Embattled rapper, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
After hearing from three witnesses Wednesday, the jury in the Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal racketeering and sex-trafficking trial was dismissed for the day. Here’s what they heard after their lunch break:
Dawn Hughes, psychologist
Dawn Hughes, a board-certified clinical and forensic psychologist, testified as a “blind expert” and provided the jury with information about domestic violence, sexual assault and traumatic stress.
Before the lunch break, Hughes testified that it’s common for victims to stay in abusive relationships, that many victims will wait months, even years, before telling someone what happened to them, and that a trauma bond can make a victim unwilling to leave, among other information about intimate partner violence.
Defense attorney Jonathan Bach characterized Hughes as a biased professional witness and asked Hughes about training she gave to victim advocates who may need to testify in court. Hughes said she believes the group she was speaking to received a grant from the Department of Justice under the Violence Against Women Act.
When Bach asked if she had ever testified in the defense of a man accused of a sex crime, she confirmed saying, “I don’t evaluate offenders.”
Bach asked Hughes about six meetings she had with prosecutors concerning her testimony, some of which have been since the trial started. Hughes and the prosecution have maintained that prosecutors have not discussed specifics of the case with her.
Assistant US Attorney Mitzi Steiner confirmed that Hughes has been retained as an expert witness by one of Combs’ defense attorneys in another case, Brian Steel. Bach said she’d worked with Steel but didn’t testify as a witness in the case.
George Kaplan, former executive assistant to Combs
George Kaplan, a former executive assistant to Combs, invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify earlier today on the grounds of potential self incrimination, but Judge Arun Subramanian indicated he was going to sign an immunity order that would require Kaplan to testify.
Kaplan testified he worked 80 to 100 hours a week, once working from the morning until 7 a.m. the next day. He said he was paid about $125,000, and communicated with Combs daily, exchanging texts, calls, and emails multiple times a day about things he needed, which could include “clothing or potentially food from somewhere, or drugs or liquor or an iPad or a speaker.”
Kaplan testified Combs threatened his job almost monthly, once getting in his face for not getting the right thing from the store.
When Combs traveled to various destinations such as New York, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, DC and Orlando, Kaplan would either fly on Combs’ private jet with him or fly in advance on a commercial flight to set up Combs’ hotel room. Kaplan said he was given a bag that had clothes, a speaker, candles, liquor, baby oil, and lubricant in it. Thereafter, he bought the same items on his corporate card to prepare Combs’ room.
Kaplan said he came to understand part of his role was protecting Combs’ image. Kaplan’s understanding was that Combs would have guests or a female partner join him in the hotel rooms, Kaplan testified. After Combs left a hotel room, Kaplan would enter and pack up Combs’ belongings and tidy the place up, Kaplan testified.
Typically there’d be sports drink bottles, liquor bottles and baby oil strewn around the hotel room after Combs left, Kaplan said. On one occasion he cleaned up a “brown crystallized powder” off a countertop, Kaplan testified.
Kaplan testified he picked up drugs for Combs with cash he gave him, once in Miami and once in Los Angeles. One time, he picked up MDMA, and the other time he didn’t know what substance it was, he testified.
Kaplan will continue testifying on direct examination Thursday.
Kid Cudi expected to testify tomorrow
Prosecutors plan to call five witnesses after George Kaplan tomorrow.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey said she expects them to be relatively short witnesses and signaled that they could finish the day early.
Kid Cudi — the rapper who had a brief relationship with Cassie Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend — is scheduled to testify after Kaplan tomorrow morning.
Ventura, who is the prosecution’s star witness, testified last week that she endured physical and sexual abuse from Combs and detailed how he orchestrated drug-fueled sex performances called “Freak Offs.”
Federal charges:
Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that include racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to life in prison.
