Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial escalated on Monday afternoon as Daniel Phillip, a 41-year-old male escort, was called to the witness stand.
In an extremely graphic testimony that lasted about an hour, Phillip was questioned by lead prosecutor Maurene Comey about his sexual encounters with Combs and his then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura from around 2012 to 2014. According to Phillip, he was paid between $700 and $6,000 on several occasions to have sex with Ventura, as Combs watched and masturbated. On more than one occasion, he witnessed Combs physically abusing Ventura, and in one instance, he was given the drug MDMA.
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Phillip was first pulled into Combs’ orbit when he was working as the manager of a male revue show in Manhattan around 2012. One night, his boss asked if he could go to the Gramercy Park Hotel for a bachelorette party because none of his dancers were available. Phillip believed he would arrive at the hotel and perform a strip tease for a group of women. Instead, Ventura opened the door to her hotel room and asked if he was OK engaging with just her. (Ventura, who is expected to testify against Combs later this week, has accused Combs of feeding her drugs and forcing her to engage in sex acts with male escorts. She has also accused him of physically assaulting her.)
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As Phillip remembers it, Ventura was wearing lingerie, high heels and sunglasses, and she told him it was her birthday and her husband arranged a special gift for her. She immediately handed him a few thousand dollars. Combs was in the room, too. Ventura asked Phillip to rub baby oil on her and massage her, and she assured him that Combs was “not gay” and would not touch him.
Phillip did not immediately recognize Combs, as he was clad in a white robe with a bandana covering his face from his nose down. As Phillip and Ventura touched each other and eventually began having sexual intercourse, Combs sat in a chair in the corner of the hotel room masturbating. At one point, Phillip realized who the man was when Combs spoke, and he recognized his voice.
After a short time, Ventura handed Phillip another few thousand dollars in cash and sent him on his way. She took his phone number. A few minutes after he left the hotel, Phillip received a text message from Ventura asking him to send a picture of his penis, and to come back up to the room. He obliged, and for another few hours they rubbed baby oil on each other and had sex as Combs masturbated.
Phillip would continue to engage in sexual relations with Ventura and Combs, at hotels across Manhattan and at each of their private residences in the city. Sometimes Phillip would send Ventura vulgar texts, like, “I want to fuck you right now,” and sometimes he would text to ask if she was “good.” He cannot recall Ventura ever responding to said texts.
Phillip said each time he met with Ventura and Combs, there were candles and bottles of baby oil and Astroglide lubricant on the table. On one occasion, Combs directed Phillip and Ventura through a role-playing exercise. “We were not very good at that at all,” Phillip said.
Combs would often tell Phillip and Ventura to rub more baby oil on each other, and he would instruct Phillip where and when to ejaculate. “He was always sitting in the corner masturbating,” Phillip said of Combs, though he added that on occasion, Combs would switch places with him to engage in sexual intercourse with Ventura. On one occasion, Ventura asked him to urinate on her. Rarely did they use condoms.
Phillip said these encounters would last anywhere from one to 10 hours. After he would have sex with Ventura, she would go into the bedroom with Combs and leave Phillip waiting outside on a couch for hours. Sometimes they would come back out and tell him to leave, and other times they would bring him back into the bedroom for another round of intercourse.
Phillip said Combs videotaped him having sex with Ventura once or twice, on a cellphone and camcorder. One time, Phillip “pretended to cum” after Combs instructed him to ejaculate “inside Ventura.” After Combs brought Ventura into the bedroom, he repeatedly questioned Phillip if he was “sure” he finished.
Their interactions became more intense after Combs took a photograph of Phillip’s driver’s license and said it was “just for insurance, just in case.” “I understood it to be he was threatening me,” Phillip said as Combs’ attorney Xavier Donaldson yelled “objection” repeatedly. Many of his objections were overruled by the judge, but Phillip was sometimes reined in when he began to speculate.
On one instance, Combs allegedly offered Phillip MDMA, or “molly,” which made Phillip feel “physically sick” and “nauseous” but also “euphoric.” Phillip left that night with a wad of cash, and, still under the influence, began roaming the city. “I went into the middle of Times Square and I handed out every single dollar he gave me,” Phillip said.
He didn’t care about the money Ventura and Combs gave him, saying it was “exciting” to be around famous people: “I never asked them for a single dollar.”
At a certain point, Phillip said he began witnessing Combs physically abusing Ventura. One time, he saw Combs throw a glass bottle in Ventura’s direction, then hit her and drag her by her hair into another room. “She was screaming, and he pulled her into the bedroom,” Phillip said. “I could hear what sounded like him slapping her. She was screaming, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!'” Phillip said Combs said to Ventura, “Bitch, when I tell you to come, you come now. Not later.”
“I was shocked. It came out of nowhere. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do,” Phillip said. When asked why he didn’t intervene or call the police, he said, “In my mind … if I tried to do something I might lose my life.” He added, “My thoughts were, [Combs] was someone with unlimited power. … My life was at risk.” Phillip said Combs would attempt to resume sexual activities directly after the alleged domestic violence.
After he started witnessing the abuse, Phillip had difficulty “staying hard” in the presence of Combs. Once or twice, Combs gave him Cialis, which treats erectile dysfunction. Phillip said that on occasions in which he could not sexually perform, he was sometimes not paid.
Phillip detailed another incident at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel, where he heard screaming and slapping noises from behind the bedroom doors. Combs then vacated the hotel, leaving Phillip alone with Ventura. According to Phillip, Ventura jumped into his lap and began crying and kissing him, which she had not done during their previous encounters. Phillip asked Ventura why she was staying in an abusive relationship, and she insisted she was OK. The two of them began having sex, and Phillip did not have trouble performing. While they had intercourse, they noticed Combs sneaking back into the room to watch.
One time, at Ventura’s home, Combs had invited another male sex worker, who ended up getting in a verbal altercation with Combs after he accused him of looking at him during a threesome.
Phillip was never paid for sex before meeting Combs and Ventura, and he has not been paid for sex since their last encounter, sometime in late 2013 or early 2014. When asked why he continued to meet up with Combs and Ventura, he told the courtroom that he considered Ventura a friend and wanted to “check up” on her. Plus, he feared that if he aggravated Combs, he might be in danger.
Combs’ trial kicked off in earnest this week as the jury was sworn in and opening statements were delivered Monday morning. Federal prosecutors aim to portray Combs, who is on trial for sex trafficking and racketeering, as as a powerful businessman who used his fame and power to rape, assault and abuse people. Combs says all sexual activities referenced in the indictment were consensual, as his defense attorneys seek to paint him as a flawed man who was sometimes violent, but innocent of the federal charges.
On Monday, prosecutors also brought to the stand a security guard who witnessed Combs’ alleged assault on Ventura at the Intercontinental Hotel. A video of the incident has loomed large over the trial, as CNN published surveillance footage in May 2024. Variants of that footage were played for the jury as evidence.
