Prosecutors at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ upcoming federal sex trafficking trial will be allowed to present jurors with hotel surveillance footage that shows the music mogul violently assaulting one of his accusers in a Los Angeles hallway, a judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian rejected efforts by Combs’ legal team to block the explosive video, saying its evidentiary value outweighs any risk of unfair prejudice to the 55-year-old defendant.
The ruling came during a pretrial hearing in New York City as the court set key parameters for the trial, which begins May 5.
According to an AP report, Combs appeared in court dressed in a yellow jail-issued uniform. His hair, once jet black, has turned mostly gray during his time at the Brooklyn federal detention center, where hair dye is not permitted. He has been held there since his arrest in September.
The video surfaced publicly only in May 2024 after CNN aired it. The network later submitted the footage to prosecutors following a subpoena.
Prosecutors have called the video “critical to the case.”
According to Combs’ indictment, he attempted to silence a hotel security staffer with a bribe to keep the incident under wraps. Cassie, who filed a now-settled lawsuit in November 2023 alleging years of abuse, claimed Combs paid $50,000 to obtain the footage.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. Prosecutors allege that over a span of years, he orchestrated a network of associates and employees to help him abuse women, coercing them into sexual acts while deploying threats, violence, and intimidation tactics such as blackmail, kidnapping, arson, and physical beatings.
Federal prosecutors say Combs exploited his fame and influence to lure women into drug-fueled, elaborately staged sexual encounters with male sex workers—ritualized events allegedly known among his inner circle as “freak offs.”
A superseding indictment filed earlier this month added two new charges, accusing Combs of forcing a woman into commercial sex acts between 2021 and 2024 through manipulation and intimidation.
Authorities expect four accusers to testify against him at trial.
Prosecutors believe the 2016 hotel assault shown in the footage occurred during one of these “freak offs.” Combs’ legal team has countered that the video depicts moments from what they describe as a “complex but decade-long consensual relationship.”
Following the video’s public release, Combs issued a statement on social media expressing remorse, saying his behavior was “inexcusable.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
During the hearing, prosecutors revealed that Combs had previously been offered a plea deal, which he declined.
The surveillance footage, captured on March 5, 2016, at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles’ Century City, shows Combs, clad in a white towel, punching, shoving, and dragging R&B singer Cassie, known in private life as Casandra Ventura, his former girlfriend and protégé. He is also seen throwing a vase in her direction.
In a motion to exclude the footage, Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo argued the video was “deceptive” and misrepresented what actually happened. He claimed some segments were artificially sped up or shown out of chronological order, making the footage unreliable.
Prosecutors responded that they are collaborating with Combs’ legal team to finalize a mutually agreed version of the video for trial. That includes consulting a video expert to slow the footage to its original speed, ensuring jurors see an accurate representation of events.
