As we enter week 3 of the US vs. Sean “Diddy” Combs, we are starting with testimony from Diddy’s former assistant, Capricorn Clark, who recounts several threats that were made on her life during her time working for Diddy. As this explosive testimony is heard, we sit down with attorney David Gelman, who unpacks how well the prosecution is doing at making their racketeering and trafficking case. Tune in to hear the word-for-word testimony from these witnesses and so much more. Our Listener Survey is here: https://ex-plorsurvey.com/survey/selfserve/550/g517/250305?list=6 Follow us on instagram @thetrialpod Email us [email protected] Whatsapp us +447796657512 (start your message with ‘Trial’) Presenters: Germania Rodriguez-Poleo and Kayla Brantley Editor: Sam Morris Producer: Serita Wesley Writers: Caroline Cheetham & Liz Hull Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the allegations against Diddy?
Welcome to The Trial of Diddy. I'm Kayla Brantley. And I'm Hermania Rodriguez-Paleo. We'll be back in a second.
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The biggest secret in the entertainment industry that really wasn't a secret at all.
At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all. Everything Diddy touched turned to gold. Now, he faces multiple federal charges in New York, including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise.
Another woman has now come forward, alleging Combs of sexual assault. Music mogul and rapper Sean Diddy. She claims she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs. Oh, this guy is dangerous.
From free golfs to the mysterious list, the shocking case that has gripped the world is finally here. And we'll be bringing you every detail as it happens. Welcome to the Trial of Diddy. And as we're recording right now, news just broke that Cassie is reportedly in labor. You'll remember she gave her testimony while she was eight and a half months pregnant.
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Chapter 2: Who is Capricorn Clark and what did she testify?
Well, it looks like now her baby's on the way. So we wish her all the best. We are back with week three of the U.S. versus Sean Combs case. And here on The Trial of Diddy, we bring you every detail from the court, word for word, exactly as it happened. And that's because we're in the courtroom every day and we use the transcripts.
That's right, Kayla. But of course, because of Memorial Day, the court was not in session on Friday the 23rd and Monday the 26th. But we're back in session today, the 27th of May, and we're going to be bringing you all of the latest developments from the rest of the week. Today, we have a special guest. Attorney David Gelman is with us to discuss everything we know so far about the case.
Yeah, we're so happy to have David on. He's a friend of the pod. But before we get into him, let's bring you up to date with what we've been hearing just this morning in the past few hours from Capricorn Clark. Capricorn is Diddy's former assistant, and she's been on the stand testifying to the fact that Diddy threatened her life on several occasions.
Now, this all gets pretty complicated, but we will try to keep it simple. Clark said she started working for Death Row Records fresh out of college and Suge Knight was her manager. As we know, Suge Knight is currently behind bars serving a 28-year prison sentence for a fatal hit and run. He's also the father of Capricorn's best friend's children. And of course, he's Diddy's arch nemesis.
Now, Clark said that she started working for Diddy back in 2004. And it was that year that she was taken to Central Park around 9 p.m. one night by Diddy and his then head of security, Uncle Pauly. She said she was threatened because Diddy found out that she used to work for Suge Knight. He told her if her connection with Knight caused any trouble from him, he would, quote, have to kill her.
She said that she was also taken to an empty office, which was due to be the new Bad Boy Records headquarters and forced to take a lie detector test about missing jewelry. She was allegedly told that if she failed the test, she would be thrown into the East River.
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Chapter 3: What threats did Diddy allegedly make?
You'll remember we heard last week from David James, who was another employee of Diddy's, who also said he was forced to take a lie detector test over some missing jewelry. Now, we heard today that because Clark was so nervous and scared, she actually failed the test and she was forced to repeat it for five days straight. She said she would spend an entire workday taking it over and over again.
She said that Uncle Pauly would pick her up and take her to the empty office every day and she would have to keep taking the test and not be able to leave until they, quote, got to the bottom of this.
Yeah, and it was at this point that rapper 50 Cent was also mentioned. And Capricorn testified that she was in an elevator at MTV with Diddy and his then-manager Chris Lighty. She said that Diddy was threatening Lighty because he was also managing 50 Cent, who Diddy took issue with. Clark recalled hearing Diddy tell Chris, quote, I don't like the back and forth. I don't like that.
I like guns. Clark also spoke about a time that an actress, Lauren London, who was a mutual friend, was in the kitchen and they were chatting about why they did not have men at the time. She said Diddy then called Cassie into the room and ordered her to sit down, stand up, turn around, turn the other way, and so on.
Cassie complied with Diddy's demands and Diddy let Clark and London know that this is why they don't have men. Because quote, you bitches won't do that. To which Clark and London replied, you're motherfucking right.
Yeah, Clark also recalled an incident in 2011 where Diddy bombarded her hotel room and she said that he looked disheveled with ripped clothes and he was armed with a gun in hand. She said he was upset about Cassie's relationship with Kid Cudi and he blamed her for not telling him about it. He ordered her to get dressed because he said they were going to kill him.
She said when they arrived at Cudi's house, she stayed in the car and called Cassie while Diddy and his security, a guy named Ruben, got into Cudi's home. And of course, this is what we heard last week from Kid Cudi's testimony. She said she could hear Cuddy in the background while she was on the phone with Cassie and Cuddy was urgently trying to come back to his house.
She said that she warned Cassie. She said, quote, Cassie, stop him. He's going to get himself killed.
She said that Diddy threatened to kill all of them, Clark, Cassie and Cuddy, if Clark and Cassie did not convince Cuddy to not go to the police.
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Chapter 4: How is the prosecution approaching the case?
Yeah. And one of the most eye opening was the testimony of Israel Flores, who's the security officer who responded to the infamous 2016 incident at the Intercontinental Hotel, which was broadcast first by CNN and really was the major catalyst in these charges being brought. That, of course, was the video of Diddy beating Cassie.
In addition, we also heard from the federal agents who performed the raids on his Miami mansion and the New York City hotel where Diddy was staying before his arrest.
Now, the agents told the jury that during the raids they found part of assault rifles, an excessive amount of baby oil, drugs, tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and a bathroom mirror covered in what could only be described as positive affirmations.
Yeah. And with today's testimony of Diddy's former assistant, Capricorn Clark, it feels like so much more is coming to light, especially now that she's testified that he said that he was going to have people killed. And it's important to let our listeners know that Diddy has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. But now we have David Gelman.
He is the founder and lead attorney at Gelman Law Firm and a friend of the podcast. He's here to help us analyze the charges and where the prosecution and defense are at the moment.
Welcome back, David. So, David, it's very interesting because the defense has quite an interesting strategy, which is to say Diddy might be guilty of domestic violence. He might be a terrible person. He is a drug addict, but that's much different than being a sex trafficker or the head of a criminal enterprise.
So tell me the difference between that, because his charges are federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, and whether you think the prosecution has been making that point.
Yeah, Hermione, that's a really good question. And I think the defense is doing a fantastic job what they're doing right now with their play. Because putting it out in the open immediately in their opening statements that there's a lot of domestic violence that occurred in this relationship. And, you know, that Diddy, he has a drug habit. And that, look, he's not a perfect person.
You're going to hear a lot of different things that are probably going to make you cringe. And I think that was really smart to do it. Get ahead of the curve. Now, to the charges themselves, I'm really surprised right now what the government is doing. Because, frankly, all they're trying to say is that Diddy's a bad guy. Yeah, okay, great.
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Chapter 5: What is the defense's strategy in Diddy's trial?
Chapter 6: What evidence has been presented so far?
Chapter 7: What are the implications of the testimony?
You're going to hear a lot of different things that are probably going to make you cringe. And I think that was really smart to do it. Get ahead of the curve. Now, to the charges themselves, I'm really surprised right now what the government is doing. Because, frankly, all they're trying to say is that Diddy's a bad guy. Yeah, okay, great.
We all realized this pretty quickly after Cassie was testifying about how she got kicked and punched repeatedly. But these are not the charges that he's facing. He's facing racketeering charges and conspiracy to commit racketeering. He's facing sex trafficking along state lines. He's facing prostitution charges. Well, none of these charges so far, federally,
have been proven and especially not beyond a reasonable doubt. So I think the defense, what they're doing is a fantastic job. And I'll be very curious to see what their case in chief is going to be like when it's their turn to present their evidence. Right now, every witness that the government has put on the stand
The defense has done a fantastic job at showing that they may not be the most credible individuals in the world. Cassie is a great example. When the evidence came out in cross-examination that she claimed that she was raped by Diddy after their relationship ended.
But then it was claimed that she had sex with him again after the alleged rape and that her husband now tried to FaceTime her while she was having sex. These show there's a lot of credibility issues. The other thing I just wanted to point out is that when Cassie was taking the stand and some of the other females who were taking the stand, Diddy's female attorneys were questioning them.
And I think that really is important. And that plays a big role with juries because it's not... A guy is berating a woman. So I really think that was another good thing that they did.
So just a follow up on that. What is the extra step that the prosecutors have to prove to take this from a case of domestic violence to sex trafficking? What else would they have to show? Because they do have a few weeks left to expose their case.
Well, for the sex trafficking charge, they're going to have to prove that Cassie was not willing and she was forced and coerced and threatened, actually, you know, violated physically to have sex with individuals. not just in New York or wherever, but across state lines. So what they did in Miami or L.A. or anything like that.
And right now, I don't think they're going to be able to prove that because there's been text messages and also testimony from other individuals, especially that punisher, where he said that she was enjoying it and that she was actually telling him what to do. It's going to play very difficult to a jury where how are you going to prove that she was forced to do all of this
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Chapter 8: What are the legal definitions of sex trafficking?
I would assume who will testify that there wasn't this dependence on Diddy. And then when you have competing experts, really a lot of times what's going to happen is they're going to cancel each other out. So the jury, in my opinion, Once they hear from the other one, which I assume they will eventually, they'll cancel each other out.
And then the jury is going to say, all right, well, we don't care about the experts anymore. We're going back to square one. And that's Cassie.
Yeah, it feels like there's a thin line between abuse and coercion here. And they're going to have to do a really good job at defining which is which.
It's the government who has to prove all of this, not Diddy, not his defense team. And the government has to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. So, again, when you're having all these thoughts and saying, well, all right, it may have happened, but we're not 100%, that's perfect reasonable doubt right there. And the defense is just eating that up.
So I've also been struck by Diddy really putting on the charisma in the courtroom. I mean, he's talking to reporters. He's asking people, how are you doing? He's blowing kisses. And he is really seeming to direct his team. In fact, I just saw a report that when they were done cross-examining Kid Cudi, Diddy's lawyers asked him if he wanted them to ask him another question. And Diddy said no.
So he's directing his team to that level. Can this backfire on Diddy or will this help him, you know, with the jury as seen as a mogul who's very smart, who rose up from the bottom, who has all this charisma?
It probably is good for him because it humanizes him a little bit. It's very difficult for this particular jury, I'm sure, to assimilate to Diddy, to, you know, say, oh, yeah, we're just like him. Of course you're not like Diddy. Diddy is trying to, you know, kind of make it so that they can look at each other, you know, kind of eye to eye that we have some similarities. You know, look at him.
He has gray hair now, which I think that probably is something that was a calculated move on Diddy's part or his defense team's part because it may show that He's not this violent guy who ordered all these attacks and and freak offs and all. You know, he's just a he's just like us.
You know, he has gray hair by him blowing kisses to his family and, you know, saying, how are you doing and whatnot and being somewhat jovial, if you will. I think that's probably good for him. I don't think it's going to hurt him at all with the jury. Is it going to help in the end? I mean, again, maybe a little.
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