I looked P Diddy in the eye as brave Cassie gave her stomach-churning testimony – his brutal reaction left me cold
THE trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs has transformed the US District Courthouse in Lower Manhattan into the hottest ticket in the Big Apple.
Since the start of jury selection on May 5, the world's media, online influencers, and true crime podcasters have descended onto 500 Pearl Street, hiring professional line sitters and standing on the courthouse's sidewalk before sunrise.
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I was among the more than two dozen who attended jury selection and the first week of Combs' federal trial.
During day three of jury selection, I locked eyes with Combs as he entered the 26th-floor courtroom, shackleless and with his hands pressed together.
In that eerie moment, as Combs scanned the gallery, it felt as if he was conducting a deep analysis of each reporter, recording a photographic snap about the individual in his brain.
The spectators in the courtroom exhaled a huge sigh during the graphic testimonies from exotic dancer Daniel Phillips, who was invited into the rapper's "freak offs", and his ex, singer Cassandra " Cassie" Ventura.
Combs' twin daughters, D'Lila and Jessie, were noticeably missing from the gallery after day one of their father's trial.
I watched as Combs stared daggers through his ex-girlfriend, never flinching, seemingly without an ounce of remorse as Ventura wiped away tears from her eyes
Israel Salas-Rodriguez
Still, Combs' three sons, Justin, Quincy, and Christian, and his mother, Janice, sat through the stomach-turning testimony from Ventura, who described in great detail the hellish sex marathons she was allegedly coerced into with over a dozen male escorts.
I watched as some public spectators and journalists turned their heads away in distress as Ventura told jurors about the time Combs and an escort urinated on her.
Ventura's husband, Alex Fine, who the defence wanted removed from the courtroom during her testimony, fearing outbursts, bravely watched from the gallery as his wife acknowledged the photos of male escorts she had sex with.
The atmosphere in the courtroom grew sorrowful as Ventura continued her testimony, recalling the weekly drug-fuelled "freak-offs" and traumatising abuse she suffered at the hands of Combs.
Throughout her nearly 96 hours on the stand, Ventura never looked in the direction of Combs.
Diddy 'victim went DEAF after staying awake for 5 days to meet sick demands'
However, I watched as Combs stared daggers through his ex-girlfriend, never flinching, seemingly without an ounce of remorse as Ventura wiped away tears from her eyes.
Each time Ventura finished her testimony, she walked past Combs, seated steps away, without ever acknowledging his presence.
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At the end of each day, reporters, influencers, and podcasters race toward the building's exit, rushing to retrieve their electronic devices from court officers.
As I exited the courthouse, I witnessed a sea of journalists, TikTokers, and podcasters stationed under a tree at the neighbouring Columbus Park, or any available space near the federal building, filing notes, on the phone with editors, or recording roundup videos.
As the sun sets on Lower Manhattan, many continue working their way through scripts or wait for their live shots on the evening newscast - all the while the sounds of emergency sirens and irate drivers blare in the background.
And in the midst of the end-of-day filing chaos, steps away, there is another group of fresh journalists and professional line sitters seated on beach chairs, inside tents, near the courthouse entrance, waiting to do it all again the next day.
We are now 26 days into the star's sex-trafficking and racketeering trial that has seen bombshell testimony and a cache of shocking evidence.
The case centres on the accounts of three women, the eight men and four women of the jury were told, including Casandra Ventura, while several witnesses have also been called into the dock.
As the trial enters its sixth week, key pieces of evidence have come to light - among those a trove of messages from Diddy's former chief of staff, who was tasked with planning sex marathons, personal texts between Diddy and Ventura and videos from the wild sex parties.
Diddy's charges explained by a lawyer
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani explained the set of charges Diddy is facing to The U.S. Sun:
"Diddy is facing three charges, or three sets of charges.
"The first is racketeering, which you typically see with organized crime enterprises - so the mob, cartels, street gangs - but we're seeing it a lot more in sex trafficking cases.
"And you don't need an organization like the mob, as long as it's an enterprise, which is something that consists of two or more people, and they engage in two or more RICO predicate acts, that's enough for racketeering.
"Racketeering is a powerful charge because it allows the government to bring in all sorts of evidence of criminal activity, as well as all sorts of people, into that racketeering conspiracy.
"And anyone who's a co-conspirator, they're on the hook for any criminal acts committed in furtherance of the conspiracy.
"The most serious charge, though, is sex trafficking.
"What separates sex trafficking from normal sex? Adults, of course, can consent to any type of sex, no matter how freaky it is. But sex trafficking has one of three elements: force, fraud, or coercion.
"And the government is saying that Diddy used force to force these men and women to participate in these freak-offs, and he coerced them by drugging them.
"The least serious charge is the prostitution, sometimes called the Man Act, and that's engaging in prostitution using some sort of interstate commerce across state lines. That obviously is unlawful.
"Typically, you don't see federal cases for prostitution only, which is why it's the least serious of the crimes."
Audio of a distraught Ventura threatening to kill a man over a "freak off" video was also released during the trial as part of her cross-examination by the disgraced star's lawyers.
Cassie can be heard telling the unidentified man, who had claimed to have seen the video in 2014: "It's my f***ing life and I'll kill you".
The audio evidence had been presented by Diddy's lawyers in an attempt to prove that Ventura had been a willing participant in the sex marathons.
But she claimed that she was fearful the man would release the sex tape saying that it made her "feel sick".
The trial continues, but one thing is for sure: there'll be more twists, turns and bombshells to come in the music mogul's shocking fall from grace.
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