Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys were given a fierce warning by the judge presiding over the rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sex-trafficking trial on Tuesday, because someone leaked sealed information to the media. Meanwhile, the jury watched more videos of Mr. Combs’s infamous “freak off” parties, provided by the defense attorneys, who cross-examined a summary witness and managed to poke more holes into the prosecution’s case.  

“Well, someone is lying,” a district judge, Arun Subramanian, told attorneys from both sides on Tuesday morning before the jury had entered the courtroom. 

According to the judge, someone had leaked details to the media of a conversation that was held behind closed doors on Friday. The parties and the judge had discussed what he described as a “sensitive matter,” an issue of potential misconduct regarding Juror Number Seven. 

“The courtroom was sealed,” the judge said. “The transcript was sealed. I have inquired of the court staff. Nobody has done it on the court’s behalf, and there would be no reason for anyone in the court to do anything.” 

Somehow a reporter got wind of the news and published an article about it on Monday. The judge did not specify the article or the outlet or what information was disclosed. Both lead attorneys — an assistant U.S. attorney, Maurene Comey, speaking on behalf of the government, and Marc Agnifilo, speaking for the defense — said they had inquired with everyone on their teams and no one had admitted any wrongdoing. 

The judge told the parties that this was a violation of a sealing order he had imposed because the defense had asked for it. 

“One or more people in this courtroom or the designated people who were here on Friday flagrantly violated this court’s orders,” the judge fumed. “But in this case on the defense’s own application, this court itself imposed a gag order,” under which, the judge explained, none of the attorneys nor their staffers are allowed to speak to the media or to the public about sealed matters of the case. The reason for it, the judge reminded the parties, was so that the highly publicized case would be tried by the evidence and not by media. 

“The court issued that order so that this case could be tried on the facts presented in this courtroom, not through the media. That is exactly what the defense asked for,” the judge said.   

A violation of this order, the judge went on, could result “in civil or criminal contempt charges.” The judge said he would “make sure that this commitment is honored,” and would “swiftly investigate and punish any violations that take place.” 

Judge Subramanian specifically addressed Ms. Comey and Mr. Agnifilo. “There’s no passing the buck anymore,” he threatened. “The buck stops with you. If anything happens then lead counsel is responsible. … If a judge in this court were to write an opinion documenting lead counsel’s violation of court’s orders, that would be a bad thing.”

The judge added that any further violation may result in people having to testify under oath and turn over their “devices and communications” to the court and could result in “possible civil or criminal sanctions.” 

“This is the only warning I will give,” the judge concluded. “So don’t do it.” 

This is the second time that a juror has stirred controversy during the trial, which began with jury selection on May 5 and could see closing arguments as early as next week. On Monday, the judge dismissed Juror Number Six, as the Sun reported, because he was giving conflicting answers about whether he lives in the Bronx or New Jersey, raising concerns that he could be a “stealth juror” — one who dissembled or misrepresented himself in order to get on a jury.

Prosecutors had first raised the issue and asked to remove the juror, while the defense vehemently objected, arguing that the prosecution was actually trying to remove the man because he is Black. After conducting a follow-up interview with the man, the judge decided to replace him with an alternate, a white man from affluent Westchester County, just north of the city.

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a letter stating that it had no objection to further inquiries into the alleged misconduct of Juror Number Seven, which appears to relate to a conversation the juror had with a former colleague about his jury service. Prosecutors wrote that the defense had argued that if the judge had dismissed Juror Number Six, he should also dismiss Juror Number Seven. But prosecutors said they saw no reason for “linking the issues.” 

After testimony finished on Tuesday, the judge cleared the courtroom and held another closed discussion about Juror Number Seven. This time, the details were not disclosed to the media and it remained unclear if the juror will stay on the panel.

Mr. Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage prostitution charges. If convicted on all counts, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. 

Prosecutors accuse Mr. Combs, among other things, of coercing his two then-girlfriends, Cassie Ventura, whom he dated off-and-on between 2007 and 2018, and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane, who dated the defendant between 2021 and 2024, into participating in his “freak off” parties, for which he flew male prostitutes across state lines, so they could have sex with his girlfriends while he watched, pleasured himself, and filmed the encounters. The defense argues that both women consented to the often 30-hour-long, drug-enhanced sexual parties.             

During the day, a summary witness (an expert with no personal ties to the case who is called to the stand to summarize information), who had been on the stand since Monday, was further questioned by prosecutors. 

Special Agent DeLeassa Penland, who works in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District, based in Manhattan, which brought the charges against Mr. Combs, continued to review phone records, text messages, and credit card bills, as prosecutors attempted to establish how Mr. Combs used his business accounts to expense his “freak offs.” 

In one instance, a freak off caused more than $46,000 worth of damage to a room at the InterContinental Hotel in Manhattan’s Times Square. The bill was covered, records showed, by Mr. Combs’s credit card, which was paid through multiple bank accounts affiliated with his companies. 

Prosecutors also showed text messages sent by Mr. Combs’s chief of staff, Kristine Khorram, who was involved in the aftermath of the incident at another InterContinental Hotel, this time in Los Angeles, in March 2016, where surveillance cameras recorded Mr. Combs racing through the hotel hallway, wearing nothing but a towel and socks, to catch his then-girlfriend Ms. Ventura, who was waiting for the elevator. The footage, which was first aired by CNN, shows Mr. Combs throwing Ms. Ventura to the ground, kicking her, and dragging her back to the room. Mr. Combs is also seen throwing a vase at her. 

“I’m going to ask to just cover damages,” a text message sent by Ms. Khorram to one of Mr. Combs’s assistants, Elie Maroun, read as she attempted to deal with the situation. “Say they had a fun drunk night try to get more info.” 

Earlier in the trial, as reported by the Sun, a security guard at the hotel, Eddy Garcia, testified that he was paid by Ms. Khorram and Mr. Combs to help cover up records of the incident. They wanted to get the surveillance footage, Mr. Garcia testified, to prevent it from leaking to the public. Mr. Garcia said he eventually delivered a USB stick, which contained the surveillance footage, to an address he was given by Ms. Khorram, and in return received $100,000 in cash from Mr. Combs.    

Prosecutors have referred to Ms. Khorram as a co-conspirator in the case, but have not charged her and will not call her as a witness in the trial.

When defense attorney Teny Geragos began to cross-examine Special Agent DeLeassa Penland, the jury saw a text message to Ms. Ventura from Mr. Combs dated from the same time, where he wrote, “Baby, I can’t say it enough. I’M SO SORRY!!!!”  

The defense also presented text messages by Ms. Ventura that expressed how much she enjoyed the freak offs. In one message, sent to Mr. Combs in September 2014, Ms. Ventura shared a screenshot she had taken of a message she received from a male escort, called Keith, asking her if she was around. She wrote, “I want to make love and drink wine. … Whatever makes my love happy.” 

Mr. Combs responded, “Why didn’t you show me the Keith thing?” Ms. Ventura answered, “Because I never show you.” 

In a later message, Mr. Combs asked if she wanted to have a freak off “for the last time,” and she replied, “I wanna freak-off for the rest of our lives.”

The text messages are a stark contrast to how a heavily pregnant Ms. Ventura, on the witness stand, testified how degraded she felt by the freak offs, during which she said she was urinated on and otherwise defiled. 

On Monday, the prosecution showed to the jury, for the first time during the trial, video footage of the sexual encounters, which had been provided to them by Ms. Ventura. On Tuesday, the jury saw more footage but this time the intimate videos were provided by the defense. 

“These videos, we believe, are powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion,” Ms. Geragos had said during her opening statement. 

Like on Monday, the evidence was treated with extreme caution. No one in the courtroom was privy to the explicit content, except for the judge, the witness, and the jurors, who wore headphones. The jurors watched without making any facial expressions (as compared to Monday, when some juror gasped in shock and disgust). Tuesday’s viewing lasted about five minutes.        

The defense showed more messages in its attempt to establish the consent. In one instance, Ms. Ventura wrote, “I am so excited for tonight.” 

On redirect, the prosecution pushed back and presented another message Ms. Ventura had sent to Mr. Combs about five days after the hotel incident, expressing how hurt she felt and that she was hesitant to see him again. 

“I still have crazy bruising from Friday. I would be a dummy to subject myself to that possibly happening again,” the message read. How would she know, she wrote, that Mr. Combs wouldn’t be consuming drugs or alcohol again. “When you get f—ed up the wrong way, you always want to show me that you have the power and you knock me around. I’m not a rag doll. I’m someone’s child. People love me, and I can’t keep hiding from them B/C of your mistakes.”

The trial resumes on Wednesday, when prosecutors plan to call Mr. Combs’s former assistant, Brendan Paul, who is alleged to have supplied the defendant with drugs, and a final summary witness. The prosecution could rest its case by Friday. 

A defense attorney, Mr. Agnifilo, said on Tuesday that he expects his team will take two to five days to call its witnesses. “It could be shorter than two. We’re making adjustments as we go,” he said. 

Closing arguments could begin as early as next week.