Diddy trial latest: New witness revealed in disgraced mogul's case as Cassie prepares to testify

Prosecutors on Friday revealed they will include a fifth victim in their sex-trafficking case against Diddy.

The defense had tried to keep the witness' testimony from trial but Judge Arun Subramanian ruled at least some of it will be admitted in court.

However, the judge said the alleged victim will not be granted anonymity.

Prosecutos suggested in court documents that the witness will speak about an act of sexual misconduct that Diddy has not been charged with in the case but will show a pattern of behavior.

Diddy’s lawyers are seeking to introduce explosive evidence that there was 'mutual violence' in his relationship to one of the women who will testify at his trial

The rapper’s attorneys said they wanted to raise issues of previous violent incidents by Victim 1 because it would be relevant to whether or not she was coerced into sexual assault.

The mutual abuse between Victim 1 and Diddy was so bad it amounted to 'domestic violence', the court heard.

The former couple is pictured at the Met Gala in May, 2018 - their last public outing.

Security video of Sean 'Diddy' Combs violently assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway was 'edited', his defense attorneys have claimed.

The video - which was published by CNN in May - appears to Combs, wearing only a white towel, punching, kicking, and throwing the R&B singer to ground at a hotel in March 2016.

Federal prosecutors have cited the video as evidence that Combs was sex trafficking Ventura, as well as the danger he could pose to other women if released on bail.

Rapper 50 Cent has made no secret of how much he dislikes Diddy over the years.

Now, in the midst of Diddy's monumental downfall as he's charged with a host of sex trafficking and racketeering offenses, 50 Cent has capitalized on their public feud by revealing he's working on a Netflix docuseries which promises to tell all.

Read all about their long standing feud

There was laughter in court when a prospective juror said he worked at the MDC in Brooklyn: the same prison Diddy is being held.

Diddy’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked if they could get longer visit hours laughed and said he wasn’t in charge of that.

The juror - who did not say what his exact job was - was excused.

A fashion designer claims Sean 'Diddy' Combs dangled her over a 17th floor balcony and she was only saved when Cassie Ventura intervened.

Bryana 'Bana' Bongolan sued the disgraced music mogul for $10 million, claiming her also molested her and detailed his frequent alleged abuse of his then-girlfriend Ventura.

The artist's lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, claimed the near-death experience was on September 26, 2016, after one of Diddy's notorious 'freak offs'.

Diddy was accused of obstructing his sex trafficking case from behind bars by paying off witnesses and enlisting his own children in a 'public relations campaign'.

Prosecutors said in November the disgraced hip hop mogul has 'demonstrated an uncanny ability to get others to do his bidding' even though he is locked up in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

They claimed that he tried to influence potential jurors in his trial by getting seven of his children to post a video marking his birthday on November 4th.

Without identifying them publicly, prosecutors have said four of Combs’ accusers will testify at the trial.

The prosecution will be allowed to show the jury security video of Diddy beating and kicking one of his accusers, the R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

Diddy’s attorneys are expected to argue at trial that the government is demonizing and distorting the sexual activity of consenting adults. They have also argued that two of Combs’ longtime girlfriends willingly brought a male sex worker into their relationship.

Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, was Combs’ on-again-off-again romantic partner for more than a decade. Her 2023 lawsuit against Combs alleging years of abuse, including rape, began the scrutiny that eventually led to his prosecution.

The specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, but prosecutors said the Bad Boy founder would have faced less prison time if he had accepted it and been found guilty.

Because Diddy is being tried in federal court, the only visual insight into the proceedings will come from court sketches.

This week's visuals offered details into the rapper's demeanor, as he was seen smiling, putting his heart on his heart, and hugging his lawyers.

As a rapper, music producer and entrepreneur involved in a variety of companies from broadcasting to alcohol, Diddy's net worth topped out in 2019 at $740 million - and he was well on his way toward billionaire status.

But his empire began crumbling in November last year when his ex-girlfriend Cassie accused him of sexual assault and physical abuse, which triggered at least nine others to launch similar lawsuits against him.

Several who were eliminated from the jury pool had seen or heard media reports related to the case, including some who said they saw a video in which Combs was hitting and kicking one of his accusers in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

But one man who had written on a questionnaire that the video left him with the 'impression of an angry hostile person who is entitled' was not dismissed from the jury pool.

After the video aired on CNN last year, Diddy apologized, saying, 'I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.'

Diddy is facing five felony charges, namely:

• Racketeering conspiracy
• Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion
• Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution

The charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly.

It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes.

If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Potential jurors for the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs have been asked their views on controversial rapper Kanye West.

West was dragged into the case when a potential juror said they recognized his name from a list of people who may come up in the trial.

Diddy's lawyers contend that prosecutors are trying to criminalize sexual activity between consenting adults.

They concede that Combs had abused various substances but say he has undergone treatment.

Marc Agnigilo said it would become relevant if Victim 1 said she was ‘a peaceful person, I’m not violent, I’m not the kind of person to engage in hurtful conduct or some form of violence’.

He said that Victim 1 was a ‘strong capable individual who does not shy away from confrontations’.

‘It’s relevant to her nature, the fact she’s a strong person who is capable of starting physical confrontations and it’s independently relevant’, he said.

Prosecutors pushed back and Emily Anne Johnson said that the defense would only be allowed to raise questions about Victim 1’s ‘character and truthfulness’.

Alexandra Shapiro, another of Diddy’s lawyers, said that the incidents ‘may become relevant to rebutting the government’s argument that she was coerced, because she was a strong person’.

Shapiro added that ‘the whole dynamic between these two individuals is at the very heart of this case’.

Judge Subramanian appeared skeptical and said that ‘strong people can be coerced just like weak people’, adding that Shaprio’s argument was a ‘stretch’.

For three days this week, would-be jurors had been asked questions to help the judge and lawyers determine if they could be fair and impartial. And they were also questioned to ensure they could decide the case on the facts even after seeing explicit videos of sexual activity that some might find disturbing.

On Monday, prosecutors will be permitted to strike six prospective jurors from the jury while defense lawyers were allowed 10 strikes before the jury is finalized. Generally, lawyers do not have to explain why they are ejecting individuals from the panel. The process was expected to take up to an hour.

Michael B Jordan and Mike Myers were some of the A-list celebrities named for the first time during the first day of the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs.

Their names were included in a list list of people and places handed to potential jurors because they may come up throughout the sex-trafficking trial.

Jordan is on the list because he was once allegedly threatened by Diddy over his relationship with the rapper's ex-girlfriend Cassie, Rolling Stone reported.

In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors complained that a prominent attorney, Mark Geragos — the father of one of the lawyers on Combs’ legal team — had a long-standing relationship with Combs and seemed to be acting as an adviser to Combs and the defense team even as he spoke out about the case repeatedly on his podcast.

Prosecutors urged the judge to require the attorney to obey rules that require lawyers working on the case to limit their public comments.

Diddy adopted 33-year-old son Quincy Taylor Brown (whose biological father is Al B. Sure) during his on/off 13-year relationship with babymama #1 Kim Porter who passed away, at age 47, from lobar pneumonia in 2018.

The Harlem-born hip-hop star fathered son 'King' Christian Combs, 26; and twin daughters Jessie and D'Lila Combs, 17; with Porter.

Diddy fathered three more children - son Justin Combs, 30; daughter Chance Combs, 18; daughter Love Sean Combs, 2 - with babymama #2 Misa Hylton, babymama #3 Sarah Chapman, and babymama #4 Dana Tran.

A man from the Bronx was let go after admitting he smokes marijuana.

The judge asked him to stop using the drug during the trial.

'I'm going to order that,' the judge said.

But prosecutors then passed a note to the judge, who then asked the potential juror if he had ever been arrested for marijuana.

The juror said they had.

When asked when they last marijuana, the man answered that he used it the previous night and he might have liked a post on X showing Diddy's arrest.

The judge excused the man after he admitted that not using marijuana would be difficult for him.

Nestled in the sprawling suburbia of New York, a home with well-kept hedgerows and blooming spring flowers is the quintessential model of an American residence.

But this mid-century split-level home in Mount Vernon holds dark secrets that could explain the lead-up to the gut-churning accusations that disgraced rap mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces.

Heralded for decades as rap royalty, Sean 'Diddy' Combs now sits alone in an isolation cell in a notorious New York City jail - deemed too much of a 'threat to the community' by authorities to be let out even after offering a $50 million bond.

It's a stunning fall for the 'It's All About the Benjamins' rapper, who was once hip-hop's wealthiest and most influential mogul.

In a blow to Diddy, the judge ruled that prosecutors could use a photograph of his first accuser when she was 19 years old, the age she met him, even though his lawyers feared it might make the jury think he was engaged in sex with minors.

Assistant US Attorney Emily Anne Johnson said that the photograph, taken in May 2005, showed Victim 1 with her best friend at the time.

Diddy’s lawyer Alexandra Shapiro said it had ‘low probative value’ compared to the risk of ‘unfair prejudice’.

She said: ‘Victim 1 is extremely young in the picture. Although it’s not as bad as the (exhibit) the court excluded, the prejudice raises the suggestion that Mr Combs is engaging in sexual conduct with an underage person’.

Johnson said that Victim 1 met Diddy when she was 19, the same age as when the photo was taken and signed with his record label in 2006.

She said that the photo ‘speaks a thousand words’ and that the photo ‘establishes a friendship’ between Victim 1 and her friend.

Judge Subramanian said that he didn’t think the ‘probative value would be substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice’.

Kanye West has continued defending Sean 'Diddy' Combs, stating the incarcerated mogul is a 'way better dad than me.'

West, 47, shared two posts supportive of the father of seven, who is currently behind bars at the at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center following his arrest last year on sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution charges. He's been denied bail multiple times.

A potential juror said he recognized comedian Mike Myers' name in a list of individuals provided to the jury pool.

The individuals may come up during the trial.

It's likely Myers was dragged into the case over a scene in 2002's Austin Powers: Goldmember, where the character of Dr Evil had an 'E. Diddy' tattoo on his buttocks after spending time in prison.

The scene also features Beyonce.

The singer appeared on Fox 5 on Friday and repeated some of his claims against Diddy, including his belief that their ex Kim Porter did not die from pneumonia.

Al B. Sure also claimed he believes the music mogul tried to kill him.

The chief marketing officer at Simon & Schuster was dismissed from the jury pool after she revealed her company is working with Al B Sure on his upcomoing book, Do You Believe Me Now?

Singer Al B. Sure was once married to Diddy's late ex-girlfriend and mother of some of his children, Kim Porter.

Al B. Sure has repeatedly made shocking accusations against Diddy.

Since 2023, dozens of women and men have been filing lawsuits against Combs claiming he sexually or physically abused them. Many of those people said they were slipped drugs at events hosted by Combs and were abused while they were incapacitated.

Combs has denied all of the allegations through his lawyers.

Some of those lawsuits have claimed that other celebrities were either present for or participated in the abuse.

The great majority of those allegations, however, aren’t part of the criminal case. Prosecutors have chosen to focus on a relatively small number of accusers and allegations where there is physical evidence or corroboration by witnesses.

Jury selection will be concluded on Monday instead of Friday after a ruling by judge Arun Subramanian.

Prosecutors said that they will have an answer on whether Victim 3 will testify by the end of the day.

Diddy's lawyers had asked for the delay, saying that they were concerned that more jurors would get cold feet between now and Monday and it would be safer to wait until then.

Prosecutors strongly opposed this and said it should move ahead today because it could cause long delays on Monday before opening statements.

The judge had leaned towards the delay, saying that if they finished choosing the jury on Monday you got a ‘certainty you’re not going to have to redo jury selection or worse’.

The trial is in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian. He was appointed a federal judge by President Joe Biden in 2022.

The prosecution team consists of eight assistant U.S. attorneys, seven of them women. They include Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She was among the prosecutors in the trial of Ghislane Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

Combs’ team of seven defense attorneys is led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who along with his wife Karen Friedman Agnifilo is also defending alleged health care CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.

Also on the defense team is Atlanta attorney Brian Steel, who represented Young Thug in a trial that went on for nearly two years before the rapper pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is seen with his attorneys Brian Steel and Teny Geragos. Judge Arun Subramanian is seen in the bacground.

On Tuesday, a black woman in her 20s was excused after saying in her jury questionnaire that Diddy ‘had a lot of money’ and could ‘possibly buy his way out for jail’.

The woman also said she was the victim of an attempted rape three years ago and the police could have done more to solve the case.

The rapper, 55, repeatedly nodded and smiled at the individuals being questioned during the jury selection process this week.

He appeared to be showing his approval for some jurors by nodding his head up and down or shaking it left and right, giving a subtitle indication of how he was feeling towards each person.

Juror 220 told the court on Wednesday the he went to the same New York high school as Diddy - Mount St. Michael's.

While the man attended the school 30 years after Diddy, he was dismissed after admitting he reposted a meme about Diddy while 'doom scrolling.'

Moments later, Judge Arun Subramanian as juror 317 entered the courtroom, clearing recognizing the man.

The judge then asked the man to reveal their connection - they met while working antitrust class action cases together.

Prosecutors expressed concern juror 317, as an attorney who knows the judge, could have outsize influence on other jurors.

The defense had no issues with juror 317, but the man was dismissed after expressing concern about a client's needs during the length of the trial.

In Monday's episode of Daily Mail's The Trial of Diddy podcast, we break down all the highlights from Manhattan federal court.

The celebrity names that could come up included actors Mike Myers, Michael B. Jordan and Lauren London.

Some other famous names in the music industry were also revealed, including Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, producer Dallas Austin and choreographer Laurieann Gibson.

Potential jurors in the trial of fallen hip hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs face a grilling by his legal team and government prosecutors over their suitability to judge his guilt or innocence.

And in revealing clues over upcoming testimony, DailyMail.com can disclose some of those bombshell questions that they will be asked to determine if they make it to the 12-person panel.

Many revolve around attitudes to the sensational sex trafficking and racketeering crimes 55-year-old Combs is accused of – and their views on the hip hop industry in general.

Diddy walked into court wearing the same outfit as he has worn every day since jury selection began: a navy crew neck sweater, gray pants and a white shirt.

He hugged and shook hands with his lawyers before sitting down and looking over some legal documents with Teny Geragos, one of his attorneys.

Diddy put on his glasses and looked over one piece of paper and listened intently as Geragos spoke to one of the prosecutors.

A female juror in her 60s was allowed to stay in the prospective jury pool despite admitting that she was kissed and fondled for around two years when she 16 by a dentist while working at his office.

The woman said that 'gross inappropriate behavior happens all day long all over the world' but insisted she could be impartial.

Eyebrows were raised in court when a woman was allowed to remain in the jury pool despite saying that after watching the video of Diddy beating up Ventura she thought he ‘would be guilty of domestic violence’.

Eyebrows were raised in court when a woman was allowed to remain in the jury pool despite saying that after watching the video of Diddy beating up Cassie she thought he ‘would be guilty of domestic violence.'

The black woman said that she recalled having seen news articles that said Diddy was ‘trying to get out of jail’.

And she wrote in her jury questionnaire that her mother - a domestic abuse survivor - told her ‘never to accept physical or mental abuse from anyone’.

But the woman, a middle school teacher, also said some things that appealed to Diddy, saying that she wouldn’t pre-judge him and was skeptical of some accusers.

‘Just because somebody does one thing doesn’t mean they did another,’ she said.

She said that ‘sometimes people testify to things that are not necessarily true’ because they had ‘jumped on the bandwagon.'

Potential jurors answer written questions by U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian during jury selection.

No one believed Jonathan Oddi when he bizarrely told Florida cops he that was Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex slave in 2018.

But after an exclusive story from Daily Mail this week, Oddi is finally 'getting his vindication,' according to his estranged wife.

'This 100 % gives a lot of truth and legitimacy to everything he was speaking about,' said Oddi's former wife Tonia Troutwine. It definitely confirms the relationship and closeness between them.

Daily Mail can confirm Oddi did know Diddy - and was guarding a secret so scandalous that the rapper asked him to sign an NDA agreement to protect it.

The agreement is dated 2014 - four years before the Doral shooting - and ten years before Diddy's life came crashing down with a federal indictment for sex trafficking.

Oddi told police in Doral that he signed the document in exchange for $5 million.

A star witness in the Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial is reportedly MIA, throwing the disgraced Bad Boy mogul's sex trafficking case into chaos.

Opening statements are set to begin next week. But federal prosecutors have been left scrambling.

They can't find one of the female victims who is central to their case. She does not live in New York where the Combs' trial is being held.

Diddy won a victory after his lawyers managed to strike a white female juror from the pool because she works for HBO.

The 55-year-old photo producer had said during questioning that the video of Diddy beating up his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016 was ‘disturbing’ and ‘upsetting’.

Diddy attorney Marc Agnifilo said that the HBO documentary ‘The Fall of Diddy’ which was released earlier this year painted him in a ‘horribly negative light, almost like a monster’.

Agnifilo said that the woman said she had had ‘water cooler talks’ with co-workers even though she didn’t work on the documentary.

Additionally, three government witnesses in the Diddy case appeared in the documentary and were paid to do so, Agnifilo said.

The judge agreed after prosecutors didn’t object to the juror being excused.

Jury consultant Linda Moreno has joined his top-tier legal team, the Daily Mail can confirm.

She will help defense attorneys to profile potential jurors as selection starts Monday in Combs' federal criminal trial in Manhattan.

Moreno gained fame as one of the country's leading jury consultants after high-profile cases including the 2005 trial of Sami Al-Arian, a Florida college professor indicted on terrorism-related charges under the Patriot Act.

Diddy has hired Nicole Westmoreland as the eigth lawyer on his defense team.

Westmoreland revealed she was raped in 2001 when she was just 19 years old.

She said a man named Alfred Cleveland raped her at Patchwerk Recording Studio in Atlanta, as reported by TMZ.

The star attorney joined Diddy's team on Tuesday morning.

She is pictured leaving court this week.

The daughter of former FBI director James Comey, Maurene Comey, is one of the prosecutors in the sex-trafficking trial against Diddy.

She was also among the prosecutors in the trial of Ghislane Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

James Comey, nominee for FBI Director, shares a laugh with his daughters, Kate, center, and Maureen and his wife Patrice during his conformation hearing in 2013.

Maurene Comey points at Ghislaine Maxwell as she delivers the rebuttal argument for the government during the trial of Maxwell in 2021.

Judge Arun Subramanian admonsihed Mark Geragos in court after he made comments in a podcast calling Diddy's prosecutors a 'sick-pack of white women.'

According to prosecutors, Geragos has been advising Diddy's team during the jury selection process even though he is not one of the rapper's officials attorneys in the trial.

Subramanian, who is of South Asian descent, called Geragos' comments 'outrageous,' but Geragos' whose daughter Teny is a member of Diddy's legal team, pushed back at the judge.

'I think when you've got a Black man who's being prosecuted and the client feels like he's being targeted, it's a -- it's an observation,' Geragos said.

But the judge wasn not having and shot back: 'I think this is ridiculous.

'I think referring to the prosecution in this case as a six-pack of white women is outrageous. All right. And I understand what you're saying about the cases and everything else, but I think this is outrageous and this would not be tolerated in any court from any lawyer anywhere across the nation.'

The final stage of choosing jurors is known as ‘peremptory’ or discretionary strikes: jurors that either side does not want to sit on the jury.

Diddy’s defense gets 10 strikes for the main jury of 12 people and the prosecution wil have six.

Then each side gets three each for the six alternate jurors.

There are 45 jurors who are qualified for this final stage: none of them will be in court and they are due to return on Monday for opening statements.

Diddy jurors will be able to leave court and go home after each day of the trial.

'There are no plans to sequester the jury, which means you will go home every day after court,' the jury questionnaire obtained by the outlet read.

However, jurors were instructed to "avoid all media coverage and not to go on the Internet or social media with regard to this case for any purpose."

They are advised to avoid discussing the case with family, friends and colleagues until after the trial is done.

Judge Arun Subramanian was seeking to build a pool of 45 prospective jurors from which a panel of 12 jurors and several alternates can be chosen.

Opening statements are scheduled to be presented on May 12 for a trial projected to last up to two months.

Composed and with his hands in his pockets, Sean 'Diddy' Combs greeted potential jurors who hold his fate in their hands with a slight nod as the sex trafficking trial that could send him to prison for life began Monday.

And despite the gravity of the crimes against him, Combs, 55, remained composed and calm, hugging his lawyers as he came in and nodding his head slightly when he faced the jurors with his hands in his pockets.

Until he cracked midway through the process after Diddy's legal team requested a bathroom break. When the judge asked if they could carry on, Diddy put up his hand and said: 'I'm sorry your honor, I'm a little nervous today.'

Several who were eliminated from the jury pool had seen or heard media reports related to the case, including some who said they saw a video in which Combs was hitting and kicking one of his accusers in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

But one man who had written on a questionnaire that the video left him with the 'impression of an angry hostile person who is entitled' was not dismissed from the jury pool.

After the video aired on CNN last year, Diddy apologized, saying, 'I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.'

The rapper apparently recognized Fox5 reporter Michelle Ross, who is seven months pregnant, in court this week.

Ross shared her reaction after Combs mouthed, 'how are you?' in court.

'That's just another example of how observant he's been throughout jury selection so far,' FOX 5's Michelle Ross said of the moment.

Rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces a slew of charges related to his alleged sexual and physical abuse of women.

He was charged with three crimes - racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

The last step in the jury selection process will occur when lawyers on both sides strike a limited number of individuals off the jury for reasons they usually are not required to disclose.

The judge has scheduled peremptory challenges for Friday.

Opening statements are set for Monday.

Unlike other high-profile cases, the rapper's trial will not be televised as it is in federal court.

Electronic media, including cameras, are banned in the Manhattan court room.

A sketch artist's work will be the only visuals coming out of the courtroom.