Diddy trial recap: Ex-girlfriend Jane breaks down describing “freak-offs,” trips with famous rapper as mammoth testimony ends

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the sex trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs as it resumes in New York on Tuesday.

Combs is facing sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy charges.

He was arrested in September 2024 as federal authorities alleged he threatened, abused and coerced victims “to fulfill his sexual desires” between 2004 and 2024.

Combs has denied any accusations of wrongdoing.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s ex-girlfriend “Jane” will return to the witness stand for the conclusion of cross-examination on Thursday, with three more witnesses said to be introduced thereafter, according to the prosecution.

Jane, who dated Combs from 2021 to 2024 and is testifying under a pseudonym, has testified that she often took part in “hotel nights” or “freak offs” with the music mogul, which involved her having sex with other men while he watched.

On Wednesday, she recalled being hurt by an Instagram post by Combs’s other girlfriend, Gina, in March 2022, which revealed the latter owned a necklace that matched a bracelet Combs previously bought for her.

She also said the longest “hotel night” occurred around New Year’s 2022, lasting three days and involving three other men.

A number of Jane’s texts to Combs were also read aloud.

In one, she declared: “My love for you is unconditional and for life.”

In another, Jane told him: “I love you so much as my friend, my lover, my boyfriend even though you don’t like that word.”

The jury saw further texts sent after Jane had learned that Combs lied to her and had taken another woman on a birthday vacation to Turks and Caicos in 2023, immediately after Diddy was with Jane for her birthday, at which he had paid out $15,000 for a celebratory dinner.

In a surprise move, prosecutors moved on Wednesday to dismiss Juror 6, arguing that they had behaved with a “lack of candor with the court.”

Combs’s team called it a “thinly veiled effort to dismiss a Black juror.”

The defense is now expected to submit a response first thing this morning, before Judge Arun Subramanian rules on the matter and we can get back to Jane.

The lawyers are due in at 8.30am local time and then proceedings will get underway at 9am.

As we await the start of today’s proceedings, let’s recap an astonishing moment from Jane’s testimony.

On Tuesday, the music mogul’s ex-girlfriend pushed back over a defense attorney’s questions related to a text message about a Chanel bag during cross-examination.

Testifying under the pseudonym Jane Doe, the witness had just finished reading aloud graphic text messages from November 2021, which included setting up “hotel nights” and what she described as “fantasy talk,” before reading one in which she expressed her “frustration” that another one of his other girlfriends posted on social media about a Chanel bag.

This text was “where the frustration starts,” Jane told the court. She previously testified that she had nothing “postable” from their three years together because “most” of that time with Diddy was spent in hotel rooms.

Their relationship was “a chaotic whirlwind of a dark life that I wasn’t proud of,” she said, but his other girlfriends spent quality time with him, she explained to the court.

Teny Geragos, one of Diddy’s defense attorneys, suggested that Jane was upset about the bag, prompting a tense exchange.

“You didn’t get a Chanel bag?” Geragos asked.

“I only got trauma,” the witness answered.

Here’s Kelly Rissman’s report.

Looks like we’re about to get underway.

Judge Arun Subramanian blocked the defense from playing a recording from Sean “Diddy” Combs to Jane in December 2023.

The prosecution argued Combs was aware of the record of communication he was creating at that time, because Cassie Ventura had recently sued him.

Judge Arun Subramanian is meeting with prosecutors, Sean “Diddy” Combs’s defense attorney and Jane’s attorney in the robing room.

It’s unclear what they’re discussing. Combs is huddled with his other attorneys at the defense table.

Judge Arun Subramanian ended his meeting with prosecutors, Sean “Diddy” Combs’s attorneys and Jane’s attorney.

The attorneys have returned to the robing room with Judge Arun Subramanian.