Diddy Trial

Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial resumed Tuesday in NYC for the 25th day ... and a federal special agent testified about travel and hotel expenses involving alleged male escorts that Diddy paid for.

DeLeassa Penland, a special agent with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York -- the agency prosecuting the case against Diddy -- testified Diddy's American Express account was charged nearly $47,000 for damages at a single hotel in New York in one instance.

Penland told the jury Diddy, Cassie Ventura and Jules Theodore -- an alleged male escort -- stayed at the London Hotel on a particular date, which was paid for on Diddy's AmEx, as well as Virgin America plane tickets for Jules.

The jury in Diddy's trial got a spicy break from the usual testimony Monday with prosecutors playing portions of some alleged "freak-off" videos -- but for the jurors' eyes only.

The viewing went down during the afternoon session of day 24 in the trial ... as a federal prosecutor was questioning a Department of Justice special agent on the witness stand.

The prosecutor asked the special agent to verify a list of hotels where Diddy allegedly hosted his freak-offs with Cassie and male escorts. The agent went down the list, describing the hotels and the freak-off videos pertaining to the corresponding locations.

Prosecutors are getting closer to resting their case in Diddy's criminal trial and on the 24th day of witness testimony they finally showed jurors what they've been waiting for ... videos from the alleged freak-offs with Diddy and Cassie.

After some drama with the jury -- one juror was dismissed and another was on the hot seat after seemingly blabbing about the cases -- prosecutors showed members of the jury snippets of some sexual encounters between Diddy, Cassie and a hired male escort.

The jury had seen still images earlier in the trial, but prosecutors waited until they got towards the end of their case to break out the actual video footage ... presumably for dramatic effect.

Diddy once had a sick, twisted Christmas gift idea for his then-girlfriend Cassie when they were dating ... a "freak-off."

The jury in Diddy's federal criminal trial was shown text messages in court Monday from January 2013, including one in which Diddy asked Cassie if she wanted to belatedly celebrate Christmas by having a freak-off ... which numerous witnesses in the case have described as essentially sex marathons in hotels with a hired male escort.

The conversation began with Diddy texting Cassie, "You horny" ... to which Cassie responded, "Lol yeah".

Diddy's trial is on the verge of another jury shakeup due to one of them getting a strange text message that's left the judge with concerns this juror is talking about the case outside of court.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ the juror alerted the court on Friday about the text message, from a phone number he didn't recognize, asking him if HE was Juror No. 6 -- who'd already been in the news as someone Judge Arun Subramanian might dismiss.

We're told this other juror wanted the judge to know about the mystery text and, indeed, Judge Subramanian did have lots of questions for him about the message and the phone number from which it came.

On the 24th day of Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial in NYC, a paralegal specialist took the stand to testify about evidence showing the travel arrangements for participants in alleged "freak-offs."

Ananya Sankar is asked about a December 2019 message from Kristina Khorram -- Diddy's former chief of staff -- in response to Ryan Lopez, a former Diddy assistant, who texts KK about spotting a male escort -- who he calls "one of the cowboys" -- in a hotel lobby, which KK replies with four "laughing" emojis, and the message "how long is he going to stay awake?"

The prosecution plays an audio file in court they say was recorded on January 30, 2023 ... and Sankar is asked to read transcripts back and forth of a conversation between Khorram and another former assistant, Dave Shirley, about a trip to a Four Seasons hotel location. KK writes, "Heads up, he's about to do wild king tonight." Dave Shirley responds about picking up some money ... and says he needs "to reup on baby oil."

Diddy's federal jury in NYC is bringing in an alternate ... because a juror has just been dismissed by the judge after hearing more than three weeks of testimony.

Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed Juror Number 6 Monday morning after hearing arguments from the prosecution and the defense regarding where the juror lives.

While the jury was out of the room Friday, the judge explained he went back to the voir dire portion of the trial and found this juror had said at different times that he lives in the Bronx, at other times in New Jersey.

Diddy's trial got the whole courtroom buzzing Friday ... but, it had nothing to do with testimony -- it was all about the arrival of another music legend.

Kanye West showed up at Friday morning ... drawing a tons of eyes -- and quite a few cameras -- as he dapped up Diddy's son Christian on the way into the courtroom.

However, Ye left the trial after only about 10 minutes ... even though court officials opened up a whole other overflow room just for him to watch the proceedings.

9:17 AM PT -- We now have new information on Kanye's shocking appearance ... with court officials telling us they had rows ready for him in the regular overflow room -- but the room became very crowded before he got there.

To accommodate him, the court opened a second overflow room ... where he sat for about 10 minutes before he bounced.

9:04 AM PT -- Kanye definitely knows how to make an entrance ... and, a very quick exit, too -- 'cause he left Diddy's trial after only about half an hour.

Kanye West's comments about supporting Diddy during his federal sex trafficking trial weren't just empty words ... 'cause he just showed up at court to support the embattled mogul.

Our cameras were rolling when Ye arrived at the federal courthouse in Manhattan Friday ... hopping out of a black car in an all-white outfit.

He shook hands with a couple people out front, then headed toward the security check-in, but, before he got to the door, he ran into Christian Combs -- Diddy's son -- dapping him up on the way in.

The 23rd day of testimony in the federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs in NYC began with testimony from a law enforcement agent who conducted the raid on the disgraced music mogul's L.A. estate in 2024.

Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Andre LaMon took the stand and answered questions from the prosecution first ... he said he works in the L.A. office of the Human Trafficking Unit, and has executed as many as 50 to 60 search warrants during his career.

LaMon was asked about photos of evidence seized in a raid on Diddy's L.A. estate last year, which were shown to the jury. LaMon testified agents found a total of 200 bottles of baby oil, along with 900 bottles of Astroglide, in various locations at the residence, and some lingerie.

Kanye West, one of Sean "Diddy" Combs' only remaining celeb supporters, is in NYC ... opening the door to the possibility he'll head to federal court to back his guy.

Ye and his wife Bianca left an event Thursday evening in the Big Apple -- he was rocking white denim from head to toe, while the missus was back in black ... matching trench coat and stiletto-heeled boots.

Normally, he's dressed more casually and she's, well ... nearly naked. We're told they had attended a graduation ceremony -- hence, the upgraded fits.

Diddy's ex-girlfriend has finished her testimony ... providing more details about her alleged fight with Diddy, and the party she attended that she says made him angry.

"Jane" took the stand again Thursday to shed more light on the physical altercation she says occurred between herself and the music mogul back in June 2024.

Remember, Jane testified earlier this week about an incident where she says she pushed his head into a marble counter and threw candles at him before hiding behind several locked doors -- all of which she alleges he kicked in.

R. Kelly and Diddy have something in common ... both men have been accused of racketeering and sex trafficking -- and even though the two aren't exactly friends, Kelly says he feels for Diddy, who's currently on trial, and says Black entertainers as a whole are under siege by the feds.

TMZ caught up with one of Kelly's lawyers, Beau Brindley, who spoke to us about his famous client, who was just placed in solitary confinement after receiving death threats from white supremacists in a federal prison in North Carolina.

Brindley points out Kelly and Diddy are not friends -- and "far from it" -- but Kelly still has sympathy for Diddy over his current situation ... as everyone knows, Diddy is facing decades behind bars if convicted on racketeering, sex trafficking and other charges at his federal criminal trial in NYC.

Diddy's ex-girlfriend says she watched an unnamed woman have sex in front of a party full of people in Las Vegas ... all while an unidentified rap icon flirted with her.

"Jane" was back on the stand for another day of testimony Thursday ... and, she answered questions about a January 2024 trip to Sin City to hang with the unnamed rapper -- described by her as a legend and icon in the industry -- and his wife or girlfriend at a birthday party.

Jane says she flew on the rapper's private plane -- Diddy was unaware because they were on a break at the time, she adds -- and met up with a group of people when they touched down, including Antoine ... who she says was a male escort who knew the rapper and his wife or girlfriend.

Sean "Diddy" Combs chose a unique pet name for his ex-girlfriend ... lovingly calling her his "crackpipe" -- and now we have the strange audio of the moment he gave her the one-of-a-kind term of endearment.

Listen to the audio clip ... the music mogul is apparently raving about the time they spent together during an early 2023 getaway to Turks and Caicos. He gushes ... "You are the crackpipe. That’s my new name for you: crackpipe. Or should I call you CP?"

He laughs at himself -- seemingly amused by the pet name -- before going on about their time together and encouraging his former lover to "stay in the light" and rest up.

Diddy apparently needed companionship in the days after Cassie Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against him ... this according to a conversation he had with "Jane" just days later.

According to a new evidence exhibit filed in the case, the rap mogul and Jane had a conversation recorded by Kristina Khorram -- an employee often referred to as Diddy's chief of staff -- on November 19, 2023. The date is significant … as it is just three days after Cassie filed her lawsuit and two days after Diddy quickly settled for $20 million.

Diddy asks Jane not to send him any texts ... fearing anyone who reads them may misinterpret their communications.