Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Court has now finished for the day.

The last few minutes were spent with Combs' former assistant George Kaplan, who took us through some of his work as Combs’ assistant.

He said he worked 80-100 hours a week for $125,000 (£93,000) a year.

Kaplan says that at times, he feared Combs. Combs threatened his job on a monthly basis, Kaplan testified.

Kaplan says one time, Combs got in his face and yelled at him after he brought him two half-gallon water bottles rather than a single gallon water bottle.

Kaplan told the court he both prepped and cleaned Combs’ hotel rooms, including picking up baby oil from various parts of the room to help "protect" Combs’ public image.

Prosecutors have at least 30 more minutes of questioning left that we will pick up tomorrow.

After Kaplan, we expect to hear from rapper Kid Cudi.

We are ending our live coverage for the day and will be back again tomorrow.

And you can catch up here for what happened at the Diddy sex-trafficking trial on Tuesday.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Prosecutors used their last witness of the day, Combs’ former assistant, to testify to the racketeering element of their case.

They ask all sorts of questions about his responsibilities as Combs’ personal assistant - to "set up hotel rooms" for so-called "freak-offs", and picking up drugs for him on several occasions.

The prosecution alleges several of Combs’ employees were involved in helping him run a "criminal enterprise" to sexually abuse women.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

George Kaplan, 34, tells the court he worked for Combs between 2013 and 2015.

He started off out of college as an executive assistant at Nickelodeon. When his boss moved to Combs Enterprises, he followed.

Kaplan says he became one of Combs’ closest employees, managing everything from late night studio sessions to making sure Combs’ toiletries were arranged before he woke up.

Kaplan, who worked with Combs in New York and Los Angeles, describes how his job became increasingly demanding and broad when he gained the music mogul’s trust.

He said he worked between 80 and 100 hours a week, often starting a shift at 9:30am one day and ending the next day at 7am.

Image source, Reuters

Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistant George Kaplan is now on the witness stand.

Earlier today, Kaplan was offered immunity to testify. He had reportedly been planning to plead the 5th - meaning he would decline answering questions that could potentially incriminate him.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

We’re nearing the end of testimony from this expert witness.

Cross examination has wrapped up and prosecutors are on redirect, with questions focused on Dr Dawn Hughes’ credibility.

They ask her about her years of experience treating patients. Then they ask if she’s ever worked for a defence team in addition to her work with prosecutors, to which Hughes says yes.

For their last question, the prosecution asks whether Hughes has ever been hired by one of Diddy’s many attorneys in the courtroom as an expert witness.

She says yes again, leading to some gasps in the court overflow room.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

With the rate at which things are going, it’s unclear if the court will have time to hear another witness today.

Next up is supposed to be George Kaplan, a former employee of Combs.

Kaplan has reportedly been granted immunity so he can testify in this trial.

After Kaplan will be rapper Kid Cudi.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

The cross-examination of forensic psychologist Dr Dawn Hughes is slow going.

The defence is pushing the expert witness on a number of topics.

Combs’ lawyer brings up that she hasn’t published scholarly articles in a while. They also say Hughes makes most of her money from her expert court testimony. And the defence takes issue with the fact that she met with the prosecution six times before testifying today.

Hughes says her experience is as clinical psychologist, not a researcher. And she says court testimony is part of her job.

The prosecution has interjected with a number of objections.

There are sidebars with both legal teams and the judge every few minutes.

Image source, US Federal Court

We have some more photographs to share, which were submitted as evidence by the prosecution.

These were taken during a raid on Sean "Diddy" Combs' Miami mansion.

The image above shows messages written on a mirror in a bathroom at the property. One says "What do you want">The judge seems sceptical of the document. It could be a little while to we have our next witness.

Image source, Jane Rosenberg / Reuters

With the lunch break over, psychologist Dr Dawn Hughes is back on the witness stand and is answering questions from the defence team.

We expect to hear from another witness before court wraps for the day.

The judge has returned to the bench and we're waiting for testimony to resume after the lunch break. While we wait, let's take a look at the timeline of the charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs.

16 September 2024: Combs is arrested after a grand jury indictment. He co-operated with authorities.

17 September 2024: Charges and details came out after Combs appeared in court. He was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. In an indictment that was unsealed at the same time, prosecutors alleged that he also engaged in kidnapping, forced labour, bribery and other crimes.

30 January 2025: Prosecutors in New York expanded their case against Combs, accusing him of coercing two additional women into commercial sex acts, and of dangling a person over an apartment balcony.

6 March 2025: Federal case amended to include forced labour.

4 April 2025: Federal prosecutors amended the indictment against Combs for a third time, adding two new charges of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Combs has denied all charges.

Sakshi Venkatraman & Madeline Halpert
Reporting from Court

Prosecutors have finished their questioning of Dr Dawn Hughes, and the defence team has begun their cross-examination.

They have been trying to cast doubt on Hughes’ characterisations of victims of abuse, saying that people "can’t be put in boxes".

The defence team also brought up the concept of "malingering"- or people fabricating emotional and psychological symptoms.

Listening to Hughes’ testimony, Combs was seated back in his chair with his arms by his side. He would occasionally look at his lawyers or write something down, but he’s largely kept his head down.

There will be more questions for Hughes after the lunch break.

The court is now taking a short break for lunch.

When they return the cross-examination of Dr Hughes by Combs' defence team will continue.

As a reminder, cameras are not allowed inside the courtroom - which means there won't be any photographs or video coming from the trial.

However, in the sketches below you can see Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerard Gannon giving evidence and US District Judge Arun Subramanian who is presiding over today's proceedings.

For a reminder of Gannon's evidence, head to our previous post.

Image source, Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

Image source, Jane Rosenberg/Reuters

The prosecution has now finished questioning Dr Dawn Hughes.

The defence is now questioning the forensic psychologist.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

Forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes is continuing her testimony - taking the jury through the different reasons why victims of abuse might stay in relationships with their abs.

She says fear of violence, financial control, and love for the partner they once knew are all potential reasons.

When a victim is abused, their brain "reorganises" around surviving in the relationship rather than leaving, Hughes explains.

Her testimony is being punctuated by defence objections every few minutes.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes is on the stand.

She’s testifying about the elements of domestic abuse that sometimes cause victims to stay in the relationship.

Hughes tells the court she’s being paid $600 an hour for her work as an expert witness and $6,000 a day for her court testimony.

She explains to the court that "anyone can be abused" and that victims don’t stay because they want the abuse - but because fear and resulting psychological issues can cause them to feel trapped.

Sometimes, there is love too in the relationships, which combined with abuse can create an "intense psychological bond", she says.

Hughes' answers are sometimes quite long and the defence is raising many objections that are sustained.

We can now bring you some photos of evidence gathered by Homeland Security during raids on Combs' property.

The images below show the alleged guns and drugs that were seized, as well as a box of baby oil and lubricant.

Image source, US Federal Court

Image source, US Federal Court

Image source, US Federal Court

Image source, US Federal Court

Image source, Getty Images

Forensic psychologist Dawn Hughes has become a fixture at some recent high profile celebrity trials.

According to her website, Hughes specialises in "the assessment and treatment of interpersonal violence, traumatic stress and the anxiety disorders".

She testified in the singer R. Kelly's federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial, for which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Hughes was also called as witness in the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from court

The government is moving on to its next witness, Dr Dawn Hughes - a New York-based forensic psychologist.

During the defence’s cross examination of special agent Gerard Gannon, they attempted to take the sting out of his testimony.

For example, Comb’s lawyer Teny Geragos ended by asking if he owned a gun and stated that many people in Florida have guns. Gannon answered he did.

She also asked if Diddy’s fingerprints or DNA were found on the guns, but he wasn’t sure given he personally did not conduct a fingerprint analysis.

She also questioned why there weren’t pre-search photos of certain parts of Combs’s home. At another point, she asked him to hold out a Gucci bag to the jury.

She asked whether the drugs found in it were destroyed in testing because the samples were so small.