2025 Federal Trial

The court set expert-testimony limits, adopted a confidential juror-sidebar process, and addressed uncertainty over victim three's availability.

The court admonished defense counsel over a public podcast reference and directed caution in future statements.

The court resolved and deferred evidentiary issues involving a photograph, text-message completeness, an employee statement, and proposed cross-examination of victim 1.

A jury was sworn, both sides delivered opening statements, and former hotel security official Israel Florez and Daniel Phillip testified about events involving Sean Combs and Casandra Ventura.

Casandra Ventura testified about her relationship with Sean Combs, alleged control, freak-offs, and a Century City hotel incident as Daniel Phillip completed his testimony and the court resolved evidentiary and access issues.

Casandra Ventura continued direct testimony about alleged assaults, threats, freak-offs, treatment, and her civil settlement as the court addressed exhibit disclosure and Rule 412 issues.

The court issued a Rule 412 ruling before the jury returned, then Casandra Ventura's cross-examination continued through messages, recordings, drug use, secrecy, and her accounts of alleged incidents.

Casandra Ventura completed her testimony as the court resolved exhibit disputes. An HSI agent described the Park Hyatt search, and Dawn Richard began testimony before the court reserved an admissibility issue for Monday.

The court set testimony limits as Dawn Richard completed her testimony, Kerry Morgan testified, and David James began.

David James completed testimony; Regina Ventura and Sharay Dashawn Hayes testified, and an HSI agent began describing the Miami property search.

Gannon described search evidence and documentation limits; Hughes gave general trauma testimony; Kaplan testified after receiving immunity.

George Kaplan, Scott Mescudi, and Mylah Morales testified about events involving Cassie Ventura. Hotel records and laptop-extraction evidence followed, with the court ruling on disputed evidence.

Capricorn Clark completed testimony about lie-detector testing, the December 2011 trip to Scott Mescudi's home, and an alleged assault on Casandra Ventura. The court also ruled on testimony limits and addressed Sean Combs' access to counsel.

An arson investigator testified about a 2012 Porsche fire; the court struck fingerprint-card testimony and denied a mistrial motion before Deonte Nash described alleged threats and assaults involving Cassie Ventura.

The court resolved evidentiary disputes as Deonte Nash completed testimony and Mia began describing her employment and alleged abuse.

Mia's testimony continued as the court ruled on counsel access, summary exhibits, a late-produced video, and a scrapbook.

The court limited proposed video evidence as Mia's cross-examination continued, then heard Beverly Hills Hotel records testimony linking the Phillip Pines profile to Sean Combs.

Eddy Garcia testified about delivering surveillance video and receiving $100,000, while Derek Ferguson described company accounts and a 2011 wire to Casandra Ventura.

Video expert testimony addressed surveillance-footage limits before Bryana Bongolan testified about an alleged balcony incident; her cross-examination continued to the next morning.

The Court resolved exhibit-access and evidentiary disputes as Bongolan finished testimony, Santos described phone extractions, and Jane began testifying.

Jane testified about hotel nights, financial support, entertainers, and communications with Sean as the Court resolved evidence issues and requested briefing on Notes entries.

Jane testified about messages, hotel nights, recordings, and a June 2024 Los Angeles incident as the court addressed privilege concerns and scheduled argument on pending motions.

The court denied mistrial and evidentiary motions as Jane's cross-examination continued through relationship, financial-support, and communications evidence.

Jane continued cross-examination about hotel-night arrangements and relationship communications as the Court deferred juror and evidentiary rulings.

Jane completed cross-examination and redirect testimony about her relationship with Sean Combs, hotel nights, financial support, and a June 2024 confrontation. The court also ruled on proposed testimony and exhibits.

LaMon described the Mapleton search and firearms recovery, Perez testified about assistant work and king-night arrangements, and the court dismissed Juror No. 7.

The Court denied the requested Napue instruction, excused Juror No. 6, and heard summary-chart testimony subject to limits on record-based inferences.

The Court warned over a sealed-information disclosure and entered Brendan Paul’s immunity order as Special Agent DeLeassa Penland testified about government charts and a March 2016 timeline.

A juror's absence halted trial activity as the court provisionally addressed exhibit objections and preserved a charge objection.

Former assistant Brendan Paul described work for Sean Combs, including drug purchases, cash, and hotel-room tasks. HSI Agent Joseph Cerciello introduced selected-record charts after court rulings on a juror application, exhibits, and completing messages.

The court discussed the racketeering verdict form as Cerciello's testimony addressed selected records, videos, and chart limits.

Exhibit rulings, Cerciello's cross-examination, and the parties' decisions to rest ended the evidentiary phase as the court reserved decision on the Rule 29 motion.

The court finalized the verdict form and key jury instructions, removed an obstruction predicate, and set the closing-argument schedule.

The court finalized charge edits as the government delivered its closing argument on all five counts.

Defense and government closings concluded, followed by curative instructions and a Monday deliberations schedule.

Final instructions were delivered and the jury began deliberations, sending notes about a juror concern and the controlled-substances instruction.

The Court answered jury questions about the distribution element and requested testimony excerpts, then instructed continued deliberations after a partial-verdict note.

The jury returned unanimous verdicts, and the court denied Sean Combs's request for release pending sentencing while directing the parties to propose an expedited sentencing schedule.