This is a free article for Diddy on Trial newsletter subscribers. Sign up to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs’ federal trial.
Today, the jurors in Diddy’s trial heard more emotionally wrenching testimony from a woman identified only by the pseudonym “Jane.” She’s one of Diddy’s ex-girlfriends — and one of four alleged victims at the center of the U.S. government’s racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking case against the music mogul.
Jane told jurors that Diddy forced her to participate in “hotel nights” — sexual encounters with male escorts that made her feel debased. “You treat me like an animal,” Jane said she told him in 2023. She described violent abuse, saying he once put her in a chokehold and punched her in the head. He then forced her to take drugs and perform oral sex on an escort, she told jurors.
Jane’s testimony is part of prosecutors’ effort to show that Diddy orchestrated a sprawling criminal enterprise to “fulfill his sexual desires.” He has denied all the charges.
Here’s what else you need to know:
- Two years ago, according to prosecutors’ exhibits, Jane texted Diddy that she didn’t want to be “used and locked in a room to perform and fulfill your fantasies.” The same day, she told him she didn’t want to fly to New York to “be a hoe for the millionth time” in a hotel room. Jane said she felt obliged to “perform” sex acts that made her feel “disgusting” in part because Diddy paid her rent.
- Jane said she fainted after Cassie Ventura, another one of Diddy’s ex-girlfriends, filed a lawsuit accusing him of rape and sexual abuse during a 10-year on-and-off relationship. Jane said she was struck by the similarities between their two accounts. “I feel like I’m reading my own sexual trauma,” Jane texted Diddy in 2023.
- Jane described her suicidal ideation at the end of her relationship with Diddy, adding she told him she would kill herself. In text messages, she told him she believed he would “use” and “break” her. When prosecutor Maurene Comey asked why she sent those texts, Jane cried so hard that it was difficult to understand her answer.
- In late 2023, Diddy threatened to release sex tapes of Jane and show them to her child’s father, she testified. Jane texted Diddy’s then-chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, and begged her to “talk some sense” into him, according to prosecutors’ exhibits. Khorram assured Jane “he’s not going to do anything,” Jane said.
🔎 The view from inside
By Adam Reiss, Chloe Melas and Katherine Koretski
Jane, facing another grueling day of questions, grew visibly anguished at key moments.
Her voice cracked as she told jurors about a night in 2023 when, she said, she was instructed to meet Diddy at the Trump International Hotel & Tower New York and directed to have sex with a male escort. She wiped away tears as she recalled telling Diddy she didn’t want to have sex with other men anymore. She sobbed as she recounted her reaction to Ventura’s allegations against Diddy.
Diddy, wearing khaki pants and what appeared to be a white long-sleeve shirt, seemed engaged in the day’s testimony. He leafed through documents in a folder this morning and regularly leaned over to chat with defense attorney Teny Geragos throughout the day. He appears to have lost considerable weight in federal detention.
Diddy’s mother, Janice Combs, sat in the gallery. When she entered court, her son mouthed four words in her direction: “I love you, Mommy.”
👨⚖️ Analysis: Far from ordinary lives
By Danny Cevallos
Jane testified today that last year she joined the OnlyFans platform, a site frequently used to create explicit content for paid subscriptions. There’s nothing wrong with a government witness creating explicit content. Indeed, the witnesses who cooperate with the government are often outright criminals. Moreover, the jury will be instructed about how to assess the credibility of a witness, and the jury instructions make no distinction among sex workers, doctors or astronauts.
Credibility is determined by the jurors, and they have few limitations on their ability to make that determination. So even though they shouldn’t discount Jane’s testimony because she was on OnlyFans, they still might.
Jane said she joined OnlyFans because she “wanted to reclaim having my independence and not rely on anyone and stand on my own two feet.” While the jury shouldn’t discount her testimony because she may have been an OnlyFans content creator, it might discount it if it finds her reason for joining OnlyFans to be not very credible.
One juror might think there are other jobs that would allow someone to “stand on their own two feet.” Then again, it’s entirely possible that the jury could find reclaiming one’s independence to be a perfectly acceptable, normal reason to join OnlyFans as a content creator.
No matter what, though, one theme of the government’s witnesses who escaped Diddy’s orbit is that they all lived lives that regular folks have a hard time identifying with.
🗓 What’s next
Tomorrow: “Jane” is expected to return to the stand.
BTW: Every night during Diddy’s trial, NBC’s “Dateline” will drop special episodes of the “True Crime Weekly” podcast to get you up to speed. “Dateline” correspondent Andrea Canning chats with NBC News’ Chloe Melas and special guests — right in front of the courthouse. Listen here.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
