The district judge in the high-profile Sean “Diddy” Combs sex-trafficking trial denied the defense’s request for a mistrial on Wednesday, which came during the testimony of an arson investigator from Los Angeles. 

Federal prosecutors also called a former stylist who worked for the defendant and his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura. Cross-examination of the stylist will resume on Thursday. Then prosecutors are expected to call the second of four alleged victims. 

The first alleged victim, Ms. Ventura, the star witness, gave birth to her third child, a boy, in New York on Tuesday, as was first reported by TMZ. The 38-year-old former singer and model, who was in an off-and-on relationship with Mr. Combs for 11 years, has two daughters with her husband, Alex Fine, an actor and bull rider. The couple welcomed their third child, which according to media reports is healthy despite being born slightly earlier than expected.

On Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors called to the witness stand a former stylist who worked for both Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura. Deonte Nash told a defense attorney, Xavier Donaldson, during cross-examination that he last spoke to Ms. Ventura, whom he considers a friend, on Tuesday and congratulated her on her new baby. 

Mr. Nash also corrected the defense attorney when he asked about Ms. Ventura, saying that her name is actually “Mrs. Fine.” 

“Mr. Nash,” the attorney said, “you testified this afternoon about your relationship with Ms. Ventura, right, Cassie, right?”  

“Mrs. Fine,” the witness replied. 

“I’m sorry?” the defense attorney asked, slightly confused.  

“Mrs. Fine,” the witness repeated.

“Because she’s married to Alex?” the defense attorney quipped, and Mr. Nash confirmed with a proud, “Yes.” 

It was a poignant remark, possibly intending to show Mr. Combs, who was sitting at the defense table, leaning back in his chair, that his former girlfriend had successfully moved on. 

Ms. Ventura married her husband in August 2019, one year after her troubled relationship with Mr. Combs had ended. But according to her own testimony she had already begun a romance with Mr. Fine while she was still seeing the music producer and rapper. When Mr. Combs found out, Ms. Ventura’s girlfriend Kerry Morgan had previously testified, he was not pleased.   

People magazine reported that Mr. Fine met Ms. Ventura because he was Mr. Combs’s personal trainer. “They hit it off, and she started to open up to him,” a source told People. “Alex wanted to be with Cassie.” 

During direct examination, Mr. Nash had given damaging testimony, corroborating much of what Ms. Ventura had said when she testified two weeks ago. 

He cited numerous incidents when he witnessed Mr. Combs physically abusing Ms. Ventura. In one instance that allegedly took place sometime between 2013 and 2014, Mr. Nash said he was at Ms. Ventura’s apartment in Los Angeles to help her get ready for a music festival. She was asleep on her sofa when Mr. Combs knocked on the door. After he was let inside, he yelled at Ms. Ventura, allegedly saying, “‘B—-, you didn’t see me calling your phone?” 

He then, Mr. Nash testified, grabbed her by her hair, pulled her off the sofa, and dragged her into the bedroom, where he began hitting and kicking her. Mr. Nash said he tried to stop Mr. Combs by jumping on his back, but was thrown off. A former assistant of Mr. Combs’s who was also present in the apartment and is also expected to testify (she goes by the pseudonym Mia) tried jumping on Mr. Combs’s back and was also thrown down, according to Mr. Nash. 

Mr. Combs kept beating Ms. Ventura until her head hit the bed frame, the stylist testified, saying, “He continued to hit her until he saw blood coming from her head.” Then the defendant allegedly told Mr. Nash and Mia, “‘Look what you made me do.”” 

When Ms. Ventura testified about this incident two weeks ago, prosecutors showed photos of her bloodied eyebrow. Mr. Nash said he tried to call the police, but was told to hang up (he did not recall who told him to hang up), which he did. He said that he did speak to Mr. Combs’s chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, about the violence issue, and said she promised to address the matter with Mr. Combs, but the violence never stopped.

Mr. Nash, who began working for Mr. Combs as an intern in 2007 and within a year rose to being his personal stylist before he also started styling Ms. Ventura, told prosecutors that he would often accompany Ms. Ventura when she hid from Mr. Combs during violent episodes in hotels. When asked how many times they would need to hide, he replied, “Too many to count.”  

The stylist’s testimony also confirmed the allegation that when Mr. Combs would get angry at Ms. Ventura, he would threaten to publish the vile sex tapes he had recorded during their sex orgies, called “Freak-Offs,” and send them to her parents. The tapes showed Ms. Ventura having sex with male prostitutes. 

One time, Mr. Nash recalled telling her to let him release the tapes, as Mr. Combs must be on the tapes as well. But Ms. Ventura told him that Mr. Combs was only visible on some of them; most of the footage was of her. 

Prosecutors have alleged that Mr. Combs coerced Ms. Ventura into partaking in these Freak-Offs through violence, intimidation, blackmail, and drugs, a claim the defense has vehemently denied, arguing that Ms. Ventura’s participation was consensual.

Mr. Nash told the jury that Ms. Ventura did not always want to participate in the Freak-Offs, but often had no choice. He remembered one time, on her 29th birthday, Mr. Combs had called him to plan a surprise party for her. Then, during the party, he became upset when Ms. Ventura did not want to leave with him. She told the stylist that Mr. Combs “is just mad at me because I don’t wanna go to the hotel and freak off with him.’” She did not want to go, he further said, because she wanted to “enjoy her birthday.” 

But Mr. Combs felt that “after all he had done for her,” she owed him. He eventually got his way. Mr. Nash said once they were back at Ms. Ventura’s apartment, he saw her pack a black duffle bag with sex toys and cash and drive off with Mr. Combs. He added that both Ms. Ventura and Mr. Combs were “super high.” He said Mr. Combs was more in control of himself and was driving.   

Mr. Nash also refuted prior witness testimony that Ms. Ventura had not taken initiative to work on her music while she was in a relationship with Mr.Combs, a claim a witness on Tuesday had made when questioned by the defense. A former employee of Mr. Combs, Capricorn Clark, had told the jury that Ms. Ventura lacked singing talent and that her drug use kept her from performing. 

But Mr. Nash testified that she would go to the recording studio every day she could, and that she performed and modeled throughout the years. However, Mr. Combs would ultimately make all final decisions and controlled her completely. 

After detailing further incidents, which included more threats and more violence, also against himself — Mr. Nash alleges that Mr. Combs choked him for having gone to a club with Ms. Ventura — the witness told an assistant United States attorney, Maureen Comey, the daughter of a former FBI director, James Comey, that despite everything, he did not hate Mr. Combs. 

“My whole 20s, this man’s sanity was my safety … I don’t hate him. It’s just not in me,” Mr. Nash testified.  

During cross-examination, Mr. Donaldson was not able to successfully undermine the celebrity stylist’s credibility. He asked numerous times why Mr. Nash had retained an attorney if he was not, as he repeatedly testified, also intending to file a civil lawsuit against Mr. Combs. 

“I have counsel to protect me. I don’t — I don’t do federal court,” Mr. Nash replied calmly, triggering laughter in the courtroom.   

“Protect you related to your interests regarding civil claims against Mr. Combs, correct?” Mr. Donaldson pressed. 

“No. This case,” Mr. Nash replied, meaning he had sought legal protection to help him navigate testifying in a federal court case. 

Mr. Nash also told the defense attorney that he had been subpoenaed, and did not want to testify. He had already told the prosecutor the same thing, when she began her questioning, and by asking him again, the defense merely amplified that the stylist did not seem to have any hidden agendas or motives, and was in the courtroom, telling the truth, because he had to. 

“Are you considering a lawsuit against Mr. Combs?” Mr. Donaldson asked a third  time. Mr. Nash remained steadfast, “No. I’m focused on getting out of here.”  

For the remainder of the cross-examination, Mr. Combs was rapidly writing notes and handing them down the line of lawyers at his table, to be passed to Mr. Donaldson, but the questions just seemed to make everything worse.   

For example, Mr. Donaldson reminded Mr. Nash that he had told the prosecution that Ms. Ventura had often gone to the recording studio, “almost every day.” Then, he asked if it was true that Mr. Combs was paying for these studio session, which Mr. Nash confirmed. But this only corroborated the prosecution’s allegation that Mr. Combs was keeping Ms. Ventura financially dependent on him. 

The defense will get another chance to discredit the witness on Thursday, when his testimony resumes. 

The morning had not gone well for the defense either, prompting the attorneys huddled around Mr. Combs to call for a mistrial, which the judge denied.   

Federal prosecutors had been questioning the arson investigator, Lance Jimenez, in an attempt to prove one of the alleged “racketeering” acts, which is arson. 

Mr. Combs, 55, has been charged with racketeering conspiracy, which requires proof of a “pattern of racketeering activity,” typically involving at least two instances of criminal conduct within a 10-year period. Mr. Combs is also charged with sex trafficking and transportation of prostitution and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.                    

“They knew exactly what they were doing,” a defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, fumed during a sidebar while the jury was out of the courtroom.

The fire inspector, who works with the Los Angeles Fire Department, was questioned about the alleged arson attack on the car of another rapper, Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi and who briefly dated Ms. Ventura in 2011. Mr. Mescudi testified last week, as the Sun reported, saying that he believed Mr. Combs broke into his home in December 2011 and was responsible for setting his car on fire in January 2012, because Mr. Combs was jealous of and outraged by the affair.  

On Wednesday, Mr. Jimenez told the jury he agreed the car “was targeted.” During his inspection he noticed a cut in the canvas roof of the vehicle through which he believed someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the car. He found burn patterns throughout the car, including on seats, the center console, the interior roofing, the side door, and some of the carpet.

“There was a bottle on the front seat and there was like a cloth, a handkerchief, on the center console that was burned,” Mr. Jimenez testified. He also found a disposable lighter on the pavement, a few feet from the driver’s side.

The damage could have been much worse, he told the jury. The Molotov cocktail didn’t “cause the damage that it was intended for,” he said, because the bottle didn’t shatter. 

The arsonist who made the Molotov cocktail used a designer handkerchief with a “silky material” and placed it into a 40-ounce bottle of Olde English 800 malt liquor, which was filled with gasoline. But once lit, the gasoline didn’t trigger flames that spread throughout the car and only caused a smoldering fire. If the homemade bomb had exploded as intended, Mr. Jimenez testified, the fire in the car, which was parked only a few feet from Mr. Mescudiu’s home, could likely have spread to the house. 

The mistrial drama erupted when Mr. Jimenez began telling the jury that fingerprints taken off the door at Mr. Mescudi’s home had mysteriously been destroyed. 

A few weeks before the car incident, someone had broken into Mr. Mescudi’s house, and according to testimonies from Ms. Ventura, his former assistant Capricorn Clarke, and Mr. Mescudi himself, that someone was Mr. Combs. 

Mr. Mescudi had his home swept for fingerprints. Two prints were recovered from the glass front door. Mr. Jimenez told the jury that he wanted to take the card with those prints and compare them to prints taken from the burnt car. But the card, Mr. Jimenez testified, which was kept with evidence from the arson investigation, was destroyed by an officer from the Los Angeles Police Department in August 2012. 

Mr. Jimenez said that any destruction of evidence usually needs to be authorized by a lead investigator. No one authorized the destruction of the card that carried the fingerprints from Mr. Mescudi’s door. 

“What the government has done is outrageous,” Mr. Agnifilo, the defense lawyer, said, adding that “they were suggesting to the jury that someone in this courtroom had something to do with the improper and suspicious destruction of these fingerprints.”

The presiding district judge, Arun Subramanian, denied the mistrial motion but ruled that any testimony from the arson investigator involving the missing fingerprint card would be struck from the record. Another defense attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, lamented that the jury would still be left with the impression that her client was somehow involved in the disappearance of crucial evidence. But an assistant United States attorney, Christy Slavik, argued that the questions had been raised in “good faith.” 

All in all, Wednesday apparently was not a good day for Mr. Combs. On Thursday, after Mr. Nash finishes his testimony, prosecutors are expected to call the next alleged victim, a former personal assistant of Mr. Combs, Mia.