Diddy’s former employee ‘Mia’ testifies that he raped her

Summary

Diddy On Trial: Episode Summary - "Diddy’s Former Employee ‘Mia’ Testifies That He Raped Her"

Release Date: May 30, 2025
Host/Author: BBC Sounds
Podcast Description: Diddy on Trial delves into the shocking allegations and conspiracies surrounding hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. This episode focuses on the powerful testimony of Mia, a former employee, amidst serious federal charges against Diddy.

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1. Introduction to the Trial

The episode begins with Anushka Mutandadawati standing outside the federal court in Lower Manhattan, setting the scene for a high-stakes trial against Sean "Diddy" Combs. Diddy faces federal charges including sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy, and transportation for prostitution—charges he has consistently denied.

Key Points:

• Charges Against Diddy: Sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy, transportation for prostitution.
• Primary Witness: Mia, a former employee using a pseudonym, is set to testify over the course of the week.
• Notable Warning: The episode contains descriptions of violence, sexual violence, and rape.

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2. Mia’s Testimony: Allegations of Violence and Forced Labor

Mia provides a harrowing account of her eight-year tenure working for Diddy, detailing numerous instances of violence and coercion aimed at maintaining Diddy's reputation and control over his inner circle.

Notable Quotes:

• Mia on Cassie's Violence: “Diddy cracked Cassie's head open, chased after her, threw her to the ground.” (02:09)
• Incident with the Spaghetti Bowl: Mia describes being physically attacked by Diddy after attempting to attend to a personal emergency. “He took a bowl of spaghetti and threw it at me. It didn’t hit me, but then he started chasing me out of the house.” (05:57)

Key Points:

• Violence Against Cassie: Multiple instances where Diddy physically assaulted Cassie, including an incident that left her with a gash requiring stitches.
• Freak Offs: Descriptions of drug-fueled orgies that Cassie was allegedly forced to participate in, causing her significant distress and physical reactions.
• Sweeps: Post-freak off clean-up operations termed as "sweeps," where Mia was responsible for cleaning up evidence of these parties, including blood and oil spills.
• Forced Labor: Mia's inability to perform basic personal care tasks, such as changing a tampon, without facing aggression from Diddy, highlighting the coercive environment.

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3. Systemic Issues: Ineffective HR and Abuse of Power

Mia highlights the dysfunctional Human Resources (HR) system within Diddy's organization, illustrating how HR was complicit in punishing employees rather than supporting them.

Notable Quotes:

• On HR’s Role: “HR wasn’t there to help us. HR was only there to punish us and do what he wanted.” (07:14)

Key Points:

• Complicity of HR: HR enforced Diddy's control, punishing employees who attempted to report abuse or seek help.
• Reputation Management: Employees, including Mia, were tasked with protecting Diddy’s reputation, often through unethical means.

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4. Sexual Assault Allegations

Mia provides chilling accounts of sexual assaults perpetrated by Diddy, detailing incidents that occurred both during events and in his personal residence.

Notable Quotes:

• First Assault Incident: “He got close to me, put his arm on the wall by my head, and his other arm up my dress and then kissed me. I froze and didn’t know what to do.” (09:00)
• Second Assault Incident: “I woke up feeling the weight of a body on top of me. He told me to keep quiet and forced himself inside me.” (10:13)

Key Points:

• Initial Assault: Occurred at Diddy’s 40th birthday party, involving forced intimacy under the influence of alcohol.
• Subsequent Assault: Took place in Diddy’s home, involving physical restraint and coercion.
• Emotional Impact: Mia describes feeling powerless and fearful of retaliation, which prevented her from seeking help or reporting the assaults.

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5. Supporting Witnesses and Corroborative Testimonies

The episode also covers testimonies from other key witnesses, such as Deontay Nash and Capricorn Clark, who provide additional evidence of Diddy's abusive behavior and the systemic issues within his organization.

Key Points:

• Deontay Nash’s Testimony: Cassie’s stylist who witnessed violence against Cassie and described threats of releasing sensitive tapes to blackmail her.
• Capricorn Clark’s Testimony: Alleged kidnapping by Diddy involving threats of violence over personal relationships within the organization.

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6. Legal Strategies and Analysis

Criminal defense attorney Sean Kent provides insights into the prosecution’s use of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act to frame Diddy's actions as part of a larger criminal enterprise.

Notable Quotes:

• On RICO: “The government is trying to show that this is an enterprise, a web of interconnected individuals that helps Diddy get what he wants.” (20:29)
• On Defense Tactics: “The defense is likely to attack the credibility of multiple witnesses to dismantle the prosecution’s case.” (17:19)

Key Points:

• Prosecution’s Focus: Establishing a criminal enterprise involving various individuals aiding Diddy in illicit activities.
• Defense’s Strategy: Discredit witnesses and challenge the cohesiveness of the enterprise to weaken the prosecution’s case.
• Consent vs. Coercion: Discussion on the complexities of consent in abusive relationships, emphasizing that coerced actions under duress do not constitute free will.

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7. Listener Questions and Expert Opinions

The episode addresses listener-submitted questions, clarifying legal terminologies and court processes to enhance understanding of the trial's intricacies.

Notable Questions:

• Consent Clarification: Explored the difference between genuine consent and coerced compliance under threat.
• Court Procedures: Explained the purposes of sidebars and delays in filing exhibits, emphasizing ongoing investigations and the strategic maneuvers within the courtroom.

Key Points:

• Understanding RICO: Simplifying the application of RICO in the context of the trial to illustrate how individual actions are interconnected within a larger scheme.
• Courtroom Dynamics: Highlighting how defense and prosecution interact to influence jury perceptions and trial outcomes.

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8. Conclusion and Ongoing Developments

The episode concludes with a summary of the day's testimonies and a preview of upcoming legal battles, including cross-examinations and potential mistrial motions. The gravity of the allegations and the depth of the testimonies underscore the complexity and high stakes of the trial against Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Final Remarks:

• Support Resources: Information provided for listeners affected by the issues discussed.
• Upcoming Episodes: Anticipation of Mia’s continued testimony and further legal strategies from the defense.

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Disclaimer: All testimonies and allegations presented in this summary are based on the podcast's content and do not constitute verified facts. The trial's outcome remains pending.

Transcript

[Simon Jack]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Zing Singh]

I'm Zing Singh.

[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack.

[Zing Singh]

And together we host Good Bad Billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

The podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people.

[Zing Singh]

In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names.

[Simon Jack]

Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few.

[Zing Singh]

And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

That's good. Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service.

[Zing Singh]

Listen now, wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

BBC Sounds Music Radio podcasts. Hello and welcome to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds. With me, Anushka Mutandadawati. Now I'm stood outside the federal court in lower Manhattan. It's three threatening to rain again, but that is not deterring the press and all the influences from turning up because we're told today we're going to hear from Mia. Now, she's somebody that the prosecution has been talking about since opening statements. Just a reminder, Sean, Diddy Combs is on trial for federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. These are charges he's always denied. Today we're expected to start to hear a testimony that is going to last until the end of the week from Mia about what she experienced while she was working for Diddy. But this is also our episode where we round up all the big developments from the week. And just a warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence, sexual violence and rape. So it's four o' clock. We stayed in a little bit late today. The judge kept everybody late because Mia's direct testimony is going to carry on into tomorrow, actually. So we've just come out and I'm catching up with the BBC's New York correspondent, Neda Taufik, who's going to break down some of what Mia had to say. So Mia was a big witness for the prosecution that we'd heard about from opening statements. And they began in a similar way to others with her corroborating accounts of violence. We'd heard from Cassie.

[Neda Taufik]

Yeah, that's right. You know, Mia was testifying under a pseudonym, but she worked for Diddy for eight years. So she was there for a big span. She was somebody who was supposed to keep tabs on Cassie, she said, under her testimony. So she details seeing the did he crack Cassie's head open, chase after her, throw her to the ground? Among other things. And prosecutors actually asked did Cassie ever fight back? And she kind of laughed weakly on the stand saying no, you know, the most she ever did was kind of hold her hands up to shield herself. But the individual incidents she went through, and one was when she was there with Deontay Nash, Cassie's stylist with Cassie in an apartment. And all of a sudden Diddy came running in angry, looking for Cassie and grabbed her and dragged her into the bedroom. Now Mia says that her and Deontay both jumped on Diddy's back to try to stop him, but he wouldn't stop beating Cassie. And she talks about the kind of wood frame of the bed and how hard it was and how it ultimately left a huge gash in Cassie's eyebrow and her head. And she actually needed stitches. But Diddy basically said not to call emergency services, according to Mia, and told them to get in touch with an assistant who was aware of doctors who could help in those situations. Eventually she had to go to a plastic surgeon, but Diddy was adamant that they be told that she was drunk and hit her head.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

And they also spoke about the freak offs. This is something we've heard about a lot since opening statements, days long, drug fueled orgies that Cassie alleges she was forced to participate in. But Mia spoke to her perception of how she thought Cassie actually felt about these. What did she have to say?

[Neda Taufik]

Mia details being in the car with Cassie in Los Angeles. And she says that her boss, Sean Combs called Cassie and Cassie just said, ugh, Puff wants to do a hotel night. And that's how they referred to them, the staff, a hotel night. And she said she could immediately see Cassie's whole demeanor change. She got upset, she got nervous, she started getting stuck, stomach issues. She said she got sick. And that's something that we heard from Cassie on her testimony. Just how she, you know, had these physical reactions to having to do these freak offs. And Mia also said they had a term called man down. And that after these hotel nights that both Cassie and Diddy would be so wrecked that they would need time to recover so much that they actually had a term for it.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Mia also spoke about stuff she had to do as an employee after the freak offs or the hotel nights. She referred to it as sweeps. We've heard this before from other people, but never with that name.

[Neda Taufik]

Yeah, that's right. I mean, we've heard from other personal assistants that part of the job was about protecting Diddy's reputation. And all of them actually directly spoke about being afraid that hotel staff might sell pictures of the hotel rooms and embarrass Diddy. And we even heard from one hotel manager and looked at Diddy's account. Right. We know that the hotels said there was excessive amounts of candle wax melted all over the room, that there was oil everywhere. This was kind of the norm. And we heard the same from Mia. She said she would go in, she would have to wipe up blood that she was told was from Cassie's period. She would have to wipe up the baby oil as best she could. She said she couldn't do anything about the candle wax, that there would be wet towels everywhere. She said the room literally looked like a nightmare. That's how she described it. But she said that was part of her job, to clean all of that up afterward and also to take Cassie and Diddy to and from those hotels and just be on call for anything Diddy needed at the time.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Mia also alleged that she experienced aggression directly from Diddy to her. The one that stood out to me the most was the incident with the spaghetti bowl being thrown at her.

[Neda Taufik]

Mia describes how, you know, it was 3am and Diddy told her to get some food for everyone from a breakfast restaurant here in the US Called ihop. And she said she was going to go, but first she started heading to her room because she had been working all day since 8am and she needed to change her tampon. And she said Diddy went into an absolute rage, telling her, I didn't tell you to go to your room. When I tell you to go, you go now. And she said she just couldn't get through to him. She kept trying to explain and at one point pointed to blood dripping down her leg, saying, essentially, it's an emergency, like, I need to go do this. And at that, instead of understanding the situation, according to Mia, he took a bowl of spaghetti and threw it at her. It didn't hit her, but then he started chasing her out the house, and she was barefoot. She describes having to hide in a bush and then eventually finding her way to a hotel. And then afterwards, HR actually called her in and put her on suspension without pay and was told that Diddy had told them to do that.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

We've heard about HR a few times being headed up by somebody called Vashta. What did Mia have to say about what role HR played at Diddy's companies?

[Neda Taufik]

Yeah, so prosecutors would kind of always ask her, you know, did you report this to police? Did you ask anybody to help? Did you report this to hr? And she kind of laughed, and she said, hr wasn't there to help us. HR was only there to punish us and to do what did he wanted. So she was very much creating this picture of a company, an organization that first and foremost worried about Sean Combs and his reputation and his priorities and not the employee's well being. That was certainly the picture she painted. Be interesting to see how the defense tries to come back on that point. On cross examination.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

She does clarify that the bowl of spaghetti doesn't hit her, but they do ask her, you know, were there times where you sustained injuries from acts of aggression from Mr. Combs? And she spoke about something that happened at Revolt tv.

[Neda Taufik]

One of the instances of physical violence that she details was when Sean Combs took her phone. They were, as you mentioned, at Revolt tv. And she kind of hovered behind him because she was concerned about him seeing any emails that some of the staff had exchanged about him because they always keep each other in the loop. And she didn't want him to get the wrong impression. He noticed, got a little annoyed by that, kind of ran off into the bathroom to kind of go through her phone. And she said that he just started when she reached her arm to get her phone, started banging the door on her arm many times to the point where she thought it was broken, but it was just badly bruised.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

So we've heard about alleged incidents of physical aggression from Mia, and I'm going to give a warning before we get into the next bit because we hear about allegations of sexual assault. Mia alleges she was sexually assaulted throughout her working relationship with Diddy. And she spoke about the first time the prosecutors got her to open up about that.

[Neda Taufik]

Mia says she was pretty new working for Diddy at the time of his 40th birthday party at the Plaza Hotel. And she said that he rented out the whole hotel, but her job was to go up and down from the penthouse to, you know, take care of anything he needed. And at one point, she alleges that he called her into the kitchen and made everyone else go away and gave her shots of vodka and said, let's cheers to my 40th birthday. And she said she was in her 20s, that usually alcohol wouldn't have an impact on her. But she remembered feeling off. And then she says that Diddy got close to her, put his arm kind of on the wall by her head and put his other arm up her dress and then kissed her. And she describes just freezing, not knowing what to do, kind of in a panic. And she says she didn't really have any memory after that. The next thing she remembers is waking up the next day in a chair, fully clothed, but with no memory. Of what had happened. But she said she just continued to work for him because in her mind, she thought he was probably drunk.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Mia describes the next incident of sexual assault that she alleges, and she actually said it took place in Diddy's home.

[Neda Taufik]

Yeah, the whole time Mia was on the stand, she had her head bowed. She was looking down throughout all the questioning. It was like she was really making an effort not to even catch a glimpse of Diddy at all sitting there in court. But specifically, when she speaks about all of these alleged incidents of sexual assault, she gets very emotional, sobbing at points, speaking so softly it's hard to hear. And prosecutors had to jump in to help her a few times. So she details kind of sleeping in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed in the house. And she had testified earlier that she wasn't allowed to lock the doors in the room because Diddy said, this is my house. You're not allowed to lock the doors. And she says that she was sleeping, and all of a sudden she woke up feeling the weight of a body on top of her. And she said Diddy essentially told her something like, shh, kind of keep quiet, and took his hand and undid his pants. And it took a lot of effort for her to kind of describe what she alleges happened next, but prosecutors helped her along to detail how he forced himself inside of her. That's what she alleges.

[Sean Kent]

And.

[Neda Taufik]

And she's basically, again, talks about how frozen in the moment, not knowing what to do later on, she's asked by prosecutors, you know, did you ever say no? And she says, you know, no, I didn't say no because I was just absolutely shocked and frozen. You know, I never knew when these incidents were going to happen. And she said, I couldn't even tell him no about a sandwich. How was I going to tell him no about something like this? And then it would set off alarm bells in his head that I knew what he was doing was wrong. And she said that would affect her career, Even potentially put her in physical harm. It would obviously, for her, kind of make her, in her mind, viewed as somebody who was trying to hurt him and isolate her from the entire group.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

And in a way that is very typical in the direct testimony that the prosecution ask about, why didn't you go to law enforcement if this was so bad? Why didn't you tell anyone? And you're kind of preempting what they might say in the cross examination there. Thought the stuff she had to say about the police was really interesting, and her perception of Diddy's relationship with them.

[Neda Taufik]

She said she thought her boss was so powerful that going to the police wouldn't help at all. And she was asked to clarify, you know, how did you come to that conclusion? And she describes two incidents where she was speeding. And both times was the only time she said she name dropped and said that the cops, when they found out it was Diddy, were kind of so happy and awed by his celebrity. One time she told the cop, look, I have to get to my boss. She picked up the phone, had Diddy speak to her, and she said, is that puffy? Oh, my God, I love you. Another instance, the cops apparently saw, you know, Diddy in the car and were like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. Didn't realize it was you. So she talks about, again, this off celebrity around him. And I think it's just obviously important to note that this is all her testimony, what she said in court. Diddy has denied all of these charges. We're going to get a chance to hear on cross examination what they have to say.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

So, yeah, Mia's still on the stand, and it's going to take us till the end of the week. And we had a shorter week this week because of Memorial Day holiday. We had Capricorn Clark and Deontay Nash taking the stand on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let's go back to Wednesday. What did Deontay have to say?

[Neda Taufik]

Yeah, so he was the stylist for Cassie and also worked with Diddy, styling him for a while and saying he witnessed a lot of violence against Cassie by Diddy. The one incident, you know, we spoke about with Mia, kind of jumping on Diddy's back when he came into the apartment, the gash on her eyebrow, he was there for that. But also just the fact that Cassie didn't want to be part of these freak offs and was blackmailed. He talked about Cassie opening up to him about that, how, you know, when they were rushing off from Diddy one time, he threatened to release tapes. And that's when Cassie opened up to him and said she'd been forced to have sex with male escorts and she didn't like it. And also, you know, the blackmail that he would release the tapes to Cassie's parents. So he was a key witness in that respect. He was also a very colorful character. You know, he had little remarks on the stand when, you know, one of the photos of him was put up. He said, you know, oh, I look good. So with all these very heavy topics, he brought a little bit of levity.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

In testifying, it's in stark comparison to Capricorn Clark, who was pretty emotional. She was talking about this incident, Kid Cudi incident, and she spoke to an allegation of kidnapping. That's important because that's a predicate offense for the RICO charge.

[Neda Taufik]

Yeah, I mean, this is somebody who says Diddy came in holding a gun to her, upset that he had found out that Cassie was seeing Kid Cudi and telling her to get in his car because they were going to go kill Cudi. That's her testimony. And she says she didn't want to go, but he had a gun and he forced her. And once there, she called Cassie kind of in a panic about all of this. So she is somebody who is providing that extra circumstantial evidence. Right. About this kind of break in into Kid Cudi's house by Diddy and his security guard. And just more broadly, she talks about just the threats she constantly faced from Diddy. So Capricorn Clark, again, a really large chunk of time was spent on her testimony as someone who worked close with Diddy and could give her perspective.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Well, we'll obviously be watching Mia tomorrow on the stand finishing and then her cross examination, which I'm assuming will be at the beginning of next week. Nneda, thank you so much for breaking that down for us Today we are not quite done because we're going to be hearing from our resident criminal defence attorney, Sean Kent, who's going to be answering all those questions and all my questions, of which I have many. So we're going to head to the BBC bureau now and get that.

[Zing Singh]

I'm Zing Sing.

[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack.

[Zing Singh]

And together we host Good Bad Billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

The podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people.

[Zing Singh]

In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names.

[Simon Jack]

Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few.

[Zing Singh]

And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service.

[Zing Singh]

Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Done. So, Sean, we had a really quite long day today with Mia, who is using a pseudonym, but she's one of the prosecution's main witnesses. We heard about her in opening statements. We've heard about her kind of throughout. And they started off with her corroborating some of the claims that Cassie made and Deontay Nash about violence that Cassie experienced. Is this once again just presenting to the jury that, okay, this is Two. Now three people who say they witnessed this so it definitely happened, or are they doing something else here?

[Sean Kent]

Probably a little bit of both. Because the way that I read her testimony is she 1, 100% corroborates Cassie's testimony. And that's something the government has always want to do in trials. They want to make sure that, okay, maybe you didn't believe her, but to not believe Cassie, you now have to disbelieve four or five different individuals with the exact same accounts. And that's probably what you're noticing in trial, is that it's the same story over and over and over. And the reason they probably also love her Mia's testimony is also because she actually helps with the forced labor charge as well. So she corroborates forced labor. She corroborates Cassie. I think they can get two bites, one apple. So I think that's what they're trying to do.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

So you can even get that in some of Mia's testimony when she was like, I couldn't even change a tampon. That could speak to the forced labor charge.

[Sean Kent]

If you think about it, if you hear the law now, you could see where they were going with the testimony. They're just trying to prove that, to show that this is forced labor.

[Neda Taufik]

And.

[Sean Kent]

And if you look at the law, it also says it doesn't matter if that person is being paid. So you can get paid a salary and still be treated this way. That's forced labor, and that carries 20 years.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Now, let. Mia's testimony was clearly a tricky experience for her. She voiced that she really didn't want to be there doing this. Now, I'm going to ask you about some of the stuff that she spoke about in relation to sexual assault. But my question is, what one of the charges does that speak to? Because that's. That's not sex trafficking. Right?

[Sean Kent]

That could also be. It could be your forced labor. Because she is an employee. Don't forget she works for him. And that could be any type of force or threat or physical abuse that is threatened to the person is if I don't do what I'm supposed to do for this boss, he could do blank. So I think that could go to the forced labor.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Now, you know that I, at the beginning of this, I wasn't shy about saying I did find RICO quite confusing. And that was definitely quite confusing, confusing. And that was. That was something that a lot of our listeners said as well. You kind of grasp it and then you don't. And then when you learn the history of it and you realize that they didn't even really get it when they first introduced it. You feel a little bit better about it. But now I know what I'm listening out for when I'm in the court. You're kind of like, oh, that she said this. And it speaks to the RICO charge. Now they've gone over this one incident of alleged aggression and violence towards Cassie where Deontay and Mia and Cassie are in her flat. Diddy comes in, he's very angry. They get into an altercation, he's hitting her repeatedly. They say she bashes her head on this wooden, like bed frame and there's blood gushing everywhere. Now I think, why are we going over the same incident over and over again? Not that it's not important, but we've heard of lots of different allegations of violence towards Cassie. But today when Mia was talking about it from her perspective, she said that.

[Neda Taufik]

Did he?

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

After there's blood gushing from Cassie's face, he says, call Kayla. She's another assistant. We learn. The jury is told, call Kayla because she's the one who has the good relationship with the doctors and they'll see her. Now for me, that was like, oh, oh, that's a clear example of rico because that's the wider company being used to cover up something illegal that's happened. Is that right?

[Sean Kent]

The first priority is they must prove an enterprise, you understand? They must prove a web of interconnected individuals that helps Diddy gets what he wants. And what that testament they keep talking about, that is Diddy's able to call all of these people in the combs, Diddy verse to help him. They all say everything is related to his period interest, his interest in sex trafficking, his interest in these freak offs and all of it is related to that. And if you listen back to the testimony, when they talked about the doctors, they're talking about security workers, they're talking about car drivers, they're talking about all these people that are all necessary to help Diddy gets what he wants. That's their argument. I'm not saying that it's accurate, but that is their argument. You're able to see it. Oh, I see why they can say that.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Now Mia also spoke about having the perception that going to the police about Diddy wasn't enough. She said this was before me too. This was before social media and I thought his power was above the police. That's what she says. She gives some examples prompted by the prosecution saying, oh, well, I'd get speeding tickets. And then when I tell the police, you know, I was speeding for my boss, P. Diddy, and I get him on the phone. Those tickets were written off. They were really happy to talk to Puff Daddy. At what point in the jury's mind do you start going, how big is this thing? This seems to be involving the police, medical professionals, security guards, you know, where does this alleged enterprise stop?

[Sean Kent]

There's two ways I want to respond to that. One, and this is why you have to be careful to object to everything during a trial. Okay? If you remember, the day before yesterday, the defense requested a mistrial motion because they said, we believe the United States of America is asking a question about the Los Angeles Fire Department officer. We believe the question about the destroying the fingerprints and how rare that is, is they're making the suggestion that Diddy is so powerful he can have fingerprints destroyed and disappear. Nobody said that. But the defense. And the defense highlighted that in front of a jury. And now you got the jury thinking, God, I wonder if he is so powerful. And guess what? Who's scared to hear that? Denny is scared because he doesn't want that. And that's why you have to be careful with objections. And so. But that's the point of rico. And that goes to the second part. To answer your question, I keep talking about the jury charge, the charge at the end that the judge is going to tell what the law is. Well, the judge is going to say, the members of the enterprise are known and unknown. It doesn't really everybody. They're not having a board meeting where everybody's sitting around and saying, you're a member, you're a member, you're a member, you're a member, you're a member. There's no board meeting. So it's just an enterprise. And one person can know about their enterprise. And guess who the one person is. Diddy. So these cops don't know they're a member of the Enterprise. These drivers don't know they're a member of the Enterprise, but they are. And that's what the government is going to be arguing, and that's what the listeners are able to see now is now that we understand rico, we're seeing the chess moves and you don't. I think when we started talking about this at the beginning, and I was telling you what the defense strategy was going to be, and you're like, how do you know this? Well, now that you know what RICO is, you know, there can only be one defense strategy. They've got to defeat the Enterprise. They can try to kill everybody's Credibility out the wall. They can say consent, but there's certain moves that they have to make and they're the only thing they can make. And this is why I've always said I think he's going to testify.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

I've got some really good listener questions actually. Right. This one, this is from Sarah and I think this is a really good question. And this has come up a lot. It says I have a question relating to consent. So kind of what you're just talking about there, consent versus coercively obtained consent. So for example, the punisher, so that was a male commercial sex worker, said that Cassie leaned in during one of these freak offs and moved to allow a sex act, therefore presenting as if she was giving consent in the moment. However, if you don't want to be in that situation in the first place, but are forced, groomed or manipulated into doing it, but decide to make peace with it in the moment, to get through it as painlessly as possible, it doesn't have to be kicking and screaming in a situation for it to be deemed against a person's free will. Could there be a different word or a legal term used to define this answer, illustrate it to society? That's an interesting point. Would they call that something else?

[Sean Kent]

That's why that expert testified, like literally. That's literally the entire reason why the expert testify. And remember there was a fight from the defense to make sure they couldn't use the phrase that everybody knows coercive control. You were in the courtroom, they could not use the phrase coercive control. But she testified circularly around it. What Sarah just said is exactly right. And what the prosecution is trying to show is she could not exert free will because her free will was overborne by the grooming and the conditioning. That her free will was taken by a master servant relationship is the easiest way to describe that, that her personality was overborne. And if you watched people have been asking the questions of like, why are they putting people on the stand that said, I still like him, I still care about him, because they want to be able to say this false deity over there has created a situation that even though they've been beat, they've been kicked, they've been poorly paid, they're so brainwashed by him that they still say I still love you and they still want his adoration, that's still against the law.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

I've got another question here from Rich in Bournemouth in the uk. He says, hey guys, love the pod since I stumbled on it in February. Wondered if you could help us out with something of the court processes and the like. What do they discuss? This is a good question. What do they discuss during a sidebar? Why is there a delay in filing exhibits in the docket? Surely they're not still going through evidence. They're going through evidence in court. Like they're having little arguments in court while we're sat in there and the judge is like, you couldn't have brought this up earlier?

[Sean Kent]

Step one, normally these trials take much longer to come forward, so they are learning as they're going. I've said it since day one. I've never thought the defense was ready. They have done a yeoman's job of being prepared with terabytes of information. That's why there's so many lawyers. But they're filing exhibits as you go. Number two, the government, believe it or not, is still investigating today. I promise you. They still have people looking out, looking at evidence, even though in the middle of trial they're still working. So that's why exhibits are coming up as they go. The sidebars, the purpose of them, if you're watching any trial, there are certain things that the jury is simply just not allowed to hear. You're not allowed to hear things that could prejudice Diddy's trial rights. And so the sidebar is to make sure that juries aren't hearing impermissible information and the prosecution wants it more than the defense. And you've already heard one mistrial, one mistake by a witness on the United States side can cause us to do this entire thing again. And so that's why the prosecution is very, very cognizant that they don't want to make mistakes. And that's why the defense, every chance they can, or they're listening for a mistake, listen for the witness to say the wrong thing, looking for a witness to violate an order by the jud judge so they can ask for another trial. And it sounds crazy, but defense attorneys love a mistrial. And that could happen. Any one witness can cause this entire thing to come back.

[Anushka Mutandadawati]

Sean, thank you so much for going through that with us today and answering those questions. That was our resident criminal defense attorney, Sean Kent from South Carolina. And that's it for this episode of Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matanda Doughty. Don't forget to subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing and keep sending us those fantastic questions on WhatsApp. You can find us at 033-01-23551. That's 033-01-235551 and if you've been affected by any of the issues we've spoken about in this program and you're in the UK, you can find some [e-mail] Actionline.

[Simon Jack]

Hi, guys, this is Rylan and I'm here to tell you about How To Be in Love from BBC Sound. Now, as a single divorcee, I feel ready to find love again. But I want to see if there's a better way of going about it. In this series, I'm going to sit down with 12 incredible guests who are really going to help me rediscover what love truly means and how I can find it again. People like Stephen Fry, Louis Theroux, Matt and Emma Willis and many more. So join me on this journey as I explore how to be in love. Listen on BBC Sounds.

[Zing Singh]

I'm Xing Singh.

[Simon Jack]

And I'm Simon Jack.

[Zing Singh]

And together we host Good Bad Billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

The podcast exploring the lives of some of the world's richest people.

[Zing Singh]

In the new season, we're setting our sights on some big names.

[Simon Jack]

Yep, LeBron James and Martha Stewart, to name just a few.

[Zing Singh]

And as always, Simon and I are trying to decide whether we think they're good, bad or just another billionaire.

[Simon Jack]

That's good. Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service.

[Zing Singh]

Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.