Cassie wasn't able to be successful.
And aside from inconsistencies that the defense were highlighting in Cassie's lawsuit and Barna's lawsuit, they spoke about inconsistencies in Barna's own testimonies.
Yeah, that's right. And this is another point where we heard a lot of these I don't recall or I don't remember from Barna. You know, Nicole Westmoreland was saying, isn't it true that you first told the government that you were at a party, not that you were sleeping? Wouldn't you agree that sleeping and being at a party or two different claims.
Chapter 7: What is the significance of Bryana's civil lawsuit against Diddy?
Then she said, you know, you never told the government that Diddy came in banging the first time you made the allegation of him banging on the doors in your civil complaint. Also, you said at one point you were smoking weed, another time you were smoking a cigarette or pretending to smoke weed. She says those are three different things.
She also says you told the government that you saw Diddy charging directly at you from across the room. Again, she says, I don't remember. I don't remember. I don't remember when this Nicole Westmoreland kind of tries to hammer her on that. And then she says, you know, didn't you accuse Combs of sexually assaulting you?
putting his hands on your chest and groping you after your demand letters, essentially, when you spoke to the government. And so Nicole Westmoreland telling her, you know, are you lying, trying to bring up any inconsistency in their stories to attack their credibility?
Westmoreland even pointed out the fact that Barna had met with the government two days ago and asked her, you met two days ago, you can remember that, starts asking her questions. And then once again, we get another, I don't remember.
I mean, every answer toward the end was almost, I don't recall, I don't remember. And the defense, at one point, the judge asked them, how much time do you have? And they said, how much time will you give us? They didn't want this to go into the next day. They wanted to finish with her on the stand then and there because clearly they felt they were in a position of strength with this questioning.
Yeah, and that was definitely reflected by Diddy's supporters who were in the room who were like, this was a win for him. So that was interesting to see, but we're not done yet. There's potentially another 45 minutes of cross-examination of Barna, which is pushing back Jane's testimony, victim number two.
Let's not forget that Jane is the second alleged victim that underpins the sex trafficking allegations. Her testimony is going to be so critical to this case alongside Cassie's. And sure, prosecutors would have loved to have started the day fresh with her, but we are going to have more time with Bonna on the stand.
Neda, thank you so much for filling us in on that today. My pleasure. That was Neda Tawfiq, the BBC's New York correspondent, and that's it for this episode of Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadawati. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing. And if you've got questions for us, you can send us a WhatsApp at 0330 123 5551.
That's 0330 123 5551. And if you're in the UK and would like support about any of the issues we've talked about in this programme, you can go to bbc.co.uk forward slash Actionline.
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