What will be Diddy’s sentencing? USA TODAY reporter breaks it down.
USA TODAY investigative report Gina Barton breaks down what Sean “Diddy” Combs is possibly facing at his sentencing on Friday, Oct. 3.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
Three months after the verdict in his sex-crimes trial, Sean “Diddy” Combs will learn the fate of his sentence.
In July, the jury in Combs’ federal sex-crimes trial handed down a controversial split verdict. After being acquitted on the most serious charges − racketeering and sex trafficking − Combs, 55, awaits a judge’s ruling on Friday, Oct. 3, regarding how long he will remain behind bars for his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
More than 30 people, from government agents to ex-girlfriends, sex workers and hotel employees, took the stand in Manhattan over the course of seven weeks earlier this year to help build prosecutors’ case that Combs allegedly led a “criminal enterprise” that operated on sex trafficking, kidnapping, drug offenses and forced labor, among other crimes.
Major moments from the trial have included singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine, Combs’ former girlfriend, providing emotional testimony about his alleged abuse and rapper Kid Cudi, who was once romantically involved with Ventura Fine, alleging the music mogul broke into his home.
Here are the biggest bombshells and revelations from the trial testimony.
Cassie Ventura Fine testimony in Diddy trial motivated by ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’
The “Me & U” singer testified May 13-16 and laid bare the raw details of their complicated relationship, including her participation in alleged drug-fueled sexual performances labeled “freak offs,” the physical and emotional abuse she said she faced just a few years into their relationship and the violence she allegedly witnessed while with Combs.
Explaining why she decided to testify, Ventura Fine told the court, “I can’t carry this anymore. I can’t carry the shame, the guilt.”
Cassie and Diddy settled her 2023 lawsuit for $20 million
Toward the end of her second day of testimony, Ventura Fine delved into the years following her 2018 breakup from Combs.
She said she’d put a $30 million price tag on the rights to a book she’d written about her alleged experiences, a project she’d characterized as an effort to help him understand what he’d put her through. But after he allegedly failed to respond, she sued him in November 2023, alleging he had raped, trafficked, sexually assaulted and physically abused her.
The two came to an agreement by the following day and announced Ventura Fine would dismiss the lawsuit following an unspecified settlement. It was finally revealed on May 14 that the settlement amounted to $20 million, paid for by Combs and his companies.
Cassie said Diddy was hospitalized for an overdose in 2012
On her third day of testimony, Ventura Fine revealed the extent of her and Combs‘ drug use in their decade together. Combs was once hospitalized due to “a very strong” opiate, she told defense lawyers, revealing the incident occurred around the time Whitney Houston died in February 2012.
After a “freak off,” she said, Combs went to a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles while she went home. When he overdosed on painkillers later that night, she said she’d taken him to the hospital. Throughout testimony from multiple witnesses, Combs’ alleged use of ketamine, ecstasy and cocaine was on display.
Stylist Deonte Nash said he frequently hid Cassie from Diddy
Nash testified on May 28-29 that he frequently saw Combs’ violence toward Ventura Fine. Once, he said, Combs gave her a black eye – and a second incident resulted in two black eyes. In another alleged attack, which Ventura Fine previously described in her testimony, Combs’ violence ended with Ventura Fine hitting her head against a bed frame. The bloody wound resulted in stitches and a gash on her forehead.
Nash claimed that around 2013 or 2014, Combs threatened to send sexually explicit tapes of Ventura Fine to her parents’ workplaces to get them fired. Nash allegedly sent Ventura Fine to hide at a hotel, and he told the court that afterward, Combs went to Nash’s house and turned the place upside down looking for her, even searching inside the oven.
Asked how many times he had helped Ventura Fine hide from Combs, Nash said, “Too many to count.”
Who is ‘Mia’? Former personal assistant described alleged Diddy rape
“Mia,” a woman using a pseudonym who worked for Combs from 2009 to 2017, testified on May 29 that Combs sexually assaulted her on “more than one” occasion. While living with Combs at his Beverly Hills mansion from 2010 to 2014, she claimed she lived in a room that couldn’t lock. This was where, at one point, Combs raped her as she was asleep in a bottom bunk, Mia told the courtroom through sobs.
She said she felt like she couldn’t tell him “no” about anything. “I couldn’t tell him ‘no’ about a sandwich,” she said. She worried that he would “fire me and ruin my future. I knew his power and his control over me. I didn’t want to lose everything I had worked so hard for.”
Ex-girlfriend Jane extensively detailed ‘hotel nights’ with escorts that could last 3 days
“Jane,” a woman using a pseudonym who dated Combs on-and-off from 2021 to 2024, tearfully testified about feeling pressured to take drugs, have nonstop sex with escorts and deprioritize her work, for fear of Combs’ disapproval and cease financial contributions.
She said that “freak offs” would happen every week or every other week for much of their relationship and could last as long as three and a half days. In 2023, Jane said she texted Combs that she was feeling “disgusted with myself” after one night of fun had turned into their entire relationship. She wrote that she didn’t “want to lose the roof over my head” or “feel obligated to perform these nights with you.” At the time, Jane said Combs was paying her $10,000 rent.
Jane sobbed as she described one “hotel night” that happened as they celebrated her birthday in Miami in 2023. What was supposed to be a night for “just me and him” turned into Jane agreeing to have sex with three men consecutively to please Combs, she said.
“I just feel like at this point I’ve done so many of these,” she testified. “I just know how to tune it out. I just turn on this person and begin.”
Diddy still pays for Jane’s home
Jane testified that Combs paid her $10,000 a month in rent as part of a “love contract” that he proposed between them, and he also got her veneers. “Sean said, let’s do a love contract,” she said. “He asked me how much allowance I want going forward.”
There were gasps in the overflow room when Jane was asked who was paying her rent now and she responded, “Sean (Combs).” Combs is also still paying for Jane’s lawyer.
Diddy’s baby oil use was known at his favorite hotels
Multiple witnesses’ testimony touched on Combs’ reported use of baby oil in “freak-offs.”
On May 22, for example, Frederic Zemmour, the general manager of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills luxury hotel, walked jurors through logs of Combs’ stays at the celebrity-favorite institution. For one of Combs’ stays in 2015, the hotel’s documents said that the rapper “ALWAYS spills candle wax on everything and uses excessive amounts of oil,” and that his room should be placed “out of order upon departure for deep cleaning.”
The notes also said to “please authorize an extra $1000 when guest stays with us to cover any room damages.” A housekeeping note said to “monitor outside his room/down the hall to spray air freshener.”
Similarly, a damage report from the London Hotel said that “the towels appear to have been soaked in baby oil.”
Homeland Security Investigations agent Andre Lamon also testified that he found 200 bottles of baby oil at Combs’ Los Angeles home, and jurors were shown pictures from a raid on Combs’ Miami Beach mansion, where 25 bottles of baby oil were found in a hallway closet.
Cassie’s mom said she wired Diddy $20K
Regina Ventura, Cassie Ventura Fine’s mother, testified that she wired Combs $20,000 when the rapper was threatening to release sex tapes of her daughter. Ventura said the money came back to her four or five days after Combs pushed her to wire it to his company.
“He was angry that he spent money on her and that she had been with another person,” she said on the stand, going on to add that she sent the money because she “was scared for my daughter’s safety.”
Regina Ventura also testified that she took photos, which jurors saw, of bruises on Ventura Fine’s body in 2011 after she “was beaten by Sean Combs.” She said she wanted the injuries “memorialized.”
Kid Cudi alleged Diddy broke into his house
Kid Cudi, who previously dated Ventura Fine, took the stand and testified that Ventura Fine told him that Combs “would hit her” and “sometimes kick her.”
Cudi, whose given name is Scott Mescudi, also testified about an incident in December 2011 where Combs allegedly broke into his home after finding out that Mescudi had been romantically involved with Ventura Fine.
Mescudi described receiving a call telling him that Combs was inside his house, and when he arrived, Mescudi said gifts he had gotten for his family had been opened and his dog was locked up in the bathroom. Mescudi said he wanted to “confront” Combs after the incident but decided against it because he “didn’t know what his intentions were.”
Additionally, Cudi testified about a 2012 incident where he discovered his car was “on fire,” and Ventura Fine said Combs had threatened to blow up Cudi’s vehicle.
Security officer said Diddy paid $100,000 for copy of Cassie assault video
Eddy Garcia, a former security officer at the hotel where Combs assaulted Ventura Fine in 2016, testified that Combs paid $100,000 for a copy of the video.
Garcia said that Combs told him that the video “could ruin him” if it got out and gave him the money in a paper bag in stacks of $10,000. He also said that Combs advised him not to make any “big purchases” with the money, which Garcia said he understood to be because Combs didn’t want him to “draw attention.”
Contributing: Gina Barton, Aysha Bagchi, Anna Kauffman, Josh Meyer, USA TODAY staff
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support in English and Spanish via chat and at 800-656-4673.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text “START” to 88788.
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