Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial Potentially Stalled As Feds’ Witness Missing

EXCLUSIVE: Hours before opening statements in Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sex-trafficking trial are set to start before a yet-to-be-seated jury, the defense is poised to take advantage of a self-wound of sorts by the prosecution.

As of Sunday night, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York have yet to re-established contact with a key witness against the Bad Boy Records founder, I hear.

Only a few weeks ago, Victim-3, as she is called in the indictment against Combs, had pledged to testify in the criminal trial that will likely see the plea deal rejecting Grammy winning defendant in prison for the rest of his life if found guilty. Shielded from having to give her real name, Victim-3, according to court filings, would have detailed for the court and the jury just how Diddy “sexually exploited” her,

Now embarrassingly nowhere to be found, the non-NYC based Victim-3 may provide Combs’ Marc Agnifilo, Teny Geragos and Brian Steel-led legal team with the tools to bring the case to a stand-still, at least for now. Expected before Judge Arun Subramanian at around 8:30 a.m. ET to solidify the jury and hear an update on Victim-3 from the feds, the defense are planning to ask for mistrial or seek a delay in the start of the trial, sources tell me.

Hopes of a mistrial being declared is a bit of a Hail Mary, let’s be honest. The desire for a postponement, on the other hand, has some strong legal legs.

Contacted by Deadline earlier Sunday about the status of Victim-3 and the possible outcomes if she doesn’t testify, the SDNY declined to comment, according to a spokesperson. Law enforcement sources say that they believe Victim-3 has gone dark out of fears for her safety, but would not give any specifics. The defense did not respond to request for comment on the likelihood that Victim-3 will not be participating in the trial and what that could mean.

Predicted to last eight weeks, the criminal trial of the much-accused Diddy follows his arrest last September on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. Outside the recently spruced up lower Manhattan federal courthouse around a dozen people were already in line on Sunday evening ahead of Monday’s trial start.

Across the street, some TV crew equipment was already in place, as are designated spots for outlets like the AP, the BBC, local channels and cabler newsers.

One of the big attractions is Combs’ former long-term girlfriend Cassie Ventura a.k.a. Victim-1, who is expected to testify under her own name as early as Monday if the trial goes forward.

Now heavily pregnant with her and husband Alex Fine’s third child, Ventura was paid off in the tens of millions in late 2023 to quickly drop her own assault and abuse civil suit against Combs.

The ‘Me & U’ singer was thrust back into the spotlight in spring 2024 when CNN obtained and broadcast a seemingly damning and now defense disputed 2016 hotel security footage of a half-naked Combs beating Ventura in the hall and dragging her back to their room. The defense alleges the footage, which their client had previously apologized for the violence he is shown committing, was doctored and doesn’t tell the whole story.

If Victim-3 is a no-show for the feds, as it seems she will indeed be, the thrust of the defense’s argument in both its mistrial and delay requests Monday morning will be that the rules of the game have changed with one of the four main witnesses alleging rape and other sordid sex crimes by Combs out of the picture. One of the practical consequences of that change is that the defense will be required to reorientate its strategy for its ‘All About the Benjamins’ client — and that doesn’t happen overnight.

Whether or not the time conscious Judge Subramanian goes for it will be determined early tomorrow at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse.

Yet, unless Victim-3 shows up or a definitive date for her testimony is established, the defense has a win of sorts in their pocket either way. If the judge agrees to a mistrial or a postponement, the win is obvious. There will be a trial starting this week if Judge Subramanian says that Victim-1/Ventura and two other witnesses will be testifying along with the newly introduced Victim-5, and that should suffice.  Even if that is the outcome, then circumstance will have planted the seeds for a near certain fast appeal if the jury’s verdict doesn’t go in Combs’ favor.

Even before the trial proper has begun, the water is murky around the Combs prosecution and defense in other aspects too

Engaging in the legal equivalent of trench warfare for their high-profile client ever since his arrest by the NYPD and feds, the defense said on May 9 that they would concede that 55-year-old Combs has committed “domestic violence” in his 2007 – 2018 relationship with Ventura. Tempering that, Combs’ team exclaimed “there was mutual violence.” At that May 9 hearing, one of Combs’ lawyers Alexandra Shapiro said to nods from her client at the defense table: “The dynamic between these two individuals is at the very heart of this case.”

Incarcerated in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since last fall, Combs will also admit he had an unconventional sex life and “swinger” lifestyle. With that and having entered a not guilty plea three times now, Combs and his team have repeatedly also insisted the so-called “freak offs” were consensual and not drug and boozed fueled brutalities as the feds have portrayed them to be.

To that, in this case of failed $50M bail attempts, claims of the feds having a racial bias, and early 2024 raids on the one-time mogul’s LA and Miami homes, the crisis of the missing witness has been festering for nearly a week.

Mentioned almost as an aside during jury selection last week, the subject of the suddenly unreachable Victim-3, came up on May 9 in what was supposed to be near formality of a hearing. At that time, on Friday Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey (Yes, a daughter of ex-FBI director James Comey, who Donald Trump fired in 2017) promised there would have a yes or no by EOD that same day if Victim-3 was going to show up or not. There is no indication on the court docket or otherwise, says a well-positioned source, that such an EOD information either way was ever given to the court.

This is not going to garner the prosecution any points with Judge Subramanian

The judge, who practiced commercial and bankruptcy law before then-President Joe Biden nominated him to the bench, runs his courtroom with an upbeat efficiency that feels imported from the white collar workplace: He’s often very much in the mode of the project leader keeping his team on task and on schedule, using encouragement and an even temperament to steer the case through months of pretrial maneuvering and potential roadblocks towards Monday’s scheduled opening arguments and probably testimony.

But on Friday there was concern and maybe a touch of irritation in the judge’s voice as he contemplated the missing prosecution witness Victim-3, a last-minute appeal from one jury finalist to be excused from the case, and the possibility of other prospective jurors trying to back out of their service over the weekend. After several days of whittling a jury pool of 150 down to 43, with a goal of getting to the 18 who will hear the case (12 jurors and six alternates), Judge Subramanian said on Friday that he was looking for “some certainty that you’re not going to have to re-do jury selection” — a state of affairs that sounded like a worst case scenario coming from this keenly organized judge. 

Now, it might be the least of his concerns come Monday morning.