Diddy trial recap: Ex-girlfriend Jane’s explicit texts read out in court as she testifies about “hotel nights” and drug use

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs as it resumes in New York on Tuesday.

Combs is facing sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy charges.

He was arrested in September 2024 as federal authorities alleged he threatened, abused and coerced victims “to fulfill his sexual desires” between 2004 and 2024.

Combs has denied any accusations of wrongdoing.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s ex-girlfriend “Jane” will return to the witness stand on Tuesday for cross-examination after three days of testimony.

Jane, who dated Combs from 2021 to 2024 and is testifying under a pseudonym, said she felt Combs was paying her rent as “leverage” to control her during their relationship. Jane also accused Combs of treating her “like an animal” after years of “hotel nights,” according to texts shown in court from October 2023.

Jane previously testified that “hotel nights” involved her having sex with other men at Combs’s direction. These could last several hours, with one lasting more than three days, she previously testified.

Jane also testified that she fainted after reading Cassie Ventura’s 2023 civil lawsuit against Combs. Jane said it felt like reading her “own sexual trauma.”

Here’s Kelly Rissman’s report on Monday’s distressing testimony.

Judge Arun Subramanian has also said he will address the defense’s latest mistrial filing on Tuesday morning, alleging prosecutorial misconduct over witness Bryana Bongolan’s testimony claiming that Combs dangled her from a 17th-story balcony, which Combs’s attorneys say was “demonstrably false.”

The judge will rule once prosecutors have had an opportunity to respond.

Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro accused Bongolan, a long-term friend of Ventura’s, of perjury, pointing to hotel receipts indicating that Combs was actually in New York, not Los Angeles, on the dates the witness cited.

“The government knew or should have known this testimony was perjured, and that Ms Bongolan could not possibly have been injured by Mr Combs on a Los Angeles balcony in the early morning hours of September 26, or even the day before that,” Shapiro wrote in a complaint over the weekend alleging prosecutorial misconduct.

Defense lawyers also pushed for a mistrial last month, without success, after prosecutors tried to ask about the destruction of fingerprint evidence related to an arson investigation into a torched sports car owned by the rapper Kid Cudi.

Prosecutors allege that Combs coordinated the firebombing of the car after Cudi began dating Ventura.

Here’s Kelly Rissman’s report on Bongolan’s testimony.

As we await the start of today’s proceedings, let’s recap another of the key moments of last week’s testimony pertaining to “Jane.”

She revealed on Friday that Diddy bought her “new teeth” and is still paying rent for her home as part of a “love contract” she made with the music mogul.

Here’s more from Kelly Rissman.

Also last week, “Mia,” Diddy’s former assistant, tearfully explained, with her head hung low, that sharing the alleged sexual abuse she says she endured from her former boss had been “the worst thing” she has ever had to discuss.

“I can’t look my nieces or my goddaughter in the eyes and ever advise them if they were in this situation,” she said.

Here’s Ariana Baio’s report.

The comedian and actor was appearing at a Netflix event at The Comedy Store in West Hollywood to discuss his recent special What Had Happened Was… ahead of Emmy voting season when he made the comment.

“That Diddy s*** crazy, huh?” Foxx said.

“I don’t know if he’s going to jail but he’s a nasty motherf***er! Am I right? Especially for our community. White people, it’s cool, but for Black people, like, that was our hero! All that goddamn baby oil, boy.”

Kevin EG Perry has more.

The rapper has vowed to make Donald Trump “aware” of his thoughts about Combs after the president was asked about the possibility of his granting clemency and he answered: “Nobody’s asked, but I know people are thinking about it. First of all, I’d look at what’s happening, and I haven’t been watching it too closely… I haven’t seen him. I haven’t spoken to him in years.”

Incensed, 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, voiced his opinion on the matter on Instagram on Friday, saying: “He said some really bad things about Trump. it’s not ok. Im gonna reach out so he knows how I feel about this guy.”

Kelly Rissman has more.

Combs’s sex trafficking trial reportedly has some celebrities so nervous about the prospect of being called to testify that they’ve hired lawyers to try to prevent it.

Ariana Baio has the story.

The Real Time With Bill Maher sparked an outcry recently after joking about the trial, saying of the defendant: “Diddy is a bad dude, really bad. And we should lock him up and throw away the baby oil.”

But it was his comments on the post-MeToo landscape that really raised eyebrows.

Caitlin Hornik reports.