Panicked celebrities secretly lawyering up in case they’re called to testify in Diddy trial: Live updates

By GERMANIA RODRIGUEZ POLEO, CHIEF U.S. REPORTER and DANIEL BATES AT THE DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN FEDERAL COURTHOUSE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: 13:15 BST, 29 May 2025 | Updated: 15:58 BST, 29 May 2025

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is facing the third week of his sex-trafficking and racketeering trial in New York City.

The music mogul, 55, has sat by his team of star lawyers as prosecutors accuse him of using his wealth and fame to coerce and threaten women and employees into serving his every need and sexual fantasy.

Stylist Deonte Nash told the jury on Wednesday he saw Diddy berating Cassie to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters, ‘freak offs,’ and that Cassie confided to him that she didn’t want to but felt obliged.

Diddy’s ex-assistant Mia is set to take the stand next, and tell the jury that she was sexually abused by the music executive. 

Diddy denies all allegations against him. His lawyers admit he’s a woman beater – although he does not face domestic abuse charges – but that he is not guilty of sex trafficking or racketeering. 

All the explosive testimony from inside Diddy courtroom on Daily Mail’s podcast The Trial

To hear all the explosive testimony from singer Cassie Ventura and the other witnesses in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ trial, tune in to Daily Mail’s hit podcast The Trial.

From sworn testimony to video evidence and the rapper’s every subtle move, our team of journalists take you inside the courtroom of the world’s biggest celebrity case.

Daily Mail has been following Diddy’s downfall from the very beginning. Join us as we hear from experts involved in the case, and members of the rapper’s inside circle.

Celebrities ‘are worried about being called to testify in Diddy’s trial’

A new report claims that panicked celebrities are so worried about possibly being called as a witness in the Diddy trial that they are lawyering up.

‘I have heard that there are some celebrities worried about being called to testify and have even lawyered up trying to fight that,’ TMZ founder Harvey Levin said on Fox News Digital.

Harvey did not specify which celebrities are reportedly concerned abotut being called as witnesses, but several A-list stars have been named-dropped throughout the bombshell testimony.

Diddy’s ex-assistant Capricorn Clark exposed the mogul’s list of celebrities enemies and many other A-listers have come up in testimony.

The trial has even inspired deep fake videos that use AI-generated images to falsely claim that certain celebrities, such as Oprah and Jennifer Lawrence, have been mentioned in the mogul’s sex-trafficking case.

Alleged Diddy victim Mia takes the stand

An alleged victim who is going by the pseudonym Mia has taken the stand for the prosection.

She told the court she worked for Diddy from 2009 until 2017 first as a personal assitant and then director of development and aquisitions for Revolt Films.

Mia testified that Diddy was often violent towards her and sexually assaulted her several times.

Prosecutors seek to prove racketeering

Much of the case presented by prosecutors so far has revolved around accusations that Combs physically and sexually abused Cassie for years, and coerced her into sexual encounters called ‘freak-offs’ with men who were paid thousands of dollars to have sex with her.

Yet Combs isn’t simply charged with sex crimes. He’s charged with racketeering. Prosecutors say they will prove that Combs used his businesses and employees ‘to carry out, facilitate, and cover up his acts of violence, abuse, and commercial sex.’

Some of those employees testified in Week 2.

George Kaplan, a personal assistant for Combs from 2013 to 2015, told jurors he’d toss out liquor bottles and drugs and clean up baby oil from Combs’ hotel rooms after the music producer finished freak-offs.

He said he never reported abuse to authorities, even after Combs beat up Cassie on a private jet.

Another personal assistant, David James, testified that Combs had him stock hotel rooms with Viagra, condoms, baby oil and lubricant, among other supplies.

He also recounted how Combs had three handguns on his lap as they drove to a Los Angeles diner looking for his record industry rival, Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight.

WATCH: Diddy wants to testify, according to expert

Stylist is questioned about Cassie’s 29th birthday incident

Cassie was content celebrating her 29th birthday with drinks, drugs and karaoke with friends, but her boyfriend Diddy had a different idea, Diddy’s ex-stylist Deonte Nash told the court.

The hip-hop mogul insisted on taking her to a Los Angeles hotel for another of his ‘freak off’ sex marathons, her friend and former stylist testified at Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial.

Nash told jurors that he saw the temperamental Combs berating Cassie as she pleaded for him to let her enjoy her birthday on her own terms.

Later that night, Nash said, Cassie told the stylist, ‘I don’t want to freak off,’ but that she had to because Combs was making her.

Nash testified that the 2015 conversation was one of several times Cassie confided to him that she didn’t want to engage in Combs’ drug-fueled hotel encounters.

Prosecution says they are ahead of schedule

Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey said they are running ahead of schedule and even looking to cut some witnesses.

The prosecution is hoping to rest their case by the second week of June, but noted it may continue into the following week.

Stylist says he hooked Cassie up with Michael B Jordan

Deonte Nash told the court that he was the one to set up Cassie with actor Michael B Jordan while the two were in South Africa working on different projects.

‘He fine. She fine. Why not?’ Dash replied when asked about it.

Nash said during this time, Cassie was upset that Diddy was seen out in Miami with another girlfriend, Gina.

‘[Cassie said, “Why does he keep humiliating me and trying to ruin my career?”

Nash added: ‘[Cassie] wasn’t that pressed about Gina. When Puff be with Gina, she be like alright girl it’s time to go out.

‘The issue with Gina is Gina kept popping up and it was hurting her career with Puff running around with other women.’

Diddy’s mother back in court to support him

Diddy’s mom, Janice, has stood by her 55-year-old son’s side while he is on trial for sex trafficking.

The 85-year-old has been pictured at the Manhattan federal courthouse most days of the trial.

She is seen arriving on Thursday.

Stylist Deonte Nash is back on the stand

Cassie’s friend and stylist is being cross-examined by the defense on Thursday morning.

Nash is being questioned about his relatoinship with Diddy’s former assistant Capricorn Clark.

He told jurors on Wednesday that he saw the temperamental Combs berating Cassie as she pleaded for him to let her enjoy her birthday on her own terms. Later that night, Nash said, Cassie told the stylist, ‘I don’t want to freak off,’ but that she had to because Combs was making her.

Along with shedding light on Cassie’s feelings about freak offs, Nash also corroborated her testimony that Combs frequently beat and tormented her. Combs would threaten to hinder Cassie’s fledgling music career and said he’d ruin her reputation by releasing recordings of their sexual encounters, Nash said.

Will Diddy take the stand? All the witnesses at rapper’s blockbuster trial

So far, the blockbuster trial has consisted of a number of bombshell testimonies from his ex-girlfriend and main accuser Cassie Ventura, rapper Kid Cudi, Dawn Richard, a former member of Combs’ pop group Danity Kane, and his former executive assistant George Kaplan, among others.

Here is a full list of everyone who has taken the stand so far:

Usher, Ne- Yo, dragged into Dawn Richard’s testimony during week one

Former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard said on the stand during the first week of the trial that Diddy punched Cassie in the stomach during a private argument at a West Hollywood restaurant in 2010.

She claimed several celebrities were at the dinner, including Usher, Ne-Yo and superstar music executive Jimmy Iodine.

‘Mr Combs punched Cassie in the stomach,’ Richard told the jury.

‘They were having a private conversation, we were all sitting eating at the tables together. Some of Bad Boy label mates, some celebrities were in the room.

‘They were secretly arguing [and] he punched her in the stomach.

Richard added: ‘[Cassie] immediately bent over and he told her to leave, I could see him point out and she went out.’

Prosecutors ask for privacy measures for alleged victim ‘Mia’

Prosecutors on Thursday asked the court to cut the witness box from the live feed shown in the court’s overflow room when Mia takes the stand.

The judge declined the request, saying there was not enough space and the overflow room ‘is an extension of this room.’

However, the judge ruled that no sketches be made of Mia when she’s testifying and that there are no cellphones to document her appearance in any way.

Mia’s lawyer, Michael Ferrara, said his client will tell about the worst things ever to happen to her.

Those things, he said, she otherwise would have taken ‘to her grave.’ He said she will want emotional support during her testimony.

‘Candidly, her nerves are through the roof,’ he said of Diddy’s former assistant.

‘I don’t know how to support her if we can’t discuss the pain she’s going to experience from having to tell the world about her worst experiences.’

Diddy’s former assistant breaks down in tears as she recalls terrifying threats by his staff

Taking the stand on Tuesday, Capricorn Clark said she was left ‘petrified’ after being brought to an abandoned building in New York and locked in while being questioned about the hip hop mogul’s missing jewelry.

Another time, she claimed Diddy kidnapped her at gunpoint and drove her to a love rival’s house where he intended to shoot the man dead, the court heard.

The extraordinary claims emerged during the testimony of Clark, 46, who repeatedly broke down in tears while describing her nightmarish employment with Diddy.

The unbelievable photograph of two female megastars that’s buried in Diddy evidence files

Buried in a file submitted as part of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ defense is a black and white photograph of two world famous female stars lying on a bed in bikinis beneath a seedy mirrored ceiling.

Diddy arrives to court

The disgraced mogul is wearing a beige sweater and is currently locked in conversation with his lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo.

Diddy is allowed to wear his own clothes to the trial but with some conditions.

He can only have up to five pairs of pants, shirts and socks and only two pairs of shoes – with no laces.

Cassie wanted to date Jay-Z, according to Diddy’s ex-assistant Capricorn Clark

Diddy’s former assistant Capricorn Clark told the jury on Tuesday that Cassie once suggested she wanted to date Jay-Z.

In a meeting with Diddy’s lawyers in April 2024, Clark said she once told Cassie to date other people than Diddy – but Cassie apparently replied that Jay-Z was taken.

Agnifilo asked Clark: ‘Do you remember saying at the meeting that … you told Cassie, you have to — you should move away from [Diddy] and date other people, right?’

The attorney added: ‘And she said to you that Jay-Z was taken, who would she [date]?’

She added: ‘She did [say that.]’

Diddy, Beyonce and Jay-Z are pictured together in 2005.

Cassie Ventura gives birth just days after taking the stand

Cassie Ventura welcomed her third child with husband Alex Fine just days after testifying in her ex Diddy’s sex trafficking trial.

TMZ reports the Me and U singer welcomed baby number three on Tuesday at a hospital in New York City, citing sources with direct knowledge.

The insiders say the baby arrived slightly ahead of schedule, but Cassie and her child are healthy and well.

The missing Diddy witness who mysteriously vanished days before trial

The missing Diddy ‘victim’ who mysteriously vanished during the first week of testimony has haunted his trial ever since.

The woman – referred to only as ‘Victim number 3’ – was scheduled to testify for the prosecution after Cassie Ventura.

Her testimony was going to bolster the prosecution’s case against the beleaguered rapper and support the racketeering charge that Diddy’s team says is completely out of the blue.

When she vanished, there was an onslaught of conspiracy theories coupled with a strategic scramble from the prosecutors.

No one could find the woman. They still can’t.

Read the whole story here:

Who will testify today?

Diddy’s lawyer Xavier Donaldson will continue cross examining stylist Deonte Nash, pictured below, in the morning.

Diddy’s ex-assistant Mia and radio personality Enrique Santos are expected to take the stand following Nash.

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Panicked celebrities secretly lawyering up in case they’re called to testify in Diddy trial: Live updates

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