Berliner Tageblatt - Combs ex-girlfriend testifies of choreographed sex out of 'obligation'

The woman, who is speaking in court under the pseudonym Jane, began delivering testimony that is expected to last for days and which so far mirrors descriptions provided by another marquee witness against Combs, his ex-girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura.

Combs, 55, faces upwards of life in prison if convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking crimes. Both Jane and Ventura are key witnesses to the latter charges.

Jane took the stand after some courtroom drama: the judge threatened to remove Combs after he was "looking at jurors and nodding vigorously" while a different witness testified.

Calling Combs's behavior "absolutely unacceptable," Judge Arun Subramanian said "it cannot happen again."

Communications between a defendant and a jury are strictly prohibited.

The court had been hearing testimony from Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Ventura's who had alleged that Combs dangled her from a 17th-story balcony before throwing her against furniture.

Combs's gestures to the jury took place as Bongolan was under tense questioning from his defense team, who sought to cast her as an unreliable witness who abused drugs.

- 'Hotel nights' -

Jane's testimony was highly anticipated: she began by detailing how she had met Combs through a friend who was dating him at the time.

But he came on strongly to Jane, she said, and when her friend got engaged to someone else, she began seeing Combs romantically.

Their relationship began in earnest during a whirlwind five-day date at a Miami hotel, she said, describing Combs -- as many others during the trial have -- as "larger than life."

"I was pretty head over heels for Sean," she told jurors.

Several heady months followed, including a romantic trip to Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas in February 2021.

She said Combs first gave her illicit drugs on that trip.

When the vacation ended, he wired her $10,000 because she had been unable to work -- at the time she was creating content for brands on social media -- and was a single mother.

Jane silently collected herself and held her face in a tissue as she described how her blissful early days with Combs took a sharp turn in May 2021, when he began talking about his fantasies of seeing her with other men.

She acquiesced because she wanted to make Combs happy, she said, and to her surprise he arranged for another man she dubbed Don to meet them at a hotel that very night.

Jane thought the experience was a one-time thing -- but she said instead it became "a door I was unable to shut."

The "hotel nights" became a regular feature of their relationship, Jane told jurors, even when she said she didn't want it.

"He was just dismissive," she said, saying that approximately 90 percent of their relationship became a pattern of her having sex with other men under Combs's direction.

- Full-time job -

Jane's descriptions of the "hotel nights" -- her provocative attire that Combs requested, red mood lighting, heavy drug use and copious baby oil -- closely tracked with the testimony that Ventura gave on the stand of what she called "freak-offs."

Jane said that the amount of time she spent getting ready for hotel nights with Combs, which he demanded at a moment's notice and sometimes flew her to, meant she did not work.

Money from Combs and child support from her previous relationship were essentially her only income, she said.

That testimony echoed Ventura's, who had said her freak-offs with Combs came to feel like a full-time job.

Combs put Jane up in a home in Los Angeles for $10,000 a month, she said, and when she spoke against hotel nights, he would bring up that point.

"My feeling of obligation really started to stem from the fact that my partner was paying my rent," she said.

Jane told jurors their relationship continued up until Combs's arrest in September 2024.

Prosecutors say he ran a criminal enterprise of high-ranking employees and bodyguards who enforced his power with illicit acts including kidnapping, bribery and arson.

Along with Ventura and Jane, witnesses have included former employees of Bad Boy Enterprises, Combs's company.

Jane's testimony will continue Friday. The trial is epxected to last at least another month.

E.Schubert--BTB