June 5, 2025 – Day 17 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

• Accuser testifies: “Jane,” one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ accusers who is using a pseudonym, testified today in his federal criminal trial. She detailed how, after an exciting start to the relationship with Combs, she became increasingly uncomfortable with their sexual dynamics and deepening financial ties.

• Judge warns Combs: The judge said earlier that he could exclude Combs from court if he kept trying to interact with the jury. Combs was nodding in their direction during the testimony of Bryana Bongolan, who answered more questions about her claim that Combs dangled her over a balcony railing in 2016.

• 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.

• Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with intimate partner violence, there are resources available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can catch up on the trial here, or by scrolling through the posts below.

During a break, the judge issued a stern warning to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ defense. After that, Enrique Santos, a forensic analyst, testified about extracting data from three iPhones belonging to Cassie Ventura. Then “Jane,” one of Combs’ accusers who is testifying under a pseudonym, took the stand.

As Jane entered the courtroom, Combs turned around in his chair to watch her walk down the center aisle and to the witness stand, but they did not appear to make eye contact.

Here’s what happened:

Jane’s testimony is expected to resume tomorrow.

Do you have questions about the trial? Send them to CNN here.

The cross-examination of Bryana Bongolan “really exploited some significant credibility issues” for the prosecution’s witness, trial attorney Misty Marris said.

“I don’t even understand why prosecutors put her on the stand because her story really relates to what we’ll call the ‘balcony incident,’ that she’s dangled off a balcony. Well, the defense was able to very effectively challenge her timeline,” Marris said, referring to Bongolan’s account of Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly holding her over a 17-story balcony.

The defense showed the jury records that contradicted the date that Bongolan said the incident happened.

“So, that really put a whole question mark over her testimony,” Marris said.

Marris added prosecutors wanted Bongolan’s testimony in “because they say it shows force, fraud and coercion and that Cassie (Ventura) sees this conduct and sees… his violence and how far he will go.”

Bongolan’s testimony still “came off as a problem for prosecutors, and the jury may look at these other prosecution witnesses and say, ‘Can I really believe what they said, as well?’ So, that was a win for the defense,” Marris said.

Judge Arun Subramanian’s warning to the defense that Sean “Diddy” Combs could be excluded from the courtroom if he continues to interact with the jury could be used on a potential appeal, Laura Coates, CNN chief legal analyst and anchor, said.

Coates said she has heard in the past judges give similar warnings in other cases when the defendant was perceived as “theatrical and particularly disruptive” or if the judge believed “that somehow the conduct of the defendant might possibly influence or intimidate the jurors in this case — direct eye contact or otherwise.”

However, Coates noted, in the high-profile case of Combs, the judge did this knowing that the defense “is well versed in the appellate process and knows full well that anything that the judge orders their defendant and client not to do, if a conviction results, could very well go up on appeal.”

Coates added, “This was a moment that I have not seen, where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who is normally stoic, looking ahead, has been threatened if he reacts and looks at the jury and nods along with the testimony … he could possibly not be present for his own criminal federal trial.”

The warning is significant because “the defendant has the right to face their accusers,” Misty Marris, trial attorney, said. So removing Combs is “truly the most extreme form of action that the judge will take and the reason to do it is not really because the defendant is looking engaged, passing notes to their attorney, the other things that we’ve seen Combs do during the course of this trial,” Marris notes. “It’s really, (what) it comes down to, any interaction with the jury.”

The warning also gave the message that, “This judge is not to be toyed with,” Mark O’Mara, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, told CNN.

O’Mara also said that if the judge does sanction Combs, “it will weigh very heavily against him.” O’Mara went on to explain that he does not see Combs “being removed from the courtroom. This is a violation, but not significant enough for removal.” That type of sanction is normally a “last resort” move he said.

The jury has been dismissed for the day.

Jane will continue testifying on direct examination Friday at 9 a.m.

Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey said she is going to work very hard to ensure her direct questioning of Jane is complete by the end of the day Monday.

Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors they would remain until 5 p.m. on Friday and may need to stay that late on some days next week as well.

Prosecutor Maurene Comey asked Jane about the routine for a typical “hotel night” that Jane said she would have with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Jane testified that she and another man would have a period of “prolonged foreplay” before she would perform oral sex on the man while Combs watched. Combs would often direct during these encounters, she said.

Eventually, Jane said, she would suggest she and the man move on to intercourse, and afterward the man would leave.

“I just really wanted to be done so I could just be with my partner,” Jane said.

Jane said that in a single “hotel night,” they would sometimes repeat the pattern more than once with one man and then sometimes more than once with another person. She said a “hotel night” could last for more than 24 hours.

Jane testified that between May 2021 and October 2023, she had “hotel nights” with Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Turks and Caicos.

Jane usually discussed her travel arrangements with Kristina Khorram, Combs’ former chief of staff, his travel agent or one of Combs’ assistants. Combs paid for the travel.

Their times together typically followed a pattern, Jane said. The hotel room would be decorated with red lights, music, and bed sheets and blankets “covering everything.”

She said the linens covered everything “for the obsessive use of baby oil.” They’d go through more than two dozen bottles of baby oil in a “hotel night.”

The witness testifying about her past relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs says that after the two broke up following a fight and got back together, Combs suggested they agree to a contract.

The witness, who is using the pseudonym Jane, described it as a “verbal, flirty” contract. Combs asked Jane how much allowance she would want in a month, and they agreed on $10,000.

Jane said she wanted to spend the allowance on a nice home, so Combs agreed to pay the rent instead of paying her the money directly.

“I just wanted to experience something that was nice, just so I could feel some sort of balance in our relationship,” Jane said.

Comey showed the jury an email Combs’ accountant sent to Jane and her landlord about payments for Jane’s rent.

Jane said her relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs affected her ability to work and make income.

“I would say that when I was with Sean, I was really consumed by him. I was really consumed by Sean.”

Jane testified she made sure she was always ready for Combs at a moment’s notice.

She made some money through social media, Jane said, but “my presence on social media really declined after I prioritized this relationship.”

Combs would periodically give her money, typically in amounts ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 if it was cash.

Combs would wire her money if it were a larger amount, Jane said.

The most he ever gave her at one time was $20,000 when she told him she needed furniture for her home, which he also paid for.

At one point, Jane proposed the idea of starting an OnlyFans account to make money. She said her friend made $4 million in one year, and she thought she could be successful posting content like bikini, lingerie or nude photos.

She wasn’t planning to post sexual activity, Jane said, but Combs was hesitant and told her to wait.

Jane testified that it was unpredictable when she would see Sean “Diddy” Combs, and he would sometimes notify her the day of or the night before.

Jane said she made sure she was always available to see Combs by arranging proper childcare and keeping her hair and nails done for him. She testified that Combs preferred her to have straight hair and light-colored nails.

Jane said Combs called the sexual encounters with other men “debauchery” or “hotel nights.”

Jane testified she and Combs had a “hotel night” every single time she saw him between May 2021 and October 2023. The two were on a break from October 2023 through February 2024, Jane testified.

She said they had some time alone after a “hotel night” with another man, but she felt like it was a “hotel night” the whole time.

Jane testified that Sean “Diddy” Combs paid the rent for her home.

When she tried to tell him she didn’t want to have sex with other men, Combs would say, “If you want to break up, that’s fine,” and then say he wouldn’t pay rent for a woman he wasn’t seeing.

Jane testified that she wasn’t trying to break up in those conversations; she was just trying to stop having sex with other men.

“I felt frustrated,” Jane said, adding that she felt obligated to “perform these nights for him.”

When asked why she felt obligated to continue the sexual encounters with Combs and other men, Jane said, “My feeling of obligation really started to stem from the fact that my partner was paying my rent.”

Jane, one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ accusers who is testifying under a pseudonym, says she told Combs multiple times that she didn’t want to have sex with other men, but he didn’t listen.

Jane estimated that about 90% of the time she had sex with Combs it would involve another man, after their first time doing so in May 2021.

She said she went along with it initially because she really loved Combs and wanted to make him happy.

By late 2021, however, Jane said she was telling Combs she didn’t want to have sex with other men both in writing and verbally.

She mostly told him in writing, Jane testified, because there was tension when she broached the subject in person.

“Whenever the topic came up it would start out really uncomfortable,” Jane said. “I could just feel that the tension was building and I would just kind of push down what I was going to say.”

Combs was “dismissive” and even called her crazy at times for discussing it, Jane testified. Other times he would say it was fine and they didn’t have to do it anymore, but then “we would still do it,” she said.

Jane testified that she initially felt “exhilarated” by that night.

“I felt excited, I was happy, it was taboo, it was fun, I had a good time with my partner,” she said. She testified that she thought it was something they did just that one time, and might do again on a random other occasion.

“I truly felt that that night just opened like a Pandora’s box in the relationship,” Jane said. “It just completely set the tone for our relationship moving forward.”

She said that night opened a door that she was “unable to shut for the remainder of our relationship.”

Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey asked her why she wanted to shut that door. “There was so much of it after, and it was too much of it,” Jane said.

She said that throughout her relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs, she only wanted to have sex with him, and not with other men.

Jane, an accuser who is testifying under a pseudonym, dropped her head and dabbed her eyes with a tissue when prosecutor Maurene Comey asked about what happened between her and Sean “Diddy” Combs in May 2021.

The two had been awake for many hours in his bedroom in Miami, having sex and taking drugs, Jane testified.

Combs was asking Jane to fantasize about being with other men and asked if she’d want to do that, she testified. She responded, “OK,” not thinking it would happen that night — just “playing into the fantasy,” Jane told prosecutors.

But Combs was quickly on his phone, telling her, “We can make that happen tonight.”

Jane said she was taken aback but again said “OK.” Asked by Comey why she responded that way, Jane said, “Because my partner was excited and it was already happening.”

Within a few hours they were in a hotel suite in Miami, Jane testified. Combs’ assistants were bustling around, setting up the room with red lights.

After the assistants left, Combs told her to relax while they wait for a man to come. Combs told her that he knew the guy and he was really nice.

Jane testified that she was “super nervous” and still high from the drugs she took earlier in the night with Combs.

Combs went to greet the man when he arrived and eventually called Jane to join them. Combs told her the man, “Don,” was from the service Cowboys for Angels.

Jane described in court how she eventually had sex with Don while Combs watched. Don left after the two had sex. After Don left, Jane said she and Combs had sex, and she recalled they were really happy.

The next day, she went with Combs and his friends on a yacht.

Jane said that between February and May of 2021, she did drugs every time she saw Sean “Diddy” Combs, and he offered them when they had sex. They took ecstasy, molly, cocaine, and ketamine.

In that time frame, Jane said she learned a lot about how Combs preferred to have sex.

“I learned how he liked to have pornography playing. I learned how he preferred me to dress, and I just learned the things that he liked sexually.”

Jane said that he preferred her to wear “provocative lingerie and really high stripper shoes” and to put baby oil on her body and his.

She said they would have sex in his bedroom at his home, lit with red lights. They would have sex for 12 to 24 hours.

Jane testified that she loved these sexual sessions during this period.

“I really loved my partner, and I was just making love with my partner the whole time, and lots of affection and kissing and lovemaking.”

She said her relationship with Combs then was very intense.

“It felt like Sean was really passionate, and he brought out a lot of passion out of me too,” Jane said. “And the way he would compliment me and be so into me and just really like enjoying one another.”

Jane, one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ accusers who is testifying under a pseudonym, says the two were private about their relationship.

She might’ve only posted on social media about Combs one time, she testified.

Jane lived on the East Coast when they first met but relocated to California in June 2021. Combs gave her money, including $6,000 for a moving truck, and periodically transferred her money “just because” throughout their relationship, she said.

From February through May of 2021, she’d see Combs every other week when he’d fly her to see him in Miami, Jane testified.

Jane said that the ecstasy made her feel “relaxed, euphoric, sexual.”

“It just enhanced touch and sense and made me feel even more loving and flirtatious with him,” she said.

Jane testified that she took ecstasy several more times during the trip. Sean “Diddy” Combs provided the drugs and determined her dosage every time, she said.

After returning from the trip, Jane said she was “even deeper in my feelings for Sean.”

“I want to say we even started using the L-word,” she said. “I was really deep in it.”

Jane said that Combs made it clear to her that he liked her but that he was seeing multiple women.

“I liked him, and so I was OK with it,” she said.

Jane said that she understood it as an open relationship, and she didn’t get the sense that monogamy was an option.

“In my heart, I just wanted to see Sean, so I was monogamous,” she said.

She said her relationship with Combs lasted until his arrest.

Jane testified Sean “Diddy” Combs gave her a bracelet that said “love” on it while on the 2021 trip.

Jane and Combs took ecstasy around 10 times over the nine-day trip in Turks and Caicos, she said.

Jane said she’d previously used drugs twice in her life.

The first time Combs gave her ecstasy, they were relaxing in the pool, she recalled.

Holding out the drug to her, Combs said, “Here, take this,” and said something like, “It’ll be more fun,” Jane recalled.

Shortly after taking the ecstasy for the first time, she fell to the sand on the beach and had a reaction. “His butler and KK tried to help me,” Jane said. KK is a nickname for Combs’ former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram.

Combs offered Jane $10,000 at the end of the trip because she’d been away from her work as an influencer for so long, she testified.

He wired her $10,000, which Jane testified was a lot of money for her at the time.

Jane said she was “pretty head over heels” after spending more time with Sean “Diddy” Combs in Miami in 2021.

She and Combs went on another trip in February of that year, she testified.

“I told him that my birthday was coming up and he was super excited and said we should go on an island getaway,” Jane said.

She and Combs went to Turks and Caicos and then the Bahamas. She said his assistant “KK” was there, along with a chef, photographer, butler and barber. They spent about 15 days on the trip, she said.

Jane said she remembers “so many lovely things” about the trip, and that she and Combs spent a lot of one-on-one time together.

That first Miami trip occurred in November 2020. “Jane” saw Sean “Diddy” Combs again in Miami in January 2021.

She had been planning to be in Miami for an event, and Combs offered to book her a hotel room.

When Combs walked into her hotel room on the first night of her stay in Miami, he was “larger than life” with a big personality and charming, Jane said.

She said her first date with Combs started with dinner on her hotel balcony that night and lasted five days.

During that first dinner, they spoke about the father of her child, a man whom Jane said was someone Combs didn’t get along with. They also discussed how Jane dated a close friend of Combs around 2015. Combs said he didn’t care about any of that.

Jane recalled that the first night was “amazing” and they “made lots of love.”

They spent the next several days together getting to know each other, Jane said.