Diddy Opening Statement Admits to Domestic Violence: Biggest Takeaways
The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs began in New York City on May 5 following his September 2024 arrest on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The process began with jury selection, which was finalized on May 12 before opening arguments started that same day. Diddy, 55, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied the allegations against him.
The music mogul appeared in court as jury selection started, wearing a sweater over a white collared shirt with gray pants, per the Associated Press. (Judge Arun Subramanian previously said that Diddy could wear casual clothing for the duration of the trial rather than his jail uniform.)
Before voir dire (preliminary juror examinations) began, Diddy turned down a plea deal, which might have shortened his potential prison sentence if he agreed to plead guilty. When the judge asked him on May 1 if he rejected the prosecution’s offer, Diddy replied, “Yes, I do.”
Diddy was arrested last year after numerous accusers came forward with allegations of sexual assault. In November 2023, his ex-girlfriend Cassie filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that he sexually and physically abused her during their relationship, which lasted off and on from 2007 to 2018. Diddy denied her claims, and the duo settled out of court one day later.
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In May 2024, CNN published a surveillance video from 2016 that showed Diddy kicking and grabbing Cassie, now 38, in a hotel. The rapper later apologized in an Instagram video, saying, “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. … I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
In April, prosecutors filed a motion saying that the person mentioned in the indictment under the alias “Victim-1” would be testifying under her own name. Multiple outlets reported at the time that “Victim-1” is Cassie, but she has not publicly confirmed her involvement in the trial.
Keep scrolling for daily updates from inside the courtroom:
May 5
As jury selection began, the judge opened with a joke about Diddy’s numerous nicknames and quipped that the list of potential jurors is as long as the famously extensive Lord of the Rings novels.
Us Weekly can confirm several potential jurors said they had seen news reports about the CNN video that showed Diddy hitting Cassie in 2016 while they were still dating. One woman described a still image from the video as “damning evidence” and was removed from consideration.
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At one point, Diddy also requested a bathroom break, per the AP, telling the judge, “I’m sorry, your honor, I’m a little nervous today.”
Multiple celebrities were named as people who might be mentioned during the trial, and potential jurors were asked to say whether they were familiar with them. Some of the names mentioned were Michael B. Jordan, Mike Myers, Kanye West, Kid Cudi and Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams, though it was not specified how they could be relevant to the proceedings.
May 6
As jury selection continued, the judge revised his line of questioning about celebrities, asking potential jurors whether they “personally know” them rather than if they’re just “familiar” with their names.
Throughout the day, the judge expressed “frustration” over receiving multiple prospective jurors with “clear issues,” leading to the dismissal of various people for a variety of reasons that included Crohn’s disease, hearing problems and one woman who described herself as a “very sensitive person” who once fainted at a teacher bringing up the topic of oral sex.
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May 7
During jury selection, one potential juror explained the concept of doom-scrolling to the judge, who replied, “I don’t really use social media.”
May 9
Agnifilo said in court that the defense team plans to say Cassie was abusive toward Diddy during their relationship. “I think we’re probably going to refer to that as domestic violence,” he told the court. The judge then indicated that he would decide on May 12 whether allegations of domestic violence will be admissible during the trial.
Cassie’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
May 12
After the jury was finalized, both sides delivered their opening statements, which revealed that allegations by Cassie and an unnamed Jane Doe will be the focus of the case. “This is Sean Combs,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson began. “But there is another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise … but he didn’t do it alone.”
The prosecution alleged that Diddy once “brutally” beat Cassie after allegedly finding out she’d been seeing another man and threatened her with videos of her having sex with other men. “That’s not the only time he kidnapped someone,” Johnson continued. “That’s not the first girlfriend he sexually assaulted.”
Johnson went on to claim that Diddy’s bodyguards and chief of staff “committed crimes together, and they covered up those crimes,” adding, “This case is not about a celebrity’s private sexual choices.”
She later addressed Diddy’s now-infamous freak offs, claiming they happened as often as once a week “and took place over multiple days at a time.” According to Johnson, Cassie once overdosed at a freak off where a sex worker urinated in her mouth. “She tried the first freak off because she loved the defendant and wanted to make him happy,” the lawyer continued. Jane Doe, meanwhile, allegedly believed the freak off she attended was a “one-time wild night.”
Cassie Will Be Focus of Diddy Trial, Government Says in Opening Statement
After Johnson’s statement, Diddy’s attorney Teny Geragos presented the defense’s opening argument, saying, “Sean Combs is a complicated man, but this is not a complicated case.”
Geragos claimed no witness will be able to back up the government’s racketeering charges because there was no racketeering conspiracy, but she admitted that her client has a history of violence.
“Sean Combs had a temper, and when he took drugs, he would get violent. My client is not proud of that,” she said. “We take full responsibility that there is domestic violence in this case. Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.”
She added that the jury will hear about Diddy’s “love of baby oil” before saying, “But is that a federal crime? No.”
Geragos also addressed Cassie and Jane Doe’s allegations, claiming, “Every witness in this case had free choice to make the choices they made.”
After opening statements, two different witnesses testified. The first, Israel Florez, a former security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in L.A., claimed he is the person who responded to a call about the alleged incident between Cassie and Diddy that was captured on surveillance video in 2016 and published by CNN in 2024. Florez testified that he found Diddy in a “devilish state,” while Cassie allegedly looked “scared.”
The second witness, Daniel Phillip, claimed he was hired to have sex with Cassie on multiple occasions while Diddy watched. Phillip claimed that he was paid anywhere from $700 to $5,000 or $6,000 to be intimate with Cassie while Diddy was present and “always sitting in a corner masturbating.”
Phillip also claimed that Diddy recorded these alleged sexual encounters on his phone “once or twice” and took a photo of Phillip’s driver’s license. “It’s just for insurance, just in case,” Phillip alleged Diddy told him, adding, “I understood it to [mean] that he was threatening me.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
