Live

Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Combs' ex-assistant 'Mia' to continue testimony next week

The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

Last Updated: May 30, 2025, 4:25 PM EDT

This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.

This is week three of testimony in the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Jul 2, 2025, 10:50 am

Sean Combs trial reaches an end with mixed verdict

The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has reached an end.

The jury found Sean Combs not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the most serious charge.

The jury found Combs guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution (in connection with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura) and guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution (in connection with his ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym "Jane").

He was found not guilty of both charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion in connection with Ventura and "Jane."

Combs was accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak-offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking.

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY."

May 30, 2025, 3:17 PM EDT

Trump on possible pardon for Combs: 'I would certainly look at the facts'

Asked if he would consider pardoning Sean "Diddy" Combs, if convicted, as the hip-hop mogul stands trial in Manhattan federal court, President Donald Trump said, "Nobody's asked, but I know people are thinking about it."

"I don't know. I would certainly look at the facts," Trump said. "If I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me, it wouldn't have any impact on me."

Trump said he believes "some people have been very close to asking" about a pardon.

President Donald Trump was asked if he would consider pardoning hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, who is currently charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, which he denies.
1:15
Trump asked if he would consider pardoning Sean 'Diddy' Combs if convictedPresident Donald Trump was asked if he would consider pardoning hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, who is currently charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, which he denies.
ABCNews.com

"First of all, I look at what's happening, and I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage," he said.

Trump added that he hasn't spoken to Combs in years.

Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

May 30, 2025, 3:05 PM EDT

Defense questions 'Mia' on attitude towards Combs in social media posts

After "Mia" testified that working for Sean Combs caused her "complex, severe PTSD," the defense on cross-examination tried to offer to the jury a different look at her tenure through her social media posts.

The posts, full of emphatic praise and multiple exclamation points, showed "Mia" posing with Combs, calling him a legend and thanking him for being her friend, all in the years after she alleged he repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

"That's the person who has traumatized you?" defense attorney Brian Steel asked. "Yes," Mia testified. "Physically?" he asked. "Yes," she testified. "Sexually?" Steel continued. "Yes," Mia testified. "That's the legend?" Steel concluded his sequence. "Yes," "Mia" told the court.

Prosecutor Madison Smyser (not seen) questions witness "Mia" as she testifies in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 30, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

A post from Nov. 4, 2015, Combs' birthday, Steel called "the anniversary of when he sexually assaulted you."

"Mia" testified, "I didn't recognize that date as a celebration."

"How is that not a significant date in your mind?" Steel asked. "It was Puff's birthday. That was what the date was and I tried to forget that, shoved it down," "Mia" testified.

In the post, "Mia" called Combs "Legend, King, Bad Boy for life" and said, "Thank you for showing me the path to Pluto and beyond."

"You just put aside, you're telling this jury, that you were sexually assaulted?" Steel asked. "Yes, absolutely," "Mia" testified.

"You put aside that Mr. Combs made you go sleepless for five days when you got physically ill?"

"Yes."

"You put aside that Mr. Combs went into your bedroom, gets on top of you and does the unthinkable?"

"Yes."

May 30, 2025, 1:12 PM EDT

Defense focuses questioning on 'Mia's' positive posts with Combs: 'The good kind of crazy'

On Nov. 4, 2014, five years after "Mia" alleged Sean Combs first sexually assaulted her, as defense attorney Brian Steel pointed out, "Mia" posted a birthday wish to Combs.

"Thank you for being the good kind of crazy," the message read. "Thank you for being a friend and bringing friends into my life."

"At this point you have taken in so much trauma from him, that's what you told the jury, right?" Steel asked. "Yes I have but again it was, when the highs were high the good was good," "Mia" testified.

"Sean Combs' conduct toward you, sexual abuse toward you, has made you broken, right?" Steel asked. "The sexual abuse was part of the ways that he ruined me, yes. There are many other ways," "Mia" told the court.

"On the fifth anniversary of the initial sexual abuse you are saying on your social media for everyone to see, 'Thank you for being the good kind of crazy,'" Steel noted.

"I want to highlight the highs. I don't think people wrote bad stuff on Instagram back then," "Mia" testified.

"Why would you promote the person who has stolen your happiness in life?" Steel asked.

"Those were the only people I was around so that was my life. You had to promote it," "Mia" testified. "It was a very confusing cycle of ups and downs."

"Mia" told the court she did not get to see or talk to her friends or family. "There was absolutely no time. Also, I had to get permission to do anything," "Mia" testified.

The defense showed "Mia" several posts from Burning Man, where she previously testified Combs forced her to take ketamine.

One post, from 2015, said, "Watching the man burn with the man who introduced me to it all…We love you."

Steel questioned "Mia," "Mr. Combs, you tell the jurors, forced you take drugs against your will, remember that?" "Mia" testified, "I do."

Steel followed up, "And you're thanking Mr. Combs and others for giving you another incredible experience?" Mia testified, "Yes."

When "Mia" testified that she tried to forget the trauma she accused Combs of inflicting, Steel repeated her account of Combs allegedly "slamming" Cassie Ventura's head into a bed frame and asked, "How do you forget that?"

"You don't forget that. You're punished for reacting to it. You're terrified to bring it up again," "Mia" testified.

May 30, 2025, 12:20 PM EDT

Defense questions 'Mia' on social media posts featuring Combs

On cross-examination, defense attorney Brian Steel confronted "Mia" with a series of her social media posts to question whether Sean Combs really traumatized her the way she described on direct examination.

One post, from October 2013, showed a picture of Combs in a coffee shop with the caption "Just #1 guy on the Forbes list getting me a vanilla latte. No big deal." Steel noted the post came "about four years after you say Sean Combs has traumatized your life, right?" "Mia" testified, "Yup."

On Nov. 4, 2013 "Mia" posted a photo of herself in a hospital gown as if giving birth with Combs posed nearby playing the doctor with a caption that read, in part, "Thank you for always letting me give birth to my dreams."

Steel asked, "You chose this image?" "Mia" testified, "Mm hm."

Steel followed up, "And it's the image of Mr. Combs being a doctor and delivering a child, true?"

"Mia" testified, "The character yeah. It's a funny video that Andy Samberg directed. I was proud I was in a funny video."

Steel said it was four years to the day after "Mia" said Combs first sexually assaulted her at the Plaza Hotel.

Another social media post showed "Mia" wearing a tutu standing next to Combs. "It looks like he's holding his private part in his hand," Steel said. "If that's what you see I guess so," "Mia" said.

"And this is the image you picked out?" Steel asked. "Uh, yeah," "Mia" testified. "I didn't want my family and friends to know the misery I was in."

On Nov. 10, 2013 "Mia" reposted an image of a group of people in Combs' backyard pool with the caption, "The reason I never made it out last night."

Steel asked, "All of this is done voluntarily by you?" "Mia" testified, "Yes."

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola