(NEW YORK) -- A run-in with a rival record executive at Mel's Drive-in, assault weapons with illegally defaced serial numbers and a sex performance at Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West were some of the topics that jurors in Sean Combs' criminal trial heard about Tuesday, as prosecutors tried to build their racketeering and sex trafficking case against the rap mogul.
Across nearly six hours of testimony on the trial's 11th day, federal prosecutors called to the stand Combs' former personal assistant, a federal agent, the mother of the government's star witness and a sex worker nicknamed "The Punisher."
They argued that the wide-reaching testimony helps prove the lengths to which Combs was willing to go to benefit from and protect what they alleged is a criminal enterprise.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argued that his private conduct in the bedroom does not amount of sex trafficking. His lawyers have argued any violence alleged by witnesses was driven by love, jealousy and drug use -- not a desire to coerce anyone into sex.
Prosecutors plan to continue their case Wednesday by calling Dawn Hughes, a psychologist who specializes in sex trauma, George Kaplan, a former assistant to Combs and Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi and who briefly dated Combs' former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Combs' former assistant testifies about Suge Knight encounter
Combs' one-time personal assistant David James told jurors about the wide range of tasks he completed for the rap mogul: from stocking hotel rooms and allegedly buying drugs to being the driver when Combs – allegedly armed with multiple guns – wanted to confront rival record executive Marion "Suge" Knight.
Jurors first heard about the alleged interaction between Combs and Knight during the testimony of Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. It allegedly occurred in approximately 2008 or 2009 and was a moment that threatened to dredge up the violent history between the titans of 1990s rap music and the long-standing rivalries between the East and West Coasts.
Ventura testified that, after a so-called "freak off," a security guard named D-Roc informed him that Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records and a longtime rival of Combs, was spotted at Mel's. Despite her pleas to stop, Ventura said Combs packed up his weapons and headed to the restaurant to confront Knight.
"I was crying. I was screaming, like, please don't do anything stupid," Ventura testified last week.
James told jurors the other side of the story, describing D-Roc confronting Knight when they were at Mel's to pick up cheeseburgers for Combs.
"We pulled into the parking lot and D-Roc looks over and says, 'That's motherf------- Suge Knight,'" James said, describing how he drove back to Combs' house to find Combs and Ventura arguing. "Cassie looked very distressed. She was telling him not to go," James testified.
James testified that Combs, allegedly with three guns on his lap, ordered him to drive back to the diner. It was that moment, he said, that eventually prompted him to stop working for Combs.
"I was really struck by it. I realized for the first time being Mr. Combs' assistant that my life was in danger," James testified.
Prosecutors have charged that Combs and his alleged associates used "violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion" to protect and promote the "power of the Combs' enterprise."
James also testified about buying and supplying drugs for Combs and stocking the moguls' hotel rooms with baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms and prophylactics. He told the jury he once accidentally walked in on a freak-off, featuring Ventura and a male sex worker.
When questioned by defense lawyers, James testified that he once had sex with a prostitute and that he declined to pay for her services, and that he got into a physical altercation with another one of Combs' employees. James said he spoke with prosecutors under a proffer agreement, meaning he had immunity from being prosecuted for anything he said on the stand.
"Have they given you some type of immunity?" defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked.
"I'd have to ask my lawyer that question," he said. "My lawyer said I have no legal visibility."
Cassie Ventura's mother testifies about Combs blackmailing her daughter
Regina Ventura, the mother of star witness Cassie Ventura, took the stand on Tuesday to testify about taking a home equity loan to pay Combs in order to prevent him from following through on an alleged threat to release a sex tape of her daughter.
"The threats that have been made towards me by Sean 'Puffy' Combs are that … he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me," Ventura wrote in an email to her mother and Combs' assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011. Jurors saw the email when Cassie Ventura testified last week.
"I was physically sick. I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me," Regina Ventura testified about the threat.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband decided to take out a loan so they could send Combs the $20,000 he demanded, though he ultimately returned the money.
"We decided that's the only way we could get the money," she said. "I was scared for my daughter's safety."
Regina Ventura also told jurors she decided to photograph the injuries her daughter allegedly suffered from Combs so that they would have a record of the alleged abuse.
Approximately 15 years after she documented the injuries, prosecutors last week showed the photos to the jury to underscore Cassie Ventura's testimony about the violence she suffered at Combs' hands.
'The Punisher' testifies about a dozen alleged freak-offs
Known professionally as The Punisher, male escort Sharay Hayes told the jury that he first met Combs and Cassie Ventura in 2012, when he was hired to help create a "sexy erotic scene" for what, Ventura said, was Combs' birthday. He testified that he got his nickname when he was a teenager based on the way he played basketball.
He testified that Ventura, who used the name Janet when booking sex workers, instructed him to come to Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West in Manhattan to perform a strip act. When he arrived, Ventura asked him to cover her baby oil while Combs watched, Hayes said.
"I was specifically told to not acknowledge her husband. Try not to look at him. No communication between me and him," Hayes testified. "The room was dimly lit, maybe electronic candles. All of the furniture was covered in sheets and there was an area pretty much for me to sit and for her to sit across from me. There were bowls of water and bottles of baby oil."
Hayes told jurors that Combs was nude for the encounter and wore a veil, occasionally masturbating during the interaction and offering "subtle directions" to Ventura.
After their first interaction, Hayes said he worked for the couple another eight to 12 times, receiving $1,200 to $2,000 on each occasion.
During their last encounter, Hayes testified Combs instructed him to have sex with Ventura but declined because he could not sexually perform under "a lot of pressure."
Cross-examined by Combs' lawyers, Hayes testified that he believed Ventura was comfortable during the exchanges, potentially undercutting the argument she was coerced to participate.
"I didn't get any cues there was any discomfort there," Hayes said when asked if Ventura seemed uncomfortable with the encounters.
The question of whether Ventura was forced or participated voluntarily is one of the most critical issues in the prosecution of the onetime cultural icon Combs.
Jurors see evidence of weapons with defaced serial numbers
For the final witness of the day, jurors heard from a federal agent who testified about recovering multiple assault-style weapons from Combs' Miami Beach residence when it was raided in March 2024. The agent, Gerard Gannon, said the serial numbers of the weapons had been defaced – a violation of federal firearms laws.
Holding parts of the weapons in court for the jury to see, Gannon testified that investigators recovered a 30-round magazine containing 19 rounds and a full 10-round magazine in Combs' home, with the ammunition on the same shelf as 7-inch platform heels and lingerie.
Prosecutors have alleged Combs and his associates relied on "violence, use of firearms, [and] threats of violence" to operate their criminal enterprise.
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