June 2, 2025 - Day 14 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

Our live coverage of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial has ended for the day. Read about today’s developments in the posts below.

Sean Combs listens as prosecutor Madison Smyser questions witness Mia as she testifies Monday.

The testimony of “Mia,” a former Combs employee testifying under a pseudonym, concluded after the lunch break, following a morning of cross-examination by Combs’ defense attorney Brian Steel. Sylvia Oken, area director of sales and marketing at the Beverly Hills Hotel, took the stand after Mia as a custodial witness for the prosecution to testify about hotel records.

Here’s what happened Monday afternoon:

Coming up this week: InterContinental Hotel employee Eddy Garcia is expected to take the stand Tuesday morning as the government’s next witness, with his direct examination expected to last about 90 minutes. Prosecutors also said Frank Piazza, Derek Ferguson and Bryana Bongolan are likely among the next witnesses to follow Garcia, though the order could change. “Jane,” another of Combs’ accusers testifying under a pseudonym, could take the stand as early as Wednesday afternoon.

Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled Eddy Garcia’s first name.

Eddy Garcia, who worked in security at the InterContinental Hotel, is expected to take the stand tomorrow morning as prosecutors’ next witness in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs. Prosecutors said they expect to question Garcia for about 90 minutes.

Prosecutor Maurene Comey said forensic video expert Frank Piazza, Combs employee Derek Ferguson and Bryana Bongolan, who previously accused Combs of sexual battery, are likely among the next witnesses to follow Garcia, but the order could change.

Comey said “Jane,” another one of Combs’ accusers who is using a pseudonym during the trial, could take the stand as early as Wednesday afternoon. The plan is to get Jane off the stand in plenty of time for an international flight she’s scheduled to catch next Thursday, prosecutors said.

Correction: A previous version of this post misspelled Eddy Garcia’s first name.

Tomorrow, prosecutors in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal criminal trial are expected to call an InterContinental Hotel employee to testify under an immunity order.

Bringing in a witness under an immunity order could significantly help the prosecution’s case against Combs, said Lisa Bonner, an entertainment lawyer and former litigator who is not involved in the case.

The immunity order can indicate “a very reluctant witness coming forward,” Bonner said, adding that “when you are coming in and invoking your right to waive your fifth amendment right and get some type of immunity, that means, ‘Listen, I didn’t want to be here and tell the story from the beginning.’”

“Once one comes in under an immunity order, that is a great opportunity for the prosecution to really hone in on the fact that you are here reluctantly, we presume that you’re telling the truth and you had something to lose by coming here,” she said.

Bonner added that she thinks that’ll be “a great opportunity for the prosecution to score some points with the jury.”

Remember: The InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles is where Combs was seen striking and dragging Cassie Ventura during a 2016 altercation, footage of which was previously shown to the jury during Ventura’s testimony.

Beverly Hills Hotel employee Sylvia Oken is off the stand. The defense team briefly cross-examined her, and prosecutors didn’t have any questions for a redirect-examination.

The jury has now been dismissed for the day.

The jury saw two bills for Sean “Diddy” Combs’ hotel stays addressed to an alias associated with his guest profile.

One of them, from May 2015, included a $500 charge for “oil damage.”

Another bill included a $300 charge for cleaning drapes, and a fee for going out to pick up five candles for Combs.

Sylvia Oken, the director of sales and marketing at the Beverly Hills Hotel, said she recalled some reservations made for Sean “Diddy” Combs under the alias “Frank Black.”

Oken said it’s common for guests in the entertainment industry to stay at the hotel under an alias. She said the hotel’s guest profiles contain both the celebrities’ real names and their aliases.

The jury also saw a hotel record that showed Cassie Ventura was listed as an accompanying guest on the reservation. She had full access to the reservation and could charge things to the room.

Sylvia Oken, the area director of sales and marketing at the Beverly Hills Hotel, is on the stand now.

She’s a custodial witness for hotel records being admitted as evidence.

Mia, a former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs, has finished her testimony and is now off the stand.

Mia answers questions during the trial Monday.

Mia, the former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs, testified she thought no one would believe her if she reported to human resources the physical and sexual abuse she says she endured from the music mogul.

When prosecutor Madison Smyser asked her about speaking to human resources, Mia referenced a former employee who she said was fired after reporting Combs’ abuse of his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

“Human resources only punished me unjustly, also fired Kayla for even discussing Cassie’s abuse. They wouldn’t have believed me and I would’ve been fired immediately,” Mia said.

Smyser asked Mia what she worried would happen if she disclosed that Combs had sexually assaulted her.

“That I wouldn’t be believed. I would be wiped out, I would be abused, fired, and somehow made out to look like I was, I was a crazy person making everything up,” Mia said.

When asked, Mia reiterated her previous testimony that she didn’t feel like she could’ve left her job with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“I would’ve been stripped of any credibility, would’ve lost — wouldn’t have been able to get a job in the same or any industry that I wanted and would’ve lost anything I knew,” she said.

When she tried to leave her job once, Combs’ chief of staff told her to go back, Mia testified.

Mia also testified again that she feared for her physical safety.

Prosecutor Madison Smyser is going through several of Mia’s social media posts that the jury saw during cross-examination.

Mia confirmed that promoting the events and projects in those posts were part of her job.

Smyser asked Mia what Sean “Diddy” Combs did when he thought she wasn’t doing her job.

“I would be screamed at, humiliated, made fun of, and my job would be threatened,” Mia said.

Mia confirmed that posting for Combs’ birthday was also part of her job, and if she didn’t do it she would’ve been “in trouble.”

Smyser referenced Mia’s previous testimony that she created a scrapbook for Combs’ birthday because she thought it would make him happy.

“Why did you try to keep the person who abused you happy?” Smyser asked.

“Because when he was happy, I was safe,” Mia said.

Defense attorney Brian Steel has finished his cross examination of the former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs testifying under the pseudonym of Mia.

Prosecutor Madison Smyser is now questioning Mia on re-direct examination.

The jury was dismissed for a brief break.

The attorneys are still in the courtroom discussing some issues regarding Mia’s cross examination.

Assistant US Attorney Maurene Comey said the prosecution will be reordering the upcoming witnesses to accommodate for a custodial witness who has a flight later today because Mia’s cross-examination is much longer than expected.

Defense attorney Brian Steel revisited Mia’s testimony about the time Sean “Diddy” Combs slammed a door on her arm multiple times.

Mia said that her arm was bruised but she didn’t seek any medical treatment. “I wouldn’t have been allowed,” she said.

Mia said she didn’t scream during the incident, even though it was in painful.

“I was in shock,” she said.

Defense attorney Brian Steel asked Mia a couple of questions about reporting the abuse she allegedly endured by Combs.

The former assistant testified she didn’t contact law enforcement about it.

She also said “no” when Steel asked if she ever considered reporting the alleged abuse through a women’s shelter, doing so anonymously or asking a third party to report it for her.

Defense attorney Brian Steel asked Mia a series of questions about what she knew about Casandra Ventura’s jealousy of other women Sean “Diddy” Combs dated.

Mia said she didn’t recall Ventura having specific jealousy of Kim Porter, who Combs shared three children with. However, Mia said “I’m sure she wasn’t thrilled” when Ventura learned Combs was dating other women behind her back.

“He presented to her that they were exclusive,” Mia said.

Defense attorney Brian Steel returned to the messages Mia sent in December 2016 after she learned Revolt Films, the Sean “Diddy” Combs-owned business she was working for at the time, would be shutting down. In those texts, Mia said her life was “over.”

Steel asked if she wanted to continue working for Combs and his business at that time.

“I wanted to continue following my dreams. I was finally making real stuff, and I had a separation from him,” Mia said.

“Mia,” a former Combs employee testifying under a pseudonym, has been on the stand since this morning, answering questions under cross-examination about her experience working for Combs.

Mia’s testimony, which began last week, details allegations that she was physically and sexually assaulted by the music mogul multiple times during her employment from 2009 to 2017.

This morning, Mia also testified about the control Combs held over her during her employment, saying she was “psychologically” under his grip and “terrified” of him.

Her testimony could help the prosecution’s case for a conviction on the sex trafficking charge, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Mark O’Mara, who is not involved in Combs’ federal criminal trial, said.

“In order to get the trafficking conviction, you have to show that coercion, that duress … The way that Mr. Combs did everything he did for a particular purpose,” O’Mara told CNN. “So they’re bringing in all of these witnesses, including Mia now, to say, ‘This is the environment that Mr. Combs is responsible for and it was an environment of coercion.’”

O’Mara added that prosecutors showing through testimony that “any type of force that has the effect of moving somebody towards a certain decision,” including “economic force” and “emotional force,” is where Mia’s testimony becomes relevant.

“She lays out that this was just the way it always was with me and with everybody that I saw with Mr. Combs,” O’Mara added.

Remember: Combs is facing two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and one count of racketeering conspiracy during his federal criminal trial.

Mia testified she worked for music icon and social activist Madonna for about eight months after she stopped working for Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2017.

At the time, Mia said she did not think Combs had “blacklisted” her.

Context: Mia testified during direct examination last week that she hasn’t be able to work because she has severe PTSD.

She also testified about being scared of Combs and thinking that if she left her job, she would never be able to get a job somewhere else.