Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial judge threatens to remove mogul from courtroom in shocking trial moment
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Manhattan trial took a dramatic turn Thursday when a federal judge shockingly threatened to throw him out of the courtroom for repeatedly nodding at jurors.
The startling moment unfolded after the jury went out for their lunch break — with Judge Arun Subramanian scolding Combs for “looking at jurors and nodding vigorously” at least twice during testimony.
“It cannot happen again,” Subramanian said.
The judge warned Combs and his defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, that if the Bad Boys Records founder was caught doing it again, Subramanian would consider a last-resort measure of having him tossed from the courtroom.
The disgraced music mogul apparently ogled jurors and made the head movements at them as his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura‘s friend Bryana “Bana” Bongolan was being grilled by his defense attorneys about her allegations against him.
Bongolan testified on Wednesday and Thursday that Combs once dangled her over the edge of a 17-story balcony before tossing her on patio furniture at Ventura’s Los Angeles apartment in September 2016.
The “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper was also seen at other points in the bombshell trial nodding and attempting to make eye contact with the panelists.
During earlier testimony, Combs tried to lock eyes with the panelists as they were being escorted out of the courtroom, though it didn’t appear he was successful.
And during jury selection, Combs nodded his head up and down in the direction of a pool of potential jurors.
Combs, 55, is accused of carrying out a slew of crimes for over a decade, including forcing women to have sex with male prostitutes while they were drugged up and while he recorded and pleasured himself — in orchestrated sessions he coined “freak-offs.”
Two of the rapper’s alleged victims — including his longtime on-and-off girlfriend Ventura — have already given days-long testimony about how Combs was physically violent toward them.
A third alleged victim, who is using the pseudonym “Jane,” is set to testify that she was forced into “freak offs” against her will, according to prosecutors.
She began describing the “freak offs” — which she called “hotel sessions” — on the stand Thursday, saying they regularly involved “two dozen or more” bottles of baby oil.
Jane — who started dating Combs in 2020 — is also expected to tell jurors about how he once viciously beat her, the prosecutors said.
The hip hop tycoon is on trial for sex-trafficking, racketeering and prostitution related charges. He has pleaded not guilty and faces up to life in prison if convicted on the top count.
The trial is expected to last eight weeks and is currently in the fourth week of testimony.
