Sean 'Diddy' Combs' former assistant tells jurors he allegedly assaulted her sexually and physically - Newsday
A former assistant of Sean "Diddy" Combs broke down in tears as she told a Manhattan federal jury how he beat, humiliated and sexually assaulted her over the eight years she worked for the rap mogul.
The woman, who testified at Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial under the pseudonym Mia to protect her privacy, spoke about how she felt that the Bad Boy Records founder had complete control over her.
"I couldn’t tell him no about a sandwich," she said. "I couldn’t tell him no about anything."
Mia said she grew up in Virginia Beach and worked low-level jobs for former model and fashion designer Regina Chapman and as an assistant to comedian Michael Meyers before landing the job with Combs in 2009 when she was 25 years old.
The rap entrepreneur is accused of using his business empire to force his girlfriends to have sex with male sex workers and threatening them with public humiliation, financial and professional ruin if they refused to continue taking part in his carnal fantasies.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have conceded that jurors would not like him after hearing some of the testimony. Though he was a bad boss and a toxic boyfriend, defense attorneys said during opening arguments, his misdeeds do not add up to federal crimes.
Combs started crossing the normal boundaries of professional decorum from Mia’s first day on the job, she said.
She was taken to his Manhattan apartment by his chief of staff, Toni Fletcher, where Combs opened the door in his underwear.
"I was so excited, so nervous and just really eager," Mia told the court. She thought she had been hired for $55,000 a year, but discovered that her pay was only $50,000. In her first week, she said that she did not sleep for five days, fearing that she would miss a call from Combs. She told the court that she relied on Adderall to help her stay awake.
The former assistant told the jury that she spent her time attached to her cellphone waiting for Combs’ next command.
"We had to stay within his eyesight and earshot," she said, anticipating his next move, which could be to help him "cracking his knuckles to doing his taxes to writing his next movie."
For his 40th birthday, he rented out the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. He held a party on the first floor and took over the penthouse suite where he stayed.
She said that the night of the party, he took her into the kitchen and told everyone else to leave the two of them alone. Then he gave her a pep talk. The two did two shots of vodka, after which she said she began feeling woozy
After the shots, Mia said that Combs pressed her up against a wall and kissed her as he put his hand up her dress.
Within a year of starting her job, she told the jury he raped her in his Los Angeles house.
Mia said that she went to bed on the second floor of his Hollywood home, sleeping in the lower bunk bed of one of his children’s rooms.
She broke down in tears, barely able to speak as she described how he came in during the night and forced himself on her.
"I just froze. I didn’t react," she said, saying she felt "Terrified and confused and ashamed."
In another sexual attack, he was packing his luggage for a trip when he suddenly appeared in front of her, exposed, and again forced her to perform a sex act.
The experience made her feel "Like trash," she said. "Scared and ashamed and defeated and like an idiot."
She testified that there was a fourth incident on a private jet in which she said she can’t remember what happened, but she remembers saying "no, no, no" as he confronted her in a sleeping area of the plane.
She said that Combs was also violent with her at different times, slamming her arm in a bathroom door, throwing her in a pool and hurling objects — a bowl of spaghetti, a computer, a phone — at her.
Mia, using his other nickname, told the court that she never thought about going to the police because "I believe that Puff’s authority was above the police."
She also feared losing her position in his company. He started a TV production company with her and she was fulfilling what she said was her dream of working in creative development.
"I was going to die with this. I didn’t want anyone to know ever," she said. "I would have been silenced. I would have been punished, I would have been exiled from my second family. I would have lost my reputation. I would have lost everything."
Mia returns to the stand Friday.
A former assistant of Sean "Diddy" Combs broke down in tears as she told a Manhattan federal jury how he beat, humiliated and sexually assaulted her over the eight years she worked for the rap mogul.
The woman, who testified at Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial under the pseudonym Mia to protect her privacy, spoke about how she felt that the Bad Boy Records founder had complete control over her.
"I couldn’t tell him no about a sandwich," she said. "I couldn’t tell him no about anything."
Mia said she grew up in Virginia Beach and worked low-level jobs for former model and fashion designer Regina Chapman and as an assistant to comedian Michael Meyers before landing the job with Combs in 2009 when she was 25 years old.
The rap entrepreneur is accused of using his business empire to force his girlfriends to have sex with male sex workers and threatening them with public humiliation, financial and professional ruin if they refused to continue taking part in his carnal fantasies.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have conceded that jurors would not like him after hearing some of the testimony. Though he was a bad boss and a toxic boyfriend, defense attorneys said during opening arguments, his misdeeds do not add up to federal crimes.
Combs started crossing the normal boundaries of professional decorum from Mia’s first day on the job, she said.
She was taken to his Manhattan apartment by his chief of staff, Toni Fletcher, where Combs opened the door in his underwear.
"I was so excited, so nervous and just really eager," Mia told the court. She thought she had been hired for $55,000 a year, but discovered that her pay was only $50,000. In her first week, she said that she did not sleep for five days, fearing that she would miss a call from Combs. She told the court that she relied on Adderall to help her stay awake.
The former assistant told the jury that she spent her time attached to her cellphone waiting for Combs’ next command.
"We had to stay within his eyesight and earshot," she said, anticipating his next move, which could be to help him "cracking his knuckles to doing his taxes to writing his next movie."
For his 40th birthday, he rented out the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. He held a party on the first floor and took over the penthouse suite where he stayed.
She said that the night of the party, he took her into the kitchen and told everyone else to leave the two of them alone. Then he gave her a pep talk. The two did two shots of vodka, after which she said she began feeling woozy
After the shots, Mia said that Combs pressed her up against a wall and kissed her as he put his hand up her dress.
Within a year of starting her job, she told the jury he raped her in his Los Angeles house.
Mia said that she went to bed on the second floor of his Hollywood home, sleeping in the lower bunk bed of one of his children’s rooms.
She broke down in tears, barely able to speak as she described how he came in during the night and forced himself on her.
"I just froze. I didn’t react," she said, saying she felt "Terrified and confused and ashamed."
In another sexual attack, he was packing his luggage for a trip when he suddenly appeared in front of her, exposed, and again forced her to perform a sex act.
The experience made her feel "Like trash," she said. "Scared and ashamed and defeated and like an idiot."
She testified that there was a fourth incident on a private jet in which she said she can’t remember what happened, but she remembers saying "no, no, no" as he confronted her in a sleeping area of the plane.
She said that Combs was also violent with her at different times, slamming her arm in a bathroom door, throwing her in a pool and hurling objects — a bowl of spaghetti, a computer, a phone — at her.
Mia, using his other nickname, told the court that she never thought about going to the police because "I believe that Puff’s authority was above the police."
She also feared losing her position in his company. He started a TV production company with her and she was fulfilling what she said was her dream of working in creative development.
"I was going to die with this. I didn’t want anyone to know ever," she said. "I would have been silenced. I would have been punished, I would have been exiled from my second family. I would have lost my reputation. I would have lost everything."
Mia returns to the stand Friday.
