Night Watch: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Part 3

Summary

Crime House Daily – Night Watch: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Part 3

Podcast: Crime House Daily
Host: Katie Ring
Episode Date: December 17, 2025
Theme: An in-depth, real-time breakdown of the Sean “Diddy” Combs federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial (Part 3), focusing on the defense’s cross-examination of Cassie Ventura, alongside testimonies from witnesses Dawn Richard and Daniel Phillip.

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Episode Overview

In Part 3 of Crime House Daily’s five-part coverage of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial, host Katie Ring unpacks the intense cross-examination of star witness Cassie Ventura and presents dramatic testimony from former collaborators and associates of Combs. The episode explores the core strategies of Combs' defense team as they attempt to undermine Cassie's credibility and recharacterize the dynamics of her decade-long relationship with the music mogul. Testimonies from Dawn Richard and Daniel Phillip reinforce the prosecution's case, adding new dimensions to the allegations of abuse and trafficking.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trial Context and Stakes

• Opening Statements: The federal trial began on May 12, 2025, with charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation for prostitution.
• Crucial Witness: Cassie Ventura, Combs’s former partner, is the prosecution's anchor witness due to her firsthand accounts and voluminous digital evidence.
  (03:01)

2. Cassie Ventura’s Cross Examination

• Defense Strategy:
  The team, led by attorney Anna Esteveo, leverages Cassie’s own messages, emails, photos, and texts to portray her as a willing, independent, and sometimes jealous partner—aiming to cast doubt on the narrative of coercion.

• Early Relationship Texts:

  • The defense highlights affectionate messages from Cassie to Combs (“I’ve never felt so loved, safe, and empowered...”), implying devotion and a consensual bond.
  • Katie Ring provides critical context, describing how cycles of abuse often involve “trauma bonding”—victims apologize, seek approval, and attempt to appease their abusers out of fear, not choice.
    Quote: “That’s not romance. That’s trauma bonding.” (06:30)

• Isolation Tactics:

  • Cassie’s messages discuss Combs comparing her to her best friend Carrie, a textbook move to isolate victims.
    Quote: “That’s not a compliment. That’s isolation, one of the core pillars of abuse.” (07:10)

• Freak Off Texts:

  • The “freak offs” (alleged drug-fueled, orchestrated sexual encounters) are centerpiece evidence for both sides. The defense reads explicit texts where Cassie appears enthusiastic, but Cassie and Katie both frame these as acts of self-preservation or attempts to appease Combs.
  • Cassie testifies: “I acted interested because I was scared, that saying no wasn’t easy, that she felt pressure. Spoken and unspoken.” (12:45)

• Timeline Manipulation:
  Defense presents events non-chronologically (e.g., shifting from Cassie’s dating Kid Cudi back to earlier periods) to disorient the witness and potentially confuse the jury’s perception of consistency.

• 2016 Hotel Hallway Video:

  • Jury views controversial footage of Combs assaulting Cassie. Defense doesn’t deny the violence but argues it was an isolated, not systemic, event.
    (14:30)

• Alleged 2018 Assault:

  • Defense questions inconsistencies in Cassie’s timeline (August vs. September). Probes her continued communication and affectionate messages after the fact, suggesting confusion undermines her claim.
    (17:57)

• Drug Use & Financial Motive:

  • Defense points to Cassie’s addiction and the $20 million civil settlement, insinuating she had both a dependency and monetary incentive to fabricate or exaggerate her claims.

• Cassie’s Emotional State:

  • Visibly pregnant and emotional, Cassie breaks down after reading a text: “I’m not a rag doll. I’m someone’s child.” (20:10)
  • She repeatedly insists the defense is cherry-picking texts “without any context.”
    Quote: “This isn’t about what I feel is relevant right now, right. [The defense] is pulling individual texts without any context, without what led up to them or what followed.” (21:15)

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3. Prosecution’s Redirect

• Emily Johnson’s Questions:
  • Johnson’s redirect is stark and impactful, directly confronting the narrative of consent:
    • “Would you give that money back if it meant you never had to do freak offs?”
      Cassie: “I’d give that money back if that means I never had to do freak offs... I’d have agency and autonomy and I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.”
      (22:00)
    • On violence during “freak offs”:
      • “Did Shawn beat you during the freakoffs?”
        Cassie: “Yes. More than once.”
      • “How did you feel?”
        Cassie: “Worthless. Just like dirt. Like I didn’t matter. Absolutely nothing.”
        (22:40)
    • “What concerns, if any, did you have about saying no?”
      Cassie: “I was worried for my safety. I was worried for my career. But I was also in love with him...”
      (23:10)

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4. Other Key Testimonies

A) Dawn Richard (Danity Kane/Diddy Dirty Money singer) – 24:30

• Direct Testimony:
  • Witnesses a 2009 incident where Combs tries to hit Cassie with a skillet and beats her.
  • Describes a follow-up meeting: Combs tells them, “Where I come from, people who talk go missing.”
    Dawn: “We could die.” (after being asked what she took the threat to mean)
• Cross-Examination:
  • Defense probes inconsistencies across past statements (e.g., whether she saw or heard the skillet thrown), but Dawn holds firm on the violence and threats.
  • The pattern of using minor inconsistencies to attempt to discredit traumatic memories is noted by Katie Ring.

B) Daniel Phillip (Male Escort) – 28:47

• Role and Testimony:
  • Testifies to multiple paid sexual encounters orchestrated by Combs, with Combs directing and observing.
  • Describes explicit details: “I ended up having sex with Cassie while Combs sat in the corner watching and masturbating with both Philip and Cassie covered in baby oil.”
  • Reports additional abuse (“once saw Combs throw a glass bottle at Cassie, hit her, and drag her by her hair”) and explains he felt threatened by Combs after Combs took a photo of his driver’s license.
• Defense Tactics:
  • Attempts to detach Combs from direct involvement, presenting the events as consensual adult fantasy, but Phillip’s persistent account corroborates much of Cassie’s narrative.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Katie Ring (on trauma bonding):
  “That’s not romance. That’s trauma bonding...A psychological loop where reward and punishment blur so tightly that the victim clings to the very person hurting them just to feel safe again.” (06:30)
• Cassie Ventura (on the meaning of her texts):
  “I saw his reaction. And, yeah, [I didn’t say no]... That is literally coercion.” (13:30)
• Cassie Ventura, during redirect:
  • “I’d give that money back if that means I never had to do freak offs… I’d have agency and autonomy and I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.” (22:00)
  • “Worthless. Just like dirt. Like I didn’t matter to him. Like I was nothing. Absolutely nothing.” (22:40)
• Dawn Richard (on Combs's threats):
  “Where I come from, people who talk go missing...we could die.” (24:50)
• Alex Fine (Cassie’s husband) – Statement outside court:
  “You did not break the soul of a mother who gives the best hugs and plays the silliest games with our little girls...Cassie saved Cassie.” (23:50)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|---------------------------------------------------| | 03:01 | Recap of charges, opening statements, Cassie’s story | | 06:30 | Analysis of Cassie’s early relationship texts, trauma bonding explanation | | 09:30 | Defense introduces “freak off” texts, explores consent and coercion | | 12:45 | Cassie’s explanation of performing enthusiasm out of fear | | 14:30 | The 2016 hotel hallway assault video and its impact | | 17:57 | Defense questions Cassie on date inconsistencies and continued contact | | 20:10 | Cassie’s breakdown, discussion of abusive dynamics | | 21:15 | Cassie accuses defense of lack of context; duration of cross-examination | | 22:00–23:10 | Emily Johnson’s prosecution redirect; Cassie’s emotive answers | | 23:50 | Alex Fine’s supportive statement outside the courtroom | | 24:30 | Dawn Richard’s vivid account of abuse and threats | | 28:47 | Daniel Phillip (escort) outlines orchestrated trafficking, violence |

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Episode Tone & Style

• Objective but empathetic: Katie Ring balances court reporting with context on trauma and domestic abuse.
• Intense and detail-rich: The testimony segments are delivered with gravity and highlight the emotional toll on all participants.
• Critical of defense tactics: Noting when strategies seem intended to confuse, manipulate, or decontextualize the narrative.

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Closing

This episode of Crime House Daily paints a picture of the fierce battle unfolding in federal court, where Combs’ defense team attempts to unravel the prosecution’s case by picking apart semantics, context, and credibility. The parallel first-hand accounts from multiple witnesses—each confirming and expanding on Cassie Ventura’s allegations—present the jury not with isolated incidents, but with emerging patterns of violence, manipulation, and coercion.

Next up: Testimony from Kid Cudi and Capricorn Clark will offer further insight into Diddy’s world and whether Cassie’s story stands alone or is part of something systemic.

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For ongoing updates, subscribe to Crime House Daily on your podcast app or follow @crimehouse247 on social media.

Transcript

[Katie Ring]

Hi Crime House Community. It's Katie looking for another Crime House original podcast to add to your rotation. You will love Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylin Moore. Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaylin dig into the world's most notorious crimes, clue by clue, from serial killers to shocking murders. They follow the trail of clues, break down the evidence and debate the theories. It's like hanging out with your smart and true crime obsessed friends. Listen to clues on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is Crime House. Tonight we're getting into part three of our five part deep dive into the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. Last night we talked about the direct questioning of Cassie Ventura. In this episode we are diving into the defense's cross of Cassie as well as shocking testimony from other witnesses and employees of Sean Combs. When asked by Combs lawyer about a.

[Ad Read Host]

Text from 2017 where she said she loved freak offs, Ventura said they were.

[Katie Ring]

Just words at that point. I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from abuse and fear.

[Prosecutor or Legal Analyst]

There's a chance that one or more of the jurors might hear this evidence that she came back time and time again to Combs, that she participated in these freak offs. And some of the jurors may conclude that this was more of a choice than it was coercion.

[Katie Ring]

Hi, welcome to Crime House Daily. I'm your host Katie Ring. Here we follow the cases making headlines now where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you're listening and if you want ad free episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide, guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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[Katie Ring]

Opening statements in the federal trial of Sean Diddy Combs for one count of Racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation for the purposes of prostitution kicked off on May 12, 2025. On May 13, the prosecution called their most important witness to the stand, Cassie Ventura. Cassie and Combs had an on again, off again relationship for a decade that ended in 2018. But on November 16, 2023, Cassie filed a civil lawsuit accusing Combs of years of abuse. That was settled just one day later. I'm guessing Diddy probably thought that was the end of that. But instead, it sparked a federal investigation that led to this trial. During direct questioning, Cassie told her story in full. Her rise in music, her relationship with Combs, and the abuse she says she endured. She walked the jury through the violence, the control, the freak offs and the trauma. But she was about to face something entirely different. A 16 hour cross examination by Diddy's multimillion dollar defense team, led in the courtroom by attorney Anna Esteveo. Although Diddy had an all star team behind him, they were facing prosecutors from the Southern District of New York, or sdny, one of the most successful and aggressive federal districts in the country. And the odds were brutal. Nationwide, federal prosecutors secure convictions in over 90% of their cases, including guilty pleas and trial verdicts. And Cassie Ventura, with her decade of messages, memories and trauma, was one of the prosecution's most important witnesses. Before a single text appears on the courtroom screen, Diddy's defense team makes their plan clear. They will use Cassie's own messages, her texts, her emails, her photos, her emojis, and turn them into the backbone of their case. They will ignore the nuance and complexity of domestic violence dynamics and instead paint Cassie as someone who was never coerced at all. In their telling, she was an independent, successful woman, fully capable of making her own choices. Someone who was deeply in love with their client, someone who was jealous, someone who cheated, someone who kept coming back. If they can convince the jury Cassie was a willing participant in a messy but consensual relationship, then the prosecution's trafficking narrative begins to crack. And to build that story, they start at the beginning. The defense begins, not with violence, but with affection. In the courtroom, the monitor flickers and an early relationship text appears. They show one of her messages on the screen intended to prove Cassie is in love with him and planning a future with him. And Cassie's messages start that way. The first message reads, we've only really had one week of each other just together. And I can say that it's been the best and worst I've never felt so loved, safe and empowered. She continues with the flattery. For another paragraph. She says she is grateful he has chosen her to be in his life. As someone who works with survivors of dvd, this tells me a very different story. The most dangerous relationships don't start with fear. They start with idealization. The abuser becomes the center of gravity, the source of protection and the source of danger at the same time. And Cassie's messages show the contradiction perfectly. Because in the very next breath, she writes that he is constantly weary of her, that he calls her sneaky and a spoiled brat, dramatic, disrespectful. She's apologizing for things she didn't do, taking responsibility for things she didn't cause, trying to anticipate and manage his emotions before he explodes. That's not romance. That's trauma bonding. A psychological loop where reward and punishment blur so tightly that the victim clings to the very person hurting them just to feel safe again. Then comes one of the clearest red flags of coercive control. Cassie writes that he's compared her to her best friend Carrie, saying, maybe Carrie would have been the better one. That's not a compliment. That's isolation, one of the core pillars of abuse. Because when an abuser wants control, one of the first things they do is cut down the people closest to the victim, especially long term friends who might see the relationship clearly. And they had been friends for 17 years. By turning Cassie's best friend into a rival, he plants insecurity, guilt, and mistrust while tightening his own grip. And notice how Cassie responds. She doesn't push back. She doesn't defend herself. She tries to fix it. She writes that she hopes to learn what he wants in a woman and give it to him, and that she loves him and wants to make it right. This is the heartbreaking truth hidden inside the message the defense wanted the jury to see as proof of love. Cassie's not dreaming of a future. She's pleading for stability, begging for safety, and trying to become whatever version of herself will stop him from turning on her. You can see the cycle right there in black and white. Love used as leverage. Fear woven into affection and control disguised as concern. On its face, the email reads like devotion, but underneath it reads like survival. But the sad thing is that most people are not educated on the realities of dv. So these messages tell many jurors a different story. And the defense knows this. So they linger on these moments because they serve a purpose. If the jury sees Cassie as deeply in love and planning a future. Then the idea that she was secretly terrified becomes harder to accept. Cassie doesn't deny she felt this way at the time. She simply says things changed. But the defense has planted its first seed. And from here they shift into something more provocative. With the early love notes on record, the defense transitions to a different set of messages. The freakoff text. These are critical to both sides. For the prosecution, freak offs were orchestrated drug fueled encounters, part of the system of control and the basis of the sex trafficking accusations. For the defense, these messages are their attempt to prove willingness and consent. And again, it's so interesting how people can see the same message projected but interpret it in so many different ways. In one part of the cross, the defense team questions Cassie on a text thread where she is choosing escorts. And there is a lot of discourse on social media about how she was doing this and participating. But when you read the actual messages, Combs is pressuring her to choose someone. She says, you really want to bring a random into our situation? They go back and forth and it comes off as Cassie really just trying to control the situation and, and if this is happening anyways, she at least wants someone she feels more comfortable with. All of the other text messages they use as evidence to me comes off as attempts to get his attention or appease him before an event, saying things like, I want to fo, but I don't want to F myself up. The defense takes this as she actually wants to fo. As a woman, I take this as an excuse to try and get out of it without making that person mad at you because she knew that's what he wanted and he would get mad if she didn't want it as well. Other texts seem more explicit. The courtroom screen lights up with a message from 2009. I'm always ready to freak off. Another message reportedly shows her saying she wanted the encounter to be uncontrollable. The defense wants these words to speak for themselves. They want the jury to read them at face value. Enthusiasm equals consent. But the truth, the emotional truth, is more complicated. Victims often perform enthusiasm to avoid conflict and abusive dynamics. Baking excitement can be self protection. Cassie testifies that she acted interested because she was scared, that saying no wasn't easy, that she felt pressure. Spoken and unspoken, the defense pulls up another conversation. Cassie says she wants to talk to Combs about something. He replies, is it going to stress me out? What is it about? She says, freak off. It can wait. It's not a big deal. Now you don't want to do it anymore. I already know you're so predictable. Really? Okay, since that's definitely what it is, we'll leave it at that. Since I'm so predictable, have a good night. Whatever, baby. I'm not gonna play no games with you. And you ain't gonna keep shutting me down. Esteveo asks Cassie. You said on direct you didn't want to do freak offs, but you didn't tell him that because you didn't want him to be upset, Right? She replies, I saw his reaction. And, yeah, Again, not sure how they are proving that she was a willing and enthusiastic participant in this. That is literally coercion. But the defense presses on. And then they jump. Suddenly out of sequence. They leap ahead to the period when Cassie was dating Kid Cudi, not because it's chronological, but because scrambling the timeline can disorient a witness. It challenges memory. It makes the witness look unsure, even when the events themselves aren't hazy, just the order in which the defense chooses to present them. Cassie acknowledges she continued freak offs even while dating Cudi, but explains she used a burner phone because she feared Diddy discovering it. The defense pauses, lets that hang, and then abruptly jumps backward in time again, a tactic designed to create confusion, not clarity. And the jury watches Cassie try to track it all in real time. The defense now approaches the most devastating piece of evidence in the case of the 2016 hotel hallway video. This is the footage from the Intercontinental Hotel leaked by cnn, showing Combs chasing Cassie, throwing her to the floor, kicking her and dragging her. The jury has already seen this footage, and you may be wondering why the defense would show it again. But remember, they aren't denying domestic violence. They are just saying it was consensual and. And it was not sex trafficking. Now the defense revisits the aftermath. A text Cassie sent after the assault appears on the screen. You are sick for thinking it's okay to do what you've done to me. Please stay far away from me. The defense doesn't deny the violence. They can't. It's on video. But they want the jury to view it as a singular moment, not a part of a larger pattern. So they jump again, backwards, then forwards. Anything to disrupt the emotional through line. It's disorienting by design. Confusion can look like inconsistency, even when the facts themselves remain unchanged. Then comes one of the most emotionally charged portions of the cross examination. Cassie's allegation that in 2018, Combs essayed her foreign. 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[Katie Ring]

Code audio on direct examination, Cassie Ventura had testified that Combs assaulted her after a dinner together in August of 2018. But the defense points out that she previously told investigators it happened in September. It's a detail they seize on in the cross examination, repeating it, circling back to it, trying to make uncertainty about the date translate into uncertainty about the event. Then they display texts Cassie sent Combs after that dinner. One message read, hit me when you can. Heart emoji. The defense asks her, you don't say the last time we saw each other, you essayed me right. From there, the defense moves to jealousy. They want to prove that this relationship was toxic on both sides. ABC News had reported that Cassie acknowledged she was jealous of Kim Hoarder and learned she wasn't the main girlfriend. They bring up her relationship with Michael B. Jordan, her later dating Kid Cudi, and Combs dating other women. They ask if she felt justified in cheating. She responds, I could have. I don't know. The implication is obvious. They want a messy mutual relationship, not sex trafficking. The defense shifts again abruptly to drugs. Cassie acknowledges that she had developed an addiction to opiates. She says she sometimes used drugs even when Combs wasn't present. They ask her if it's true that Diddy once told dealers not to sell to Cassie, and she agreed. I'm guessing the defense thought that would come across as a protective boyfriend who cared about his girlfriend and was trying to get her sober. But in this context, it seemed more in line with the controlling behaviors of an abuser. But remember, the defense's angle was that Combs was only abusive when he was using drugs or were jealous. So they turn to questioning about Combs drug use and ask Cassie if she would describe Combs as an addict. Cassie responds, he was addicted to success. Pressed further, she agrees he was addicted to opiates at a point because he told her. Then comes one of the most confrontational moments. Ana Esteveo asks Cassie if her lawsuit ruined Combs career. Cassie said she could understand how her lawsuit ruined his career. This line of questioning to me gives, oh, he had such a promising future. They also bring up the settlement, which Cassie confirmed in Court was $20 million. The implication is clear. She benefited financially. She had motive. It was all just really a money grab. Cassie responds that she had no ongoing lawsuits and no financial statement stake in the criminal trial. At one point, the defense reads another message Cassie wrote after a violent incident. The text said, when you get effed up the wrong way, you always want to show me that you have the power. And you knock me around. I'm not a rag doll. I'm someone's child. Cassie breaks down crying on the stand. By this point, she is eight and a half months pregnant. And prosecutors have formally asked the judge to to limit the cross because of concerns for her health. The judge allows the cross to continue. Throughout the cross examination, Cassie occasionally pushes back. She looked towards the judge at one point and said, this isn't about what I feel is relevant right now. Right. She argues the defense is pulling individual texts without any context, without what led up to them or what followed. After nearly 20 hours on the stand, Cassave Ventura stated, steps down. The defense has shown a relationship full of contradictions, something they hope translates into reasonable doubt. After the cross, the prosecution is given the chance for a redirect, and prosecutor Emily Johnson stands up. It is a little bit long, so I'm going to read it for you because I think it is very impactful. When talking about Cassie's settlement with Combs, Johnson asks, would you give that money back if it meant you never had to do free freak offs? I'd give that money back if that means I never had to do freak offs. If I never had to do freak offs, I'd have agency and autonomy and I wouldn't have had to work so hard to get it back. Johnson continues, do you remember when defense counsel asked you yesterday if freak offs were a special time you cherished? Yep. How would you describe the experience of an escort urinating in your mouth when you were on the floor? Sustained. How many times did Sean insist you have freak offs when you still had a uti? All the time. Frequently. And did Shawn beat you during the freakoffs? Yes. Once or more than once? More than once. How did you feel during the freak offs when Shawn beat you? Worthless. Just like dirt. Like I didn't matter to him. Like I was nothing, Absolutely nothing. What concerns, if any, did you have about saying no to freak offs? I was worried for my safety. I was worried for my career. But I was also in love with him. So I worried that he wouldn't want to be with me anymore. No further questions at this time. The jury is left with the task of deciphering which version of Cassie's story they believe. After Cassie's testimony, her husband, Alex vine, made an informed, incredibly moving statement outside of the courtroom to the man she testified against. He said, you did not break her spirit, nor her smile that lights up every room. You did not break the soul of a mother who gives the best hugs and plays the silliest games with our little girls. You did not break the woman who has made me a better man. I did not save Cassie, as some have said. To say that is an insult to the years of painful work my wife has done to save herself. Cassie saved Cassie. That last line is my favorite because it is so true. Although having an incredible support system is huge, in the end, victims of domestic violence are the only ones who can truly save themselves. After Cassie's four days on the stand, another familiar name in Diddy's orbit takes the witness Dawn Richard. She's not just any witness. She's a former member of Danity Kane, a member of Diddy Dirty Money, and a longtime collaborator who worked closely with him on Making the Band and in the studio. And like Cassie, dawn has her own lawsuit against Diddy, alleging years of verbal and physical abuse. When she testifies, she tells the jury she didn't just hear rumors about his violence with Cassie. Dawn spent years around Sean Combs in the studio, at his home, on the road, on Making the Band. When dawn walks into the courtroom, she's not there to talk about rumors, she says. She's there to talk about what she saw firsthand. She tells the jury that in 2009, she and fellow group member Kalina Harper went to Combs home, and Cassie was there, too. And what dawn describes is almost cinematic in its brutality. She says Combs picked up a skillet with eggs in it and tried to hit Cassie over the head with a pan. Cassie, she says, deflected the blow but fell to the ground in a fetal position while Combs beat her and dragged her upstairs with his arm around her neck. She testifies she didn't intervene, not because she didn't want to, but because she was terrified. She tells the jury she feared that if she stepped in, she might get it worse. But what happens the next day, she says, made everything even more chilling. Combs calls dawn and Kalina into a meeting, and he closes the door. And Don tells the jury that he warns them. In essence, where he comes from, people who talk go missing. When asked what she interpreted that to mean, dawn tells the court plainly that we could die. On cross examination, Diddy's defense team tries to pick apart her memory. They confront her with earlier statements to investigators. They highlight small inconsistencies. In one telling, she heard the skillet hit the wall. In another, she saw it. In another, she said, he threw the contents of the skillet and set the pan down. The defense pushes. It's been hard for you to keep your story the same. It's the same strategy they used with Cassie. Take a traumatic memory from 15 years ago. Shuffle the details, and hope the witness looks unsure. But dawn doesn't break. She finishes her testimony exactly where she started with the skillet, the beating and the threat that followed. For the jury, the pattern is starting to form. If Dawn Richard showed the jury the violence, Daniel Phillips showed them the sexual pattern. He was a male escort hired, he says, to take part in the freak offs. And he's about to give a firsthand account of everything he saw. Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax. And let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh. They're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. 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[Katie Ring]

That is fantastic.

[Trailer Voice or Promo Announcer]

And critics say it's one of the best superhero movies of all time. Marvel Studios the Fantastic Four First Steps now streaming on Disney. Rated PG 13.

[Katie Ring]

What time has it been?

[Trailer Voice or Promo Announcer]

It's clobber time.

[Katie Ring]

Daniel Phillip wasn't a friend of Combs, wasn't a co worker. He was a male escort who claims to have been hired by Combs to take part in the freak offs that Cassie later described in painful detail. Phillips tells the jury that he first met Combs and Cassie in 2012 or 2013, when he was booked for what he thought was a standard stripping job for $200. Instead, he says, it turned into something entirely different. According to his testimony, he ended up having sex with Cassie while Combs sat in the corner watching and masturbating with both Philip and Cassie covered in baby oil. He says he was paid a few thousand dollars, not the $200 he expected. And over time, he says, the rate increased as high as $6,000 for a single session. He testifies these encounters happened multiple times over several years at luxury hotels across New York. Philip also alleges that Combs directed him during these encounters, telling him what to do, how to do it, and when to stop, all while remaining in the room and watching. And then come the more disturbing moments of his testimony. Philip tells a jury he once saw Combs throw a glass bottle at Cassie, hit her, and drag her by her hair into another room. And he says he never went to the police because he was afraid. He tells the court Combs took a photo of his driver's license and that he interpreted that as a threat on cross. The defense tries to distance Diddy from the encounters. They suggest Philip was engaged primarily with Cassie, not following commands from Combs. They try to paint the sessions as consensual fantasies between adults. But Philip's testimony contains too many echoes of Cassie's narrative to dismiss easily, and the jury hears it all. Later, when jurors request transcripts during deliberations, they ask for just two witnesses, Cassie and Daniel Philip. Taken separately, these testimonies might seem like isolated moments from different eras of Combs life. But together, they create a mosaic. The prosecution believes this is the heart of the case, that these stories aren't coincidences. They are a system. The defense argues the opposite, that these are exaggerated memories, misinterpretations, lies, or reimagined events from disgruntled former associates. And for the first time since the trial began, the jury is no longer hearing from Cassie alone. They're seeing her story through the eyes of others, each offering a different angle on the same man. And we're not done. Because next, the jury hears from two more crucial voices, People whose lives intersected with Sean Combs in ways that may either reinforce Cassie's story or challenge it entirely. One of them is Kid Cudi, the man Cassie dated while still entangled with Diddy. A relationship that allegedly led to threats and intimidation. And the other is Capricorn Clark, a longtime industry insider who offers yet another perspective on Combs, his inner circle and his treatment of the people around him. In our next episode, their testimony will take center stage. What did you think of tonight's case Case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments and see you for part four tomorrow night. If you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel imehouse daily and follow us on social media rimehouse247 for real time updates. Because the pursuit of justice never stops. Looking for your next crime house? Listen, don't miss Clues with Morgan Abshur and Kaylin Moore Every Wednesday, Morgan and Kaelyn take you deep into the world of the most notorious crimes ever. Clue by clue. It's like hanging out with your smart true crime obsessed friends. Listen to Clues on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts.