ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The trial of Sean Combs is reaching a pivotal point this week. Federal prosecutors will finish laying out their case against the hip-hop mogul tomorrow. Then lawyers for Combs will take over. Their defense is expected to be brief, and it's possible that the jury could begin deliberating before the week is over. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has been in the courthouse since the trial started. She's here to explain the case prosecutors made against Combs. And we'll warn you that this discussion over the next four minutes or so will mention violence and alleged sex trafficking. Hi, Isabella.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: The prosecution took more than six weeks, called over two dozen witnesses. What was the big-picture story they tried to tell?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So prosecutors are charging Combs with sex trafficking, transportation for prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges. But basically, what this means is the government is accusing Combs of running a criminal enterprise for two decades that facilitated and concealed violence and sexual abuse.
SHAPIRO: The sex trafficking charges specifically span over a decade, and more than one witness accused him of trafficking. Can you explain what that charge actually means?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah. So there were two women who spent multiple days on the witness stand. They gave very graphic and detailed testimony, some of which was very emotional. The first is the singer Cassie Ventura, an aspiring pop star who signed to Combs' label and dated him, starting in 2007. They were on and off until about 2018. The other alleged victim is not as public of a figure. She testified under the pseudonym Jane to protect her identity. And she dated Combs from 2021 until his arrest and indictment in September 2024.
Both of these women said that early in their relationships with Combs, he asked them to have sex with male escorts while he watched and sometimes filmed. These encounters involved heavy drug use and lasted multiple days. Both women said they initially consented to these activities because they loved Combs. But as time went on, they told him they did not want to keep having sex with other men. Both Ventura and Jane said that Combs pushed them to continue, either through financial coercion, physical violence and/or threats to leak those explicit videos.
SHAPIRO: Beyond those two accusers, who were some of the other key witnesses that testified?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So several former assistants of Combs took the witness stand. They said that they would buy drugs for him. They would set up hotel rooms with supplies for these nights, and they would often clean up after to avoid damage fees from the hotels. There are also escorts that testified that they were paid to have sex with Ventura while Combs watched. And there were a couple of hotel security employees who testified, including one who said that Combs paid him $100,000 to hand over video of Combs attacking Cassie Ventura. This sort of testimony is key to the government's racketeering charge that Combs' employees amounted to an organized effort to commit and cover up the alleged crimes.
SHAPIRO: Well, apart from the witnesses, what were some of the key pieces of evidence that the jury saw?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: A lot of it was videos and text messages. So earlier in the trial, prosecutors showed a video of Combs violently beating Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. Ventura said this incident happened when she was trying to flee a sexual encounter with an escort. The jury has also seen explicit videos from these nights, but these have been admitted as sealed evidence, so the press and public have not been able to view what's in any of these videos. When it comes to texts, the prosecution has shown messages of both Ventura and Jane telling Combs that they didn't want to have sex with other men. But the defense has asked the witnesses to read texts that seem to indicate both women were voluntarily participating.
SHAPIRO: And just briefly, what do you expect from the defense when they take over starting tomorrow?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Well, we know it's going to be really brief. They said they're not going to call any witnesses, so it could be as short as a single afternoon. They say Combs was violent but that he didn't traffic anyone and these were consensual relationships between adults.
SHAPIRO: That is NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Thank you.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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