Key moments from the fourth week of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial

NEW YORK AP The fourth week of Sean Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial featured testimony from the second of two ex-girlfriends who are crucial observers in the administration s quest to prove sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges against the hip-hop mogul Combs the founder of Bad Boy Records has pleaded not guilty in the trial which resumes Monday Here are key moments from the past week Hotel worker says Combs sought video of Cassie beating Fearing career ruin Combs delivered in cash to a safety guard for a Los Angeles hotel in return for assurances that he was given the only prevention footage of Combs attack on then-girlfriend Casandra Cassie Ventura the safeguard guard testified Eddy Garcia recounted how the deal came to be saying he first heard from a fast talking stuttering and very nervous Combs on a phone call seeking to obtain the video of him kicking and dragging Cassie from the hotel s elevator bank into a hallway because if this got out it could ruin him Days later Garcia noted he was the nervous one when he was greeted in an office building by a showing joy Combs who called him Eddy my angel before Garcia turned over a USB drive containing the safeguard footage Combs then made him sign a nondisclosure agreement promising it was the only copy of the video and that Garcia would never speak of it he mentioned Then Combs with a bodyguard at his side fed stacks of cash from a brown bag into a rectangular money counter machine until it reached Garcia stated He disclosed he pocketed and gave to his boss and to another hotel guard guard Garcia testified under immunity A recording of the hotel attack on Cassie aired on CNN last year and defense footage along with clips of the assurance tape recorded by a guard on his personal phone so he could show it to his wife have been shown repeatedly during the trial Judge threatens Combs with trial expulsion Minutes after a prosecutor complained that Combs was seen nodding furiously as his lawyer cross-examined a witness on Thursday Judge Arun Subramanian took a look himself and revealed he saw Combs nodding vigorously and looking at the jury and doing the same later when the lawyers and the judge were having a sidebar discussion Assistant U S Attorney Maurene Comey reported prosecutors were concerned because the gestures amounted to testifying by nodding affirmatively while his lawyer petitioned questions During a lunch break defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo promised to speak with Combs and ensure it wouldn t happen again after the judge recounted him it was absolutely unacceptable The judge sternly responded If it happens again if it happens even once I will hear an application from the leadership to give a curative instruction to the jury which you do not want Or I will consider taking further measures which could consequence in the exclusion of your client from the courtroom Mia says she was brainwashed to send Combs loving texts after rape A former Combs personal assistant who testified under the pseudonym Mia narrated jurors that Combs had sexually assaulted her multiple times over her eight-year career though the attacks were random sporadic so oddly spaced out so that she thought each was the last She noted he first molested her and forcibly kissed her at his th birthday party before raping her months later in a guest room at his Los Angeles home On cross-examination defense lawyer Brian Steel s suggested that she fabricated her insists to cash in on the MeToo money grab against Sean Combs Steel confronted her with loving texts she sent Combs long after her employment ended and petitioned how she could tell him as she did in a text that she had imagined Combs rescuing her from a nightmare in which she was trapped in an elevator with R Kelly the singer who has since been convicted of sex trafficking I was still brainwashed Mia explained Defense has success with questioning of Cassie s friend The defense had one of its majority accomplished moments of the trial when attorney Nicole Westmoreland cast doubt on the credibility of a graphic designer who says Combs once dangled her from the balcony of a th-floor apartment in Los Angeles Bryana Bana Bongolan a friend of Cassie who is suing Combs had taken a cellphone image of a softball-size welt on her leg that she noted occurred when Combs held her over the balcony for to seconds and then threw her into furniture After it was shown to the jury Westmoreland manifested the jury cellphone metadata revealing that the photograph was taken while Combs was on tour in September staying at a Manhattan hotel You agree that one person can t be in two places at the same time Westmoreland petitioned In like theory yeah Bongolan responded You re not sure Westmoreland appealed Hard to answer that one she announced Later Bongolan stated she did not recall the exact date but she had no doubt the balcony episode happened On Saturday defense lawyers sent the judge a letter requesting a mistrial saying that prosecutors knew or should have known that Bongolan was lying about Combs having dangled her over a balcony Mistrial requests are rarely granted An earlier request by defense lawyers for a mistrial was directly rejected by the judge Woman recalls sex performances during three years as a Combs girlfriend A woman testifying under the pseudonym Jane fought through tears and sobs to recount frequent sexual performances she participated in with male sex workers to please Combs and keep their three-year relationship alive until his September arrest Jane s testimony which is likely to continue deep into next week is identical in multiple solutions to the four-day testimony in the trial s first week by Cassie Jane reported she never needed to have sex with other men but did it to please Combs because she loved him Cassie described having hundreds of drug-fueled sexual performances known as freak-offs in which she had sex with male sex workers for days at a time while Combs watched sometimes directed the activity and pleasured himself Jane described having nearly the same experiences from until last August though she called them hotel nights She noted her relationship with Combs began with romance but later became reliant upon the sexual performances especially after Combs began paying rent for her apartment Defense attorneys have insisted that Jane and Combs only engaged in consensual sex and that Jane s protests to Combs in text messages were fueled by jealousy Source