• 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.