Legal

The list of alleged Diddy victims involved in his sex trafficking trial is expanding ... because we've learned the feds also have a witness they're calling "Victim 5."

Prosecutors buried the existence of a 5th alleged victim in legal documents last month, but "Victim 5" just came up in court Friday as Diddy's trial proceeds.

Now, this person's identity is still unknown, but that could soon change ... because Judge Arun Subramanian ruled Friday "Victim 5" will NOT be granted anonymity in the trial.

Diddy's defense team is leaning in hard that the music mogul was abusive toward his ex, Cassie ... but they're also saying Cassie was no angel either ... because she allegedly got violent with him, too.

Day 4 of the Diddy trial saw prosecutor Emily Anne Johnson and Diddy attorney Marc Agnifilo having a very interesting exchange with Judge Arun Subramanian in an NYC federal courtroom.

It kicked off with Johnson telling the judge that Victim 1 -- who is believed to be Cassie -- will not be cross-examined about certain medical issues.

The judge then said if prosecutors open the door on the rest of the issues, the defense can walk through it and cross-examine the witnesses.

Mark Geragos won't answer the question -- Is he a member of Diddy's defense team? -- and it made for some lively discussion on TMZ's new Tubi weekly show ... "TMZ Presents: United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial."

Geragos joined Nancy Grace, Ashleigh Banfield and Eboni K. Williams, when Harvey pressed him on his association with Diddy. It's true, Geragos has repped Diddy on various legal issues in the past, but the question now is whether he's part of the current defense team.

Geragos tried to skirt the issue, but then TMZ producer Brian Andrews popped up and laid out what he saw in the courthouse -- Geragos sitting behind the defense team and passing notes to Diddy's chief lawyers Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos (Mark's daughter), Geragos chatting it up with Diddy's lawyer during lunch breaks in the courthouse cafeteria, and Geragos coming out of the judge's chambers as Agnifilo had his arm around Mark's shoulder.

The former Indiana teacher charged with sexually abusing multiple underage children while they wore "Scream" masks has a big adjustment to make behind bars ... no more sex!!!

Brittany Fortinberry is being held at the Morgan County Jail in Martinsville, IN and there's no way she's doing the nasty ... because there are no conjugal visits, no access to porn, and no sexually explicit material -- and she's all alone in her cell.

A rep for the jail tells us Fortinberry is in general population and she has a cell all to herself, despite each room allowing for 3 inmates. It's just her and a metal bunk, sink fixture, towel hooks, toilet, mirror and a night light.

Diddy's federal trial officially got underway earlier this week ... and, we'll be rounding up all the action from court each week on our new show "TMZ Presents: United States V. Sean Combs: Inside the Diddy Trial" on Tubi.

Our own Harvey Levin and a panel of famous guests will dive into exclusive details about the trial of the year ... breaking down all the dish from inside the courtroom that ain't even out yet.

As we've told you, the trial isn't televised -- but, this is the next best thing as our crew keeps you updated on every development and delivers exclusive info on what is going on behind the scenes.

The panel will rotate week to week ... and, the first episode -- releasing Friday, May 9 -- will feature famed attorney and cohost of our "2 Angry Men" podcast Mark Geragos, legal commentator Nancy Grace, reality star and lawyer Eboni K. Williams, and host of Banfield on NewsNation & the "Drop Dead Serious" podcast Ashleigh Banfield.

President Trump is going back to the Fox News well for another important position in the federal government ... naming host Jeanine Pirro as the interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.

POTUS just shared his intentions in a post on Truth Social. She is replacing Ed Martin, who Trump says is moving over to the Justice Department.

Pirro hosts on Fox News and she's also been a county judge in New York and a district attorney there, too.

Harvey Weinstein accuser Kaja Sokola claims Weinstein bragged about making stars out of Gwyneth and Penélope Cruz -- right after allegedly sexually assaulting her as a teen.

Testifying in Manhattan Supreme Court Thursday, Kaja Sokola, 39, said she wanted to scream after the alleged assault at 16, but Weinstein told her she had to obey him and keep quiet if she wanted a career like the big-time stars he name-dropped.

As for the alleged assault, Sokola said Weinstein picked her up for lunch, took her to his Soho loft in NYC -- and allegedly touched her vagina and forced her to touch his penis in the bathroom before he "ejaculated on the floor."

Justin Baldoni's lawyer has a challenge for Blake Lively ... he says her testimony should be live-streamed in the world's most famous arena -- Madison Square Garden!!!

Baldoni's attorney, Bryan Freedman, tells TMZ ... "If Blake Lively is really serious about testifying for the world to see, let's live stream it in Madison Square Garden and give the money to the domestic violence survivors."

Freedman's challenge comes in response to Blake's lawyers revealing she absolutely plans to take the stand if their lawsuit actually makes it to trial ... and his idea isn't going over so well in Blake's camp.

Bryan Kohberger's alleged search history is pretty eerie ... cops say he was looking up Ted Bundy and nonconsensual pornography in the weeks before and after he allegedly murdered four University of Idaho students.

Kohberger used his phone to browse the internet for porn with the key words "forced," "passed out," "drugged" and "sleeping" ... according to NBC News. He also searched for "Ted Bundy" ... a notorious serial killer.

The alleged murderer's search history is featured in an upcoming episode of "Dateline" ... and NBC also says they obtained surveillance footage showing a white car circling the area where the students were stabbed to death in their off-campus house in 2022.

Federal prosecutors are taking a big gamble with one of their star witnesses in Diddy's sex trafficking trial, because the woman they call "Victim 3" has always made it clear she does NOT want to testify ... TMZ has learned.

During jury selection this week, lead prosecutor Maurene Comey admitted the feds do not know whether the alleged victim -- one of Diddy's ex-girlfriends -- intends to appear in court to testify against him. Comey said the woman does not live locally, there's an issue getting in touch with her attorney ... and she may not even show up to court despite a subpoena.

Our sources with direct knowledge say the woman has never cooperated with prosecutors, and never gave them an indication she would be willing to take the stand during the trial.

Jennifer Aniston's alleged stalker was in court Thursday to be arraigned ... and, not only has he been ordered to stay away from Aniston, but his mental competency is being evaluated to determine whether he’s fit to stand trial.

Jimmy Wayne Carwyle appeared in an L.A. courtroom Thursday to face one count of felony stalking and one count of felony vandalism.

Carwyle looked disheveled in court ... appearing in a blue suicide-prevention blanket. It's unclear if he had any clothes on under it. He stood behind thick panes of glass while proceedings occurred -- quietly staring straight ahead.

Gloria Estefan says Diddy was nice to have as a neighbor ... but that doesn't mean they had any "Freak Off" parties together.

We got Gloria leaving iHeartRadio in New York City on Thursday and our photog asked her about a lawsuit she was named in last month ... where a man claimed he was sexually assaulted, raped and humiliated at a "freak off" party in Miami attended by Jay-Z, Beyoncé, LeBron James, Diddy, and Gloria.

Gloria says the guy behind the lawsuit is "not well in the head" ... and she's doubling down on her vehement denial of some serious allegations against her.

Cassie is set to testify against Diddy in his federal trial ... and, it better be sooner rather than later -- 'cause it looks like she may need to rest, recuperate and get ready for baby number 3 soon!

Photogs snapped Cassie out in New York City Wednesday ... standing on a stoop in a gray sweater that just barely covers her massive baby bump.

It's hard to tell exactly how far along the singer-songwriter is here, though she did announce she's with child back in February ... but, it's clear she's deep in pregnancy mode now -- and, she'll be waddling up to the witness stand soon to testify.

Former 'Real Housewives' star Lydia McLaughlin's brother appears to grab a police officer's Taser before he was shot and killed by the cop ... and, body cam footage captured the whole scene.

Southern California's Newport Beach Police Department released footage of the last moments of Geoffrey Stirling's life ... beginning when a police officer pulled Geoffrey over.

The officer asks Stirling if he's alright -- and, Stirling repeatedly tells him he hasn't been drinking -- and, he's had a stressful day, claiming multiple drivers have nearly hit him on his motorcycle.

The former Indiana teacher charged with sexually abusing multiple underage children while they wore "Scream" masks is setting the stage for claiming she wasn't in her right mind when she allegedly committed the acts.

Brittany Fortinberry's lawyer, Stephen Gray, filed a notice with the court to hire several mental health professionals to give his client a psychiatric evaluation.

Gray says he wants to see if Fortinberry suffers from a mental disease or defect, which "prevented her from appreciating the wrongfulness of the conduct the time of the offense."

Drake's label says there's a giant hole in the lawsuit he's filed over Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" ... and they're basically saying Drizzy should've paid closer attention to the Super Bowl Halftime Show.

As expected, Universal Music Group filed a motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit, and in the docs they point out Drake, or his lawyers, made a major misstep when they amended their lawsuit following Kendrick's performance at Super Bowl LIX.

UMG says Drake's lawsuit isn't really about K Dot calling him a "certified pedophile" ... because he didn't even include those words during the performance. Now, the reality is the Superdome crowd did the damage itself, chanting the lyrics ... but that's not on Kendrick.