Diddy trial recap: Sean Combs’s ex-girlfriend ‘Jane’ testifies she felt ‘obligated’ to have sex with other men

Judge Arun Subramanian has sent the jury home for the weekend.

Court will resume on Monday morning with continued testimony from Jane.

A judge has threatened to remove Sean “Diddy” Combs from the courtroom for “nodding vigorously” at jurors during his sex trafficking trial.

Judge Arun Subramanian admonished Diddy for reportedly interacting with the jury during testimony given by fashion designer Bryana “Bana” Bongolan, a longtime friend of his former long-term partner Cassie Ventura.

“Mr. Agnifilo, your client was looking at jurors and nodding vigorously,” Subramanian said, referring to Diddy’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo. “This can't continue or I will give a limiting instruction you won't like, or other measures including barring your client from the courtroom. Do you understand?”

Rhian Lubin has the full details:

Judge Arun Subramanian threatened to yank Sean “Diddy” Combs from his own trial after he “vigorously nodded” at jurors during testimony on Thursday.

“Your client was looking at jurors and nodding vigorously,” Subramanian told Combs’s attorney. “This can't continue or I will give a limiting instruction you won't like, or other measures, including barring your client from the courtroom.”

“Do you understand?,” he asked, firmly.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo told the judge that it wouldn’t happen again.

The incident followed further testimony from Cassie Ventura’s close friend, Bryana “Bana” Bongolan, who testified that Combs once dangled her over a 17th-floor balcony. The defense accused Bongolan of lying, which she rejected.

Alleged Combs victim “Jane,” who is testifying under a pseudonym to protect her identity, was called to the stand on Thursday afternoon. Jane was in a relationship with Combs from 2021 to 2024, she said in court. Her testimony could last up to five days.

Jane, a former girlfriend and alleged sex-trafficking victim of Sean “Diddy” Combs, will continue her testimony Friday morning, when court resumes at about 9 a.m.

All up, her testimony could span across five days. Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey is aiming to ensure that direct questioning of Jane is finished by the end of Monday’s hearing.

“Jane” appeared almost nostalgic as she testified about how “wonderful” the start of her relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs was.

They called each other “Burt” and “Ernie.”

But she started tearing up, pausing and grabbing a tissue, when the prosecutor asked what changed in May 2021, just months into their relationship, when they had their first “freak-off,” a term she didn’t use (she called them “debauchery” and “hotel nights”).

Jane mostly looked down as she walked through the typical pattern of these marathon sex sessions with male prostitutes and stressed that she only wanted to be with Combs.

On a typical hotel night, she said they usually went through two dozen bottles of baby oil.

After a late start yesterday, Jane is expected to continue testifying on direct examination this morning at the trial’s typical 9 a.m. start time.

With the trial running slightly behind schedule, Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors yesterday they would remain until 5 p.m. today. Proceedings are usually scheduled to finish at 3 p.m.

Jurors may need to stay that late on some days next week as well, the judge said.

After her first drug-dazed sex session, which she referred to as a “hotel night” or “debauchery,” Jane said she felt exhilarated.

The witness, who has been given an alias to protect her privacy, told jurors she was under the impression that it would be a one-time thing.

For the next three years, she testified, she felt obliged to have sex with male prostitutes at the behest of Combs.

“I truly felt like that night opened a Pandora's box in our relationship,” Jane said. “It was like a door I was unable to shut for the remainder of the relationship.”

Jane estimated that about 90 percent of her time with Combs was spent having sex with other men.

When pressed by prosecutors about how many times she told Combs that she did not want to have sex with other men, Jane testified “many times.”

Fashion designer Bryana Bongolan wrapped up her testimony on Thursday after telling the jury she had been left traumatized after Sean Combs dangled her over a 17th-story balcony of Cassie Ventura’s Los Angeles apartment.

Jurors saw a photo (dated September 26, 2016) showing a large bruise on the back of Bongolan’s leg she said she sustained when Diddy “slammed her onto patio furniture.”

One of Diddy’s defense attorneys pointed out a discrepancy in Bongolan’s timeline by displaying records from the Trump International Hotel in New York, showing Combs was checked in between September 24-29, 2016.

Pointing out that Bongolan claimed the incident happened in the early hours of the next morning across the country in California, Westmoreland asked: “Do you agree that a person can’t be in two places at the same time?”

“In theory, yeah,” Bongolan replied, speaking quietly, as she did throughout her time on the stand.

Westmoreland then directly asked if she lied to the jury. “I can’t agree with you,” Bongolan said.

When Thursday’s hearing resumed after lunch, Sean Combs spun around from the defense table to make an unusual request.

“Soften me up a bit,” the grey-haired music mogul said to courtroom sketch artist Jane Rosenberg while sitting in the front row, according to Reuters.

“You’re making me look like a koala bear.”