• Sean "Diddy" Combs listed his Los Angeles mansion for sale a week before he was arrested.
• As his trial proceeds, the house is still on the market with the same asking price: $61.5 million.
• Cassie Ventura said "freak offs" weren't held there, but its link to Combs might still deter buyers.

Sean "Diddy" Combs is sitting in a Manhattan courtroom, facing off with his sexual abuse accusers at trial.

His mansion in Los Angeles, however, is sitting empty.

Combs listed the 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion in LA's ritzy Holmby Hills neighborhood for $61.5 million a week before his arrest in September 2024 — and it's unlikely to sell anytime soon.

His ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, testified last week that Combs' South Mapleton Drive home was not used for any "freak offs," the dayslong sex performances that the trial centers on. In general, homes priced in the eight-figure range don't fly off the shelves that quickly. Still, most homebuyers are put off by its association with an accused sex trafficker, according to a consultant who specializes in selling homes tainted by murder or other disasters.

"When they buy a home at that price point, they like to brag about it," Michael Tachovsky, a partner at Landmark Research Group, told BI. "P. Diddy's reputation, at the current time, really isn't a positive bragging point for a potential buyer. It can play into perceptions, and when there's a negative perception with a property, it just makes it harder to sell."

Two Los Angeles-area real estate agents reached by Business Insider declined to go on record about Combs' property to avoid any association.

Combs has denied all wrongdoing. The music tycoon has consistently argued that all sexual encounters were consensual. The defense also argues that any violence fell far short of sex trafficking and that his accusers have a financial motive to implicate him.

The listing agent, Kurt Rappaport, didn't return multiple requests for comment by email and phone. A rep for Combs and his lawyer also didn't return requests for comment by email.

The history of Combs' LA mansion

Combs purchased the property on Mapleton Drive in 2014 for just over $39 million, according to Los Angeles County property records.

The main house's architecture excludes European vibes and contains a formal dining room, a wine cellar, a theater that fits 35 people, a kitchen, and a separate catering kitchen. A two-story guest house has bedrooms, a gym, and a recording studio.

The grounds, over 1.3 acres, have an oversize statue of a woman seemingly made from similar material to a disco ball, plus a swimming pool with a waterfall and grotto, a basketball court, a spa house, and an outdoor loggia with a barbecue, bar, and pizza oven.

Other homes for sale on the same street are asking similar prices.

Jack Harris, a real estate agent with The Beverly Hills Estate, has an eight-bedroom listing on Mapleton Drive just a few doors down from Combs' house, priced at $62.5 million.

"You normally can't buy into Holmby Hills for less than $20 million — Mapleton being one of the most prestigious streets in Holmby Hills," Harris told BI.

"It's a little pocket that's right between Beverly Hills and Bel Air — there's only a handful of streets," he added.

Combs hosted parties at his house, including a 2017 Grammys afterparty.

Combs also owns a seven-bedroom, 14,800-square-foot home on Star Island in Miami, where Ventura said in court last week that "freak offs" did take place. He bought the home in 2023 for $14.5 million and satisfied the $18.8 million left on his mortgage in August of 2024 to sure up his proposed bond package.

In March 2024, law enforcement officials seized "narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant" from his Los Angeles and Miami residences.

A buyer could be drawn to the renovation potential

Real estate investor Steven "Bo" Belmon made a lowball offer of $30 million in November of 2024.

Belmont said in a press release that he planned to renovate.

"I want to remove the stigma and focus on the charming elegance of this remarkable property," Belmont said in the release.

Belmont is no stranger to controversial properties purchased at a hefty discount. In 2024, he bought Kanye West's abandoned Malibu mansion for $21 million, less than half of its original asking price of $53 million.

Tachovsky pointed to other properties where negative events have taken place that sold years after they hit the market for well below the asking price.

The ongoing legal battles will inevitably limit the pool of buyers, he added.

"At the moment, it doesn't sound like anything nefarious happened at the property, but I don't think there's any certainty yet," he said. "When you've got notorious issues, like the Diddy case, that's not a no-name person. That can linger for some time."

• Cassie Ventura signed a 10-album deal with Diddy's record label at the start of her career.
• He released only one album the whole time and vetoed other job opportunities.
• Prosecutors allege Combs used the resources of his businesses for sex trafficking.

While R&B singer Cassie Ventura was in a decadelong relationship with Sean "Diddy" Combs, her music career was floundering.

Ventura testified in Combs' criminal sex-trafficking trial on Tuesday that the hip-hop mogul "stifled" her career over the years.

Instead of working on her music, Ventura told the Manhattan jury, she spent days participating in and recovering from "freak offs" — which she described as drug-fueled, sexual performances with escorts designed to satisfy Combs.

For a time, Combs had the freak offs "weekly," Ventura said.

"The freak offs became my job," Ventura testified.

In early 2006, Ventura signed a 10-album deal with Combs' label, Bad Boy Records.

She recorded "hundreds of songs" in the subsequent years, but many "didn't see the light of day," she testified on the witness stand.

Only a handful of Ventura's songs were officially released following her eponymous first album, the well-reviewed "Cassie," which was released in the summer of 2006 and included the popular single "Me & U."

Aside from the sole album, Ventura released one mixtape and a handful of singles with Bad Boy Records over the years. She said she wasn't paid for the uncompleted nine albums that were part of the deal.

Ventura said most of her time was spent preparing for and physically recuperating from "freak offs," which she also called "partying." She said the sex sessions led to dehydration and exhaustion, and that she took drugs to stay awake for several days in a row in order to have sex with other men at Combs' direction.

"When I wasn't working on my music, I was recovering from partying," Ventura said. "That was a big chunk of my life."

Diddy released just one Cassie album despite a 10-album deal

Ventura took the stand as the third witness to testify in Combs' sex-trafficking trial on Tuesday morning. Eight months pregnant with her third child with husband Alex Fine, she wore a stretchy brown dress and camel overcoat in the lower Manhattan courtroom.

After Ventura first signed onto Bad Boy Records, her relationship with Combs was platonic, she said.

But things changed on her 21st birthday, in August 2007, when they partied in Las Vegas, she said. There, Combs kissed Ventura in his hotel bathroom, she testified.

Ventura wasn't sure what to do, she said. She was new to the music industry and couldn't grasp the power dynamics between herself and Combs, she testified.

"I think I was just confused at the time," she said on the witness stand. "I'm a young, new artist who did not really know the lay of the land."

But her career was moving fast, and she said she recognized that Combs, as the head of her record label, controlled her career.

"He chose what was next for me, basically," she said.

Fine, Ventura's husband, appeared to hold back tears while Ventura testified. His face was ruddy, and he often appeared to swallow and rapidly blink back tears.

Fine sat in the courtroom in the same row as Ventura's attorney, Douglas Wigdor, who represented Ventura in a civil lawsuit she filed against Combs in November 2023. Combs quickly settled the lawsuit, but the US Attorney's office in Manhattan initiated a criminal investigation into Combs.

Combs' attorneys have cast the indictment against him as a distortion of the true events, which they describe as a mutually toxic relationship between Combs and Ventura. Both consented to sex, abused each other, and were unfaithful, Combs' legal team says.

Ventura testified Tuesday in a quiet, deflated voice as she talked about being in love with Combs.

Combs decided on nicknames for the two of them, she said. He told Ventura to call him "Pop Pop" because that's also what she called her grandfather, while he called her "CC" for "Cassie Combs," she testified.

When Combs first suggested "setting up performances" in their relationship, Ventura felt shaken, but agreed to it because she loved him, she testified.

"At that point, Sean controlled a lot of my life," she said. "Whether it was my career, the way I dressed — everything."

Meanwhile, her career was stalling. Ventura said Combs gave her instructions to develop her music, but few songs were released. Ventura testified she came to believe she was doing only "busy work" so Combs could "control" her.

And though Combs was in charge of Ventura's album releases, he blamed her for the lack of output, she said.

"If you're not releasing music, you're not doing your job," Ventura said, characterizing Combs' attitude.

Ventura made money by hosting events in nightclubs, which could net between $7,500 to $20,000 for each appearance, she testified. She also had the occasional modeling job.

Combs still had veto power over those gigs and often instructed her not to take them, Ventura said.

Prosecutors have alleged that Combs used his companies' resources to exploit women and facilitate a sex-trafficking enterprise.

Ventura said Combs instructed his assistants and bodyguards to set up rooms for "freak offs." They were required to bring baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms, colorful lights, and scented candles, Ventura said.

"It was just super pungent and strong," she said.

Combs and Ventura never lived in the same home during their on-and-off relationship, Ventura said. At first, the two were in New York City, and then moved to Los Angeles when Combs decided he wanted to be closer to his children, whom he had with his late ex-wife Kim Porter.

In Los Angeles, Combs paid the rent for Ventura's homes, she said. He had his own set of keys and occasionally dropped by unannounced, she said. Ventura also paid for her own house in Studio City, she said.

Combs eventually assigned James Cruz, a Bad Boys Records employee, to manage Ventura's career, she testified.

Cruz disclosed to her that he "was managing me with one hand tied behind his back," she testified.

"He couldn't work as a normal manager," Ventura said Cruz told her. "He had to make decisions through other parties. It was just a different way of doing things."

Combs' trial is expected to run about eight weeks. If convicted on the sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges against him, he could face up to life in prison.

• Sean Combs plans to make his own alleged victimhood a centerpiece of his sex-trafficking defense.
• Prosecutors say Combs' ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, will testify next week.
• "We are absolutely 100%" going to accuse Ventura of hitting Combs, his lawyer said Friday.

Sean "Diddy" Combs wants 12 New Yorkers to see him as a victim.

Central to the millionaire rap mogul's defense at his criminal sex-trafficking trial next week will be the claim that the R&B singer Cassie Ventura — the star witness in the case against him — abused him, too.

"We are abolutely 100% going to take that position," Combs' defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told the trial judge in a final pretrial hearing on Friday.

"There was hitting on both sides," he told US District Court Justice Arun Subramanian. Combs sat at the defense table, nodding his head in approval as Agnifilo alleged there was "mutual violence in their relationship."

"We're probably going to refer to it as domestic violence," the lawyer told the judge."

Subramanian on Friday barred the defense from alleging to jurors that Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend of more than a decade, was violent to someone other than Combs. Agnifilo had argued that jurors needed to see that Ventura was a "strong" person who wouldn't have been coerced into sex by Combs.

"Strong people can be coerced, just like weak people," the judge said.

Ventura's attorney, Douglas Wigdor, declined to comment to Business Insider at court on Friday.

Redefining Combs, 55, as a battered man may be tough work for his defense team.

Prosecutors plan to show jurors the infamous security-camera footage where Combs is seen beating and dragging Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway.

Prosecutor Emily Anne Johnson told the judge on Friday that jurors may see five versions of the footage. These will include versions recorded on a security guard's cellphone and others first obtained by CNN.

From Met Gala to MDC

The Combs that jurors will see at the defense table during opening statements in Manhattan federal court Monday will look nothing like the star who graced the red carpet at the 2023 Met Gala, wearing a black Swarovski crystal-studded motorcycle tuxedo with the rapper Yung Miami at his side.

These days, Combs — whose net worth was estimated to be $1 billion in 2022 — is gray-haired and somberly dressed, appearing to wear the same dark slacks and sweater each day of jury selection.

If convicted on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy, Combs could spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The high-profile trial is expected to last about two months.

Combs was arrested and indicted last September. Since then, he's been locked up at a federal Brooklyn jail.

Prosecutors allege that for two decades, Combs led a "criminal enterprise" that involved the sex trafficking of two women, Ventura and an anonymous Jane Doe. Combs is accused of coercing those women, plus two additional women, into sex through a pattern of threats, manipulation, and violence.

Ventura is set to testify during the trial about the abuse she says she endured at the hands of Combs. At least two of the other women are also expected to testify, one under her real name and the other using a pseudonym. A fifth woman who's not named in the indictment is also set to testify about alleged past abuse using her real name.

Prosecutors say that Combs and his associates also committed other crimes, including forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, drug offenses, and obstruction of justice.

Violence and 'freak offs'

Much like Combs' lavish, star-studded "white parties" of the late 1990s and early 2000s, his trial is expected to feature a number of celebrities — at least in name.

The jury selection process revealed a list of famous individuals who may be mentioned during the trial. They include: Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West; the rapper Kid Cudi; the actor Michael B. Jordan; the choreographer Laurieann Gibson; and Yung Miami.

Combs' criminal case stems from a November 2023 civil lawsuit that Ventura filed against Combs, accusing him of rape and forcing to her to engage in sex sessions that the music magnate called "freak offs." Combs settled the suit shortly after it was filed.

At the center of the criminal indictment against Combs are accusations that he orchestrated the so-called "freak offs," described by prosecutors in court papers as elaborate, drug-fueled, and sometimes dayslong sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, and often electronically recorded.

During the trial, jurors will be asked to watch hours of graphic sex videos, including "freak off" footage, that Combs recorded over the years. Prosecutors say some footage was taken without his accusers' consent. The videos are so explicit and sensitive that the public in the courtroom won't be permitted to view them.

Combs has adamantly denied the charges against him, as well as all other allegations of sex abuse. He has been accused of sexual assault, rape, drugging, and other forms of violence in more than 50 civil lawsuits.

His defense attorneys have argued in his criminal case that the sex acts Combs was involved in were fully consensual. The video of Combs beating Ventura, they say, came following a personal dispute about their relationship.

A high-powered legal team

For the sex-trafficking case, Combs parted with his longtime attorney Ben Brafman, who successfully won an acquittal for the hip-hop artist on gun and bribery charges in 2001.

He's now represented by a protégé of Brafman, Marc Agnifilo, who previously defended the NXIVM cult founder Keith Raniere and "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli.

Agnifilo and his wife, Karen Agnifilo Friedman, are also representing Luigi Mangione, who prosecutors say killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk last year.

Combs's legal team is stacked with other prominent attorneys, including Alexandra Shapiro, who is handling Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal; Brian Steel, who defended Young Thug in his complicated Georgia RICO trial and has a Drake song named after him; and Teny Geragos, a law partner of Agnifolo's and the daughter of Mark Geragos, a high-profile defense attorney who is advising on the case.

In a recent hearing, Combs confirmed to the judge that he was offered the chance to plead guilty to charges that would have resulted in a lighter sentence but chose to go to trial.

The prosecution, representing the US Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, is composed entirely of women. Among the prosecutors is Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI chief James Comey, who successfully prosecuted the sex-trafficking trial of Jeffrey Epstein's associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

The trial is the first major criminal case to be overseen by Subramanian, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Joe Biden in 2023. Subramanian is also overseeing a complex antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation, as well as a civil lawsuit filed by Jeffrey Epstein victims against US Rep. Stacey Paskett, who they allege helped facilitate the now-dead pedophile's sex trafficking on the US Virgin Islands.

While prosecutors have depicted Combs as a criminal mastermind who exerted his vast resources to manipulate women and men for his sexual gratification, his attorneys have put forward a more mild picture.

They say Combs had a "swinger" lifestyle that involved multiple sexual partners, and that prosecutors have distorted a personal and complicated relationship into a false criminal allegation.

Combs and Ventura "were in love," Agnifilo said during one bail hearing last year.

"That will be made abundantly clear by the way they speak to each other, by the way other witnesses described their time together, and by the circumstances of how they broke up," Agnifolo said.

"They were in love, but Mr. Combs wasn't always faithful," he continued.

• Diddy's trial judge sharply criticized a lawyer who called prosecutors "a six-pack of white women."
• Mark Geragos, who is working with Sean Combs' legal team, spoke about the case on his TMZ podcast.
• The judge called the remarks "outrageous" in a closed-door meeting.

The judge overseeing the criminal sex-trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs sharply criticized a member of his family's legal team in a closed-door meeting, calling comments he made on a TMZ podcast "outrageous."

In a Tuesday morning meeting in US District Judge Arun Subramanian's robing room, the judge lambasted the lawyer, Mark Geragos, for describing the all-female prosecution team as "a six-pack of white women."

"When you say things on a podcast like 'six women, all white, my understanding is you've got a six-pack of white women,'" Submaranian told Geragos, according to a court transcript of the meeting. "Like that's not — that's something that you shouldn't — that no one should be saying as an officer of the Court and a member of the bar, right?"

Geragos — a criminal defense attorney who has represented Michael Jackson and Hunter Biden, among other boldfaced names — spoke about the Combs case on a Friday episode of "2 Angry Men," a podcast he co-hosts with TMZ founder Harvey Levin.

In addition to describing them as "a six-pack of white women," Geragos said the prosecutors mischaracterized a surveillance video where Combs beat his former partner Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway, saying Combs was upset because she took her phone.

"Have you ever had a situation where your significant other took your cellphone?" Geragos said on the podcast. "And does that take you from 0 to 60 really quick?"

Submaranian admonished Geragos for the comments about the prosecutors, saying he violated a court rule barring lawyers involved in ongoing cases from making "extrajudicial comments" about them.

It marks a rough start for the legal team in Combs' case. Prosecutors have accused the "I'll Be Missing You" singer of sexual abuse and racketeering, which he denies. Jury selection began this week, and the trial is expected to last up to eight weeks.

Geragos didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Until the Tuesday morning robing room meeting, Geragos's precise involvement in the case has been unclear. He sat among members Combs' legal team in the lower Manhattan courtroom during the jury selection process on Monday and Tuesday, but he has not formally filed an appearance in the case. Prosecutors addressed the ambiguity of his role in their letter to the judge on Tuesday morning. The letter pointed to his podcast comments and asked the judge to stop him from continuing to speak about the case.

In the robing room meeting, Geragos said he represents Combs' mother and talks with the hip-hop mogul "with great frequency."

Geragos told Subramanian that he believes the rule forbidding "extrajudicial comments" has "been perverted over the years" and interferes with the right of defendants to receive a fair trial. He also said he has refrained from criticizing the lawyers who represent the women who have accused Combs of sexual assault.

"I think when you've got a black man who's being prosecuted and the client feels like he's being targeted, it's a — it's an observation," Geragos said.

"I think this is ridiculous," Submaranian snapped back. "I think referring to the prosecution in this case as 'a six-pack of white women' is outrageous."

One of the prosecutors, Mary Slavik, said that Geragos's podcast had millions of subscribers and that his remarks could reach jurors in the case.

"This TMZ podcast that Mr. Geragos is a part of has several million subscribers," she said. "The danger of Mr. Geragos's statements infecting the jury pool, I think, is very serious."

Submaranian said he would be monitoring "2 Angry Men" for additional comments Geragos may make about the case.

"You have one more listener for your podcast," the judge said.

"As long as you subscribe, I'm all for it," Geragos responded.

• Federal prosecutors want a judge to admonish a lawyer helping Diddy, who also co-hosts a TMZ podcast.
• The attorney, Mark Geragos, said on his "2 Angry Men" podcast that Sean Combs has a "violent temper."
• Geragos appeared to be clued in, correctly predicting another legal hire Combs would make.

Federal prosecutors asked the judge overseeing Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial to admonish a lawyer advising his defense, arguing it was inappropriate for the attorney to discuss the case on his TMZ podcast.

The lawyer, Mark Geragos, co-hosts the "2 Angry Men" podcast with Harvey Levin, the founder of TMZ.

In an episode posted online Friday, Geragos discussed a key piece of evidence expected to be shown at trial — a security video showing Combs beating his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel hallway — and described it as "character assassination."

"You give the prosecution props," Geragos said on the podcast. "It's a prosecution by proxy."

Geragos said footage of the video that previously aired on CNN was edited in a misleading way.

The original footage, a version of which is expected to be shown in the trial, may back up a version of events presented by Combs's lawyers, he said.

"I've known Sean for a long time. He has a violent temper, especially when you combine it with the drug use," Geragos said on the podcast. "But that isn't what he's charged with."

In court, Combs's legal team has said that Ventura hit Combs in the head during an argument and then left the hotel room with a bag of his clothing, leading him to chase her in the hallway.

"Have you ever had a situation where your significant other took your cellphone?" Geragos said. "And does that take you from 0 to 60 really quick?"

Geragos hasn't filed court papers indicating he's representing Combs. But he has been in the courtroom sitting with Combs's legal team during jury selection on Monday and Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Geragos's "apparent role as an advisor to the defendant and the defense team" means his podcast comments violated a rule about lawyers giving "extrajudicial statements" while the case is ongoing.

"The need for the Court's admonishment is necessary given that as recently as three days ago, Mr. Geragos spoke at length about the trial in this case in his podcast called '2 Angry Men,' Mr. Geragos's podcast with Harvey Levin, the creator of the tabloid news organization TMZ," prosecutors wrote in their Tuesday letter.

Combs has appeared to be deeply involved in the jury selection process. On Tuesday, he was in constant conversation with his two lawyers beside him and nodded when particular jurors told the judge they believed they could serve fairly.

On the podcast, Geragos said he would continue to discuss the Combs case in future episodes. Neither Geragos nor representatives for TMZ immediately responded to Business requests for comment from Business Insider.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have accused Combs of sex trafficking women, using the resources of his record label and other businesses to stage "freak offs" — elaborate, drug-fueled sexual performances. He has denied the charges and all allegations of sexual abuse.

Ventura, who dated Combs for about a decade, is expected to testify in the criminal trial as a victim. Combs previously settled a civil sexual assault lawsuit she filed against him.

In the "2 Angry Men" podcast episode, Geragos discussed other elements of the case, including what he expected from jury selection and how the prosecutors would handle the case.

"You've got a six-pack of white women," Geragos said of the all-female prosecution team.

He also said he hasn't been able to get information from his daughter Teny Geragos, an attorney at the law firm Agnifilo Intrater, who is representing Combs and has formally filed the appropriate papers to do so.

"You raise it through college and you get nothing," Levin joked.

"I can put it through college and I get not only nothing, I get a lot of pushback," Mark Geragos responded.

Nonetheless, during the Friday podcast episode, Geragos appeared to be clued in on the case behind the scenes.

According to Levin, Combs' legal team "really, really wanted to get a female Black lawyer — I think for kind of obvious reasons" but weren't able to hire one.

Geragos pushed back.

"Well, I'm telling you, I'm not so sure that you're right. I'll leave it at that," Geragos said. "I'm not going to speak out of school, but I've heard very strong rumors."

On Tuesday afternoon, another lawyer filed an appearance to represent Combs: Nicole Westmoreland. She is Black.

Westmoreland previously represented Quamarvious Nichols, a codefendant of rapper Young Thug who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in Atlanta last year.

• Prosecutors want to seal Sean Combs' "freak off" videos in sex-trafficking trial.
• Combs is accused of sex trafficking and racketeering, with Cassie Ventura as a key victim.
• The judge is hammering out resolutions for different legal issues before the trial in May.

Prosecutors want to make sure the public doesn't see the "freak off" videos made by Sean "Diddy" Combs, which they say they'll present as exhibits in his upcoming criminal sex-trafficking trial.

Even the audio from those videos shouldn't reach the ears of the public and the press, argued Assistant US Attorney Madison Smyser in a court conference on Friday.

"These are extremely sensitive videos, they are going to involve videos of 'freak offs,'" Smyser said. "They involve other parties, victims, and, in some videos, Mr. Combs."

Smyser said prosecutors and defense lawyers were working out a way so that only jurors would be able to see and hear the videos when they're presented in court.

The indictment, brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan, accuses Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering.

The primary victim prosecutors identified is Cassie Ventura, who was in a romantic relationship with Combs for 10 years. According to prosecutors, Combs sexually abused Ventura through "freak offs," which they described as elaborate and lengthy sexual performances that Combs staged, masturbated during, and often recorded.

Prosecutors have identified another four accusers who are expected to testify as victims in the trial. The judge has also allowed one "propensity witness," a yet-identified former romantic partner who is set to testify by name about alleged prior abuse, but who is not considered a victim in the criminal charges. Some of the witnesses are also expected to include sex workers who were recruited for the "freak offs."

Combs was attentive during Friday's court conference, the penultimate one before jury selection begins on May 5.

The hip-hop artist wore khaki jail garb and what appeared to be laceless Vans slip-on shoes.

Before the start of the hearing, Combs hugged his three female attorneys and then shook hands with one of his male lawyers. Throughout the conference, he sipped water from an unusually small plastic cup on the defense table before him.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian, who is overseeing Combs' criminal case, asked prosecutors to provide legal justifications for sealing the "freak off" videos, which would become court records if they were to be entered into evidence.

Prosecutors said they'd file a letter providing examples where similar procedures were followed in other cases. In R. Kelly's trial in Brooklyn, the court had jurors watch videos of sexual abuse on small screens in front of their jury seats while wearing earphones, while journalists and members of the public were kept out of the courtroom.

A victim's 'medical procedure'

During Friday's hearing, prosecutors also said they wanted an accuser to testify about a "medical procedure" that they said was a result of a "freak off."

Combs's defense attorneys argued that the procedure wasn't sufficiently related to the conduct described in the indictment, and that the accuser shouldn't be able to testify about the experience.

Submaranian ultimately concluded that he'd wait and see what else the victim would testify about before deciding if prosecutors could ask questions about the purported medical procedure.

The judge also issued a ruling narrowing the scope of what Dawn Hughes, an expert on interpersonal relationships, would be allowed to testify about. Hughes, who previously testified in the trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, and is expected to testify in Harvey Weinstein's ongoing trial, is expected to testify on behalf of Combs. Combs's lawyers have said she would partly testify about the "swingers" lifestyle the singer participated in.

Subramanian previously resolved most of the other legal issues ahead of the trial, which is set to take place in the same lower Manhattan courtroom where Combs's jailmate Sam Bankman-Fried had his trial.

The judge allowed Combs's team to obtain drafts of Ventura's memoir for cross-examination, but did not allow them to obtain other notes, emails, or bank records they had requested.

Subramanian also forced Warner Bros. to give Combs' lawyers interview footage with two accusers taken for a Max documentary, "The Fall of Diddy." An attorney for Combs said in Friday's hearing that they expected to receive the footage next week.

The contents of Ventura's memoir have never been made public, and little information about it is known.

Combs's lawyer Marc Agnifilo discussed the memoir in a September court hearing, where he unsuccessfully asked a judge to allow Combs to stay out of jail ahead of the criminal trial.

Agnifilo said Combs and Ventura had a consensual, if complicated, 10-year relationship, and that she essentially tried to extort him with the memoir draft after it ended. In November 2023, Combs settled a civil sexual abuse lawsuit that Ventura brought against him.

"'My client has written a book, and she is going to publish it, but if you want to buy the rights, then you will have the exclusive rights, and she won't be able to publish it.'" Agnifilo said, characterizing an offer from one of Ventura's previous lawyers. "'And you know what, you can buy the rights for $30 million.'"

Later, Ventura retained a different lawyer and sued Combs under New York's Adult Survivors Act, alleging sexual abuse,

"'I am not really here to embarrass you anymore to the tune of $30 million; I am going to bring this civil sex claim against you,'" Agnifilo said, purportedly quoting Ventura's other attorney.

Agnifilo's arguments were not successful. Combs has been detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since September.

• After months of delays, Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush-money case.
• Now that his felony status is finalized, he can appeal the conviction and the prosecution itself.
• In the meantime, the liquor licenses at two of his New Jersey golf clubs could be revoked.

Donald Trump received no punishment for the 34-count conviction handed down by a jury in his New York hush-money case.

The president-elect's sentencing, though, finalizes his status as a felon, heralding a new chapter of legal proceedings.

Trump, who is scheduled to be sworn in as president again on January 20, can now begin an appeal of his criminal conviction.

In the meantime, his business interests could face legal challenges, and the liquor licenses at his New Jersey golf resorts could be revoked.

Here's what comes next now that Trump is the first president in US history with a felony sentence on his record.

Trump's liquor licenses

The liquor licenses for two of Trump's New Jersey golf courses, the Trump National Golf Club in Colts Neck and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, may be in jeopardy.

"With the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) will proceed in determining whether President-elect Trump is qualified to continue to hold an interest in the licenses," said a spokeswoman for the New Jersey attorney general's office, of which the ABC is a division.

This past summer, New Jersey's Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control set and then postponed a liquor-license-revocation hearing for the two clubs, saying it was waiting for Trump's sentencing to be finalized.

Since then, both clubs have been operating with interim licenses that expire in February. Those licenses have remained in effect, "allowing the facilities to continue serving alcohol until a hearing on the renewals is held," the spokesperson said Wednesday.

Trump has a third New Jersey club in Pine Hill, the Trump National Golf Club Philadelphia. Its liquor license is up for renewal by borough authorities in June. Borough officials did not respond to a request for comment on their plans for that license.

The liquor licenses for all three New Jersey clubs are in Donald Trump Jr.'s name — but that does not protect them from Trump's new status as an adjudicated felon, New Jersey officials said.

State law requires revocation if anyone who either holds or is the primary beneficiary of a liquor license has a finalized felony conviction.

The AG spokesperson said this week that the agency's previous review, which found Trump benefits from the licenses, has not changed.

"There has been no change to ABC's review that indicates that the president-elect maintains a direct beneficial interest in the three liquor licenses through the receipt of revenues and profits from them, as the sole beneficiary of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust," the AG spokesperson said this week.

A criminal appeal

Trump can now appeal his indictment and conviction to New York's Appellate Division, which serves as a first-tier appellate court in the state.

If that fails, he could file with the New York State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court.

If the state courts uphold his conviction, Trump could ask the US Supreme Court to overturn it.

The Supreme Court ruled by a narrow 5-4 margin to allow Trump's sentencing to proceed Friday.

Two of the Republican-appointed justices, John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, sided with the Democratic appointees to allow the hearing to happen.

In post-trial legal arguments, Trump's lawyers have cited a July Supreme Court decision that found a president is immune from criminal prosecution. The ruling offers broad immunity, so evidence involving a president's "official acts" cannot be used in a prosecution, even for nonofficial actions.

The Justice Department frequently intervenes on behalf of members of the executive branch to argue that its members are immune from certain kinds of civil lawsuits.

The department could do the same for Trump as he appeals his criminal case, Michel Paradis, a professor of constitutional law at Columbia University, told Business Insider.

"They would basically file a motion in the Appellate Division to assert the interests of the United States, which would entitle them to file a brief and argue," Paradis told BI.

Trump has nominated Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, the lead lawyers in his Manhattan criminal case, to serve in top roles in the Justice Department for his second term.

Trump has also named John Sauer — who successfully argued the criminal immunity case on his behalf last year — as his pick for solicitor general, who presents arguments before the Supreme Court.

Other legal issues

The two federal criminal cases against Trump — over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and for taking government documents with him to Mar-a-Lago post-presidency — were dismissed after Trump won reelection in November.

He still faces an array of civil lawsuits stemming from his actions during the January 6, 2021, riot, but those will likely continue to move slowly through the courts.

A fourth criminal case, in Atlanta, over Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results, has been mired in delays. The case is effectively frozen as Fani Willis, the district attorney who brought the indictment against Trump and more than a dozen codefendants, appeals a decision to have her removed from the case over an inappropriate relationship with its special prosecutor.

The greatest consequences for Trump may be the judgments against him in civil cases brought by the New York Attorney General's office and by the writer E. Jean Carroll.

In February, a New York judge found Trump and his companies liable for fraud, ordering them to pay penalties that, with interest, have ballooned to nearly a half-billion dollars. An appeal of that case is pending.

Two juries have ordered Trump to pay a total of nearly $90 million after he was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll. Those cases, too, are being appealed.

• Ex-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani risks being held in contempt in federal court in Manhattan.
• Two GA election workers said he repeatedly ignored court orders in their federal defamation case.
• If he's found in contempt, Trump could not issue a pardon or commute his sentence.

Rudy Giuliani took the witness stand in federal court in New York on Friday, battling a potential contempt-of-court finding sought by two Georgia election workers — and Donald Trump can't come to his rescue if he loses.

If a judge decides Giuliani has flouted court orders by failing to turn over assets and evidence in the three-year-old defamation case, he could fine Giuliani or send him to jail until he complies.

The federal pardon and commutation powers Trump regains on his return to the White House next month do not extend to civil contempt sentences.

According to experts in constitutional law and federal pardons, Giuliani would not be able to rely on his former client to save him from jail or fines.

"Generally criminal contempt is within the power of the president, but civil contempt is not," said Margaret Love, a lawyer who served as the Justice Department pardon attorney in the 1990s.

Giuliani was combative on the stand on Friday, at a daylong contempt-of-court hearing overseen by US District Judge Lewis Liman in a courthouse in downtown Manhattan.

The hearing, which will continue next week, is part of a suite of civil cases brought by mother-daughter Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea "Shaye" Moss.

"This is monstrously overbroad," Giuliani complained of Moss-Freeman asset-document requests during questioning at one point on Friday. "It's abusive and overbroad."

A federal judge in Washington, DC, found in 2023 that Giuliani defamed the pair — and subjected them to a barrage of racist death threats — by repeatedly and falsely accusing them of voter fraud, including by lying that they had tallied suitcases full of illegal ballots for Joe Biden.

In December 2023, a jury ordered Giuliani to pay Freeman and Moss $148 million. In recent weeks, the two plaintiffs have sought to have him held in contempt in DC and in Manhattan to force him to comply with judges' demands that he cease defaming them and turn over assets and evidence as ordered.

The contempt hearing is scheduled to continue Monday morning.

Giuliani's defense has focused on his recent switch of lawyers from Kenneth Caruso, an experienced New York-based attorney he has known for nearly 50 years, to Joseph Cammarata, best known for representing a woman who accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.

Giuliani swapped lawyers sometime in November. Giuliani said that changing attorneys had made it a challenge to meet deadlines — an excuse that the pair's lawyers did not accept.

Cammarata said in court Friday that his client has completed "substantial compliance" with his obligations and should not be held in contempt.

He said that Giuliani, who is 80 years old, has struggled to deal with an avalanche of legal proceedings against him, including criminal investigations. Prosecutors in Arizona and Georgia have brought cases against Giuliani over his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump.

"Mayor Giuliani, as this court knows, has multiple litigations going on in multiple states, both civil and criminal in nature," Cammarata said.

Giuliani took the stand — struggling up a step by the podium — after the court's lunch break. At the beginning of the break, he complained to Jane Rosenberg, a courtroom artist, about how she depicted him in one of her pastel drawings.

"You made me look like my dog," he told her, Rosenberg said.

Giuliani was cross-examined by Meryl Conant Governski, an attorney representing Freeman and Moss, about two sworn declarations he had submitted to the court saying that he's abided by all of the judge's orders and provided proper responses to information requests and interrogatories.

He said that the turnaround time required for discovery requests was "unusually short" even though his previous attorney, Caruso, had agreed to the 14-day response deadlines.

In the morning, Cammarata cross-examined Aaron Nathan, an attorney representing Freeman and Moss, over how he determined whether the former New York mayor had failed to account for his property. Many of the questions concerned Giuliani's framed Joe DiMaggio jersey that once hung over the fireplace in his Manhattan apartment.

When Nathan gained access to the apartment in October and searched the residence, it was gone.

"This jersey has been at the forefront of the case," Cammarata said in one heated moment. "There have been accusations that my client absconded with the jersey. And that is not the case."

Cammarata, in winding and plodding cross-examination, pointed out that the photo of the jersey in the apartment was taken in the summer of 2023, and time had passed before Nathan went into the apartment and saw the location himself.

"Your honor, if I may, I want to take his testimony about the passage of time," Cammarata objected after the judge cut off his questioning on the subject.

The day before Friday's hearing, Giuliani asked for permission to attend virtually, due to "medical issues with his left knee and breathing problems due to lung issues discovered last year," as his lawyer, explained it in a letter to the judge.

The breathing problems are "attributable to Defendant Rudolph W. Giuliani being at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001," Cammarata wrote.

Giuliani attended in person after the judge warned he'd otherwise be barred from testifying on his own behalf.

Should Giuliani be found in contempt, "the executive pardon power would not extend to a civil contempt sentence," even in a federal court, said former federal prosecutor Ephraim Savitt.

That's because Giuliani's jailing wouldn't be a punishment for a past infraction — instead, it would be a remedial sentence, meant to force his compliance with the judge's orders.

"Civil contempt sentences are essentially open-ended," meaning Giuliani could only be freed once he had complied, said Savitt.

"It's a means of coercing a party to take some action, to compel compliance," said Michel Paradis, who teaches constitutional law at Columbia Law School.

"So long as Giuliani has the keys to his own cell, and can be freed by simply complying with the judge's order, then there is no crime to be pardoned or punishment to be reprieved," he added.

• An appeals court upheld a jury verdict finding Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll.
• He owes her $5 million in damages for sexual abuse and defamation — but plans to keep appealing.
• Trump is also appealing a separate jury verdict for an additional $83.3 million in defamation damages.

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a verdict finding Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, starting a 30-day clock for her to receive the $5 million jury award, plus interest.

In an exhaustive, 77-page opinion, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected all of the legal arguments brought by Trump in seeking to overturn the May 2023 trial verdict.

But Carroll, now 81 years old, shouldn't hold her breath. A spokesperson for Trump told Business Insider the president-elect plans to keep appealing the verdict.

The appeal could keep the cash frozen well into next year, at least, legal experts told BI.

In the year and a half since the jury verdict, the $5 million Trump owes Carroll — plus $500,000 to cover interest — has been sitting in an interest-bearing bank account controlled by the federal trial court.

If Trump does not file a further appeal in the next 30 days, the court will automatically transfer that $5.5 million and any further interest directly to Carroll and her attorneys, said Nick Newton, a former president of the National Association of Surety Bond Producers.

"Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today's decision," Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan told Business Insider in a statement. "We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties' arguments."

A spokesperson for Trump called Carroll's claims a "hoax" and said he would continue to appeal.

"The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed," Steven Cheung told BI in an email. "We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again."

Trump's options for further appeals are two-fold, according to Michel Paradis, who teaches constitutional law at Columbia Law School. The funds would remain frozen until the appeals are exhausted, meaning that Carroll would need to wait longer before getting any of the jury's awards.

The president-elect can first seek an en banc review, meaning a review of Monday's three-judge decision by all 13 active judges on the Second Circuit, plus Senior Judge Denny Chin, Paradis said.

After that option, Trump could take his appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Winning — or even being considered — for en banc is a high bar, Paradis said. Trump would have to explain to the full Second Circuit why the issues are so important, and the three-judge panel's decision is so profoundly wrong that it needs to be overturned.

"In a case like this, it could take a few months" for the full panel to consider Trump's petition and any response they allow from Carroll's side, and then vote on whether to hear the case, he said.

"In this appeal, there were only basic legal questions in dispute, meaning how the law was applied, and the three-judge panel's review was limited to looking for an abuse of discretion," Paridis said.

Trump will seek review from the US Supreme Court next, Paradis predicted. The president-elect selected three of the nine justices in his first term. He could place more justices on the bench by the time oral arguments would take place.

The president-elect would first have to ask the high court to hear his appeal, and that process could keep the Carroll judgment frozen well into next year, he said.

"SCOTUS would likely not decide to hear the case until the end of next September at the earliest," he said.

It's not clear who will be on Trump's legal team if he continues to appeal the case.

John Sauer, who presented the oral argument before the Second Circuit, was designated by Trump to serve as the Justice Department Solicitor General in his next presidential term. Other attorneys who worked on the case, including Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, and Alina Habba, are set to serve other posts in the Justice Department or the White House.

Monday's decision is for one of two separate civil lawsuits E. Jean Carroll brought against Trump.

The second trial took place in January 2024, and concerned additional defamation damages over Trump disparaging Carroll and calling her a liar.

The jury in that case awarded Carroll $83.3 million. Trump is appealing that case, too, with a process that is running on a separate track.

Monday's appellate court decision largely focused on whether it was appropriate for US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, the trial judge, to allow certain types of evidence to be seen by the jurors who held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll.

Trump's lawyers argued Kaplan should not have shown jurors the "Access Hollywood" tape, where Trump bragged about grabbing women by the genitals.

"The jury could have reasonably concluded from those statements that, in the past, Mr. Trump had kissed women without their consent and then proceeded to touch their genitalia," they wrote.

Trump's attorneys had also argued it was inappropriate to allow testimony from Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, two other women who had accused Trump of sexual misconduct. The Second Circuit judges agreed with Kaplan, ruling that their stories helped establish a pattern of conduct from Trump.

"The jury could reasonably infer from Ms. Stoynoff's testimony and the Access Hollywood tape that Mr. Trump engaged in similar conduct with other women — a pattern of abrupt, nonconsensual, and physical advances on women he barely knew," the judges wrote.

• Luigi Mangione has been indicted in New York on a first-degree murder charge.
• Prosecutors say Mangione killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson "in furtherance of terrorism."
• Mangione's mother said killing Thompson was "something that she could see him doing," police said.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Luigi Mangione on charges of first-degree murder, with prosecutors alleging he killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson "in furtherance of terrorism."

Prosecutors have also accused Mangione of second-degree murder, as well as a slew of counts related to the possession of an illegal "ghost gun" made from 3D-printed parts.

Following a five-day manhunt, Mangione was arrested last week at a restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on gun and false ID charges.

Police say he killed Thompson outside a midtown Manhattan hotel on December 4.

"This killing was intended to invoke terror," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon, calling it a"brazen, targeted and premeditated shooting."

Prosecutors offered a detailed look at Mangione's movements Tuesday. They say he stayed at an Upper West Side hostel for more than a week, using a fake New Jersey ID, before carrying out the killing.

According to prosecutors, two of the shell casings for the bullets that killed Thompson had the words "DENY" and "DEPOSE" written on them. The word "DELAY" was written on a bullet found at the scene.

An arrest warrant previously obtained by Business Insider indicated that Mangione would be charged with second-degree murder along with four other charges related to illegal weapon possession. The first-degree murder charge reflects a more severe charge.

If Mangione, 26, is convicted of the first-degree murder charge, he could spend the rest of his life in prison without parole. The charge, with the intent to commit terrorism, refers to a killing that is "intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population" or "influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion," according to the indictment.

Mangione has not yet entered a plea for any of the charges against him.

Even the minimum required sentence for first-degree murder, 25 to life, would mean Mangione would not see a parole officer until age 51.

The top charge could become a bargaining chip for Bragg, former Manhattan prosecutor Michael Bachner, who is now in private practice, told BI.

"Given the risk now of a maximum sentence of life without the possibility parole, that top terrorism count may induce the defendant to enter a plea, if one is offered," he said.

Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, lambasted the "ghoulish" online discourse valorizing Mangione for killing Thompson.

"Let me say this plainly — there is no heroism in what Luigi Mangione did," she said.

A Pennsylvania-based attorney for Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, has contested Mangione's extradition to Manhattan. At Tuesday's press conference, Bragg said he believed Mangione may change tack court proceedings Thursday and stop fighting extradition.

Over the weekend, Mangione hired Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an experienced New York-based criminal defense attorney who is married to and shares a law firm with Marc Agnifilo. Marc Agnifilo is representing Sean "Diddy" Combs in his criminal sex-trafficking case.

In an interview with CNN prior to taking on Mangione as a client, Friedman Agnifilio said the evidence was "overwhelming" that Mangione killed Thompson.

"It looks like to me there might be a 'not guilty by reason of insanity' defense that they're going to be thinking about because the evidence is going to be so overwhelming that he did what he did," she said.

Mangione left a robust online trail that went cold about six months before Thompson's killing. His mother filed a missing persons report in San Francisco in November, saying he had disappeared.

At Tuesday's press conference, Joe Kenny, the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, said the FBI contacted Mangione's mother on December 7, following a tip.

"She didn't indicate that it was her son in the photograph, but she said it might be something that she could see him doing," Kenny said.