A warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence and graphic descriptions of sex.On Tuesday, Cassie’s mother Regina Ventura testified for the prosecution. She told the court that in 2011 she took out a loan to pay Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs $20,000, so he would not release explicit tapes of her daughter. He repaid the money shortly after. Exotic dancer Sharay Hayes, known as ‘The Punisher’, testified that he was hired to perform for Diddy and singer Cassie Ventura between eight and twelve times. Diddy’s former assistant David James told the court that Diddy was not aware of everything going on at his house.Prosecutors showed evidence from the raids on Combs’ Miami home on Star Island, Florida. This included photos of loaded guns, bullets and sex toys.Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi, is expected to give evidence later this week.Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty speaks to the BBC's New York digital reporter, Sakshi Venkatraman 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/actionline Presenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Mark Burrows Senior Journalist: 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 is the context of Sean Diddy's trial?
BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts Hello and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadauti. Just a warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence and graphic descriptions of sex. Here at the Southern District of New York Court, it's week two in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs.
He's on trial for charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. These are charges he's always denied. Yesterday, we heard more from singer Dawn Rashad. She was questioned by Diddy's defence, as well as Cassie's former best friend and Diddy's ex-personal assistant, who will be back this morning.
It all got a bit raucous in court, with members of the public shouting and calling out throughout the testimony. We went in for 15 minutes this morning, and that is not going anywhere. And if anything, it actually got worse. Later, I'll be catching up with the BBC's New York digital reporter, Sakshi Venkatraman. But now it's time to see what else is going on inside the court today.
Okay, it's 4.30pm. We heard some stuff about who's going to be appearing in court in the next couple of days, and it's quite a big name. But I'm here right now with Sakshi Venkatraman, who is the BBC's New York Digital Reporter. There is a lot to get through today. They are really rapidly going through those witnesses, but we're going to start with David James picking up.
He's the personal assistant who we heard from last episode. And they picked up directly with David from his direct testimony and then went into the cross-examination.
Yeah, so the narrative that they're trying to paint of David James as being this unreliable witness actually started before we got to the courtroom today. It started in previous months when David James gave interviews to the government. And it seems like he painted different pictures of an incident that happened between Diddy and Suge Knight.
The gist of it is that there was an evening where Suge Knight was spotted at Melrose Diner, which is a popular diner in L.A. Diddy's staff saw him and came and told him that Suge Knight was there. And Diddy got some guns and some staff and went to the diner to do whatever they were planning to do. That's still kind of unclear.
So David James is supposedly one of the people that was there on the night of that incident. And the characterization that he gave is that he was there with D-Rock, one of Diddy's main security guards. And then the two got in the car together, drove back to Diddy's place. Diddy immediately said, get in to his black Escalade. And the three of them drove off back to the diner where Suge Knight was.
Now, there's an issue with this story because it's a different narrative than the one Cassie Ventura just told us about on the stand. So I never really hammered on James's version of this story and was kind of painting about to be unreliable.
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Chapter 2: What did Cassie's mother testify about?
And the TV had the name of the hotel and says, we're delighted to welcome Sean Diddy Combs. And that's how he figured out that it was Cassie Ventura. He says they have it about 8 to 12. He's not using the term freak off. It's definitely consistent with previous descriptions. So he has 8 to 12 of them, but then it comes to an end. Why?
He said that he was performing oral sex on Cassie. Diddy came over and threw down some condoms and instructed him in an explicit way that he wanted them to start having penetrative sex. But he said that he couldn't perform and therefore he left eventually and they never contacted him again.
Yeah. And then when cross-examination starts, they speak about the erectile dysfunction and kind of end up going on a tangent in a completely different direction. But I think that is important because the mood of the room switched, the mood of every room switched within the court, in the overflow rooms. And Sheree, he was a very direct guy, quite likeable.
and open and spoke openly about, you know, his feelings, his emotions, etc. He spoke about the erectile dysfunction and he also said he was writing a book about it. And that, well, that conversation led to a lot of giggling, laughing, tee-hees in the back of the room.
Yeah, so the name of the book is called In Search of Freezer Meat. And when asked about why it was titled that, Sharae said, what's harder than freezer meat, referring to his erectile dysfunction and problems in the bedroom. So it definitely did switch the mood of the testimony. Him and the attorney questioning him were quipping back and forth, making little jokes.
And the defense's cross-examination actually ended with the attorney saying, congratulations on your book, and I hope it's successful.
Yeah, and I think that's really important. Just to quote, obviously, our legal sensei, Sean Kent, a happy jury don't convict. If you can take the jury out of the proceedings and actually be quite lighthearted and make people laugh, which was what was happening, that works in the favour of the defence.
But while they were going through that cross-examination, there was another similarity with the previous escort. And it was kind of another narrative that the defence were trying to introduce about him potentially having feelings for Cassie, but it didn't really go anywhere.
Just for more context, Sharae or the Punisher says that he met with Diddy and Cassie about eight to 12 times between the years 2012 and 2015. He says, you know, during that time, like the first escort, he was exclusively contacted by Cassie. He mostly interacted with Cassie. He was paid by Cassie.
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Chapter 7: What was the atmosphere like in the courtroom?
And we'll see you next episode. Thank you so much, Anushka. Talk to you soon.
That was Sakshi Venkataraman, the BBC's New York digital reporter, speaking to me and Anushka Matanda-Doughty for Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds. And if you're listening in the UK and would like information or support on some of the issues raised in this episode, go to bbc.co.uk forward slash action line. And please keep sending in your WhatsApp questions. You can find us at 0330 123 5551.
That's 0330 123 5551. We'll do our best to answer them. And of course, on Thursdays, we have our weekly roundup with criminal defence attorney Sean Kent. So make sure you subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing.
In today's digital world, it's easier than ever to invade someone's life and far harder to escape.
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I'm Carol Cadwalader, an investigative journalist. In this podcast, I follow the story of Hannah, whose life was turned upside down by an anonymous stalker.
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