Secret world revealed in voice notes and movies

[ad_1] Rianna Croxford and Larissa Kennelly <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/652f/live/168a2ff0-527d-11f0-8485-7bd50fa63665.png.webp" loading="eager" alt="BBC Collage featuring people in a swimming pool, a large house with a tiled roof surrounded by greenery, and Sean Combs in the foreground, overlaid with yellow and white sound wave graphics." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> BBC Warning: Express content material

"Can y'all come straighten it up over right here? It is not trying luxurious," Sean "Diddy" Combs says in a voice be aware to his private assistants as R&B music mellows within the background.

Hours earlier than, a so-called "freak-off" - a drug-fuelled orgy also called a "Wild King Night time" - had been in full swing. Now, employees had been being known as in to wash up.

"PD stated he will want emergency clear up at lodge," his chief of employees texts after one other of those occasions. "Convey him stain remover (for a chair and sofa) and black trash luggage. And baking soda too, he stated."

WATCH: Video shared with BBC - Sean "Diddy" Combs holds pool events at his Miami mansion

The BBC has seen messages and recordings from former employees in Combs' family. The employees members have additionally given detailed accounts of what it was wish to work on the multi-millionaire music mogul's glamorous yacht leases and inside his sprawling estates throughout the US - within the Hamptons, Beverly Hills and on Star Island in Miami.

Their experiences span the previous 5 to 10 years, a interval that was underneath scrutiny throughout Combs' felony trial in New York.

On the trial's conclusion on Wednesday, the 55-year-old was cleared of essentially the most severe fees - racketeering, and two counts of intercourse trafficking associated to ex-partner Casandra Ventura and one other girl known as "Jane".

However jurors discovered he was responsible of two different counts associated to the transportation to have interaction in prostitution of each girls. He will likely be sentenced at a later date.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/e416/live/18667490-527e-11f0-a2ff-17a82c2e8bc4.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Police HSI officers walking toward a building at night, with a police vehicle flashing lights nearby, surrounded by greenery and illuminated by various lights." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Photographs Officers raid Combs' mansion on Star Island, Miami Seashore, Florida

We now have been proven materials which paints an image of a "scary" and unpredictable boss, who would administer surprising "loyalty exams", and whose calls for grew increasingly more excessive.

Workers have described how his sometimes-days-long "freak-offs" had been held at places all over the world, with the rapper anticipating employees to arrange a bag containing "child oil, lubricant and pink lights" - to create the red-tinted atmosphere Combs most well-liked - alongside class-A medication wherever he travelled.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1280/live/0f940d70-4dd1-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Reuters Sean Combs in an elaborate black outfit decorated with black roses and embellishments, surrounded by people in the background, some taking photos." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reuters Combs on the Met Gala, New York, 2023

'Wild King Nights'

Inside his waterfront Miami mansion, a $48m (£36m) compound situated on an unique man-made island, we've got been advised that Combs saved tight management of his internal circle.

"I am not about to be clear with y'all," a groggy Combs warns employees sooner or later in a rambling voice be aware posted in an worker WhatsApp group in 2020. "There's some darkish locations y'all [EXPLETIVE] do not wish to go. Keep the place you are at."

Workers say he was intense, demanding and risky, with some attributing his unpredictability to a life-style of drug-fuelled events. The turnover of employees was excessive and Combs had greater than 20 totally different home managers be a part of and go away in simply two years throughout his properties, one former estates supervisor advised us.

LISTEN: Combs despatched a protracted rambling voice be aware to employees: "There's some darkish locations y'all"

Phil Pines, 40, who labored for Combs as a senior government assistant from 2019-2021, has advised the BBC the mogul did not say a phrase to him when he first began his job.

"It was like an initiation," he explains. "We did not converse to one another for 30 days."

One other latest assistant, Ethan (not his actual title), recollects: "He was a really unwell man with totally different behaviours, generally very aggressive, generally very candy."

We now have modified Ethan's title as a result of, like many former employees members, he nonetheless works within the high-net-worth hospitality trade and fears talking out about Combs will damage his profession.

Ethan exhibits us a small scar on his brow. He says this was the results of Combs smashing a glass towards a wall in a match of rage, and the shards slicing Ethan's face.

Phil Pines and Ethan had been a part of Combs' small group of trusted assistants and say he typically performed thoughts video games with employees.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6598/live/743eacb0-4ced-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Phil Pines in a black hoodie, pants, and sneakers with yellow and blue accents sitting in the passenger seat of a black car with the door open." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Phil Pines labored for Combs as a senior government assistant

Ethan recollects considered one of Combs' loyalty exams - when the star took off considered one of his rings and threw it into the Atlantic Ocean. He then turned to Ethan and advised him he had to enter the water to get it.

They had been at a proper occasion and Ethan, like his boss, was carrying a sensible swimsuit. He says this did not cease him leaping in instantly to rescue it.

In one other incident, Pines says Combs known as him to his residence after midnight, simply so he might fetch the TV distant from underneath the mattress he was in with a feminine visitor.

"See? He's loyal and now he can return dwelling," he recollects Combs telling her. Pines says he felt like an animal.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0541/live/23e174a0-4cf2-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Split image showing Sean Combs and Kristina Khorram near a dock with boats at night (left), and posing indoors beside a candlelit dining table with flowers and glassware (right)." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Combs' chief of employees Kristina Khorram helped organise the "Wild King Nights", says Pines

However the Wild King Nights - because the rapper's chief of employees, Kristina Khorram, referred to them - revealed a fair darker aspect to working for Combs.

"I used to be requested to arrange a laundry record of things for him," says Pines. "And I assumed to myself, why did not anyone clarify this to me earlier than?"

In a single change seen by the BBC, Khorram texted him to warn a bag must be ready for a Wild King Night time in two hours. In one other, she requested for a "drop off" of seven bottles of child oil and seven bottles of Astroglide lubricant alongside iced vanilla lattes.

"Rounding up a shelf of child oil and Astroglide at a retailer could be very, very humiliating. I'd at all times faux like I used to be on the telephone," Pines tells us.

In Combs' trial the prosecution introduced proof of provides they stated had been procured for "freak-offs". A police raid on Combs' Los Angeles mansion discovered medicine and greater than 1,000 bottles of child oil.

From three months into his function, Pines started having issues in regards to the frequency of those requests. "It grew to become each day, generally twice a day, day by day, and each week."

Pines says there was a continuing stream of younger girls who frequented Combs' properties - apparently for intercourse. Younger males had been additionally known as to the events, says Ethan.

A few of these younger folks would look like associates of the star's sons, Pines tells us, with a few of the girls later seen "hanging" with Combs.

Pines says he additionally had issues that a few of these company - who seemed like they had been of their early 20s - had been "too younger" and "impressionable" for his then 50-year-old boss.

"I'd see some girls really feel uncomfortable or at the very least seem like they'd had a wild night time," says Pines.

A lady with an IV drip would often go to the subsequent day, he says, to assist company get better after generally "partying" for twenty-four hours continuous with out meals.

Pines recollects one younger visitor uttering to him in misery: "I've by no means achieved something like that earlier than."

He was instructed to drive her dwelling from Combs' Miami residence: "She was type of shaking and shivering, like she was coming down off the medicine."

LISTEN: Combs despatched voice notes to employees asking for Xanax, Plan B (emergency contraceptives) and Cialis (intercourse enhancement remedy)

The drug-fuelled nature of those nights has repeatedly been introduced up throughout Combs' trial. Casandra Ventura, his ex-partner of greater than a decade, testified that she endured years of coerced intercourse with male escorts underneath the specter of beatings and blackmail, whereas Combs filmed the encounters. She stated these occasions would generally go on for days and require her to take numerous medicine to remain awake.

One other girl, who dated Combs on-and-off from 2021 till his arrest final September, gave proof that she felt pressured to fulfil his wishes partly as a result of he was paying her lease, and stated the encounters left her feeling "disgusted" and in bodily ache.

In his defence at trial, Combs' lawyer stated he admitted to home violence, however argued that each one the sexual encounters had been consensual, and that Combs had a "swingers life-style".

The BBC understands at the very least one employees member was requested to go looking on-line for escorts to take part within the Wild King nights. Screenshots of the escorts had been then despatched to Combs for approval.

Pines says he would not know what occurred at these occasions, however he was requested to cope with the aftermath.

It was "simply full wreckage", he says. "Oil everywhere in the ground. Marijuana joints in every single place… I'd put on gloves. I'd put on a masks."

"He [Combs] would stand up, put his hoodie on and stroll out the door," Pines says, leaving employees to clear the room.

On one event, Pines says he witnessed Combs push and kick a feminine visitor throughout an argument at his home, which continued outdoors.

Combs swore at her and stated "give me my hoodie", Pines remembers. "She takes off the hoodie, she's topless, no bra, nothing, no t-shirt on. So, I take off my jacket and I wrap it round her to type of protect her."

The visitor left in an Uber crying, says Pines, however inside every week she was again on the home once more with Combs.

"She got here again shortly after that. Dinner, items... she was introduced again into the fold."

When Pines advised his supervisor Khorram in regards to the incident, he says she knew precisely what to say to him: "I type of give her a play-by-play of what occurred. Her phrases to me: 'By no means talk about this once more.'"

Kristina Khorram has not responded to the BBC's request for remark however has beforehand denied any wrongdoing.

In a press release to CNN final March, she described allegations towards her as "false" and "inflicting irreparable and incalculable injury to my status and the emotional well-being of myself and my household".

"I've by no means condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anybody. Nor have I ever drugged anybody," she stated.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/c22d/live/31cfbd60-4cf2-11f0-8c47-237c2e4015f5.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Split image showing a drawer filled with Johnson's baby oil bottles and Astroglide under red lighting (left), and two open metal tins containing rolled joints (right)." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Child oil and Astroglide lubricant (left) and marijuana joints (proper) had been equipped on occasion nights

Workers could be required to erase any proof of "freak-offs" - eradicating bodily stains from sheets, disposing of medicine and, Pines tells us, scrubbing any "compromising" recorded footage of the sexual encounters off his boss's private telephones and laptops.

Different employees additionally describe feeling disturbed by Combs' sexual encounters.

"[There are] issues I noticed with my very own eyes, recollections that can keep ceaselessly," says Ethan. He says Combs would generally ask him to enter the room and "convey him water or male enhancement capsules" whereas intercourse was happening.

Pines has filed his personal civil lawsuit towards Combs. The BBC approached Combs' attorneys for remark in respect of Pines' allegations, they usually made this assertion in response: "Regardless of what number of lawsuits are filed, it will not change the truth that Mr. Combs has by no means sexually assaulted or intercourse trafficked anybody - man or girl, grownup or minor. We dwell in a world the place anybody can file a lawsuit for any purpose."

Pines recollects a notably horrifying incident round November 2020, when he says he was requested to keep behind after work and arrange an after-party on the Miami mansion.

He says that Combs and his company had been "within the solar partying, taking mushrooms, smoking, consuming all day - in order that they had been fully passed by this time".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0aca/live/316fd920-501e-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Sean Combs (left) and Phil Pines (right) talk outdoors near a building with an ocean view in the background; Combs wears a white t-shirt and blue shorts, Pines is in a black hoodie." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Pines (proper) says Combs requested him to "show his loyalty"

Throughout the occasion, Pines says Combs invited him to take a shot, earlier than asking him to "show his loyalty".

He handed Pines a condom and pushed him in direction of a feminine visitor who was mendacity on a close-by sofa.

"At that second, I am like, what's going on?" Pines says. "I froze. I used to be simply shocked by what was taking place. I felt chilly… however I additionally felt a lot stress."

Pines says the girl consented they usually had intercourse till Combs started "drifting off into one other a part of the suite".

"I did not need any of that," he says. "As soon as I type of noticed him out of my peripheral, that he was gone, I pulled out my pants and simply received out of there shortly.

"It was an influence transfer. I felt like I used to be coerced. It was manipulation."

The Gucci bag

Once they travelled internationally, employees say Combs' medicine got here with him, hid in a secure onboard his $60m (£45m) personal jet.

"Even if it was for a day journey, if he was occurring the yacht for 4 hours, take all that stuff with you as a result of he might use it," Pines recollects being instructed.

He claims mushrooms, ketamine and ecstasy had been saved in a small black Gucci bag alongside child oil, lubricant and pink lights.

Combs' attorneys admitted throughout trial that he had procured medicine, however stated they had been for private use solely.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/f7e3/live/81c78770-4cee-11f0-a466-d54f65b60deb.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Black Louis Vuitton backpack with gold zippers on a white shelf, next to a small Gucci black pouch with green and red stripes and gold zippers, highlighted by a white circle." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Workers say a Gucci bag was carried on journeys full of lubricants and Class A medication

In a single nerve-wracking incident in Venice in summer time 2021, Pines says Italian authorities questioned Combs' employees for an hour. He feared that if they'd discovered the medicine hidden within the baggage, he would have "taken the autumn" for his boss.

A former private assistant, Brendan Paul, was arrested on fees of drug possession whereas with Combs at a Miami airport in March 2024, on the identical day police raided the rapper's properties. The fees had been later dropped after Paul accomplished a pre-trial diversion programme.

Throughout Combs' trial, Paul, 26, testified that he had discovered cocaine after "sweeping" his boss's room and had forgotten it was in his bag whereas they ready for a trip within the Bahamas. He advised the court docket that he didn't inform legislation enforcement that they had been Combs' medicine out of "loyalty".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/79d7/live/4e2c8710-4dd1-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Combs dressed in a red suit and white shirt leaning against a street lamp post on a cobblestone path, with buildings and a sunset in the background." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Workers say Combs would maintain "freak offs" internationally - in lodges and personal yachts

By December 2021, Pines says he had had sufficient.

"The cash wasn't value it... due to the experiences I used to be having with him. It was simply an excessive amount of to bear."

When requested why employees had not spoken out sooner, Pines doesn't hesitate. They had been, he says, afraid of Combs.

"He is a really scary individual. Whether or not you are his worker, you are a contractor, you are a girlfriend, visitor, you realize what he is able to," he says.

Ethan says he used to imagine that Combs had "folks a few steps in entrance" who "caught every little thing". However after his former boss's arrest, his view shifted. Workers merely weren't in a position to cease what was coming, he says. "Clearly being a celeb, he might reduce many corners," he displays, however "he could not keep away from the legislation".

Pines says he was approached by the FBI as a part of its felony investigation final summer time and was later legally summoned to present proof forward of Combs' trial. Different ex-assistants, who labored for Combs again in 2014 and as lately as 2024, testified in court docket throughout the trial.

"I've to nod to Cassie Ventura for being so brave to face as much as him," Pines says.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/83e4/live/dfd14bd0-4dcf-11f0-86d5-3b52b53af158.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Sean Combs and Casandra Ventura, dressed in formal attire: Combs in a white suit with an ornate cross necklace, Ventura in a black suit with layered necklaces including a circular pendant and a cross." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Getty Photographs Casandra Ventura (proper) filed a civil lawsuit towards Combs in November 2023

Ventura's civil lawsuit, filed in November 2023, alleged Combs had trapped her in a cycle of violence and sexual abuse. The lawsuit was settled in a $20m (£15m) pay-out, sooner or later after the submitting. However dozens extra adopted in fast succession - there are actually greater than 60 civil circumstances towards Combs, which stay to be resolved.

"She opened the door for folks like me to return ahead, and for different people who find themselves going via comparable issues who really feel silenced, who really feel powerless going up towards a large."