Ahead of the Sean Combs trial, Josh Mankiewicz reports on Combs’s life and the events that triggered a five-count federal indictment that includes racketeering and sex trafficking.
Chapter 1: Who is Sean Combs and why is he on trial?
Tonight on Dateline.
He was a pioneer of hip-hop.
He was behind Mary J. Blige, the Notorious B.I.G.
I'm talking about a mogul. P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, you had it all. And then you're in an orange jumpsuit.
It's The Case, rocking the music world. Sean Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims.
It's just this whole underbelly.
A video of Cassie Ventura being attacked.
That tape made people take notice. That tape counts as smoking gun evidence. A federal trial.
A line of lawsuits. We've seen one after the other after the other. A nightclub shooting in the past. Point to where exactly you were shot.
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Chapter 2: What events led to the federal indictment of Sean Combs?
I got shot right here. I felt like I was hit with a flaming hot sledgehammer in my face.
Not guilty then. What will the verdict be now? He's been a Teflon for a very long time. I'm not sure that he can remain Teflon.
Celebrity, power, and startling allegations. On the eve of the trial, a revealing look inside the case against music mogul Sean Combs. I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Josh Mankiewicz with Sean Combs on trial.
At first glance, it looks like a normal moment. A young woman waiting for an elevator. Her name is Cassie Ventura, and she's a singer. Except it's not just her music that's made her famous. It's this man she dated. The next frames in this video will shock you even if you've watched them a hundred times.
That video changed a lot of people's perception of him and what he was capable of.
What the whole world saw on that tape was so vile and so horrifying, there was a sense that something had to be done.
And something was. First came a barrage of lawsuits. Then, criminal charges.
Sean Diddy Combs is in custody in New York.
Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims.
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Chapter 3: How did Sean Combs rise to fame in the music industry?
There's a whole through line of accusations of Diddy and physical violence, that he has a temper, he is confrontational.
One example. In 1999, Combs and two employees stormed into the office of Steve Stout, an executive at Interscope Records.
This was a huge outburst of violence because there was a small dispute about a music video.
Combs and his crew were accused of punching and kicking Stout, beating him with a phone and a champagne bottle. John Combs was arrested on charges of felony assault. Stout also sued him in civil court.
Then... He ended up kind of making peace, and all of a sudden they make up.
Combs and Stout settled the lawsuit. And in the criminal case, Combs pleaded to a lesser charge. and was sentenced to one day of an anger management class. It may not have been enough. Much more serious charges were coming.
I said, no, and they both said pow pow. I felt like I was hit with a flaming hot sledgehammer in my face.
A sensational criminal trial, one of the biggest in New York City. Hip-hop megastar Sean Combs facing serious prison time. Except this isn't 2025. This was more than two decades ago. It started the night after Christmas, December 1999.
It was the night that Forever Lives in Infamy and changed my life.
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Chapter 4: What was the nightclub incident involving Sean Combs?
Combs exited the courthouse victorious, walking out to a familiar scene and straight back into his old life. The flashing lights of cameras, A sea of journalists and throngs of fans.
Give all glory to God. If it wasn't for God, I wouldn't be able to walk out here to talk to y'all today.
A free man, a second chance, a new chapter. Which version of Sean Combs would emerge next?
He had her backed into the corner and he was like cussing her out with his hand in her face.
In 2001, Sean Combs was ready to resume life as hip-hop royalty. He was just acquitted on gun and bribery charges. His friend, rapper Shine, wasn't as lucky.
Sean Combs ends up getting off, but Shine goes to jail.
Jason King is dean of the Thornton School of Music at USC. He has followed Combs' career and life from fame to infamy.
So there's this pattern of Sean Combs being involved in violent or scandalous activity in the 1990s and beyond, but not always being held accountable for it.
In fact, in some ways, he benefited from it. Getting tried and acquitted in that club shooting unquestionably helped him.
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Chapter 5: What was the outcome of Sean Combs' trial?
Two days after the video came out, Combs, who had previously said Cassie was a liar after his cash.
I mean, I hit rock bottom.
Went on Instagram and apologized.
My behavior on that video is inexcusable.
I think about how the statements changed, and you know, it was innocent, innocent. And then the tape comes in. Yes!
And suddenly it's, I was in a really dark place.
My point exactly.
the sprinkle of lawsuits became a flood. With me is our client, Plaintiff Thalia Graves. Thalia Graves says that in 2001, Combs and one of his bodyguards spiked her drink and then raped her. She also alleges in her lawsuit, Combs videotaped that episode.
The internal pain after being sexually assaulted has been incredibly deep.
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