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2 days ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
This is a free article fornewsletter subscribers.to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs' federal trial. Today, Judge Arun Subramanian and the attorneys on both sides of the case held what's known as a charge conference - a meeting where the key players finalize instructions for the jury.
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3 days ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
This is a free article fornewsletter subscribers. to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs' federal trial. The U.S. government rested its case against Diddy today - and then, exactly two hours later, so did his defense team. In total, federal prosecutors called 34 witnesses across more than six weeks, presenting jurors with graphic evidence of what they allege was a ruthless criminal enterprise orchestrated by the hip-hop tycoon.
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4 days ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
Today, federal prosecutors walked jurors through another batch of text messages and other records in an attempt to illustrate Diddy's relentless demand for drug-fueled "freak offs" - and the steps he allegedly took to orchestrate them. The prosecution team is expected to rest its case sometime tomorrow. The defense team, for its part, doesn't plan to call any witnesses to the stand, according to Diddy's lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo. Diddy's lawyers plan to present some evidence, though.
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1 week ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
Diddy's trial was abbreviated this week. The proceedings were effectively canceled Wednesday after a juror called in sick, and federal court wasn't in session Thursday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. But this morning, all the key players returned to the courtroom to hear testimony from one of the rapper's former personal assistants. Here's what you need to know about Day 27 of the trial:• Brendan Paul testified about the demands of his job as one of Diddy's former assistants.
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1 week ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
DeLeassa Penland, a special agent with the U.S. attorney's office, testified that Diddy appears to have paid for male escort Jules Theodore's round-trip air travel from Los Angeles to New York in August 2009 - potentially bolstering one of the U.S. government's charges against Diddy: transportation to engage in prostitution.
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1 week ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
• Ananya Sankar, a paralegal for the U.S. Attorney's Office, walked jurors through some of the evidence she reviewed, including text messages and call logs. The text messages entered into evidence showed that Diddy's employment of male escorts for drug-fueled "freak offs" was a running joke among his employees. Diddy also asked employees to pick up illegal substances, such as "15 pills of molly," according to the texts.
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2 weeks ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Katherine Koretski |Jing Feng
• Andre LeMon, a Department of Homeland Security investigator who led the search of Diddy's vast home in Los Angeles last year, said agents found 900 bottles of Astroglide lubricant, 200 bottles of baby oil and a cache of weapons, including AR-15-style firearms, Smith & Wesson rifles and a Ruger rifle. • Jonathan Perez, one of Diddy's former personal assistants, recounted finding a video recording of a "freak off" featuring Diddy's ex-girlfriend "Jane" on a company iPad.
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3 weeks ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Jing Feng
A former girlfriend of Diddy's going by the pseudonym "Jane" wept on the witness stand today as she described drug-induced sexual encounters with male escorts while she traveled the world with the music mogul. The marathon sex sessions, described by her as "hotel nights" and similar to "freak offs," were organized at Diddy's direction, could last multiple days, and involved drugs and baby oil, she said.
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3 weeks ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Chloe Melas |Jing Feng |Austin Mullen
• Bryana Bongolan, the friend of Casandra Ventura's who said she was dangled over a 17th-floor balcony in Los Angeles in 2016, was on the witness stand for a second day under cross-examination. Defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland questioned that timeline of events and showed receipts that indicated Diddy was in New York.
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3 weeks ago | 
nbcnews.com | Adam Reiss |Jing Feng |Danny Cevallos
• Bongolan testified that while upset, Diddy once threw a knife in Ventura's direction, and she threw it back; both their throws missed. In another interaction, Bongolan said, Diddy allegedly told her something along the lines of, "I am the devil and I can kill you." She testified that Diddy had taken cocaine at the time he made the comments. • During cross-examination, defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland tried to discredit Bongolan's memory of the alleged dangling incident.
