MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The trial of Sean Combs is underway in New York City.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The rapper, producer and businessman known as Diddy faces charges that include sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Combs has been in custody since September. He was in court yesterday as both the prosecution and the defense laid out their opening statements to jurors.
MARTIN: NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento was there, too, and she's with us now. And here is where I want to let you know that we are about to discuss allegations of sexual assault, and that might be uncomfortable for some. That being said, Isabella, good morning.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So tell us what happened on the first official day of this trial.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: It was a very busy day. The courtroom was completely packed. Combs was seated at a table with his defense team. In the time since he's been in jail, his hair has gone gray. He smiled and blew kisses at his children, who sat and watched the proceedings. And once opening arguments started, there was a lot to take in. The prosecution alleged that Combs operated his businesses as a criminal enterprise to carry out and cover up a number of crimes, including arson, bribery and sex trafficking by coercion. They said Combs used his status and power to violently force two ex-girlfriends into a number of sexual acts they didn't want to partake in, and that he victimized his own employees through threats, kidnapping and even sexual assault.
The defense admitted that Combs has a temper and can be physical. But they argued that those ex-girlfriends were engaged in consensual yet toxic relationships that are unrelated to the 55-year-old's media, music and fashion companies. They called the allegations a money grab.
MARTIN: You also heard from the prosecution's first witnesses. What did they say?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah, two government witnesses took the stand. They were both asked to describe instances in which Combs allegedly behaved violently towards his ex-partner, the singer Cassie Ventura. So one revolved around a 2016 incident in a Los Angeles hotel. Many people have seen a surveillance video obtained and released by CNN last year that shows Combs kicking and dragging Ventura. The first witness was a former hotel security guard who responded to that altercation. He said Ventura had a, quote, "purple eye" when he arrived on the scene. Several angles of the video footage were shown in court. The second witness was a man who says he received money from Ventura in exchange for having sex with her while Combs watched. But he said he became scared and worried for his own safety and that of Ventura when he witnessed Combs attack her more than once.
MARTIN: So we're hearing that name quite a lot, Cassie Ventura. Is she the most important figure in the prosecution's case against Combs?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah, it seems that she's very central to this case. You might remember that she filed the first prominent civil lawsuit against Combs in the fall of 2023. He denied those allegations, and they settled out of court. But the behavior that she described in her lawsuit - allegations that Combs supplied her with drugs, beat her, forced her to have sex with male escorts - all of this was at the center of opening arguments. She's not the only alleged victim who will take the stand, but she's certainly the most well-known one. So we expect there will be a lot of attention on her when she does appear.
MARTIN: Do we know when that's going to be?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: The prosecution has not released an official schedule, but it appears that she'll be in the courtroom very, very soon. She's expected to describe how she met Combs as a teenager, signed to his record label and eventually began dating him, and how that relationship allegedly took an abusive turn. Combs' defense attorney, Teny Geragos, argued that Sean Combs is a complicated person, but this is not a complicated case and that he's not guilty of sex trafficking, transporting to engage in prostitution or racketeering conspiracy.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Isabella, thank you.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thank you.
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