Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs blew a kiss to his mom and made a heart with his hands as she led his family into the courtroom to support him in his racketeering and sex trafficking trial.
The disgraced music mogul’s criminal trial kicked off in Manhattan’s federal court on Monday, eight months after he was first arrested and hit with a host of charges.
His family, led by his mom Janice, have been steadfast in their support of the 55-year-old.
And Monday was no different as Janice, Diddy’s twin daughters D’Lila and Jessie, and three sons made their way into the packed courtroom.
One of the girls made a heart gesture with her hands, which he then repeated back to her, and his spirits appeared to lift when his son, King, pumped up his fist.
A court sketch artist also caught the moment Diddy offered a thumbs up to his family behind him.
During opening statements, prosecutors outlined horrific claims against Diddy, saying he once forced a male escort to urinate in Cassie’s mouth.
As the prosecution and their first witness laid out revolting allegations, both of Diddy’s daughters took turns leaving the courtroom.
The defense, meanwhile, argued that the rapper is guilty of other crimes, including domestic violence, but not sex trafficking or racketeering.
Diddy’s attorney Teny Geragos said the entire case began as nothing more than a money grab, telling jurors: ‘This criminal case started because [Cassie] filed a public lawsuit against C [Diddy] in 2023, when she was having financial trouble and living in her parents’ modest home in Connecticut.
‘They will claim they were so afraid they couldn’t go to the police but they were not so afraid to go to civil lawyers….for unbelievable amounts of money.’
The rapper’s sexual habits were part of a swinger lifestyle involving consenting adults, Geragos said.
She acknowledged that some jurors might not condone ‘his kinky sex and his preferences for sex’ but she urged them to judge the case with an open mind.
Those sexual predilections, she said, do not equate to sex trafficking.
‘You will hear about swinger parties… they will testify about things that should never be heard in a Federal courtroom, that he liked to watch… You may not like that, but you are not here to judge him for his sexual preferences,’ she said.
‘Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money.’
Diddy pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could result in a 15-year-to-life prison sentence if he is convicted.
Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters he called ‘freak-offs,’ ‘wild king nights’ or ‘hotel nights,’ then kept them in line by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair.
Prosecutors told jurors about a night when Combs allegedly kidnapped an employee and threatened one-time girlfriend Cassie, a key witness in the trial, that if she defied him again he would release tapes of her having sex with male escort — tapes that the prosecutor called ‘souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life.’
‘To the public he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Larger than life,’ Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson said. ‘But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise.
‘During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant’s crimes. But he didn’t do it alone. He had an inner circle of bodyguards and high-ranking employees who helped him commit crimes and cover them up.’
The prosecution’s case revolves around four key alleged victims of Diddy’s crimes, one of them being Cassie Ventura.
The other three are yet to be named and it’s unclear if they will be publicly identified when it is their turn to testify, or there will be gag orders on their names.
The trial is expected to last two months.
In spite of the mounting allegations, Diddy’s mom – ‘Ma Dukes’ as Combs affectionately calls her – has been his firm defender.
In October, the 85-year-old went as far as to liken the more than 100 sexual misconduct allegations against Diddy to a ‘public lynching’.
After the 55-year-old rapper and music executive was indicted in September last year, a disturbing video recorded in 2022 resurfaced, showing the mother and son duo sharing a kiss.
‘Yeah, my mom is gorgeous,’ Diddy says in the footage.
‘Everything’s good baby, I’m here with you. I love you,’ Janice says, smiling.
Diddy then says he loves her too, before planting an impromptu peck on her lips.
‘That’s my baby,’ Janice tells onlookers.