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Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
"Me Too Moneygrab?" Defense Eviscerates Diddy’s Ex-Assistant | United States vs. Sean Combs Day 14
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Ashley Banfield
Foreign. Hey, everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield and this is Drop Dead Serious. It is day 14 of the federal trial against Sean Diddy Combs, and it was brutal. And nowhere was that more clear than on cross examination. The defense eviscerated the woman known only as Mia. That's her pseudonymous. They basically threw everything at her. Her text messages, her timelines, her videos, accusations of lying, manipulation, even greed. They said her story didn't add up, that she never mentioned sexual assault until she hired a lawyer, and that her words were just part of a, quote, MeToo money grab. But Mia did not back down. She told the jury that she was brainwashed and that for years she didn't even realize all that she'd been through. And that everything the defense pointed to, the birthday texts, the glowing praise of Diddy, the silence, all of that was the result of psychological control. And that reminds me of a story that I covered at length that had to do with psychological control, and it had to do with sex crimes and racketeering and emotional, financial, physical control over people. And you probably have heard of this story, too. It's the story of the Nexiv cult, right? Keith Ranieri was the head of the nxivm cult. And all these people below him just fell hook, line and sinker for everything he was selling. You know, it was supposed to be a self help cult, but really it just kind of like devolved into this pyramid scheme of controlling all these people, mostly women. And it got to a point where the women were actually branded and still followed this guy, even though he was kind of having sex with all of them. I had an interview earlier today with Sarah Edmondson. She's a former member of the NXIVM cult. She got out of it, thank God, and she helped prosecutors to actually convict Keith Ranieri, that cult leader. And then she and her husband, who were both in the cult, they started a podcast called A Little Bit Culty. And so they talk in depth about the control that these people can have over your life and why you would fawn all over someone who's so cruel. Very, very insightful. And. And you're going to hear about it in a little bit. I'm actually talking to her on this podcast, too. But in the final hour of today's testimony, there was a shift in tone as the government brought in a witness from the Beverly Hills Hotel. And that witness walked the jury through Diddy's hotel guest profile. And a little bit more than that, like, some of the things they had to clean up. When diddy left today was certainly a clash between emotion and evidence, from character attacks to boring old hotel receipts. But before we get to those receipts, it was Mia back on the stand, Diddy's assistant with her own kind of receipts because she worked for him for eight years. So let's rewind to the start. Diddy's lawyer, Brian Steele, launched into a blistering cross examination, zeroing in on a series of text messages that Mia sent to Diddy and after she left her job. But these weren't messages of fear or anger, something that you might expect from a victim of the kind of abuse that Mia had laid out on the stand for two days. They were warm messages, even affectionate, and Steel used them to question Mia's credibility. One of the first text messages was dated Christmas Day, 2018. And Mia wrote simply, I love you so, so much. She sent that message to Diddy. Another message, sent just weeks later in January of 2019, described a nightmare that Mia had involving R. Kelly, of all people. Mia said in the dream, it was Diddy who rescued her. And Diddy's lawyer pressed her on that, asking why, if Diddy was her abuser, would she picture him as a savior and then choose to actually share that dream with Diddy? And then Diddy's lawyer continued with a third message from March 2019. Mia wrote, quote, just sending you all the love in the world. Heart emoji. The lawyer pointed to the message as proof that Mia and had moved on, that she was no longer under his influence, and that her words didn't match the behavior of someone traumatized. But Mia pushed back. She told the jury that she was still caught in his grip, not physically, but psychologically, a hold she said, that she couldn't even see until long after she'd left working for him. Mia used the word brainwashed, and she used it over and over again. And she told the jury she didn't even fully comprehend the extent of her trauma at the hands of Diddy. Mia said that part of why she stayed in touch with him was compassion, because Diddy had just lost people close to him, including Kim Porter. Mia said that at the time, she felt sorry for Diddy. She testified that there was a version of Diddy that she genuinely loved, the version who treated her like a best friend. But even now, she said she's still trying to make sense of it all and said, quote, I'm still untangling. She actually referred to therapy as part of the process of untangling. At the time, she explained, the world still admired Diddy and That she hadn't yet processed how deep his influence on her really ran. And then came another message. A text that read like a highlight reel. Mia reminiscing about a night Mick Jagger tried to take her home, and another where Diddy beat Leonardo DiCaprio in a high stakes game of poker. And the defense used that text message to raise a question. Was this really the memory of someone living in fear? Mia actually smiled just slightly as she read the message out loud. And Diddy's lawyer seized on the moment, suggesting she still remembered the thrill of that world and that maybe she even enjoyed it. But when he asked why none of the dark moments ever made it into these text messages, Mia's answer was consistent. Quote, because I was still brainwashed. End quote. That word came up all day long under cross. Brainwashed. It was her explanation for almost everything. The affection, the silence, the confusion. Mia described being confused and living in an environment defined by emotional highs and lows and not recognizing it for what it was until much, much later. Mia told the jury that for years, she believed that she was the one who had done something wrong, not Diddy. Mia told the jury that no one around her ever batted an eye at Diddy's horrible behavior. No one ever intervened. No one ever labeled what was happening as abuse. Instead, Mia said that this was just everybody's normal. And in the public's eye as well as at work, Diddy remained celebrated. He was praised, he was admired, and he was supported. Why, after she left, did she continue to praise him and reach out to him? Her answer was pretty simple. Quote, he was my only authority figure. I constantly sought his approval. And if you think about that for a minute, how many people have said that their father or their mother abused them as children, like, terribly? And yet they constantly tried to impress them. They constantly tried to get the approval from that abusive parent. They constantly sent messages of love and affection, trying so hard to make it good. It's actually not that crazy if you think about it, is it? So if you're on the jury, would you make that connection? Would you imagine Mia saying, this was my authority figure? This is the only authority figure I ever knew, the one I constantly sought out for approval. Would you think of it as that scenario I just laid out as a child who's seeking constant approval from an abusive parent? I don't know. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. So when Mia finally accepted a severance settlement and walked away from her job, she told the jury that it didn't even feel like freedom. It felt like she betrayed Diddy. Mia described herself as someone who was constantly chasing approval and that Diddy was, quote, the only voice that mattered, end quote. Then came a tense moment. Diddy's lawyer asked if Sean Combs had ever threatened to tell his girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, about what had happened between Combs and. And this witness, Mia. Specifically the sexual assaults that Mia described on the stand. Three of them. Mia paused and replied, quote, that was not his wording, end quote. Mia told the jury that Diddy once told her he would, quote, tell Cassie everything. That single sentence she said was enough to make her feel like she had done something wrong and that she was was to blame for those sex assaults. Diddy's lawyer pushed further, asking why Mia wouldn't want Diddy to tell the truth about what had happened. Mia told the jury she didn't come forward sooner, not because it didn't happen, but because she was afraid, because she felt controlled. But now, Mia said something had shifted. She felt a moral obligation to speak out, she said, a sense of duty that only emerged once others started holding Diddy accountable and people around her began validating what she'd gone through. Still, Diddy's lawyer hit her with yet another damning message. How would she explain texting Diddy, I love, love, love you, end quote? That wasn't all. Diddy's lawyer also had a video. And in the video, Mia sat at a desk and casually applying lip gloss. She smiled into the camera, and she called Diddy, quote, one of the biggest inspirations in my life, end quote. And she ended the clip by saying that she loved him and wished him a happy birthday. Diddy's lawyer looked directly at her on the stand and asked, why? Why would someone who now accuses Diddy of abuse send messages like that? And Mia told the jury, once again, quote, I was brainwashed, end quote. She did not deny sending the texts. In fact, she confirmed they were all loving and supportive. But Mia said they didn't reflect what she was actually going through at the time. I should mention also that that Mia kind of felt like she was getting in a rut because the barrage of challenges kept coming at her endlessly throughout the day. And she kept reverting back to the one explanation that was top of mind. I was brainwashed. I didn't know. I don't know. Maybe you should consult an expert in this kind of abuse. But she did explain it well at one point in the day, and she explained it very clearly. She said nobody ever batted an eye. It was normal for everybody. And so I just started to realize that this was normal behavior, that this wasn't bad, it wasn't abusive, it was just standard. And she kind of explained that because nobody seemed to indicate that it was bad, she must be the person who was in the wrong anyway. The barrage of challenges kept coming from the defense attorneys. Right. And that's when prosecutor Comey stood up and objected not just to the question, but to the tone of the questioning from Diddy's lawyer. The prosecutor told the judge that the lawyer was stepping over the line and accused him of badgering Mia, yelling, using sarcasm, and injecting personal commentary instead of sticking to factual questions. The prosecutor described his conduct as, quote, harassing and, quote, humiliating and warned that this kind of aggressive cross examination could discourage future victims from coming forward. The judge didn't fully agree, but didn't fully disagree either. The judge said that he hadn't personally heard yelling or sarcasm, but he did acknowledge that some of Diddy's lawyers questions had had been improper, even argumentative, and asked him to rephrase moving forward. So Diddy's lawyer continued his cross by shifting the focus to Cassie Ventura, Diddy's girlfriend. And he asked Mia directly, had she ever told Cassie to leave Diddy? And Mia replied, not in the way I wish I could have. Did she ever tell Cassie about the alleged sexual assaults by Diddy? Absolutely not, she answered. Mia testified that she was forced to lie to protect Diddy, and in doing so, she said she was forced to betray someone, Cassie, whom she cared about deeply, just to keep herself in Diddy's good graces. But one of the most explosive moments of the day came when defense attorney Brian Steele leveled a direct accusation at Mia, suggesting that she fabricated her claims of sexual assault for financial gain. He called it a me too money grab and holy cow. That didn't take but a minute for the prosecutors to stand up and object. And that objection was sustained. They were mad. They did not find that appropriate. A me too money grab. The judge immediately instructed that the jury was was to disregard that comment and strike it from the record. Diddy's lawyer then walked the jury through a timeline, meetings with prosecutors, gaps between disclosures and messages that, according to the defense, raised questions about Mia's credibility. Diddy's lawyer showed the jury a text message that Mia allegedly sent to Diddy on November 4, 2023, his birthday. It read, happy birth. Yay, puff daddy with a heart emoji. The message was sent alongside a photo one previously entered into evidence, showing the two of them together, Mia and Diddy with Diddy's hands positioned near his crotch. Diddy's lawyers then pressed Mia on the timeline of her cooperation with prosecutors against Diddy. Mia says she wasn't sure exactly when she became aware of the federal investigation, but she confirmed her first meeting with the government took place on January 5, 2024. That was two months after she sent the text message, happy birth. Yay, Puff Daddy heart emoji. At that meeting, she did not disclose any allegations of sexual assault. Her second meeting came on January 8, but again, no mention of sexual assault. Diddy's lawyer asked her directly, when did she finally decide to bring the allegations of sexual assault? And Mia replied, quote, I'm just saying I don't remember. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just don't want to say I remember exact dates if I don't. That's all. End quote. What Mia did recall with certainty was when she brought in legal Counsel. That was March 19, 2024. Diddy's lawyer asked why she chose one lawyer in particular. And though he didn't say it directly, the implication was clear that Mia's lawyer had recently won a major high profile case involving a financial settlement. But it should be known that Mia doesn't have a lawsuit against Sean Combs. She had settled a lawsuit earlier about overtime pay and unpaid bonuses after she was fired. But there's not a sexual assault lawsuit that's been launched against Sean Combs, so it's interesting that they would go down that road. Then Diddy's lawyer pointed out that Mia didn't disclose the alleged sexual assault to the government until June. Mia did not dispute that. She told the jury, quote, I don't remember the dates, but I do remember that horrible conversation, end quote. Diddy's lawyer followed up, asking why, if she had hired a lawyer in March, she waited roughly three months to tell prosecutors what had happened at Diddy's hand, allegedly, these sexual assaults. Mia testified that she hadn't told anyone. Not her friends, not her roommate, not her family. And as for her therapist, she said she couldn't recall whether she had brought it up in. In session. Mia acknowledged that she knew Cassie Ventura had received a financial settlement, but said they never discussed it. She also said that she and Cassie never talked about what either of them told federal investigators. Diddy's lawyer pointed out that Mia had met with the government 27 times and said the first time she disclosed any sexual assault was in June of 2024. Diddy's lawyer, Prince, pressed her on whether she planned to sue Diddy over her allegations. And Mia answered that was not her intention. When asked if she was seeking more money from Combs, she said she wasn't. And then the focus shifted to Mia's career. She told the jury that she continued working after leaving Diddy, including an eight month stint with Madonna, assisting both the singer and her film division. When asked if she had any proof that Diddy had blacklisted her in the industry, Mia said she didn't. And then it was time for redirect by the prosecution. Mia offered more insight, not just into what happened behind closed doors, she says, but how she says she navigated it. She told the jury that part of her job under Diddy involved posting to social media, not just about the brands like Chiroc or events like the Bad Boy reunion tour, but about Diddy himself. According to Mia, that kind of content was part of the job, and if she didn't execute it well, she said, there were consequences. Mia testified that other employees were also expected to post similar celebratory messages, especially on Diddy's birthday. When asked why she never shared the darker side of her experiences online, Mia said social media wasn't the place for it. She explained that keeping Diddy happy was a matter of self preservation, because when he was happy, she felt safe. He wasn't always threatening, she said. Sometimes he was actually charismatic and funny and even inspiring. But his moods, she told the jury, could turn on a dime. As for his birthday, which Mia says is tied to a traumatic memory, she told the jury that she didn't associate the date with abuse at the time. She said back then, she trained herself to forget, quote, keep it moving, she said, Describing a phrase that she picked up from Diddy. Mia explained that lingering on bad experiences was not encouraged and that if she did, she risked being labeled dramatic or crazy. And according to Mia, she also risked being punished. Mia testified that she never reported her allegations to human resources, not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't see the point. Mia testified that in her experience, HR did not protect employees, they punished them. And she pointed to what she witnessed happen to others who spoke up. Mia told the jury that one former staffer named Kayla was fired after mentioning Cassie Ventura's alleged abuse to hr. According to Mia, after Kayla was let go, Diddy told Mia that she would need to testify against Kayla. And if Kayla sued Diddy, Mia said the same thing happened when Capricorn Clark was fired. Mia told the jury she feared she would not be believed, that she'd lose her job and that coming forward Might expose her to even more abuse. She also described how she felt when Revolt TV was dissolved. The media company that Diddy founded and the place where Mia worked at the time. She called it, quote, the worst thing thing ever, end quote. Because she said it had been her entire world. But now, looking back, Mia said it turned out to be a turning point. She told the jury that since it was dissolved for the first time, she received support and began to see what life looked like outside of Diddy's influence. Mia said that she once tried to leave the job, but was told by Diddy's chief of staff to come back. Mia testified that she wasn't just afraid of losing employment. She feared losing credibility and losing everything that she knew. And Mia told the jury her biggest fear was her safety. She said she knew Diddy's power and she feared his wrath. She also clarified that her attorney is working pro bono, not charging her and not pursuing a lawsuit. The lawyer was brought on solely to help her through this case. As for her repeated meetings with the government, Mia said they weren't about strategy, they were about clarity because she didn't initially recognize that what she experienced was abuse. It took time, she said, and help to fully understand it. Mia added that prosecutors never told her what to say, only to tell the truth. When asked why she chose to testify publicly, she despite the fear, despite the scrutiny, Mia did not hesitate. Quote, there's no comparison, she said. This is the worst thing I've ever had to talk about in my life, end quote. She told the jury that she did not want to be on that witness stand, but that she had to be. She told the jury, quote, I can't look my niece and goddaughters in the eye and advise them if I haven't done this myself, end quote. Next up, the final witness of the day, Sylvia Okun, the longtime assistant director of sales and marketing at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Sylvia walked the jury through how the hotel's reservation system works, including how they create guest profiles for high profile clients. Particularly in the entertainment industry, it is common to use an alias or an incognito name, but that the guest's real name is always attached to the account. Behind the scenes, Sylvia told the jury that Diddy had a guest profile and that his most recent alias was listed as Philip Pines. She explained that aliases can be changed at any time and that once they're updated, all prior reservations will display under the current alias, even if that wasn't the name used to when the booking was made. The jury was shown diddy's actual hotel profile. Two specific stays were brought to the jury's attention. From June 12 to June 14, 2012, Diddy was charged $300 for deep cleaning of the drapes. From May 30 to May 31, 2015, he was charged $500 for oil damage. Both stays were paid for using credit cards registered to Diddy, and both were booked by his assistant, Tony Fletcher. And with that, Sylvia was free to leave. She was off the stand. Court wrapped just after 3pm today. And while hotel records gave the jury something concrete to look at, the heart of today's testimony was far more difficult to define. Because what we kept hearing from Mia over and over again was this. I was brainwashed. I don't understand it myself. She did not deny sending positive text messages, fawning and loving text messages to Diddy or making the videos or smiling for the camera. She just said she couldn't explain it since he'd been so awful to her. And as Mia tried to explain why, why she stayed, why she smiled, why she said nothing about the abuse, I was reminded of something on my News Nation show, Banfield. I spoke with a woman who escaped the Nexium cult. She used that same word, brainwashed. She described doing things that she couldn't justify, things that made no sense because she was emotionally entangled and psychologically controlled by an abuser. Her cult leader was Keith Ranieri, who incidentally was brought to justice by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. That's the same office handling the case against Diddy. And want to guess what Keith Ranieri's charges were? Sex trafficking and racketeering. Exactly what Diddy is facing here is part of my conversation with Sarah Edmondson, a former nxivm member, describing what it feels like to finally break free. So a powerful and charismatic man accused of using sex and threats and mind games to maintain an empire. He has faced a judge and jury before, but he did not do too well. Not did he. The leader of the NXIVM cult, Keith Rainier, was also charged in the Southern District of New York. And in 2019, he was convicted of, guess what? Racketeering and sex trafficking. The same charges that Diddy is now facing. And Keith had the same lawyer that Diddy has now, Mark Agnifolo, did not go well for Keith. He was jailed for 120 years. My next guest is a former member of that NXIVM cult, and she's also the author of Scarred the True Story of How I Escaped nxivm. The cult that back. She also hosts the podcast A Little Bit Culty. Sarah Edmondson, welcome back to the program. It's nice to have you.
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Sarah Edmondson
So good to see you, Ashley. Thanks for having me.
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Ashley Banfield
So I'm sure that you've been watching the testimony in the Diddy trial, and I'm curious to see if you think Mia's words today track with the experiences that you and the fellow members of NXIVM went through with Ranieri at the head.
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Sarah Edmondson
Absolutely. This testimony is really clearly showing a pattern, a pattern of coercion and a pattern of violence. And I'm guessing that is what the prosecution is trying to show here. And people have asked me, does this seem a bit culty? And I'm like, well, it's the exact same patterns of behavior. Is this textbook coercion? And I'm really grateful that she's brave enough to be able to stand there and speak the truth of what happened so that the jury can see this is not a one off event. This is not a domestic relationship.
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Ashley Banfield
Yeah. So the cross examination was sort of blistering and so repetitive. Right. Like, why did you send these lovey dovey messages to him while you were working for him and after you left? If this is a guy who beat you up physically. Right. Raped you a couple times and beat up your best friend Cassie on a regular basis, could you understand the dynamic that she was trying to explain? I mean, she's a, you know, she's not a professional. Right. She's just trying to explain to the guy and half the time she's saying, I don't understand why I did it. But could you understand when she said, I thought I was the bad guy, everybody else thought everything was fine, this was normal, and I'm the person who must have been, you know, at fault.
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Sarah Edmondson
Yeah. Think about how young she was when she started working for him and how normalized this type of behavior was. She saw him treating everybody this way. She's had spaghetti thrown at her. She saw people getting hit. She had her own arm hurt. This is just life with Diddy. So this has become. I'm not saying this is okay. I'm saying for her, in her world, it became very normal. And I could totally understand why. Now she's sitting in this hot seat and she's being grilled and is having trouble finding the words. It makes me just want to reach out and hug her. And I really hope that the prosecution puts a expert on coercive control on the stand and can explain these things more clearly, because clearly she's Struggling to wrap her head around it. I can see any one of those texts having another meaning other than I love you. Such as she's trying to protect herself. She's trying to keep things status quo. She doesn't want to be attacked, she doesn't want to be sued, she doesn't want to be hurt. This guy has guns in this house. I totally see this as textbook. Her protection of herself and, and also remember highs and highs and lows and lows. There were times when things were good with him and she often wrote things off as, oh, he was just drunk. This is a people pleasing strategy, by the way. For an assistant to work with somebody like that, she has to be a people pleaser. Not saying it's her fault, just pointing out a pattern. So she's dismissing these things and saying maybe this happened, maybe that happened. She has to do that in order to keep her job. It's her livelihood. I understand that. And how many years was she with him? Eight years, I believe.
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Ashley Banfield
Eight, Yeah.
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Sarah Edmondson
A long time to normalize that kind of behavior. So this is, it's very normal. And I was a little triggered reading about that line of questioning. The same thing happened in the Nexium trial.
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Ashley Banfield
Oh, well, that was my next question. Do you see the same prosecution tactics and like you just said, the same defenses? And I'm going to add a question to that. So while you're answering that, you can continue and answer this. Is it working still? Is it chipping? You know, has it been chipped away? Has the culture today chipped away at that kind of a defense working? So first question is, do you see the same trial playing out as did Trump Keith Ranieri's and is it as effective to use this kind of a defense?
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Sarah Edmondson
Honestly, I'm shocked that somebody of Sean Combs wealth and influence hired somebody like Ignifiglo, in my opinion, who clearly wasn't able to help Keith Renery. Why he would hire, why he would hire him. He failed at protecting Keith and his alternative lifestyle. Why would this defense work here as well? I'm shocked. Also pleased because I don't think it's going to go well for him. I just, it's this day and age to say that this is consensual and to say that these are, you know, alternative lifestyles and maybe it's not normal. Not normal. This is when fear is in the room. You cannot consent. This is same thing with us with nxivm. And just for the record, in the introduction there was a mention of that I was sexually assaulted I was not. I was one of the few who wasn't. And I think that's why I'm able to speak to you today, Ashley, is because I don't have the same shame carried with my experience. Yes, it was embarrassing to recognize I fell for this con and everything, but most of the women I think you'll recognize who went through next game with me who were sexually assaulted can't speak up. And I understand when I see this case is that there's so much shame that these women are carrying. And I. My heart goes out to them, and I wish that they knew that there are people out there who understand coercion, who see them and who hear them and believe them. And when I hear the defense, it just makes me sick to my stomach, to be honest.
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Ashley Banfield
You're so insightful, because I really am so curious as to how this jury is going to receive this line of questioning. You know, some people thought in the courtroom this was badgering a person who was a very authentic witness. Others cheered, saying, finally, you know, he nailed it, that kind of mood. So it was a real split. And I'm just. I'm just curious to find out if this is going to be effective. I would love to talk to you again about this, Sarah, because I feel like this is going to continue a lot of the same tactics and same strategies. So come back again.
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Sarah Edmondson
I'd be happy to. I'll be following along with bated breath, just like with everybody else.
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Ashley Banfield
Oh, so appreciate it again, little bit cultish. Does it with her husband, Nippy, and it's a great podcast. Highly recommend it. Back in that Manhattan federal courtroom, one moment from day 14 stood out, and it may be the one this jury remembers most. When Diddy's lawyer labeled Mia's allegations as, quote, a me too money grab, end quote. The judge struck it from the record, but the jury still heard it. And no matter how it's framed legally, it's out there, right? You can't unring a bell. What's interesting, though, is the reaction in the courtroom, right, Especially among the media, because some of them are in the courtroom and some of them are in an overflow room. And the reaction in both of those places was mixed. Some people thought it was totally inappropriate and that this lawyer, this defense lawyer of Diddy's, was beating up on a very sympathetic character. Others, however, had a different reaction and thought that Diddy's lawyer scored a point and they were happy about it no matter what. The moment the lawyer said, me too money grab, there was like an audible gasp like a shock. Whether people were shocked in a good way or shocked in a bad way, maybe it's a microcosm for how the jury's going to feel. But tomorrow, the government is set to call a new witness, Eddie Garcia. And this is a witness who does not want to be here. This is a guy who planned to to get up on the stand, plead the fifth if he was going to be shoved up on there against his will. But today he actually went up on the stand and he was granted immunity. It happened just this morning, so whoa, can't wait to hear what he's going to say. His testimony is expected to last about 90 minutes and after that, the schedule's still in a bit of a flux. What's not in question, however, is where this is all in headed. Each witness pulls the curtain back just a little bit more and the deeper we go, the more explosive this case seems to become. I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for watching. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead seriously.