NOTE: The next article accommodates disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your personal discretion.
A lady recognized solely by the pseudonym “Mia,” a former assistant of Sean “Diddy” Combs, continued her testimony for the third day on Monday at his intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial.
Mia testified that she continued sending Combs loving textual content messages for years after her job resulted in 2017 as a result of she was “brainwashed.”
The lady used the phrase as defence lawyer Brian Metal confronted her with skepticism and even advised she had fabricated her claims.
Metal had Mia learn aloud for the jury quite a few loving textual content messages she despatched to Combs, together with one in 2019 through which she mentioned she had a nightmare that she was trapped in an elevator with the singer R. Kelly and Combs rescued her.
“And the one that sexually assaulted you got here to your rescue?” Metal requested. He rephrased, asking if she actually dreamed of being saved by a person “who terrorized you and precipitated you PTSD?” Prosecutors objected and the choose sustained it.
Combs has pleaded not responsible to a number of counts of an indictment accusing him of a sample of abuse towards ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and others.
Day 14
In an Aug. 29, 2020, message to Combs, Mia recalled completely satisfied highlights from her eight years working for him — reminiscent of consuming champagne on the Eiffel Tower at 4 a.m. and rejecting Mick Jagger’s supply to take her dwelling — saying she remembered solely “the nice instances.”
In the identical message, Mia talked about as soon as feeling “bamboozled” by a girl. Metal requested why she didn’t say Combs had bamboozled her as effectively, given her accusations.
“As a result of I used to be nonetheless brainwashed,” Mia answered.
Requested to clarify, Mia mentioned that in an surroundings the place “the highs had been actually excessive and the lows had been actually low,” she developed “enormous confusion in trusting my instincts.”
“I used to be punished at any time when Puff could be violent and I’d react, complicated me and making me suppose I did one thing fallacious. No person round batted an eye fixed. He was nonetheless praised by everybody round him and the general public,” Mia added.
When Metal advised that her assault claims had been made up, Mia responded: “I’ve by no means lied on this courtroom and I by no means will lie on this courtroom. Every little thing I mentioned is true.”
Mia testified that Combs required her to hold round a pocket video digicam to document him earlier than he determined to rent full-time videographers.
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Metal requested Mia if she recorded any movies of Combs “in a second of rage.”
“Completely not. No, I’d not have been allowed to movie that. I used to be filming no matter he wished me to movie,” she mentioned.
She added that if she had ever filmed him in these moments, it might have been a “enormous break of belief, loyalty and confidentiality.”
Metal went on to ask Mia if she ever advised anybody in regards to the abuse she mentioned she skilled by Combs whereas it was occurring.
“Do you might have something the place you contemporaneously wrote to a buddy, member of the family, police officer, anyone, and mentioned that is what’s happening, I’m being assaulted, berated, something?” Metal requested Mia.
“No, the one time I reached out for assist was very subtly to folks within the workplace, however not disclosing issues that different folks hadn’t witnessed,” she responded.
Mia advised the courtroom that “no one round batted an eye fixed” when Combs would act out and that he was nonetheless praised by everyone in his circle.
“I used to be at all times continuously looking for his approval. He was my authority determine, my solely authority determine,” she added.
When Metal requested Mia about Combs discovering out about personal messages between her and Ventura, she accused Combs of stealing her cellphone “many instances.”
“He has stolen Cassie’s cellphone many instances, he has put monitoring gadgets on her automotive. I’m unsure what he’s able to. I used to be terrified,” she mentioned.
Mia mentioned that she was very shut with Ventura however mentioned she was “not allowed to inform her the reality about a number of issues.”
“No matter story Puff advised me, I needed to uphold that,” she mentioned. “One of many worst components was being put within the center and having to cowl up for Puff to Cass, which he pressured me to do continuously.”
Metal requested Mia if she ever advised Ventura that she ought to finish issues with Combs.
“Not in the way in which I want I may have,” she mentioned.
Ex-employee says she was ‘screamed at’ if Combs thought she wasn’t doing her job
Prosecutor Madison Smyser went by way of a lot of Mia’s social media posts throughout cross-examination.
Mia confirmed that selling Combs’ occasions and tasks was a part of her job.
When Smyser requested Mia what Combs would do if he thought she wasn’t doing her job, she mentioned, “I’d be screamed at, humiliated, made enjoyable of, and my job could be threatened.”
She additionally mentioned her Instagram posts for Combs’ birthday had been a part of her job and if she didn’t make the put up, she could be “in bother.”
Mia mentioned she didn’t really feel like she may have left her job with Combs.
“I’d’ve been stripped of any credibility, would’ve misplaced — wouldn’t have been in a position to get a job in the identical or any business that I wished and would’ve misplaced something I knew,” she mentioned.
She advised the courtroom that when she tried to go away her job, Combs’ chief of employees advised her to return and she or he additionally feared for her security.
“I simply knew his energy and his wrath,” Mia mentioned.
When Smyser requested Mia about talking to human assets, she mentioned a former worker was fired after reporting Combs’ abuse of Ventura.
“Human assets solely punished me unjustly, additionally fired Kayla for even discussing Cassie’s abuse. They wouldn’t have believed me and I’d’ve been fired instantly,” Mia advised the courtroom.
Smyser additionally requested Mia what she thought would occur if she had disclosed that Combs had sexually assaulted her.
“That I wouldn’t be believed. I’d be worn out, I’d be abused, fired, and someway made out to appear to be I used to be a loopy particular person making every part up,” Mia responded.
After Mia stopped working for Combs in 2017, she mentioned she labored for Madonna for eight months.
“Did Mr. Combs help you in getting that job?” Metal requested.
“Completely not,” Mia mentioned.
What Combs is on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing girls with assist from a community of associates who helped silence victims by way of blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that features descriptions of “freak-offs,” that are outlined within the courtroom doc as “elaborate and produced intercourse performances that Combs organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and infrequently electronically recorded.”
Quite a few witnesses have come ahead to accuse Combs of terrorizing folks into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in keeping with prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled somebody from a balcony.
Though dozens of women and men have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 girls.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to interact in prostitution. He has denied all the fees towards him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as a substitute.
If discovered responsible within the New York courtroom, he may face life in jail.
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World Information will likely be protecting the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please test again for updates.
— with information from The Related Press
