Inside The Diddy Trial

Summary

Podcast Title: Infamous
Episode: Inside The Diddy Trial
Release Date: June 5, 2025
Hosts: Vanessa Grigoriadis, Gabriel Sherman, and Natalie Robehmed
Production: Campside Media & Sony Music Entertainment

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Introduction to the Trial

Timestamp: [00:31]

In this gripping episode of Infamous, the hosts delve deep into one of the most sensational celebrity court cases of the century: USA v. Sean Combs. Known worldwide as Diddy or Puff Daddy, Sean Combs has been a stalwart in pop culture for over three decades. From his beginnings as a rapper and record executive to his ventures in entrepreneurship, liquor, and television, Combs was once celebrated as a billionaire. However, his empire began to crumble in 2023 following accusations of sexual misconduct, leading to government raids on his properties and subsequent federal indictments for racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, and interstate transportation for prostitution.

Natalie Robehmed: "Sean Combs, AKA Diddy, or Puff Daddy, has been a permanent fixture in pop culture for the last 30 years... all of that changed in 2023 when Diddy was accused of sexual misconduct."
[00:58]

Cassie Ventura’s Testimony

Timestamp: [01:35]

The trial’s first week was dominated by the harrowing testimony of Cassie Ventura, Diddy's ex-girlfriend and a successful singer known for her hit "Me and You." Cassie detailed the intense and abusive relationship she endured for nearly 11 years, alleging that Diddy exerted total control over her personal and professional life.

Natalie Robehmed: "Cassie sort of squashed her career and made her his servant, controlling every part of her life, right down to the color nail polish she wore."
[02:09]

Cassie described incidents of physical abuse, including being "beaten up," having luggage thrown at her, and being kicked so hard that it left visible bruises. One of the most shocking allegations involved Diddy orchestrating the firebombing of the car belonging to Cassie's ex-boyfriend, singer Kid Cudi, using a malt liquor bottle and a designer scarf.

Natalie Robehmed: "He orchestrated firebombing the car of Cassie's ex-boyfriend, singer Kid Cudi, using a malt liquor bottle called an Old English 40 and a designer scarf."
[03:06]

Defense’s Position

Timestamp: [04:22]

The defense for Sean Combs has admitted to instances of domestic violence and abuse but contends that these actions do not align with the specific charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. They argue that while Diddy may have been a bad person, the prosecution has not met the burden of proving the federal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sean Satarro: "The defense haven't yet gotten to what is called their case in chief... they're saying Diddy is guilty of domestic violence... but he's not charged with being a bad person. He's not even charged with domestic abuse. He's charged with these very specific crimes and he didn't do that."
[04:42]

Courtroom Atmosphere

Timestamp: [05:52]

The trial is being held in a bustling downtown Manhattan federal courthouse, attracting a mix of reporters, YouTubers, and curious onlookers. The courtroom buzzes with tension as witnesses recount traumatic experiences, and spectators await each dramatic turn.

Sean Satarro: "The trial is taking place in downtown Manhattan at a federal courthouse... it is just an absolute mob scene."
[05:55]

Kid Cudi’s Involvement

Timestamp: [15:38]

A pivotal moment in the trial was the testimony of Kid Cudi, who recounted the harrowing experience of discovering his car had been firebombed—a direct attack orchestrated by Diddy. Cudi detailed the confrontation with Diddy, who accused him of dating Cassie and subsequently instigated violence against both Cudi and Cassie.

Natalie Robehmed: "What did Kid Cudi testify?"
Sean Satarro: "He came home and saw that his Christmas presents had been opened and his dog was locked in the bathroom... Diddy broke into Kid Cudi's house uninvited."
[17:54]

Mia’s Testimony: Forced Labor and Assault

Timestamp: [18:58]

An anonymous witness, referred to as Mia, provided chilling accounts of working under Diddy. Mia, who started as Diddy’s assistant and later worked with his film division, described being forced to work incessantly without rest, enduring physical and sexual assaults. She shared an email from 2011 highlighting the unreasonable demands placed upon her, from mundane tasks like cracking knuckles to more intrusive commands.

Sean Satarro: "Mia was forced to work around the clock... she talked about how she got an allowance from Diddy... he would threaten to release sex tapes of her."
[19:03]

Allegations of Kidnapping and Coercion

Timestamp: [29:44]

Further testimonies unveiled alleged kidnappings orchestrated by Diddy to maintain control and silence. Capricorn Clark, another former assistant, testified about being forced to assist in the surveillance and harassment of Cassie's relationship with Kid Cudi. She recounted being threatened and subjected to invasive lie detector tests under duress.

Sean Satarro: "Capricorn... was forced into a car and to drive to Kid Cudi's house... she was kidnapped and forced to take part in this burglary."
[30:25]

Comparison to Other RICO Cases

Timestamp: [33:42]

Sean Satarro compared the Diddy trial to other high-profile RICO cases, such as those involving Tekashi 6ix9ine and Jam Master J. Unlike more organized criminal enterprises like the Mafia or street gangs, Diddy's alleged criminal network appears less hierarchically structured, relying more on personal assistants and security personnel.

Sean Satarro: "With Diddy's organization... there isn't quite the defined hierarchy that there is in mafia and some street gang cases."
[34:13]

Potential Outcomes and Public Opinion

Timestamp: [37:37]

As the trial progresses, public opinion remains divided. While some believe that wealth and power may enable Diddy to evade severe penalties, others find satisfaction in seeing him held accountable for his alleged actions. The judge aims to conclude the trial before July 4th, balancing the need for a thorough legal process with the pressures faced by the jury.

Natalie Robehmed: "I think he's going to get off. I mean, what do you think?"
Sean Satarro: "If I had to average out everyone's opinions, I think that's sort of what I've heard."
[38:04]

Closing Remarks

Timestamp: [39:00]

In conclusion, Infamous provides an exhaustive look into the Diddy trial, highlighting the severe allegations of abuse, coercion, and organized criminal behavior. The episode underscores the complexities of prosecuting high-profile individuals and the societal implications of holding powerful figures accountable.

Natalie Robehmed: "This is a person that people do feel some satisfaction that he has to answer for this stuff after so many years of keeping it behind the curtain."
[42:00]

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Notable Quotes

• Sean Satarro: "The government is alleging Diddy used his power, his businesses, the people who worked at his businesses to basically do a bunch of crimes to fulfill his sexual desires."
  [04:12]

• Natalie Robehmed: "He orchestrated firebombing the car of Cassie's ex-boyfriend, singer Kid Cudi, using a malt liquor bottle called an Old English 40 and a designer scarf."
  [03:06]

• Natalie Robehmed: "These are the freak offs."
  [03:42]

• Sean Satarro: "If you use corporate funds to buy, you know, Astroglide and Johnson's and Johnson's Baby Oil, that's showing that your businesses are set up to do these crimes."
  [05:18]

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Conclusion

Infamous delivers a compelling and thorough examination of the Sean Combs trial, presenting a multifaceted narrative that intertwines personal testimonies, legal strategies, and societal reflections. For listeners seeking an in-depth understanding of the case's intricacies and its broader implications on power and accountability, this episode is an essential listen.

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Transcript

[Vanessa]

On WhatsApp, no one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this. So whether you're sharing the streaming password in the family chat or trading those late night voice messages that could basically become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family. No one else, not even us. WhatsApp message privately with everyone.

[Natalie]

Campsite Media Right now, in a courtroom in downtown Manhattan, one of the biggest and darkest celebrity court cases of our time is underway. USA v. Sean Combs.

[Sean Satarro]

Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three count indictment charging Sean Combs with racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution.

[Natalie]

Sean Combs, AKA Diddy, or Puff Daddy, has been a permanent fixture in pop culture for the last 30 years. First as a rapper and record executive, and then as an entrepreneur with business endeavors in liquor and TV. At one time, back in 2022, he was declared a billionaire. But all of that changed in 2023 when Diddy was accused of sexual misconduct. Two of his homes were subsequently raided by the government and he was later indicted. And now he's standing trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The first week of testimony in the.

[Sean Satarro]

High profile sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial against Sean Diddy Combs. Coming to a close after four days on the stand, Cassie Ventura, Diddy's ex.

[Natalie]

The testimony again, graphic. This case centers largely on the testimony of his ex girlfriend, Cassie, and the horrific abuse she suffered. Cassie's a singer in her own right, best known for the song Me and you'd, which was a huge hit when I was younger.

[Vanessa]

They know you're the one I wanna give it to. I can see you on me too.

[Natalie]

It seems that Diddy sort of squashed her career and made her his servant, controlling every part of her life, right down to the color nail polish she wore. It's really so horrible to hear. There are so many other vivid, unbelievable details coming out of this trial, including the allegation that Diddy orchestrated firebombing the car of Cassie's ex boyfriend, singer Kid Cuddy, using a malt liquor bottle called an Old English 40 and a designer scarf. It's really intense stuff. And to figure out what's really going on with this trial, I, I spoke to Sean Sataro, a reporter at Complex who is actually down in the courtroom every day covering USA v Sha Combs. And by the way, I definitely laugh as a coping mechanism when I get uncomfortable. So you're going to hear some of that here. So for those who haven't been following the trial so far, just bless you.

[Sean Satarro]

You're. You're living your great life.

[Natalie]

Yeah. Probably sleeping better than you are. I mean, broad strokes, what, what has happened so far? What have we heard?

[Sean Satarro]

Sure. The biggest thing so far has been Cassie took up most of the first week of the trial talking about being in this relationship with Diddy for almost 11 years, during which she says, you know, she was coerced hundreds of times into participating in sexual encounters involving escorts.

[Natalie]

These are the freak offs.

[Sean Satarro]

These are the freak offs. Yes, yes. They were internally by both of them called freaks offs or fos. This was a name they, they actually used. The government is alleging Diddy used his power, his businesses, the people who worked at his businesses to basically do a bunch of crimes to fulfill his sexual desires. Not only the freak offs and the sex trafficking and prostitution, but also stuff like kidnapping and arson and forced labor.

[Unknown]

Right.

[Natalie]

And that's kind of where the RICO of it all comes in. Right. Because those are charges that I, in my head most associate with, like organized crime or like the mafia or something.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes. This is why we've heard from multiple former assistants, people who are on the ground and can say, oh, the security team were the people who gave him money to pay the escorts and I carried his drugs. This is sort of the, the story that the government is laying out via its witnesses.

[Natalie]

So what's the defense saying?

[Sean Satarro]

So the defense haven't yet gotten to what is called their case in chief, meaning sort of the affirmative things they want to say about this situation. But you can tell via their questioning where they're going. The gist of it is they're saying Diddy is guilty of domestic violence. Yes, he's guilty of abuse. They're sort of admitting everything they can't deny. Right. But guess what? He's not charged with being a bad person. He's not even charged with domestic abuse. He's charged with these very specific crimes and he didn't do that. So let's take, say the buying of supplies for these freak offs. Right?

[Natalie]

The loads of bottles of lube.

[Sean Satarro]

Yeah. You. If you use corporate funds to buy, you know, Astroglide and Johnson's and Johnson's Baby Oil, that's showing that your businesses are set up to do these crimes. What Diddy's side is sort of implying, and at this point it's all implication, they haven't yet really spelled it out, is no, he just used his black card for everything. His wallet was A driver's license and a black card. So of course all of the funds came from this. It didn't mean he was trying to use the resources of his business to do all this stuff. It's just all the money came from this one pot and was sorted out later.

[Natalie]

So first of all, where's the trial taking place?

[Sean Satarro]

So the trial is taking place in downtown Manhattan at a federal courthouse there. And it is just an absolute mob scene. Super long line. People were, were and still are actually paying line holders to get there for them the night before or sometimes the afternoon before to make sure they're far enough in line to get into.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God. Like reporters or just people who want to see. Is it an open court?

[Sean Satarro]

Mostly reporters and YouTubers. There may be people, you know, who are just observing who do. But it's hundreds of dollars a day, so, you know, just the characters who are there. The time that someone started swinging a 2 by 4 wildly at the line before people went in in the morning, like, everyone was fine. Everyone was fine. It is a wild thing. And I'm glad that I have the rest of sort of regular crew of media folks to go through with it to reassure me that, yes, I really am seeing this.

[Natalie]

So, I mean, you walk into the courtroom like, what does it look like? Let's talk about that day of Cassie's testimony that you saw.

[Sean Satarro]

Sure. So going in there, it holds, I don't know, maybe 100 people or so. It's not a packed thing. It can be a very tense and emotional environment. Like, even though no one's really talking, you can get a sense of how people are feeling in the same way you can in any mass gathering, I.

[Natalie]

Would say, I imagine, especially with Cassie's testimony because some of the things that she alleges were really, really horrible. She alleged a number of assaults in intense detail of Diddy beating her up, throwing luggage at her, kicking her in the back hard enough to leave a big bruise.

[Sean Satarro]

Saw photos of that. Yep.

[Natalie]

Oh, yeah. Do you want to talk me through some of the other allegations?

[Sean Satarro]

I mean, one of the most indelible moments was they did spend a lot of time on the. The video that CNN eventually got of the Intercontinental Hotel.

[Natalie]

So that's her. That. That kind of. That we all saw of her sort of getting dragged down.

[Vanessa]

Combs can be seen grabbing Ventura and.

[Natalie]

Throwing her to the ground.

[Sean Satarro]

As Ventura lies on the ground, Combs then kicks her twice and attempts to drag her on the floor back to the hotel room. Yes. Cassie on the stand watching it and being Asked questions about it. And it really was just a very intense emotional thing, more even just for the experience of watching it than her reaction. Right. She, I think, had been pretty well coached on what to expect. And so it wasn't a watch it and burst into tears necessarily. Right.

[Natalie]

What were they asking her?

[Sean Satarro]

It was a lot of verification. Who is this? This is you. Who is this? This is Sean Combs. What was he doing here?

[Natalie]

Just kind of beat by beat.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes.

[Natalie]

What's the juror's reaction during this?

[Sean Satarro]

By and large, they're turned away. So it's hard a lot of times to get a. To get a beat on that. But ultimately, as the trial went on, you heard about the same alleged assault from different people. Right. I think in one case, you know, there was a time where Diddy supposedly pushed Cassie down on the floor into the corner of a bed frame that caused a gash on her eyebrow that she said she still has a scar from. And, you know, so far we've heard about that event from three different people.

[Natalie]

Like bodyguards or assistants or who?

[Sean Satarro]

Like. Yeah, assistants. Basically the stylist and the assistant slash friend. Right. And Cassie herself.

[Natalie]

I mean, I think that's what was so startling about that video. Is that it? So rarely in domestic violence cases are there any witnesses, because they happen in the. In the home, and it's so rare that other people see that. So seeing that footage was shocking and horrifying. And then I'm sure also like, yeah, these other instances, assistants talking about them is also further confirmation. What are the other core parts of her allegations?

[Sean Satarro]

Yeah, so the core parts basically have to do with coercion. Right. This, this. This idea that she was coerced into stuff and control. Right. So this idea that by being not only her boyfriend, but her label boss, she's saying Diddy exercised almost complete control over her life. Right. Where what she was doing day to day, who she was spending time with, where she could go, what she could do. And it was via a bunch of means, including financial control. Right. That he had control over her record contract. One assistant testified to a conversation with Cassie where she talked about how she got an allowance from Diddy. She and other people have said if he got mad at her, he would take away her phone and her car and he paid for her apartment. And so there was leverage there. People have testified that he often threatened to release sex tapes of her, which, you know, he wouldn't be in because they were with escorts, so he would be protected.

[Vanessa]

Oh, right.

[Natalie]

Because the freak offs are him watching her with Other.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes.

[Natalie]

Men.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes, yes. So, you know, she once sent a panicked email to her mother saying he's threatening to release two sex tapes because he's mad I'm dating someone else. So elements of control. Basically, she's saying he coerced her again hundreds of times into these sexual encounters with escorts and would even tell her at what time to do drugs during them in order to keep her awake. You know, take, take the ecstasy now kind of thing is sort of how.

[Natalie]

She painted the picture and Yeah, I mean, control right down to what color nail polish she.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes, yes, right. Getting ready for these things would be a day long process of the tan and the salon and this that he wanted her to have only white fingernails with French tips. He was demanding, even down to the tiniest detail. Not to mention the encounters themselves, which I don't know, you know, if this is a family show or not, but.

[Natalie]

It'S not a family show. But yeah, let's just say details of who to touch, who when and what.

[Sean Satarro]

To do when and what to do with various fluids afterwards as well, which was a notable and horrific detail.

[Natalie]

Oh, I mean, it's just so disgusting. I think it's worth reminding listeners, like, how did Diddy arrive in her life?

[Sean Satarro]

So this is another thing that is sort of being painted two different ways by each side. Right. In Cassie's telling, she was young, I think about 19 when they met and 21 when they started dating and relatively naive to the larger record business and the entertainment industry when she met him and, you know, began dating him and, and fell in love and then sort of all of this followed from that. The defense has spent a lot of time talking about her modeling career as a teenager. You know, she was in catalogs and this and that, you know, starting around like 14, 15. And so they're, they're saying, look, you already had some money from modeling and oh, before you met Diddy, didn't you date this producer and musician ryan Leslie for three years? And wasn't he 10 years older than you? So maybe you weren't so intimidated by a man 17 years older than you because you already had dated an older man for a while and like, maybe you weren't quite as naive as you were getting out.

[Vanessa]

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[Natalie]

So another major detail in this case has been the Kid Cudi part of it, who's another artist. And he also testified, right?

[Sean Satarro]

He did. I was honestly a little, you know, we found out I think the day before that he was testifying and I was honestly a little surprised, you know, knowing the sort of anti snitching prohibitions and all of this kind of stuff in his milieu, I was, I actually was a little bit surprised.

[Natalie]

Oh. Like it could be seen as snitching for him to testify against Diddy, Right. Oh, got it. Okay, so tell me what the kind of allegations to do with Kid Cudi are.

[Sean Satarro]

So Cudi and Cassie in, you know, again, the government's telling began dating in 2011 during a period at which Cassie and Diddy were broken up. And even then it was so secretive and Diddy was so controlling that Cassie went and got a burner phone at the urging of a friend slash assistant. She's dating Kid Cudi trying to somewhat do it on the sly. Diddy discovers this and gets extremely mad and violent towards her. And the way the government tells it is he breaks into Cudi's house while Cudi is not there. And then maybe a week and a half later, two weeks later, Cudi's car.

[Natalie]

Is firebombed and firebombed with a Molotov cocktail.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes, a sort of homemade Molotov cocktail. In what was one of the few light hearted moments of the trial. The bottle used for it was an OE40 and the wick used for it was some kind of designer scarf. I've heard Hermes scarf, but I cannot confirm or deny that. I haven't looked that closely at the photos.

[Natalie]

That's an amazing image, like a designer scarf coming out of a malt liquor bottle being used to blow up allegedly Kid Cudi's Porsche. So what did Kid Cudi testify?

[Sean Satarro]

So he came home and he saw that some Christmas presents that he had wrapped had been opened and that his dog, who normally has free reign of the house, had been locked in the bathroom.

[Natalie]

So the allegation is that Diddy broke into Kid Cudi's house.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes, went into Cudi's house uninvited. They had a phone conversation while Diddy was there. Cudi drove home.

[Natalie]

What did they, what was that conversation?

[Sean Satarro]

Just like, you're in my house. Yes, I am. Get here and, you know, we're get some tough, tough talk basically back and forth. And Cudi drove home fully intending to fight Diddy at some point along the line in his testimony. Wondered if Diddy was armed, thought the better of it, ended up calling the police. By the time they got there, Diddy was gone. And then, you know, I think that happened on December 22nd of 2011. He spends the holidays with Cassie, they break up. And then January 9th of the following year, I believe is when the car bombing happens.

[Natalie]

So that's Kid Cudi's testimony. And then after that the court heard from this anonymous victim.

[Sean Satarro]

We can call her Mia.

[Natalie]

Okay.

[Sean Satarro]

That's the pseudonym she's using. Yeah.

[Natalie]

So what's the deal with Mia and what are the allegations around her?

[Sean Satarro]

So Mia is a woman who started out as Diddy's assistant and then by the end was working also with a sort of nascent side of his business called Revolt Films. She was forced to work basically around the clock. And in fact, she talked about one time being on the clock for five days straight and not literally not allowed to sleep to the point where she was basically hysterically crying. And hallucinating.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God.

[Sean Satarro]

And the job seemed so. It just could be anything. She. There was an email. I'm just going to, for a second, read a excerpt of an email she wrote back in 2011 about the job of being an assistant. And she says he can ask you to do 17,000 things at one time that range from cracking his knuckles to writing his next movie to doing his taxes. He can also just have you standing next to him for 22 hours and not ask you one thing.

[Natalie]

Oh, my God, sounds like a Roman emperor. I mean, and I think what's so interesting about that is we as popular culture, like, we got little glimpses of that in various TV shows of it's like, oh, Diddy has somebody just to hold his umbrella. Like, whatever, whatever. And it was kind of painted in the past as these sort of foibles and eccentricities of this very wealthy, powerful man. And now, of course, we're seeing the other side of it.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes. And you know, one of the interesting things. And you know, Natalie, I'd be curious to hear your take on this. As a former business reporter yourself, it seems that at least this centimillionaire CEO was in this extreme bubble where every room he went to, someone had already been there to set it up exactly like he likes. Turn his toothpaste tubes facing the right way in the bathroom. You know, make sure he had the right brand of ketchup and applesauce at the ready for every meal he wakes up and someone has already nudged his private chef to start preparing him breakfast. Like just this very sort of. It's just coddled people at his beck and call. Yeah, Very coddled life. So I, you know, maybe we can talk later about how that matches up to CEOs maybe you've experienced in your, in your past career. Totally.

[Natalie]

I, I mean, I think it makes you a nightmare is the long and short of it is just every single one of your whims is being preemptively catered to. And I think even if stars, like, don't know that it's happening a lot of the time, that's how their publicists and assistants and everyone else justifies their paycheck. Like, I won't name the person, but I was on set with a very, very big A list actor. And I remember on his rider it was like, oh, he wants this coconut water. You know, I get there. He keeps us waiting for two and a half hours for a huge Forbes photo shoot. And his publicist runs up frantically and is like, this isn't the right coconut water. Like it needs to be the different brand of coconut water and it needs to be chilled. So we need to have the fridge here with the right brand of coconut water. And it's like, I don't think that this star is gonna throw a fit because it's a slightly different brand of coconut water. But anyway, it's a whole system that just. And it breeds you becoming more and more and more demanding.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes. And in fact there was a story involving water and one of the assistants actually who said, you know, did. He sent me out to buy a 1 gallon sort of PCR free. Is that the right terminology? Water bottle? You know, some like non dangerous plastic water bottle. Basically like a one gallon water bottle at Whole Foods. And he said, I get to Whole Foods, they don't have it. They have half gallon bottles. So I bought two half gallon bottles. I had this whole plan, he's drinking one, I'll refill the other. He'll never be without water. It'll be great. And he screamed in my face and threatened my job.

[Natalie]

Oh boy.

[Sean Satarro]

So sorry to get back to Mia. There's more serious stuff involving that.

[Natalie]

It's not just about.

[Sean Satarro]

Yeah, it's not just 20 hour days. It's a bunch of alleged assaults. She said one time Diddy slammed her arm in a door. She was around four times, including the bed frame incident with Cassie that we talked about. But there were also, she said, a number of alleged sexual assaults. In fact so many that she can't even recall them all. You know, could recall several in specificity. And then after that it was largely flashes attached to particular locations. So that was hearing her recount that was obviously a very. You could hear. This is, you know, a pin drop in the courtroom. Right. Very, you know, quiet, intense. She, her, her whole affect which the defense later said, not in front of the jury, but said that they thought it was an actual. Was very hesitant. And she said that she has complex PTSD and can't work as a result of, you know, her whole time with Diddy, not specifically the sexual assaults, although I'm sure that is part of it.

[Natalie]

What's Diddy's affect been through this whole thing?

[Sean Satarro]

I would say, you know, 80% of the time he is very engaged writing notes to his lawyers, little, you know, post it notes and passing it to them during direct or sometimes even during cross, when his lawyers are actively questioning, he'll pass notes, but usually when he's listening to someone testifying, being questioned by the government, you know, I, I don't want to say what he's thinking, but it seems to be in response to recounting of particular events. Almost like, well, ask him about this or you know, what happened, you know, I remember it this way. Or again, I don't know. But it seems to be in response to recounting of of individual events that he will then write a quick post it note and pass it to whomever. He will occasionally look pleased at his lawyer's cross examination. Sometimes he's been quiet. During sort of the most extreme moments, he's been very quiet and somber. It's again, I don't know what's in his mind. I don't know if he's putting his head in his hands. I think he did during one time when Mia was recounting the alleged sexual assaults. And who's to say why? Is it because he remembers the encounters differently? Or he's outraged that she's lying about something so big? Or he's ashamed? You know, who knows what it could be. But there are a few moments in particular when he seems to be very much in the moment and reacting rather than trying to plan and strategize.

[Vanessa]

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[Natalie]

I think one of the things some people watching this or listening to this might think is, well, why did these people stay for so long? Like, if there were assistants who saw Cassie being hit with a frying pan, you know, why would they not say something?

[Sean Satarro]

Sure. That obviously is something the defense is leaning into. Right? Particularly with Mia. A good chunk of the first half of her cross examination was just Brian Steele showing Instagram posts she had done of all the good times she had with Diddy and how much he was a mentor to her and how much he inspired her to follow her dreams and all this kind of stuff. So there's the why did you stick around? Argument, and then there's this related idea of but you said all this great stuff about him, Right? I think those two are kind of hand in hand that the defense is using. And I think that the answers vary somewhat witness to witness. But in a lot of cases, it seems his world was so all encompassing. Right. That the government is trying to help paint a picture of, if you work for him, you're around the same handful of people 20 hours a day. They're your whole world. No one is acting like this is weird or bad or there's anything abnormal. Your whole job is to protect Sean Combs and make his life easier. And also he is being portrayed as someone who blackmails people. Right. Not just Cassie with the release of sex tapes, but one of his former assistants testified that she wanted to work in the music business after her time with him and that he blacklisted her. She used the word blacklisted. Right. That in fact he enlisted prominent music business figures to warn her, hey, don't sue him for wrongful termination. Right. Bringing in extremely high level music business people to meet with her under false pretenses, ostensibly for a job, and to say, look, you better leave Diddy alone. This could be bad for you.

[Natalie]

Yeah. And. And something we haven't mentioned is kidnapping. Like, that's another accusation that's been lobbed around.

[Sean Satarro]

Sure, Capricorn Clark, again, another former assistant who testified, who was around Diddy for a number of years, on and off for, I believe it might have even been like 14 years, on and off with some breaks here and there. She's also very close with Cassie, and she talked about a being kidnapped around the Kid Cudi incident. Basically, that Diddy, you know, and her telling Diddy forced her into a car and to drive to Kid Cudi's house and wait in the car while he breaks into Cudi's house. Right, because she is the one who knew about Cassie's relationship with Cudi and didn't tell him.

[Natalie]

And this is the time of the dog and the unwrapping Christmas present.

[Sean Satarro]

Exactly. Exactly. Yes. That Diddy found out about it via. It was like a text or an email on Capricorn's phone or something. He blamed her for not telling him about this. This relationship. Right. And Capricorn does admit to it. She said, I'm the one who told Cassie to buy a burner phone and you better go hiking with Kid Cudi here, this place in Hollywood instead of this place, because place one is too public and people are going to see you. And as punishment, she says Diddy kidnapped her and forced her to take part in this burglary. Showed up at her house armed and sort of ranting and disheveled. The other, you know, alleged kidnapping was some jewelry went missing. And she says one of Diddy's bodyguards led her into an office building, an abandoned office building in Manhattan. They locked the door from the outside, and she was forced to take eight hours of lie detector tests with threats that, like, you better pass this or you'll end up in the East River.

[Natalie]

Like, the allegation being that she'd like saying that she'd stolen the jewelry.

[Sean Satarro]

She'd stolen it. Yeah. And then that happened five days in a row. She gets taken to the spot, locked in workday's worth of lie detector tests, let go, you're taken back the next morning. That. That happened for five days before it was dropped.

[Natalie]

That is this.

[Unknown]

This.

[Natalie]

This is the Sopranos. Like, what? That's crazy.

[Sean Satarro]

Yeah. And I think this will come up in the protecting his reputation piece. Right. Did he use his businesses for the purpose of. Among other things, to commit crimes in the service of protecting his reputation. Right. I'm not the chump who gets my jewelry stolen. Totally.

[Natalie]

And there's. I mean, there's also so many. We haven't even talked about all the guns that are a part of this. And I'm sure, that is going to come up. But let's just to go back to Diddy for a second. Is he going to testify?

[Sean Satarro]

So we don't have the defense witness list yet. In fact, we only get the prosecution's witnesses at the end of the day, the day before. Right. Court ends usually around three, sometimes closer to four, but like, you know, several minutes before ending, they will say, oh, and tomorrow the witnesses are going to be X, Y and Z. That said, I would be extremely surprised if, if Sean Combs takes the stand. It is not usual for defendants to testify in. In big cases, they have a lot to lose. The burden of proof is on the government. Right. It's not on them. They don't have to prove that he didn't do something beyond a reasonable doubt. The government has to prove that he did do something beyond a reasonable doubt. And with, by his own admission, decades of bad actions. I don't think they want to risk him being under the penalty of perjury, having to talk about, you know, whatever other things in his past. They may bring up stuff we know about then or stuff we don't.

[Natalie]

Yeah. I mean, and he's pled not guilty. Like, that's.

[Sean Satarro]

Yes, he's. He's pled not guilty to all of this stuff. Yep. And again, his, his team's defense thus far has been, yes, he did a lot of awful things, but those awful things don't correspond with the crimes he's being charged with in this case.

[Vanessa]

Right, right.

[Natalie]

And so, I mean, this isn't the first case that you've been in the courtroom for at length. And not even the first hip hop related case.

[Sean Satarro]

Not the first hip hop RICO case, actually.

[Natalie]

Yeah, there you go.

[Sean Satarro]

So there have been ones that I've seen in part Taxtone, Jam Master J R Kelly, things like that. But the one that I saw from sort of tip to tail, as it were, was the Tekashi 6ix9ine case. Tekashi 6ix9 was facing 37 years in prison after pleading guilty to numerous counts of racketeering, firearm offenses, and drug trafficking. That was obviously different for a number of reasons. One being that he was not the one on trial. Right. He was a. He was a cooperating witness in that.

[Natalie]

He was famously a snitch.

[Sean Satarro]

He was famously a snitch. The rapper has been working with the feds as part of a plea deal. He was called out as a snitch online for that fellow rapper Snoop Dogg even went as far as to compare him to Martha Stewart, who spent five months in Prison for insider trading. Yes, yes. Right. So the dynamics were a little different. And as a racketeering case, it was interesting for me to see because as you mentioned, racketeering was designed initially to target the Mafia. It has for several decades now largely been used against street gangs. Now that the mafia is sort of less of an all encompassing presence than it was say in the 1960s and 70s. One thing about street gangs, or at least the particular street gang at issue in the, in the Tekashi case is, you know, you can argue about how real this is, but they certainly believed it was real. It had a very distinct organization. Right. This person was a five star general, this person was a three star general, very literally organized in that sense. Whereas with Diddy's organization, so far as we've heard, there were like people in certain roles, but it was like there were a couple security people, there were a lot of assistants, there was like a chief of staff, and a lot of these people kept cycling in and out there. There isn't quite the defined hierarchy that there is in mafia and some street gang cases.

[Natalie]

Right, right, right. I mean, how is this different to other cases that you've covered?

[Sean Satarro]

The scale, obviously, sort of the press attention and it. But I think also, you know, the, the scope of, of the things. I mean, you're dealing with, you know, a centimillionaire, right? Someone who I believe at one point on paper was a billionaire. So, you know, you're dealing with someone who has what seem like effectively limitless resources with which to allegedly exert their control over whoever they wanted, girlfriends, assistants, whomever. So that's definitely seeing that side of things. And again, a high powered CEO and entertainer's life from the inside is, has been just very different for me.

[Natalie]

When is this going to end?

[Sean Satarro]

The judge is trying very hard to have this case over before July 4th. He has mentioned that date multiple times. That seems to be mostly for the jury's sake. Right. This is a lot to ask anyone to do, right? To take eight to 10 weeks off from your life essentially, but also to keep it secret, including from your family, and also to not hear anything about this case for eight to 10 weeks while it's going on, which seems impossible. Like I, I went to a friend's birthday party last night and the next thing I know I'm hearing like, man, let me tell you this, one time I went to a party at Diddy's house on Star island, and here's what it was like, you know, like you can't. Anytime someone susses out you have anything to do with this? It's what was it like? Here's what I think. And I think even just walking down the street, you're sort of, you know, subjected to it. So it is a lot of pressure on the jury in a number of ways. And the judge seems very conscious of that without getting in the way of the defense presenting the best case. Again, he seems to be fighting very hard to keep it on the projected schedule that was presented to him before all this started, which was in the 8 to 10 week ish range.

[Natalie]

You're exactly right. It's the kind of case where everyone has an opinion. I was listening to a podcast the other day where they're like, people have a feeling that very often powerful rich men are able to get away with things and not face time. And you know, this person was sort of saying, oh, I think he's going to get away with it. I think he's going to be going to get off. And that will be such a shame, but I think he's going to get off. I mean, what do you think? I'm asking you to play fortune teller a little bit, but what are you expecting?

[Sean Satarro]

So I will say as far as like the scuttlebutt in the courtroom, right, people have different opinions and I've heard things that are contradictory to this. But early on, as of, you know, maybe the second week, the general sort of scuttlebutt seemed to be that the charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution were sort of closer to being proved than the racketeering. If you had to sort of take everyone's opinions that I have heard and meld them into one or average them out, that would, I think as of a week ago, have been the average. Now, will that change as more witnesses are presented over the next four weeks? Possibly, maybe. But that, that thus far, if I had to kind of average out everyone's opinions, I think that's sort of what I've heard.

[Unknown]

All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening to Infamous this week. I wanted to say a couple things about Diddy before we go. So if you're not that familiar with his bio, you know, he grew up in New York. He was the son of a hustler. His dad was actually killed when he was an infant. He went to Howard University, the incredible African American University in Washington, D.C. and from there he became an A and R guy at Uptown Records and a party promoter, basically. And he worked his way up from there. But he actually told Rolling Stone many years ago, 2006. He said that he believed that his internal self, his real self, was like, really quiet, really childlike, that he never lost his child, and that if you look in his eyes, you will see a fucking child in there. He said that he actually was a bedwetter as a child until he was six years old. And he had a hard time even going on a sleepover. He was just like, no, what I do not want to be at these other people's house. It just. His whole thing he said, is he doesn't like to be embarrassed. That's the number one thing that he doesn't like. But this has been incredibly embarrassing and obviously much more than that for him. He, I think, could potentially go to prison for life. He wasn't let out on bail. If you remember, when he was arrested, he went straight to jail. He has not been out since then, and I am not sure that he's going to see the light of day. He wouldn't have gone to trial if they had made a good proffer to him. So maybe they told him, you know, 40 years and he figured, you know what? I'll be an old man, then I'm just gonna take my chances. And what we also know about him, in addition to the fact that, you know, Biggie died under mysterious circumstances, his ex wife, Kim Porter, died of pneumonia at 49 years old. There's probably a lot of things that are uncharged that could have been looked into by the federal government. He used to like to call him a man of war, and wow, he's in a fight for his life because the things that are charged are repulsive. And he sounds like he abused these people. You can certainly ask the questions that the defense is asking, which is like, you know, does it cross to the level of sex trafficking? But what we do know is that the shiny clean image of, you know, the boy who'd been made good, who was rap's number one empresario, that that all a lie, and that everything that was happening behind the scenes was, as the Fed said, it was potentially racketeering. It was potentially stuff like a mobster would do. Anyway, it's gonna be, you know, a few more weeks before the trial is over at least, and we'll be watching and seeing where this all goes. In some ways, it's amazing to see somebody brought to justice for what they did. I don't think anybody who watched that video with Cassie where he beats her up in the hallway cannot feel happy that this man is on trial. So even if you don't go for, you know, yeah, let's lock up all the criminals. I think this is a person that people do feel some satisfaction that he has to answer for this stuff after so many years of keeping it behind the curtain. So thanks so much to Natalie and to Sean Citarro for being on Infamous this week to talk about the trial and I wanted to just tell you guys where you can find Sean. So he's been covering the trial for complex, which is complex.com that has everything. Instagram also has some wrap up videos for him and you can find him on Twitter. So his name is Sean S H A W N which we all know is not always the spelling. Sometimes it's the spelling, other times it's not the spelling. So sertaro, we will have a link where you can find Sean and his coverage in the show notes. So thanks so much and we will see you next week with a whole new episode. Thanks again.

[Natalie]

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a rating and review and tell your friends. If you want to follow me on Instagram, you can find me at Natrobe. That's N A T R O B E. And if you want to support Vanessa's work, you can buy her book Blurred Lines Rethinking Sex, Power and Consent on Campus. See you next week.