As Philip’s testimony became explicit, three of Diddy’s daughters left the courtroom.
During a separate hotel visit, Philip recalled that he heard someone being “slapped around and slammed around the room” next door.
He said that Cassie ran out of the room and jumped into his lap, shaking and terrified. Philip testified that he asked her why she would stay with someone who was “beating her like this”.
He tried to convince Cassie to seek help, but she insisted that she would be “OK”.
Escort ‘witnessed assault against Cassie’
Daniel Philip testified that he saw the music mogul assault Cassie when she did not immediately respond to his demands for her to “come here”.
He recounted that Cassie had been on a computer at her home, and had asked for a moment to finish what she was doing. Combs came out of another room and threw a bottle of liquor, narrowly missing her, grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into another room, according to NBC News.
Philip said that he could hear Cassie apologising, and that Combs had replied: “Bitch, when I tell you to come you come now, not later.”
He said that he was shocked by the incident, but did not intervene as there were four or five bodyguards in the room.
Combs ‘photographed escort’s ID’
Daniel Philip claims to have had several paid sexual encounters with Diddy and Cassie
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS VIA AP
On one occasion, Philips said that Combs asked to see his driver’s licence and took a photograph of it.
The escort said that he understood it to be a warning not to tell anyone about the encounters.
Jury told of graphic encounters
Diddy and Cassie appear together in New York in 2017
ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Under questioning from the prosecution, Daniel Philip’s descriptions of his sexual encounters with Cassie and Combs became increasingly graphic.
He recalled that Combs would sometimes record the encounters with a mobile phone or a camcorder.
Defence claims escort encounters ‘consensual’
A court sketch shows Sean “Diddy” Combs with his attorney Teny Geragos on Monday
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS VIA AP
Combs’s defence team has characterised the encounters as entirely consensual and part of his swingers lifestyle.
In court, sketches have depicted the 55-year-old’s previously jet-black hair transformed into a shock of grey. The noticeable contrast led jury consultants to surmise that Combs may have been trying to curry sympathy with the jury.
But under the rules of the Brooklyn detention centre where Combs has been held since his arrest in September, hair dyes are considered contraband.
Escort details sex-session payouts
Philip said he was paid a few hundred dollars by Cassie up front and a tip of several thousand dollars afterwards.
He testified that after he left, Cassie texted him a few hours later to return for another sexual encounter while Combs was present in the room.
Philip said that he attended several other sex sessions with Cassie while Combs was present, at hotels and at their homes in New York.
Male prostitute testifies on Cassie and Diddy encounter
Up next in the witness stand is Daniel Philip, an escort and prostitute who said he was paid by Cassie to have sex with her in 2012 while Combs was also present.
Philip begins his testimony by telling the jury that he worked as an escort managing male strippers for women.
In 2012, he said that he was called to a suite at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan for a bachelorette party. Instead he arrived to find Cassie and Combs, who he said was wearing a robe and a bandana over his face.
Philip said that Combs masturbated in a corner of the room while he had sex with Cassie.
Security guard questioning concludes
After a short second round of questioning by the prosecution, Israel Florez’s testimony has concluded.
His evidence elicited new details of Combs’s 2016 attack on his then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, which is expected to form a key part of the prosecution’s case.
Hotel witness cross-examined
The InterContinental Hotel in Century City, where the video footage was recorded
ALAMY
Israel Florez, the hotel security guard, is questioned about why he failed to note Combs’s “devilish” glare in the incident report he wrote at the time by Brian Steel, a defence attorney.
He replied that he felt it wasn’t relevant, but that it was his opinion then and remains his opinion now.
Steel added that Florez had not included any mention of injuries sustained by Cassie during the hallway attack in his 2016 report.
When pressed on his earlier testimony of being offered a stack of cash by Combs to remain silent, Florez said that he was in no doubt that it was a bribe.
Five videos shown, including phone footage
The jury was shown five separate videos of the attack on Cassie by Combs. Three were from hotel surveillance footage and two were cellphone videos recorded by Florez.
The security guard testified that he had recorded the footage to show his wife as he thought she would not believe him if she had not seen it herself.
The prosecution’s direct examination has ended, and Florez is now being cross-examined by the defence.
Security guard ‘didn’t tell police as Cassie had left’
Israel Florez testifies in Lower Manhattan on Monday
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS VIA AP
Florez testified that he had filed an incident report describing what he saw in the surveillance footage but did not notify police because all of the parties involved had left the hotel.
When he spoke to Cassie, she said that just wanted to leave and did not respond to any of his questions.
He explained that “there was no victim there, obviously nobody was pressing charges”, according to CNN.
Full assault video shown to jury
The jury was shown surveillance footage of the assault by Combs.
Cassie can be seen standing by an elevator before Combs approaches, strikes her and throws her to the ground by her neck, before dragging her down a sixth-floor hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles.
The footage is a more complete version of the video published by CNN last year.
Security guard describes scene of hotel ‘abuse’
Cassie and Diddy in hotel security footage from 2016
CNN VIA AP
Florez told the jury that he had arrived at the sixth floor of the hotel to find Combs seated near the lift entrance wearing a towel and socks and looking at him with a “devilish stare”.
Cassie was huddled in a corner covered by a hoodie. She had bruising to one eye. He noticed that a vase had been broken on the floor.
Florez said Cassie told him that she wanted to retrieve her phone and bag from a hotel room and leave. After she left, Florez said that Combs offered him a wad of cash not to report the incident to anyone which he understood to be a bribe. He refused to accept the money.
Prosecutors are using Florez’s testimony to introduce security footage that showed Combs’s assault on Cassie.
Hotel security guard called as witness
The prosecution has called Israel Florez, a Los Angeles police officer, as the first witness.
Flores was working as a security guard at the InterContinental Hotel on March 5, 2016. Security footage from the hotel obtained by CNN last year showed Combs assaulting Cassie, his former girlfriend, in a hotel hallway.
He testified that he received a call of a woman in distress on the sixth floor and encountered Combs.
Court returns from lunch to hear first witnesses
The court is about to return after taking an hour-long lunch adjournment. Once any outstanding evidentiary issues are dealt with, the first witnesses will be called.
Earlier this morning, the final phase of jury selection was completed before the prosecution and defence delivered their opening statements.
Three witnesses to testify for prosecution
During the prosecution’s opening statement, they indicated that three alleged victims of Combs’s sexual offending would testify. Cassie, his former partner, was expected to be among the opening witnesses.
A second woman, identified only as Jane, was described as a single mother who met Combs in 2020 and quickly became caught up in his web of abuse. Combs allegedly forced her to have unprotected sex with escorts and take drugs.
A third witness, referred to as Mia, worked as a personal assistant for Combs and will testify that he forced himself on her sexually against her will, the prosecutors said.
Diddy’s family shows support
Janice Combs, Diddy’s mother, joins family members at the Manhattan court on Monday
REUTERS/JEENAH MOON
Combs makes a heart gesture with his hands as he smiles at his family in court on Monday
ELIZABETH WILLIAMS VIA AP
Accusers motivated by money, claims defence
The defence attempted to cast doubt on the testimony of Combs’s former romantic partners by suggesting they were motivated by money.
Teny Geragos, Diddy’s lawyer, said Cassie had sought $30 million when she sued Combs for alleged physical abuse, forced sex acts and rape in a civil lawsuit in 2023. Another witness to testify demanded $22 million over a breach-of-contract lawsuit, Geragos added.
She said: “I want you to ask yourself, how many millions of reasons does this witness, swearing to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, have to lie?”
Hotel violence footage ‘linked to infidelity row’
Hotel security-camera video appears to show Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking the singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in March 2016
CNN VIA AP
Referring to footage of Combs beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016, Geragos said that the tape depicted “horrible, dehumanising violence”.
But she said that the full footage, which has not been previously made public, would show that it took place due to a fight over alleged infidelity.
Geragos described the tape as “overwhelming evidence of domestic violence” but not of sex trafficking.
Jury told to keep open mind about Diddy’s ‘swinger’ tastes
A “white party” hosted by Diddy — an event separate from the alleged “freak offs”. None of the people pictured have been implicated in the accusations of abuse
DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/WIREIMAGE FOR BRAGMAN NYMAN CAFARELLI
Combs’s unorthodox sexual habits were part of a swinger lifestyle pursued between consenting adults, his lawyer Teny Geragos told the jury.
They might not approve of the music impresario’s preference for “kinky sex”, but she encouraged them to keep an open mind as they heard the evidence.
“I think he’s a jerk and I think he’s kind of mean,” Geragos told the jury. But she added that he was not facing charges of “being mean or a jerk”.
Case is about domestic violence not trafficking, says defence
Teny Geragos is representing Sean Combs
REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON
Combs stood solemnly as he was introduced to the jury by Teny Geragos, his defence lawyer.
Geragos told the jury in her opening remarks that they may know her client by Puff Daddy, P Diddy or just Diddy: in court he would simply be Sean Combs.
She conceded that Combs was extremely jealous and would occasionally lose his temper, according to the Associated Press. But she said that his actions should be seen in the context of domestic violence rather than sex trafficking.
Geragos said: “Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money.”
Diddy cuts stoic figure in courtroom
Combs has remained largely stoic while the prosecution describes the decades of alleged violence and sexual abuse for which he is on trial.
Wearing a grey suit with a white shirt and glasses, Combs has spent most of the opening statement looking straight ahead.
In court to support him are a large contingent of family members, including his children Chance Combs, D’Lila Combs, Justin Combs, his adopted son Quincy Brown and his mother Janice Combs.
‘Violent CCTV’ could be shown
Emily Johnson, for the prosecution, warned jurors they would witness Combs’s extreme violence for themselves.
A security video from a Los Angeles hotel showing Combs throwing Cassie to the ground and kicking her as she lays prone is expected to be shown to the jury.
Johnson said Combs’s employees had paid $100,000 in cash in a brown paper bag to a hotel security guard to obtain what they thought was the only copy of the film.
After the video was obtained and aired by CNN last year, Combs apologised and said he took “full responsibility” for his actions. His defence lawyers unsuccessfully sought to have the video excluded from evidence at the trial.
Inside the ‘freak offs’ at heart of case
Johnson told the jury that highly choreographed, drug-fuelled sex parties were central to Combs’s abuse. They were variously known as “freak offs”, “wild king nights” or “hotel nights” by Combs and his inner circle.
They would take place in hotel rooms across the US and abroad, with Combs’s associates supplying lubricants and additional linen and staging lighting to his specifications, Johnson said, adding that Combs would videotape the events and then blackmail the women with the threat of releasing them.
Singer Cassie ‘involved in humiliating freak offs’
Cassie and Sean Combs in 2017
STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE
Cassie, an R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, is the highest-profile victim of Combs’s alleged offending. She was in a relationship with Combs and was signed to his label, Bad Boy Records.
The prosecution said that the jury could expect to see videos of Cassie and another woman known as “Jane” involved in alleged “freak off” sessions. The secret sex shows involved women being forced to take drugs and have sex with male prostitutes while pretending to enjoy themselves for Combs’s sexual gratification.
Combs allegedly threatened to release tapes of the “freak offs” if Cassie ever defied him, which she considered “souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life”, Emily Johnson said for the prosecution. She said the alleged offences committed against Cassie were the “tip of the iceberg”.
Watch: How did Diddy get to this point?‘He was given the key to the city — now it could lock him up for life’
Not quite two years ago, the hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs stood on a balcony above Times Square next to the New York mayor Eric Adams. Open-topped buses passed beneath them, the tourists with their heads thrown back gawping at him and filming him with their phones.
“I’m a New York boy,” he said. “I got that hustle, I got that resilience. I have never stopped.”
It was the September of 2023 and he had just been given the key to the city. Six months later, the city asked him to give it back. By September last year, he was in prison in Brooklyn, charged with sex trafficking and racketeering and facing the possibility of a life sentence. He denies the charges.
Combs ‘ran a criminal enterprise’, says attorney
A courtroom sketch of Combs, right, last week
REUTERS/JANE ROSENBERG
Emily Johnson, an assistant US attorney, began by pointing out Combs in the courtroom to the jury.
Johnson said that to the public, the I’ll Be Missing You singer was a cultural icon and a “larger-than-life” figure. “But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise,” Johnson said.
She said the trial would detail 20 years of offending including kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction, which was aided and abetted by an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees.
Family and supporters of Sean “Diddy” Combs arrive at the New York courthouse
AP/SETH WENIG
Opening statements in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, 55, began on Monday morning in a federal court in Lower Manhattan.
The hip-hop mogul faces charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.