{"id":230,"date":"2025-06-20T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/230\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T21:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T21:15:08","slug":"an-ex-college-basketball-player-testifies-that-sean-diddy-combs-got-extremely-creative-on-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/230\/","title":{"rendered":"An ex-college basketball player testifies that Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs got ‘extremely creative’ on drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A former Syracuse University basketball player who worked recently for Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs<\/a> as a personal assistant testified at the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial on Friday that Combs got \u201cextremely creative\u201d when he was on drugs.<\/p>\n

Brendan Paul, 26, was arrested last year at a Miami airport with cocaine he says belonged to Combs, and he testified with immunity about what it was like working for the hip-hop entrepreneur for a year and a half. Paul was arrested in March 2024 \u2014 the same day federal agents conducted multiple searches<\/a> related to the Combs\u2019 investigation.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors are winding down their case after six weeks of testimony from an array of witnesses ranging from ex-girlfriends<\/a> and former employees<\/a> to male sex workers<\/a> and the rapper Kid Cudi<\/a>. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, even made a surprise appearance<\/a> at the courthouse.<\/p>\n

The prosecution seeks to convince the jury that Combs oversaw a sprawling racketeering enterprise for two decades that relied on obedience by employees willing to do anything for him, including buying drugs when necessary.<\/p>\n

Defense lawyers say Combs did not commit federal crimes, although they acknowledge that prosecutors have exposed domestic violence during the trial. After pleading not guilty following his September arrest<\/a> at a Manhattan hotel, Combs has been held without bail at a federal lockup in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors were expected to rest their case by Monday. A defense presentation is expected to last from two to five days.<\/p>\n

Paul said he bought drugs for Combs between five and 10 times, spending up to $500 for drugs including cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy and marijuana.<\/p>\n

He said he only did drugs with Combs once, when Combs asked him to try \u201ctusi,\u201d also known as pink cocaine, to see if it was good.<\/p>\n

Paul said he did so because he \u201cwanted to prove my loyalty\u201d and said he thought it was good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continued on with our night,\u201d he told Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavic.<\/p>\n

Paul said that prior to his arrest, he had forgotten about the cocaine after collecting it while \u201csweeping\u201d Combs\u2019 room that morning and had accidentally left it in a bag he carried as he prepared to go on vacation with Combs and other aides. The charges were dismissed after Paul completed a pretrial diversion program.<\/p>\n

Under questioning by defense attorney Brian Steel, Paul said his \u201cheart dropped\u201d when he realized that there was cocaine in a travel bag after telling officers at the airport that everything in the bag belonged to him.<\/p>\n

Steel asked Paul if Combs was generally happy and didn’t hurt anyone when he was on drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got extremely creative,\u201d Paul responded.<\/p>\n

At another point, Steel asked the witness: \u201cYou would not work for a criminal, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d Paul responded.<\/p>\n

Slavic, though, elicited Paul’s mixed feelings about Combs when the prosecutor asked him just before he finished his testimony: \u201cSitting here today, how do you feel about Mr. Combs?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s complicated,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

Paul, originally from Cleveland, was a 6-foot-2 guard who walked on at Syracuse University and came off the bench in 16 games over two seasons, playing a total of 17 minutes and scored just 3 points. He later transferred<\/a> to lower-tier Fairmont State University in West Virginia, where he played for two more seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A former Syracuse University basketball player who worked recently for Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,351,349,350,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-paul","10":"tag-sean-diddy-combs","11":"tag-syracuse-university","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114717768298472181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}