This report includes descriptions of physical and sexual violence.
On Monday (June 2), a former employee of Sean Combs concluded three days of testimony against the hip-hop mogul. The witness, who testified under the pseudonym "Mia," worked as a personal assistant for Combs from 2009 to 2017. She told the court that Combs physically and sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions throughout that time. She also accused a member of Combs' security team of trying to bribe her in 2023 after Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, filed a high-profile civil suit against the tycoon.
Mia's testimony is part of the government's racketeering conspiracy charge against Combs, which accuses him of running a criminal enterprise that facilitated and concealed abuse for two decades. Theoretically, her allegations strengthen the government's claims that Combs forcefully and violently used his businesses and employees to satisfy his own desires while creating a culture of silence around him. Mia is not one of the two women around which the government has built its case against Combs, who also faces sex trafficking charges. Those charges stem from allegedly forcing his ex-partner, Cassie Ventura, who already testified, and another ex-girlfriend (who is expected to take the stand later this week) into commercial sex acts.
Mia, whose facial features were not rendered by courtroom sketch artists as part of her anonymity, testified in a soft voice, looking downward, frequently crying and often twisting something that she was holding in her hands. She was continually asked to repeat her statements loud enough for the court to hear. While on the stand, Mia faced aggressive cross-examination from defense attorney Brian Steel that raised questions about the potential intimidation of future witnesses.
Mia said that Combs first sexually assaulted her during celebrations for his 40th birthday party in New York in 2009, shortly after she began working for him, by kissing her and putting his hand up her dress. On another occasion in Los Angeles somewhere between 2009 and 2010, she said, she was sleeping in a bedroom at his home, where she was not allowed to lock the bedroom door. Weeping on the stand, she testified that he raped her, saying: "I was frozen. I didn't react. I was terrified and confused and ashamed and scared."
On another occasion in Los Angeles, she said, he came into a bedroom closet where she was packing some of his clothes on the floor and that, before she realized what was happening, he grabbed her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
"There was no pattern to the assaults," she said, and that every time she hoped that it would be the last time.
She said that she felt she could never say "no" to him. "I couldn't tell him no about a sandwich. I couldn't tell him no about anything. And this was so much worse."
She said she was "always" worried that he would harm her both physically and sexually, and that he occasionally threatened her, saying that he would "tell everyone" about the sexual incidents between them. She said to both prosecutors and during cross-examination that she had never wanted anything sexual with Combs.
In an incident near the island of St. Barth's around 2010 or 2011, Mia testified, an enraged Combs chased her around on a yacht. As she ran, she said he yelled at her: "You better learn how to walk on water like Jesus, bitch." She said the crew helped her escape onto a smaller boat and ashore, but that Combs ordered her to return to the yacht.
Mia also testified that when she and a human resources executive from Combs' company presented him with a bill for $80,000 in unpaid overtime wages, Combs ripped it up in front of her. She said that she often worked 22 hours a day, that her boss regularly deprived her of sleep and that he could be violent — throwing a bowl of spaghetti at her on one occasion when she needed to use a bathroom before responding to a 3 a.m. request and throwing a laptop at her head on another. She said Combs also regularly humiliated her by cursing at her and delivering "long, extended rants about how incapable and stupid I was."
She said that she was afraid to go to the police, and that on two different occasions, she encountered officers who were clearly dazzled by Combs' celebrity. Those situations, she added, confirmed her belief that "Puff's authority was above the police." She also said that she believed previously that confidentiality agreements she had with Combs were paramount.
She had hoped she could continue to grow her own career, particularly in television and film production, under his tutelage, and repeatedly added: "The highs were high, and the lows were low."
"I knew his power," she testified, "and I knew his control over me, and I didn't want to lose what I'd worked so hard for."
The prosecution also presented a slew of text messages and phone calls sent to Mia by Combs and his security guard, known as "D-Roc," after Ventura filed her lawsuit. In one of the texts, D-Roc wrote to Mia: "I know u didn't ask for anything, but I can send my sister a gift."
Additionally, Mia testified that she saw and heard Combs hitting Ventura "all the time," and that she saw bruising, black eyes, fat lips and other physical signs of his abuse of Ventura. On one occasion, she said, she and another government witness, stylist Deonte Nash, tried to stop Combs from attacking Ventura, and she "thought that he was going to kill" both Nash and Ventura. Nash also testified to this incident. She also said that part of her job responsibilities often included "sweeping" rooms that Combs and Ventura used for their "hotel nights" before housekeeping arrived, to minimize the damage.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Brian Steel displayed one of the most confrontational approaches Combs' team has taken toward a government witness thus far. The vast majority of his questioning was about her allegations of sexual and physical assault.
For hours over his first two days of cross-examination, Steel showed Mia dozens of her personal social media posts that demonstrated a public love, affection and gratitude toward Combs, asked her to read them out loud and then following with variations of the question: Is this what you would say toward a man who allegedly raped you? Steel asked this, with slight variations of wording, at least 100 times.
Steel also asked Mia repeatedly why she did not confront Combs or seek help, suggesting she fabricated the abuse allegations. "I was still brainwashed," Mia said. She added that "no one around batted an eye" at Combs' behavior. She also said repeatedly that this was a common reaction among abuse victims, but that he should ask a trained psychiatrist or psychologist for a detailed explanation.
Steel repeatedly asked Mia if her claims were untrue or if she was lying. He also asked her why she waited until June of 2024 — months into her many meetings with prosecutors — to disclose the alleged sexual abuse and if she was joining the "#MeToo money grab against Sean Combs." She denied his suggestions, saying she was only telling the truth.
Steel's scrutiny of Mia's sexual abuse allegations suggested he was trying to tarnish her credibility before the jury, impacting how they interpret her testimony on other topics such as forced labor and bribery. The government continuously objected to Steel's line of questioning.
During a break, when Mia was not on the stand, prosecutor Maurene Comey expressed concerns over Steel's tone and accused him of "harassing and unduly embarrassing" the witness. Comey said Steel was interjecting his own opinions into his cross-examination and worried that other victims following the highly publicized trial could grow fearful of testifying and facing similar treatment in the future.
Judge Arun Subramanian mostly disagreed with the government's characterization of Steel's tone, saying he did not find it sarcastic or offensive, but conceded that Steel needed to rephrase some of his questions. The judge repeatedly sustained many of the prosecution's objections to Steel's cross-examination.
Steel asked Mia about getting fired by Combs in 2017 and suggested Mia loved working for him. Mia said she was deeply upset about losing her job because her world was "ripped away" from her, but added that "in hindsight, it was an awful world." She confirmed that she obtained a lawyer with the intent to sue Combs for $10 million after she was let go, but settled for $400,000 in mediation. Mia said she did not disclose Combs' sexual assault during that process, which took place before the start of the #MeToo movement later that year. She also spoke about her close friendship with Ventura and said she did not confide in her about Combs' alleged abuse, even after she went public with her own allegations in a civil lawsuit in 2023.
"I was still deeply ashamed and wanted to die with this," she said.
During redirect questioning from the government, Mia stated that posting positively about Combs on her personal social media accounts was part of her job. She testified that Combs sometimes treated her like family and other times terrified and threatened her, which made working for him incredibly challenging. She said she is not seeking money or fame from her testimony, but felt a moral obligation to speak up. When asked why she was unable to testify about Combs' abuse without looking down toward the ground, she replied, "Because it's the worst thing I've ever had to talk about in my life."
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