Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs loses request to remove all hotel assault video from trial

NEW YORK – Lawyers for Sean Combs lost their bid to keep all footage of his

2016 hotel assault on his former girlfriend, American singer Casandra Ventura,

out of his racketeering and sex trafficking trial, which starts in May.

At a hearing in New York on April 25, United States District Court Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that some footage surrounding the assault could be admitted, but it is not yet clear how much of it will be shown.

The rapper and music mogul’s lawyers argued that the security footage, published by CNN in 2024, had been sped up and that the events depicted in it were presented out of sequence.

They did not dispute that the video showed Combs beating, kicking and dragging Ventura, but they asserted that the way the footage had been presented was “deceptive” and not fit to be used as evidence.

The US government is not seeking to admit the entire CNN broadcast into the trial, but there is other footage of the incident, including files provided by CNN through a subpoena.

Prosecutors said they were working to slow down some of the CNN footage based on the defence’s concerns. They also said there are two iPhone videos taken of the original footage that partially depict the incident, and the witness who took them will be testifying at the trial.

The case’s jury selection process begins on May 5, and opening statements are scheduled for May 12.

Combs, who has been held at a Brooklyn jail since shortly after his arrest in September 2024, has denied the US government’s depiction of him as someone with a pattern of sexually exploiting women, arguing that the sex the government has described was consensual.

The 55-year-old, also known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

At the hearing, Combs, wearing tan jail clothes and black-framed glasses, listened intently as the judge offered a series of decisions on aspects of the trial, sometimes looking back to nod at one of his sons, actor Justin Combs.

On April 25, the prosecution said it had offered Sean Combs a plea deal in the case – the specifics of which were not shared – but he had rejected it.

Combs’ assault of Ventura, now 38, is a core event in the US government’s sex trafficking case. Ventura, who is expected to be a key witness at the trial, will likely testify about her own experience, and prosecutors have collected other evidence about what they have described as a cover-up effort by Combs and his associates following the beating.

The footage has already been widely viewed by the public after CNN published it in 2024. The news organisation has denied altering the video, and it is not clear who did.

The clip shows Ventura standing near some lifts with two bags before Combs arrives, wearing only a towel. He grabs her and throws her to the ground, kicks her backside twice and begins dragging her down the hallway by her sweatshirt.

Prosecutors have said Combs assaulted Ventura after she sneaked out of the hotel room, which had recently been the site of a freak-off, a sexual encounter involving a male prostitute and drugs that they have described as coercive and directed by Combs.

They have alleged that after the assault, hotel security helped Ventura leave the hotel, and then Combs bribed hotel security officers with US$100,000 (S$131,000) to “make the original video go away”.

Combs has put forward a different version of events surrounding the assault, arguing that it was completely disconnected from sex. According to his version, Ventura found evidence of infidelity on Combs’ phone, then hit him in the head while he was sleeping and left the room with a bag of his clothes.

His lawyers argued that the clips that were published by CNN exclude “important context” and that the increase in speed makes the assault look “more violent”.

Prosecutors have been sparring with Combs’ defence team over what the jury will be allowed to see as part of a complex trial that is expected to last well into the summer.

One of the key battles was over whether the judge will allow testimony from several other alleged victims accusing Combs of sexual abuse. The judge ruled recently that only one additional person, whose accusations have not been publicly specified, would be allowed to testify.

The accusers are not connected to Combs’ sex trafficking charges, but prosecutors said the additional testimony would help show that Combs had a “history of refusing to take no for an answer and intentionally seeking to gratify his own sexual desires regardless of consent”. NYTIMES