← Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Kanye Crashes Diddy’s Trial As Diddy’s Assistant Spills Everything | United States vs. Sean Combs Day 23
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Ashley Banfield
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This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Hey, everyone. I'm Ashley Banfield, and this is drop dead Serious. It was day 23 of the federal sex trafficking trial against Sean Diddy Combs, and today's headline had nothing to do with the witness stand. It was all about Kanye West. Side note, did you know that he has legally changed his name again? This time, he changed it from Yay to Yay. Yay. Like, oh, for God's sake. I mean, does it end with this guy, right? This guy, he's like such a drama queen. Nothing like the artist that he used to be. He's just like, all about silly outfits and naked women and Hitler. And it's like, like, so Kanye, yay. Mr. Yay. Yay. Decided that he wanted to come to the Diddy trial. Apparently, he wanted to support his good old friend P. Diddy. And the timing couldn't be more curious. We had been putting the pieces together on Kanye's decision to show up today, just one day after some very spicy testimony about a famous rapper friend of Diddy's who was also freaking off with a male prostitute in Las Vegas. So was it Kanye? Is that why Yey decided to show up today in a super expensive Maybach? I have a lot more details about this very flashy arrival, the choice of his outfit, and the diva treatment that he got in the courthouse. And also what Kanye did just minutes after he got settled inside the courthouse. But first, inside the courtroom, the prosecutors are parading their last few witnesses up onto the witness stand to make their case against Diddy as a sex trafficker and as a racketeer. And today, the jury heard from a Homeland Security agent who helped in that raid of Diddy's Los Angeles mansion. Do you remember, you know, the incredible helicopter shots, right? The jaw dropping day when the troops closed, closed in on both his Miami and his Los Angeles homes. The aerial shots were like the scene out of a movie. And hello, that house is sick. Like what a mansion, right? Looks like something out of Versailles. He's got, like, the most beautiful gardens. If nothing, Diddy has great taste in horticulture. But there we saw like a SWAT team moving in and snaking through his property. Almost like they were looking, you know, to bust some terrorist holdouts. I'm going to get to this agent and. And what he said about some super freaky stuff that he confiscated actually from Diddy's home. But there was another witness today who did something small that meant something big he asked for, and he got immunity. So this other witness brings the number of Diddy insiders who've been granted immunity to testify against Puff to like, I don't know, almost a half dozen. Now, this witness was one of Diddy's former personal assistants. Yes, Diddy has a lot of personal assistants, as we have come to learn in these weeks of trial. And this particular former personal assistant testified about setting up something he called King Nights. Hold on. There is yet another name for freak offs, AKA hotel nights. Apparently, they're also called king knights in Diddy's world. As in a night for Diddy the king to let loose. Like, spare me. This is where I'm just gonna go off on the whole ick factor. Talk about a guy with a superiority complex, with a king complex. And to have your staff fall in line with this sort of garbage, right, it's just like, I don't know, I mean, I guess we're really getting to know a ditty that we sort of thought existed, but now it's like in, in. In to the nth degree, right? His ego has no bounds and his morals have no bounds, right? It's just. Imagine working in this environment, and it is appropriate to call these sex parties King nights for your boss. Again, your boss, they had to fall in line, right, with this garbage. This assistant, like the others, copped to buying drugs as well, getting company cash to do it, and to helping clean up after the dirty, oily sex parties in the hotel rooms. Yet another assistant tasked with wiping up the slime that Diddy leaves behind when he's done with his women. Yeah. I also have an update about juror number six, too, who may be a little bit confused about where he actually hangs his hat and puts his head down. Or at least it sure looks that way to the court. Gonna let you know about what the judge said about this juror. Not too kind gonna tell you that. But let's start by digging into day 23, right from the beginning. The first witness of the day was Special Agent Andre Lemon. He is with Homeland Security in Los Angeles. And Agent Lemon helped lead that March 25 raid on Diddy's LA mansion. He said agents searched all three buildings on that property. The main house, a gym, and a steam room. In Diddy's bedroom, they found six manila envelopes marked K, and they were inside a nightstand, which, by the way, they were seized by investigators. Lamond showed the jury one of the envelopes that was found in Diddy's nightstand, and inside the envelope were little, small plastic bags of white powder. In total, they recovered eight bags, and all of them tested positive for ketamine. And then the jurors were shown a photo of Diddy's closet, where agents found a safe built into the wall. Inside the safe was Diddy's passport and a plastic bag containing brown particles and pebbles, which tested positive for mdma. And in the garage, it seemed more like a Freakies supply room than a normal garage. Agents found around 32 boxes of Astro Glide. And if you count all the bottles inside all the boxes, the agent said in his testimony, it totaled 900. 900 bottles of Astro Glide. A little later in the podcast, you're going to hear this agent being asked about that on the stand. Like in his history of doing raids, he get. He gets asked to sort of quantify this. And it's funny, but the agent also said he found 200 bottles of baby oil, all of it stacked just a few feet from the main house. The agents also found guns in the home, all stored in the security room, where Lamont said there were safes big enough for rifles and shotguns. The jury saw a photo of two chairs with multiple firearms laid out on them. Lamont explained that the guns were removed from the safes and then made safe by taking out the magazines. Listen to the list of what they found. A bolt action Ruger rifle, single shot, manually loaded, three Smith & Wesson M&P rifles, semi automatic, AR15 style. A Glock pistol, standard law enforcement handgun, and a Mossberg pump action shotgun, the kind you rack before each shot. You know, three 30 round magazines, a loaded Glock magazine with bullets visible, a smaller 10 round Glock magazine, a pistol holster, two gun locks, and a 5.11 tactical bag often used by police and the military. Ben LeMond testified that they also recovered a drum magazine that held 60 rounds. And LeMond said the ammo was designed to pierce body armor. That's some serious. Agent Lamont held up one of the rifles in court and then pointed out something kind of important, like, really important, like, not so legal important. The agent pointed out that the serial number had been scratched off the weapon, making the weapon untraceable. And hey, yes, if that sounds familiar to you, you are right. The agents in Miami said they found the same thing when they raided his Miami home. Weapons with serial numbers scratched off. So I. And I think you might be sensing a pattern here on cross. The defense pointed out that all the guns and ammo were found in the security room, not in bedrooms and nowhere that children could reach them. Lamont agreed and confirmed that Sean Combs had private security on site. When asked how many search warrants he'd executed in trafficking cases, Lamond said between 50 and 60. And in all those searches, Lamond said this was the first time that he had ever recovered Astroglide. And that actually brought up kind of a funny moment, except for the fact that the defense attorney, Mark Agnifolo, responded, yeah, that's what I thought. And boom, prosecution objected, and the judge sustained it. And with that, Agent Lemon's cross examination ended. And then came a long break in the courtroom, and one that some observers chalked up to a certain mega rapper who had arrived at the courthouse. Kanye. Kanye. Mister. Yay. Yay. Now to me, Kanye west sliding into the scene at the federal courthouse, riding in a black Maybach worth a couple hundred thou. And the crowd could not resist throwing a few questions and comments his way as he strode past them into the glass doors. But because Kanye was not on the official family list, the court staff sent him to the overflow room just like all the other mere mortals. But TMZ said that they talked to court staff and that several of the court staff reserved a couple of rows for Kanye. That would be unlike us mere mortals. Like, I've been reporting on court for decades, and nobody's reserved rose in a courtroom for me. I don't think they do it for the Today show or, you know, Good Morning America or all these people who, by the way, you, as the public, you are reduced to having the media be your eyes and ears, right? Because we can't have Cameras in the courtroom. We can't beam this out to you so that you can be your own judge of what's going on. So it's really important to have the media in these seats. But Kanye. Kanye gets rose reserved. Anyway, I digress. Kanye was actually in the courthouse for about 40 minutes, and they were, like, trying to peek through the glass and watch him as he's going through security. And he had to wait for, like, a couple of members of. Of, you know, Diddy's people to. To come and meet him and bring him to where he needed to be. So all told, he's in the courthouse for about 40 minutes, but he stayed in the overflow room for a grand total. You ready? Eight minutes. Like, literally, that was Kanye's contribution to, quote, unquote, supporting his dear friend Diddy. I'm going to show up at court to support my friend Diddy for eight minutes. And eight minutes later, he quietly slipped out. He didn't see the main courtroom. He did not see his best pal Diddy. And I would have loved to see them lock eyes, especially after, you know, all the rumor mills suggesting, was it Kanye in Vegas having a freak off with his girlfriend, you know, the nude one who always shows up on the red carpet. And then Jane walked in and saw her regular escort doing the nasty in the middle of the hotel room with Kanye and his girlfriend watching in the. In the freaky, you know, sex party. Was it Kanye? Because he sure picked a weird day to show up one day after Jane unknowingly brought up this incredible mystery on the stand of the. The famous rapper with the private jet and the girlfriend who's got a birthday in January. P.S. i guess it's his wife, now, former wife Bianca Censori's birthday's also the date that they were in Vegas. Let me go to Kanye's outfit. I am used to seeing Kanye west of late anyway, dressed in head to toe black, right? Usually really dumpy. I don't know if he's gained weight or what it is, but he usually wears really dumpy black clothing. While he insists that, you know, the lady in his life is completely naked, he's just wearing junk, you know, but today he went off the script, and he chose to wear all white. His outfit was pure white denim and dark sunglasses. And he gave a nod of support when asked about Diddy, but otherwise, he didn't say a whole lot to the people who were gathered outside the courthouse. But it was not for a lack of trying, y' all. The media, the onlookers, everybody who was there were yelling questions at yay, yay, yay. Regardless of how dismissive he was being to them. Take a look. But once Kanye left the building and once the clown car left, the courtroom actually settled down and the government called its next witness, Jonathan Perez. And there was some good stuff here. Like, I got to say, I wasn't expecting that the strength of the testimony this far into the government's case. But Perez brought it right. And there's a good reason. Before Perez could even take the stand, the prosecutor, Maureen Comey, she. She flagged something. She flagged Diddy's courtroom behavior again, saying that yet again, Diddy is nodding excessively, even though he'd been warned, admonished by the judge to stop nodding excessively. When you like the testimony, drivers who.
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Ashley Banfield
This time, though it was agreed by both sides that did. He's not looking at the jury and doing it, which is what got him in trouble before. And if you missed the podcast before the judge warned Diddy he was going to get bounced from his own trial if he kept doing that, if he kept shaking his head when he didn't like the testimony and nodding his head when he did and looking right at the jury while doing it. So this time the beef was that he was shaking his head and nodding his head, but not doing it towards the jury. And I guess because he wasn't doing it to the jury, the judge declined to do anything about it and said to the prosecutors, some reaction to testimony is normal. Okay, then it was time for Jonathan Perez to get sworn in. And. And drama, really interesting drama. I'm always curious about how long a prosecutor will leave this, but it turns out that this prosecution team left this up to the very last minute. Jonathan Perez had no intention of speaking on that stand today. And outside the presence of the jury, he told the court, I'mma plead the fifth. So there's the government, right, with one of their final witnesses saying, I'mma plead the fifth. And basically it's a power game. Perez is Like, I'm not going to tell you nothing unless you guarantee me I'm going to be okay. You're not going to charge me for what I'm going to say under oath, right? So guess who got granted formal immunity in order to testify against Diddy. Jonathan Perez. Again, I said it before, I'll say it again. I think we're up to around a half dozen or so of Diddy's inner circle who didn't even feel like they could testify honestly without saying, jesus, please don't lock me up. Please just don't lock me up. And yet again, we got another one. And they all seem to be, well, most of them anyway, seem to be personal assistants. And this is no different. Perez told the jury he was a personal assistant, to quote Mr. Combs, though he noted that Combs went by a variety of names. Mr. C. Diddy, P. Diddy. And then most recently, the name that I just don't get, Love. Hi, Love, how you doing? Hey, it's me, Love. It just, you know, doesn't have flow. Perez said that he was hired as Diddy's personal assistant after a trial run in Miami in late 2021, and that he earned $85,000 a year to start, but that later it was bumped up to a hundred thousand a year. He reported to Christina Quorum, also known as kk, and handled everything from packing and scheduling to gift buying and hotel setups in both LA and in Miami. At first, Jonathan Perez didn't interact with Diddy much at all. He said that was like, for the first six to eight months, every instruction, he said, came from KK Christina Coram, Diddy's chief of staff. But Jonathan testified that eventually Diddy started giving Perez directions himself, though KK had to be in the loop at all times. And Perez wasn't the only assistant in the mix. He told the jury there were three to four others on staff during his tenure, and he included names like Phil Pines, Frankie Santella, Joey Chavez, plus two other names he mentioned, Rob and Brendan. And I'm just thinking to myself the number of names of personal assistants that I have heard in this trial, and at times, you know, names where an assistant would be there by herself because everybody quit. And I. I'm sensing there were people coming in and out, maybe saying, this is not for me, because I don't know, I'm onto about 10, maybe more names of personal assistants that Diddy employed throughout what seems like a fairly short period of time. I digress. There was even a full time butler, apparently by the Name of Frank Rodriguez. All of them interacted with Diddy daily. And as for the hours, they were long. Perez said that his typical day ran from 9am till 9pm he explained that everybody's schedules rotated depending on where Diddy was and what was happening that day. And when it came to money, he told the jury that if he needed cash for errands or for purchases, he went to a guy named Fahim, Muhammad, Diddy's head of security. But that wasn't the extent of his role. At some point during his time on the job, Perez was introduced to a term that he would never forget. And after I tell you about it, I don't think you're gonna forget it either. King nights. King Nights, AKA freak offs or hotel nights, or how many. How many GD names can they call these sex parties? But apparently Diddy liked to call them King Knights as well, because I assume he is the king and everybody works under him. Perez said the KK or sometimes another assistant would give him a heads up about an upcoming King Night, anywhere from two hours to a full day. Advance notice. He identified Jane Doe, the woman testifying under his pseudonym, as one of Mr. Combs, quote, unquote, guests. Apparently, she was called a guest. I guess the staff didn't consider her a girlfriend, even though she considered herself a girlfriend. She was called a guest. And yes, as we know from her own admission, she attended those hotel nights. And it seemed that this witness, Jonathan Perez, the assistant, this witness really corroborated a lot of what Jane had to say on the stand earlier about a violent night where she says Diddy beat her before a free cough. Jonathan Perez said that he packed everything that Diddy might need for a King night that could last a full 12 to 24 hours. He told the jury that he only set up about five King Nights and said that he bought food and drinks and liquor and lights and music and condoms and, yeah, lube. And then one more item as well. I didn't know about this one. This seems new. And I felt like I started to know everything about Diddy, but here we go. Honey. Yeah. Jonathan said he had to bring honey because apparently it enhances libido. I didn't know that. Did you know that? Anyway, I guess Diddy knew that, or at least thinks that. And then Jonathan told the jury that the hotel bookings themselves were handled by a woman named Jessica Ruiz. Jonathan said that Jessica Ruiz was the team's travel manager and that she was saved in Perez's phone under Jess Travel. Side note, if you are Looking for evidence of an enterprise that supported illegal behavior, allegedly by Diddy. Having your travel manager booking flights across state lines for your male prostitutes, that might be a big problem for the jury when they're trying to establish the predicate acts, the illegal acts that are necessary under rico. Right. These things are important. You got to look at like, the enterprise. Was Diddy using his business and his enterprise and his money. His, his corporate money, his corporate assets, his corporate staff, his corporal, his corporate people, his. His, you know, his lineage of. Of, of underlings to do things that are illegal. And look, getting your freak on is not illegal. Hiring prostitutes, flying them across state lines, and maybe coercing a female by threatening her financially or physically or emotionally. That all could be considered sex trafficking. So you can see where the government's going with this. Jonathan Perez said that he usually got supplies for the King Knights from Diddy's house, but if something was missing, he would go to Target or he'd order from Amazon, or he'd stop by a sex shop. And sometimes, at the request of Diddy or one of his female guests, Perez would shop for adult outfits and shoes. He said that he paid for all of it. Ready with either a company credit card. Ding. Or cash provided by company security. Again, the enterprise appears to be in action here. These were like, these were actions supporting illegal activity. It's a good question for summation, right? Was the activity illegal? Are you there yet? Because we can certainly see Diddy using his assistance and his corporate money and his corporate credit cards to make sure that these potentially illegal acts were happening in those hotel rooms. Those freak offs and King nights and whatever else the hell else you want to call them. So once the night was over, Perez was in for a real treat. Like the other assistants have testified, he told the jury that he was the one who had to come in and clean it up. Perez said the room was always in, quote, disarray. That's a euphemism. Towels and sheets, tons of oil all over the place. He said he'd have to clean it up and reset everything before the hotel staff would walk in. Right. We've heard before that the assistants were meant to go in and get all the stuff that might, you know, be leaked to the press. You know, photos maybe the hotel staff would take pictures of, like, whoa, Diddy hotel room. You know, this. This is why the assistants had to go in and get rid of the evidence of the freak. Right. Jurors were shown several of Perez's text messages to and from the inner circle, including Diddy and K.K. and Jane and other staff members. In One message from August 12, 2023, Perez sent Hotel information to both of Diddy's phones and to Jane as part of a group chat. In another group thread with KK and a fellow assistant named Joey, KK checked in with Perez about, quote, how the setup was going. Perez even listed items that Jane wanted, including outfits. KK told Perez to send her the options and that she'd forward them to Jane to choose from. So why does this matter? Why is the government spending even more time talking about dirty hotel rooms and text messages and lube? Because, again, under rico, prosecutors have to show that Diddy didn't act alone, that he used his enterprise. And all these staff members like KK and Joey and Jonathan, these were the people that they say Diddy forced to carry out illegal acts. His employees, his company resources, all of this to carry out these illegal freak offs. If the jury decides the freak offs are illegal, the acts are illegal, some of those things look like there's total receipts. Right? Hiring a prostitute across the state lines, that's a man act. That's illegal. But were the women in the Free Cops, were they coerced? Were they doing this out of force or fear? Right. That's what they have to decide. Those texts, they are not just receipts. They're part of the government's effort to show that Diddy ran this like an operation, that it wasn't personal, that it was organized, that it was organized crime. But not everything that Perez witnessed was routine, he said. About a year into the job, Perez said things took a weird turn. He told the jury that one day, Diddy's videographer, a guy named Brandon, suddenly started yelling for help. So Perez said he went to see what was going on, and he said that Brandon handed him a staff iPad. Staff iPad, Right. Part of the enterprise on the iPad was video of Jane freaking off with somebody who was not Diddy, although Diddy could be seen in the background. I mean, that sounds a lot like the descriptions of the Free cops, right? Apparently, a free cough was filmed on a company iPad. Perez testified that he did not watch the whole video and that about an hour later, he brought it to Diddy and told him what was on it so that he could either, quote, delete it or do whatever he needed to do, end quote. And he said that Diddy seemed surprised. Later, Perez told KK what had happened. And then he testified that KK told him not to take things like that directly to Diddy again. Then about six months later, Perez said That KK brought up the incident again, this time while they were at Diddy's Star island home in Miami. He testified that KK told him somebody outside the company had asked about the video, and she began pressing him for details. But what he did not know at the time was that KK was recording their conversation. And that recording, dated January 30, 2023, was played in court. And on the recording, KK told Perez that he was the only person in the house during not one, but two separate incidents tied to to the video. She said that they had security footage to prove it. And then came the twist. Perez said KK told him that Diddy wanted an investigation about the iPad video incident and that Diddy believed he may have been compromised. Perez told the jury he thought the video had actually been filmed directly onto the iPad and described KK's tone as intense, like an interrogation. He never spoke to her about it again, he said. But months later, Diddy's head of security brought it up, and Perez said he told him the exact same story again. There's a lot of business going on about Diddy's dirty video, right? A lot of company business being discussed about Diddy's dirty video on Diddy's company iPad. Next up, the government brought up drugs. Perez said that he indeed bought drugs for Sean Combs a couple of times. He said, remember, he asked for and got immunity, so open the floodgates, tell him everything. Sometimes he said he'd pick them up directly. Other times he said he'd grab them from somebody outside the house, but it was always for Diddy. He told the jury that he picked up the drugs from people named Baby Girl and Guido. Perez said he didn't know them personally, just knew of them from being around, you know, part of what he called the assistant circle. Wow. The drug dealers are part of the, quote, assistant circle. Talk about an enterprise supporting illegal activity, receipts, you know, he said he always paid with cash, cash that he got from either the head of security, a guy in the enterprise, or pulled from a top drawer in Diddy's office, you know, where you might run an enterprise. To corroborate Perez's story, the prosecution showed the jury a text message that he sent to Fahim, that head of security on February 15, 2024. Here's how it read. Hey, Fa, Diddy just had Dante pull out twelve hundred dollars. Seven hundred dollars went to Guido. That's the drug dealer. And the remaining $500 combs took with him. And then came another text, this time even more Specific. Can you pull $2,100 guy coming tonight. And $1,524.60. My cash that I've spent while in LA. Still waiting on Tristar for my other fund. Total $3,624.60. I love the $0.60 part. I love that they're so specific. No round numbers here. Real, real cents, right? 60 cents. Perez explained that Tristar was a financial system overseen by someone in the company named Robin. Someone in the company.
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- [32:53]
Ashley Banfield
And then came June 18, 2024, a date Perez said he remembered clearly. He said he. Oh, by the way, that date, when I say Perez remembered it clearly. Well, I'mma also tell you that Jane said the same words. She remembered that clearly. She said it was the worst day of her life. All right, so there's a connection between Jane and. And Perez on. On that particular date, June 18, Perez said that he drove Diddy to Jane's house and carried in his bags, carried in his toiletries. Later, Perez received a FaceTime call from Diddy, who was still at Jane's house. And Perez described Diddy's tone as, quote, angry and annoyed. He said Jane's face was turned partially away from the camera so he couldn't get a really good look at her. He said that Diddy wanted him to confirm whether another woman had indeed been with them on a recent family trip. Do you remember this? Does this sound familiar to you? Because we first heard about this story from Jane herself. Jane was freaking out and in a big fight with Diddy. She thought that Diddy had just been off with a family trip with some woman and they were in a huge fight and. And Diddy pinned her down and FaceTimed Jonathan. This is Jane's testimony, right? Pinned her down. FaceTimed his assistant Jonathan and said, jonathan, tell her. Tell her there was no woman with me on that trip to Utah. Perez told the jury he assured Jane that there was no other woman who'd been on that family trip. He said the FaceTime lasted about 20 seconds. And that Jane did not say a word. But I am telling you, this testimony from the assistant, Jonathan Perez, corroborates exactly what Jane just told us on the stand about that fight. So if you think Jane is a big old liar, whatever you think, Jonathan, who has to testify under immunity, who seems to still really like Sean Combs, he is literally corroborating Jane's story of that fight night word for word. Okay? He also said that FaceTime was how he and Sean Combs usually communicated, but that it was never when a, quote, guest was present. A guest. Right. Jane is a guest, not a girlfriend guest. Jonathan said this FaceTime was unusual. He immediately let Fahim, head of security and KK Chief of staff, know that Diddy and Jane were fighting. He obviously thought it was serious enough that he needed to call those two people and that he planned to go and pick Diddy up. Prosecution showed a text message from KK sent later that night. Heads up, PD going to guest house tonight. Perez said he understood that to mean that Diddy was going back to see Jane after all of this. And the next day, June 19, a group text between Perez, KK and Fahim captured the ongoing tension. Quote, Me and PD on route to a location. Quote, heads up, him and guest are fighting. I'm going to pick him up. End quote. Just the normal. Her being jealous over other woman and yelling at him, end quote. And the paper trail didn't stop there. The prosecution pulled up another group text, this one dated June 20, 2024, between Perez and KK and Fahim. Perez had texted, Need 3, $500 cash ASAP for his guest guest. Again, Jane is considered a guest. There's something else that cash could have been used for. Jane testified that after a huge fight on June 18, that now Jonathan Perez is corroborating. Diddy had yet an escort ready to go. Antoine. And Jane said she didn't want to have sex with Antoine. She didn't want to have a. An escort or a hotel night after this big fight, but that she was forced to. That she gave oral sex to Antoine and then dismissed him, but did not have sex with him. Like, it was very specific. So is the $3,500 to pay the escort, Is that possible for Jonathan Perez at this point, he said he did not know what ultimately happened to that money, but the subtext was clear. Requests like this were not out of the ordinary. And I just keep reminding you, even though these stories are salacious and sexy and gross and, you know, Diddy's an asshole and all the rest, it's still methodical, Right? If you look at what the government's doing, they're laying out employees and RICO and enterprise and using the enterprise to coordinate large amounts of cash. Right? And we know that Jane said that she sometimes paid the escorts in cash. Always in cash. So yet again, if Diddy is sending 30, $500 to his girlfriend slash guest to fix the damage from destroying her home in a, in an assault, that's a crime, and that's a cover up for a crime. If Diddy is sending 3, $500 to his girlfriend slash guest to pay the illegal, you know, prostitute, male prostitute that they had for their freak off, especially if he's come over state lines, that's, that's a predicate act. These are all important building blocks, and there have been dozens and dozens and dozens in this trial already. Eventually, Perez told the jury that he decided to leave this job. He stepped away from Diddy's world in September of 2024. And when asked why, he gave a surprisingly honest and unintentionally humorous answer. He said, quote, there was a lot going on personally for Mr. Combs. I wanted to leave to hopefully avoid a situation like this, end quote. The courtroom laughed. And it was, you know, it was pretty understood that what he meant was a situation like this trial, being on a witness stand in this kind of a trial. Perez said the last time he saw Diddy was the day he was arrested. And when asked how he feels about him today, Perez didn't hesitate. Quote, I feel great about him. Same way I felt about when I left my employment, end quote. And then it was time for cross examination. And defense attorney Brian Steele stepped up to bat. He started by asking Perez about his personal view of Sean Combs. And Perez did not hold back. He said he respected Combs, that he saw him as, quote, extremely intelligent, a natural motivator. Perez recalled seeing inspirational messages written by Combs on bathroom mirrors. Oh, I remember that. Remember, we saw evidence of those messages, actual photographs, because federal agents took pictures inside Diddy's master bathroom, and the mirror was plastered in personal notes, some of them written in Sharpie, some of them written in lipstick. Messages like, you a legend and you an icon, Puff Daddy. Prez also said he witnessed more vulnerable moments when Diddy was sad or even crying. Steele brought up the March 2024 raids, too, when federal agents executed search warrants on all of Diddy's properties. But even after the raids, Perez said he continued working for Combs for six more months. Then Steele shifted focus to Jane Diddy's alleged ex girlfriend, who has been on the stand all week. Perez said he had a good relationship with her, that she was nice to him, and that he always treated her with kindness. Steele kept his tone calm and tried to reshape Perez's testimony as something, you know, far more benign. He asked about the now infamous King Nights, which Perez had described as private evenings Combs spent with his girlfriends, plural. Perez agreed they were essentially, quote, personal time. Combs was busy, after all, constantly traveling and managing multiple businesses. And these nights, Perez said, were scheduled for him to unwind. Perez confirmed that he worked 12 hour days, five days a week. And when asked directly whether he classified King Nights as something personal, Perez said yes. Mr. Steele pressed on. What about the times that Perez brought or delivered drugs for Combs? Perez said those moments also felt personal, not business related. He said he wasn't paid extra for those nights and they weren't part of his formal job description. In a moment, you're going to hear why he may not realize that, quote, unquote, personal does mean professional when it comes to all the things that he did for Sean Combs. And the government is about to make damn sure that the jury knows that. So hold on to your hat. First, though, the question turned back to Jane. Perez confirmed that he would occasionally shop for her lingerie and dresses and heels. Was it to make sure that she looked good for Sean? Answer yes. And for herself? Answer yes. And all of that was for personal, right? He answered yes. Perez also acknowledged that when he cleaned up the filthy, greasy, dirty, oily hotels after those King Nights, wiping down the surfaces covered in baby oil, he did it so the hotel staff wouldn't see it and possibly leak it to the press. Steel asked if Perez had ever gotten the sense that Jane was hesitant about these so called King Nights. Perez said no. Did it seem like she was a willing participant? Perez said yes. Did it ever appear that she was upset during one of these King Nights? No. Although, side note, what about that FaceTime call? What about that FaceTime call where he's on FaceTime? He can barely see her because she's in a weird position, half off camera, and Diddy's yelling and angry. That's a bit weird that. That's inconsistent to me. How about the drug runs? Steele asked if they were small time, just a few hundred dollars here and there. And Perez said yes. And then came the iPad incident. The video of Jane with another man with Diddy visible in the background. Perez confirmed that it was a company iPad, something used for work and yes. He was personally concerned that such a private video had ended up on a business device. That's why he said he raised the issue himself. And finally, attorney Steele asked Perez to quantify how much of his job was spent handling Diddy's personal matters as opposed to actual business. And this is interesting. I don't really understand it, but it's interesting. Perez gave a number. He said, I'd say 1%. He's literally saying 1% was personal. 99% was business. And the 1% included the king Nights, the drugs, and the iPad video. Steel asked, quote, the other 99% was to help his businesses. And Jonathan Perez answered, yes. Wait for it, though, because the government's coming back. Toward the end of cross examination, Brian Steele circled back to Christina Coram, or kk, and he asked Perez to clarify her relationship with Diddy. And Perez told the jury that there was no romantic or sexual relationship between them. Perez said, nope, they were best friends, quote, and co workers. Then came the bigger picture. Had Perez ever seen Diddy hit anyone? Perez said no. Had he heard Jane express jealousy? Perez said no, but did acknowledge that he was aware she was sometimes jealous that she felt that way. And still, in his opinion, Jane was, quote, strong, independent, and confident. When asked about the cash used for reimbursements, like when he bought drugs, Perez said he didn't know whether the money belonged to Diddy personally or to the business. He also wasn't sure what kind of money the security was holding, personal or business, when they were distributing it. So to close, attorney Steele asked Perez something broader. He wanted the jury to understand that celebrity life comes with unique job descriptions. Perez confirmed that many celebrities have personal assistance, and, yes, quote, running personal errands is part of the mix. It's just how things work in that world. Before letting him off the stand, Brian Steele zeroed in on something the prosecution had tried to frame as suspicious hotel bookings made in Perez's name. Steele asked whether booking a room for Diddy and Jane under Perez's name was any kind of COVID up. And Perez answered plainly, no. He explained that celebrities use aliases or assistants names all the time. It's standard practice for privacy and folks. That really is true. That is not unusual. To further make his point, Steele introduced a series of text messages between Perez and Jane, dated January 20, 2023. They were about planning a King night. Perez texted Jane that he, quote, refreshed everything, meaning the setup had been fully prepped. And Jane responded, quote, omg, stop it. You're amazing. She also wrote, quote, you're the best. The tone was bubbly, not angry, not reluctant, full of exclamation points. And the tone continued. In another text from February 10, 2023, Perez told Jane breakfast was ready and that he'd picked up a bag of what he thought were her clothes left behind at the hotel. Their texts, the jury saw, were sprinkled with heart emojis and laughing faces and friendly banter. When asked if that was normal, Perez said, quote, these are typically how we'd communicate across the board. The prosecution had implied that Jane was being coerced. The defense wanted the jury to see something else. Cordiality, even affection. In another set of messages from September 2023, Jane texted Perez asking for little favors, things like a hair tie or some small errands. Just another day on the job, Perez seemed to say. But when the government lawyers got a chance to ask more questions on redirect, they reframed this story, and they pulled Perez's testimony back into focus. Their focus. They asked him to clarify something that had been stretched during the cross exam. Those small errands for Jane. Yes. Perez said they were part of his job. So all those, quote, personal tasks, whether it was running to a sex shop or picking up honey or booking a hotel for King nights, they weren't favors. They were on the clock. And that included the King nights. And Perez confirmed again, KK Christina Korum gave him direct instructions to set those nights up. He was paid to do it. It was all part of the role. The jury was told, when you're someone's personal assistant, especially to someone like Sean Diddy Combs, the personal is the job, the personal is the professional, AKA the personal. Errands were for the professional enterprise. So, boom, Mic drop. Honestly strong. And that was it for day 23. Jonathan Perez finished his testimony and left the witness stand just like Kanye had left the building, with a lot less fanfare. And at the very end of the day, just before court wrapped up, Judge Subramanian said that he planned to discuss the juror number six thing after spotting some inconsistent answers that that juror gave during jury selection, specifically information about where he lives. It is simple. We write it down all the time. How many forms have you filled out where it says address? It's simple. It's your resident, right? Your residence? Yeah. So this juror told the court that he lived in the Bronx, and, you know, the Bronx is in New York, New York State. But later, he admitted that he spent most of his time with his girlfriend living in New Jersey. You know, that New Jersey is another state. Right. Judge did not like this and said that this juror probably fudged where he really lived to make sure that he could get on this jury. Now, that doesn't mean that the judge is not taking the defense's objections seriously. Diddy's lawyers say this black juror should not be dismissed because he is black. They said that this juror and the fact that he's black is needed for diversity on the panel. They said it. That was the way they said it. They didn't say, oh, yikes, diversity is important. But if he lied, they just said, we're fighting it. He's black and we need diversity on this panel. But the judge said he's striking the juror and that if he changes his mind over the weekend, he will certainly let the parties know. So, I mean, you know, don't hold your breath on this one. I'm pretty sure juror number six is getting bounced, but at least the judge kind of let it go softly for the weekend. Government says they have just five witnesses left before they rest next week. And right now, it doesn't look like they plan to call Diddy's right hand woman Christina K.K. corum, which, I mean, I'm like, super floored. It's interesting. It's also crazy. I keep thinking, like they were putting her right under their thumb as like a Ghislaine Maxwell, right? Sing like a canary or you are going to prison too. Like, that's what I assumed was going on behind the scenes. But maybe KK maybe again, I'm just, I'm musing here. Maybe she's so dedicated and maybe she's so confident with Diddy's defense team that she said, no, no, I'm not. I'm not speaking, I'm not squeaking, and I'm not even gonna like, take your deal. I'm not. I'm not. I'm just not doing it. I can't figure out otherwise why I highly doubt that KK will get on the stand for Diddy's case, that's for sure. I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.