Legal

Cassie told Diddy she felt like he was treating her like a prostitute during their relationship ... at least according to a text between the exes that was just read aloud in court.

Federal prosecutors in Diddy's criminal case in New York are introducing some old texts between Cassie and Diddy as new exhibits in his sex trafficking trial.

Prosecutors first read this text between Cassie and Diddy -- "You treat me like a hooker to be honest. You always want to call one and you have one. This hooker has been here for 10 years." They said Diddy responded, "wow."

Sean "Diddy" Combs' ex-assistant Brendan Paul says he didn't see any force or coercion from his former boss when it came to "freak-offs" with "Jane" ... and he says he was absolutely not a drug mule.

Brendan, a former Syracuse University basketball player and aspiring music producer, took the stand Friday in Diddy's criminal trial in NYC and told jurors about his 18 months working as an assistant to the music mogul.

During cross-examination from Diddy's defense attorney Brian Steel, Brendan testified he would often talk to Diddy's former girlfriend "Jane" before and after freak-offs ... and he said she did not come across as hesitant or apprehensive, and he says there was nothing from her indicating she was not a willing participant.

Karen Read deserved to be acquitted after being put through the gauntlet -- twice ... so says a star witness in her case.

Brian "Lucky" Loughran -- the snowplow driver who testified during Read's two trials that he didn't see John O'Keefe's body lying in front of the house where the Boston cop was later found dead in January 2022 -- tells TMZ ... he's happy Read was found not guilty on murder and manslaughter charges.

Loughran tells us he always thought Karen was innocent ... and, going through last year's proceedings which ended in a mistrial, and this year's trial that ended in her acquittal earlier this week, means she "went through hell twice."

Karen Read's acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges caused uproarious applause in the streets ... but, two Massachusetts families aren't cheering -- because the public scrutiny from this retrial has "dehumanized" them.

The Albert family and the McCabe family -- friends of deceased Boston cop John O'Keefe, who Read's attorneys painted as murderers in the alternate theory they presented during trial -- sat down for an interview on "Nightline" ... their first public interview since O'Keefe was killed in January 2022.

In the interview, Christopher Albert said the five of them -- his brother Brian Albert, sister-in-law Nicole Albert, her sister Jennifer McCabe, and Jennifer's husband Matt McCabe -- have been turned into caricatures ... big bad villains instead of real people.

Brendan Paul, Diddy's alleged "drug mule" -- who's been given immunity by Judge Arun Subramanian to testify in the music mogul's federal trial after confirming to the judge he's received a subpoena and intends to invoke the 5th Amendment -- took the stand in the federal trial Friday ... and the testimony is expected to revolve around drugs, TMZ has learned.

Remember ... Diddy's former assistant was arrested in March 2024 at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport when authorities allegedly found cocaine and marijuana candy in his bag. The arrest occurred at the same time federal law enforcement raided Diddy's properties in L.A. and Florida.

The charges against Paul were dropped after he completed a pretrial diversion program ... and, now he's testifying at his former boss' trial.

Chris Brown was back in court Friday morning to answer a charge related to his alleged 2023 bottle-throwing incident at a London club.

The rapper showed up at Southwark Crown Court in the British capital and was greeted by a sea of fans and photographers outside.

Sporting a blue suit and black tie, Chris was all business as he stepped out of his SUV and walked inside the courthouse without uttering a word.

Fat Joe's former hype man says in a new lawsuit he saw the rapper have sex with underage girls who were 15 and 16 years old ... but Joe says the allegations are BS.

Terrance "T.A." Dixon filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming there were at least two minor females Fat Joe had sexual relations with, and another he allegedly fell in love with.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Dixon's attorney, Tyrone A. Blackburn claims a 16-year-old Dominican girl would perform oral sex and other sex acts on Joe in exchange for cash, clothing and cell phone bill payments.

Forget reasonable doubt, one of the jurors who voted to acquit Karen Read of a murder charge in her retrial says he felt she's completely innocent.

Juror No. 4, a man named Jason, joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and we asked him what the feeling was like on the jury ... did they vote not guilty because of reasonable doubt, or due to a belief she was innocent?

Jason tells us he doesn't think Karen even hit her then-boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her car ... as prosecutors claimed. He pointed out that jurors were shown video where Karen's taillight was working just fine after the alleged collision.

A day after Karen Read was acquitted of the murder of her Boston cop boyfriend in a Massachusetts retrial, Read's attorney Alan Jackson is revealing he had significant doubt about his client receiving fair treatment under the law ... but he's doubling down that he had no doubt she was innocent.

Jackson went on Howie Carr's podcast Thursday and admitted he was nervous before yesterday's verdict was read ... but he says he doesn't think he'll ever run into another lawyer in his lifetime who's ever won back-to-back murder acquittals!

ICYMI, the murder retrial of Karen Read -- a former finance professor accused of killing her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, in 2022 -- ended with the jury finding Read not guilty of charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death.

Al Sharpton says for as long as this country has been around, wealthy, prominent Black folks have been targeted ... because the feds see them as easy targets.

We got Al in New York City on Thursday and asked him about a popular online conspiracy ... that Sean "Diddy" Combs and Tyler Perry are being targeted right now because they are rich and famous Black men.

Al says race, wealth and fame are big factors when it comes to who the feds go after ... and he says there are tons of examples to back it up.

The Diddy trial went dark Thursday to observe the Juneteenth holiday ... but prosecutors were working overtime, releasing new exhibits showing a cache of weapons and ammo, as well as drugs -- and, of course, baby oil!

Federal prosecutors released the trove of photos that appear to paint a much fuller picture of what federal agents confiscated inside Diddy's Los Angeles mansion during the March 2024 raid.

Homeland Security Investigations agents snapped the images as they recovered pistols, long guns and rifles from inside the security office, as well as bullets, body-armor-piercing ammo and a high-volume ammunition magazine.

Aiden Kearney, the citizen journalist intensely focused on the Karen Read retrial, says he was ecstatic when he heard "not guilty" three times when the jury verdict was read yesterday ... and while the trial is finally over, he says his connection to Karen is not.

Aiden -- who lots of Read supporters know as "Turtleboy" -- joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday, and we asked him how he reacted to the trial outcome ... seeing as how he was so involved in her story.

He says Karen getting acquitted of second-degree murder in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, is most meaningful for her family ... and he told us what it was like at her celebratory dinner after the verdict was read.

Wendy Williams is dragging her ex-husband for filing a lawsuit over her guardianship on her behalf ... she says she wasn't involved and didn't know about it, but says it's no surprise given his money-grubbing history.

The former talk show host called in to our morning meeting Thursday and told Harvey Levin straight up, she has nothing to do with the $250 million lawsuit Kevin Hunter filed this week in New York.

Wendy told us Kevin's just making a desperate money grab here ... and she has no clue how her name ended up next to his as plaintiff on a federal lawsuit.

The Karen Read documentary series -- which provided a BTS look at her first trial, and her preparation for the retrial for the murder of her Boston cop boyfriend -- was a big hit ... but TMZ's learned the creators won't be rolling the cameras on her life after acquittal.

Terry Dunn Meurer, who directed "A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read," tells TMZ ... her team has NO plans to follow Karen after the trial. Terry believes Karen's story has been told.

Terry tells us her documentary series will get a small update now that Karen's been found not guilty of second-degree murder in the 2022 death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe ... a text update card will be added to the end of Episode 5, explaining what happened during the trial and the jury verdict this week.

11 AM PT -- We just found out what Karen Read and her crew ordered at her celebratory steak dinner last night -- and it was a serious feast.

A staffer at Mastro’s Ocean Club tells TMZ the group dug into multiple seafood towers, a spread of sliced steaks -- including bone-in ribeyes and bone-in filets -- and wrapped things up with butter cake, chocolate cake, and key lime pie.

Another source tells us the 3-hour-long dinner featured lobster, mashed potatoes, and asparagus ... with each guest ordering their own alcoholic drinks

Now that’s an order!

Karen Read celebrated her huge victory in court Wednesday at one of the finest steakhouses in Massachusetts ... she was as happy as a clam -- and so was her dad!

Read showed up last night at Mastro's Ocean Club in the Boston seaport to gnaw on a big juicy steak and other yummy delicacies following her acquittal in her retrial for the 2022 murder of her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, and two other charges, including motor vehicle manslaughter. But, Read was found guilty on a lesser charge of driving under the influence and handed a sentence of a year on probation.

As Read, her dad and her lawyers arrived at the restaurant, a bunch of journalists gathered outside and began hurling questions at Karen. One of the reporters asked how she was feeling ... and Read cracked a big smile, saying, "Happy. I'm happy, thank you."

Taylor Swift is still very much involved in the Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively beef ... after a judge's latest ruling.

In new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, a judge ruled Justin's Wayfarer company can seek communications between Taylor and Blake that relate to the drama on "It Ends With Us."

Blake was asking the judge to stop Justin's camp from getting his hands on her messages with Taylor, claiming Justin was using her relationship with Taylor to "prop up a public relations narrative outside of court."