Sean “Diddy” Combs is footing the legal bills for the woman currently testifying against him in his sex trafficking trial.
“Jane,” a woman who dated Combs from 2021 to 2024, said on the witness stand that Combs helped her hire the lawyer she is currently represented by, and that Combs is still paying for said lawyer. Jane admitted on Friday that Combs also continues to pay her $10,000 rent in Los Angeles.
Jane is alleging Combs coerced her into having days-long, drug-fueled sex parties with male escorts. She said she repeatedly told Combs she did not want to have sex with other men, but that when she expressed these concerns, Combs threatened to stop paying her rent and threatened to release footage of these sex parties.
When Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles were raided by the FBI in March 2024, a homeland security agent visited Jane’s residence as well, leaving a business card. At that point, Combs hooked Jane up with his lawyers, eventually hiring her own lawyer. (Jane testified that she has never sued Combs or sent him a demand letter asking for money.)
Jane dated Combs up until his arrest in the fall of 2024. She testified that they continued to have “hotel nights,” otherwise known as “freak-offs,” after his homes were raided in March 2024.
Jane continued seeing Combs after Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a bombshell civil lawsuit in November 2023, accusing him of sexual assault and physical abuse. Jane said she was with Combs in Miami when CNN published the surveillance footage from 2016 that depicts Combs beating Ventura in a hotel hallway.
Asked where she was when she saw the video, Jane said, “I was at a table about to eat breakfast, but I lost my appetite.” She and Combs did not speak about the violence shown in the video until more than a month later, but he showed Jane a draft of his now-deleted public apology video. The audio of that video, in which Combs called his behavior “inexcusable,” was played in court.
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Jane’s testimony will continue throughout the week. Combs is pleading guilty to charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence in prison.
From Variety US