What to know about the sex trafficking trial

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• Bryana Bongolan, who alleges that Diddy dangled her over an apartment balcony, is on the witness stand. Bongolan testified that Combs held her over a 17th story balcony in 2016 before throwing her onto the balcony’s furniture.
• Combs faces five criminal counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has vociferously denied the allegations against him.

Court is in session

Court is now in session for Day 16 of Combs’ racketeering and sex trafficking trial.

Bryana Bongolan, a Ventura friend, to testify with immunity

Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Combs’ former girlfriend and key government witness Cassie Ventura, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

The witness has been told she won’t be prosecuted as long as she tells the truth on the stand, prosecutors said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Bongolan could say that’d put her into any legal jeopardy. Bongolan has alleged that Diddy dangled her over an apartment balcony during a previous altercation.

Earlier this week, hotel security guard Eddy Garcia also invoked his rights against self-incrimination. It turned out that he testified about helping Combs team secure video of the mogul’s beating of Ventura.

Frank Piazza, video expert, called to the stand

Court is in session and the government has called its first witness: a forensic video expert named Frank Piazza.

Piazza was sworn in and took the stand wearing a dark suit.

Video shown of Combs beating Ventura not altered, witness says

The primary task of this video expert appears to be authenticating that footage of Combs beating Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel has not been altered.

Piazza said there are “no anomalies” in the disturbing footage shown of Combs assaulting his then-girlfriend Ventura at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016.

Expert taking jurors through the video step by step

The witness, Piazza, is walking jurors through video footage of Combs’ 2016 videotaped beating of Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel.

He’s confirming the video’s authenticity and walking the court through a version he’s stitched together, showing events as they happened in chronological order.

Footage of sex acts filed under seal

The prosecution filed into evidence, under seal, 10 sex videos involving Ventura.

The footage was dated between 2012 and 2014 and came from a user file marked “Frank Black,” an alias Combs allegedly used while traveling.

Security video getting an extended look by jurors

Piazza’s testimony might be coming across as highly technical and tedious as lawyers go, moment-by-moment, through security footage of Combs and Ventura.

The rather dry testimony, though, has led to a cumulative impact of jurors having to sit through an extended look at Combs’ brutal beating of his then-girlfriend on March 5, 2016 in Los Angeles.

While Combs’ defense, in opening statements, conceded he’s prone to out-of-control temper tantrums, this kind of reminder might not be helpful to his cause.

Bryana Bongolan taking the witness stand

The government called Ventura’s friend, Bryana Bongolan, to the witness stand.

Earlier today Bongolan cited her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and prosecutors have said she won’t be prosecuted as long as she testifies truthfully.

Bongolan says she had night terrors after Combs allegedly dangled her from balcony

Bongolan testified that Combs held her over a 17th story balcony in 2016 before throwing her onto the balcony’s furniture.

The mental affects of the assault left her with night terrors, she told the court. She added that there were times where she would scream in her sleep.

Cassie Ventura mentioned the balcony incident, without naming Bongolan, in her 2023 lawsuit against Combs. Ventura also testified about the incident while on the witness stand last month.

Threw knives at each other, witness testifies

Bongolan testified she witnessed Combs throw a knife at Ventura during a violent outburst at her apartment.

Bongolan didn’t recall the exact year when this incident unfolded, but said it happened in the middle of night at Ventura’s place in Los Angeles.

Ventura picked up the knife and hurled it back at Combs, the witness said. Both their throws missed.

Combs called himself the ‘devil’ and that he could kill her, witness says

One interaction Bongolan recalled while on the witness stand was a moment in which Combs allegedly told her something along the lines of, “I am the devil and I can kill you.”

She told the court that she was terrified. Bongolan also testified that he had taken cocaine at the time of the incident.

Bongolan testifies Combs yelled at her while holding her over balcony

Bongolan testified that she was dangled over the 17th story balcony for maybe 10 to 15 seconds while Combs yelled, “you know what the f— you did.”

She said she had no idea what he was talking about and told Combs as much, Bongolan said. Combs allegedly came up behind her and lifted her above his chest to hold her up against the balcony, she told the court.

Bongolan described herself as 5-foot-1 at the time and weighing roughly 100 to 115 pounds. She told the court she was trying not to slip while pushing back on Combs because she was scared she was going to fall.

Ventura in ‘disbelief’ following Combs’ balcony threat, witness says

Ventura was in a nearby room and didn’t witness Combs allegedly dangling Bongolan over the balcony — but she was nonetheless shocked by the incident, the witness said.

“He threw me on the balcony furniture, it definitely hurt, wasn’t sure if she was injured,” Bongolan told the jurors.

“Cassie was in her bedroom but she came out. I heard her voice, her tone was in disbelief.”

Bongolan tried to talk to Combs about incident to no avail, she says

A day or two after the balcony incident, Bongolan said, she received a FaceTime call from either Combs or someone on his team.

She told the court that she repeatedly stated that she didn’t want to have problems with Combs, but Combs didn’t say much. Bongolan testified that Combs put his hand over his head while looking into the camera.

Balcony incident left witness with nightmares and paranoia, she says

The witness said she sued Comb for $10 million, in order to “seek justice for what happened to me on the balcony.”

When Bongolan was asked by the prosecution if she could give away $10 million for the balcony incident to have never happened, she unequivocally said yes.

Defense opens up cross-examination by probing witness’s immunity

Combs’ attorney Nicole Westmoreland began cross-examination of Bongolan by asking her again about the immunity order she was provided for her testimony.

Westmoreland clarified that the protection against prosecution only works if Bongolan is truthful. She then followed up by asking Bongolan who she understands has the power to decide whether or not she is lying.

The prosecutors, Bongolan answered.

The witness admits to regular drug use

Bongolan testified both she and Ventura had once been very regular drug users when they were in Combs’ social world.

Under cross-examination, Bongolan confirmed she did ketamine, marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and Vicodin in this time of her life. Bongolan said one of her favorite drugs was a blunt with sprinkles of cocaine.

“We had a problem,” she said.

Witness testifies she reconnected with Ventura around time of her lawsuit

Bongolan testified under cross-examination that she reconnected with Ventura and worked for her in late 2023, around the time Ventura filed her lawsuit against Combs.

Defense attorneys probed Bongolan about her conversations with Ventura at the time, asking if they discussed filing legal action as they worked. Bongolan said she did speak to Ventura before and after Ventura filed her lawsuit, but the two didn’t discuss it while working.

The pair did discuss the balcony incident in relation to the location and date it happened, Bongolan told the court.

She also testified that Ventura asked if she could use Bongolan’s name in her lawsuit when discussing the incident, but Bongolan said no.

Defense challenging balcony dangling incident

The defense tried to discredit Bongolan’s memory of the alleged dangling incident, asking if she hasn’t kept all details of it straight.

Combs’ attorney Westmoreland insinuated in questions that Bongolan couldn’t recall from which direction the defendant came at her or what she might have been smoking at the time of the alleged attack.

She answered, “I don’t remember,” multiple times.

Testimony done for the day

Judge Subramanian sent jurors home and asked them to return to court before 11 a.m. on Thursday.

The defense lawyer, Westmoreland, said she has 30 to 45 minutes of questions left for this witness, Bongolan.

S: NBC News