Hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs was 'overdoing partying,' witness testifies

Sean "Diddy" Combs’ illicit substance abuse was so pervasive that he even created pet names for his lover that referenced drug use, an alleged sex trafficking victim testified at his criminal trial.

"You are the crack pipe," he told an ex-girlfriend who took the witness stand under the pseudonym "Jane," to mask her identity. "That’s my new name for you — crack pipe," he told her.

The woman, a single mother, whom Combs dated from 2021 until August 2024, spent her fourth day under questioning in his federal racketeering, sex trafficking trial in Manhattan federal court telling the jury about signs that the hip-hop mogul was "overdoing partying."

She said she was flattered by the "crack pipe" reference, taking it to mean he was addicted to her.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and promoting travel for the purpose of prostitution under a five-count federal indictment. To prove the racketeering charge, prosecutors must prove two underlying federal crimes have been committed. One of those crimes is drug distribution.

They claimed he trafficked drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, molly, GHB, psychedelic mushrooms, ketamine and others, across the country.

Defense attorneys said Combs used the drugs only for himself and his girlfriends whom he drafted to take part in "freak-offs" — sex marathons involving male prostitutes.

Jane testified last week that twice employees for Combs' companies gave her a package of drugs to take with her on a flight from Los Angeles to Miami. She confirmed she couriered drugs because she took them as well after she arrived in Florida.

Jane said taking ecstasy became a routine part of her lovemaking with Combs, helping to put her in the mood when she said he compelled her to take part in sex binges with male prostitutes, but at times it also overwhelmed her.

Like Casandra Ventura, the other alleged sex trafficking victim in the case, Jane testified she had to be revived under a shower after taking too heavy a dose of ecstasy.

In the second month of her relationship with the Bad Boy Records founder, Jane noticed signs that the drugs were affecting his health.

"I could tell that he wasn’t taking very good care of himself," she told the court. "I felt he was developing jaundice and his gums were gray and his hands were shaking, probably from using alcohol."

She said that she recommended he go to a drug rehabilitation center in Thailand she knew about.

"He was like, what the hell, you think I need rehab?" Jane recalled him reacting. "I said, ‘Yeah, why not? Look at you.’ "

She suggested he switch from coffee to tea to help him be less jittery, take digestive aids to help his stomach and natural medicine to help him sleep, rather than Xanax.

"I felt that in the beginning I didn't know how to label it," she said of when she first started going out with Combs. "I just encountered somebody that was overdoing partying. In that time, I would say that it was more celebratory, but as our relationship continued, I noticed a strong pattern. I didn’t label it as a drug addict, but I do now."

Combs would take drugs to escape the stress of running his global music, fashion, liquor and entertainment empire.

"Before ecstasy he would be agitated; after ecstasy he was upbeat, in a better mood," she said.

"He would listen to music and have these good, creative thoughts."

Jane said Combs enthusiastically researched medicinal uses of ketamine, an animal tranquilizer that has found use in treating post-traumatic stress disorder in humans.

"I could see what this was becoming and I guess I was just hooked on the love," she said.

She also did research to understand why Combs wanted to see her have sex with other men.

"I was just trying to figure out our relationship. I came upon a word "cuck" or cuckolder," she said.

Defense attorney Teny Geragos pressed her to explain.

Jane said there could be multiple reasons Combs liked to watch her have sex with other men.

Some cuckolds like to see the women they’re with experiencing sexual pleasure, she testified.

"Cucks could also have a bi-curiousity that they are too ashamed to experience themselves," she said. "So they use the woman to venture out in this curiosity without actually doing the act itself."

Janes returns to the witness stand Wednesday.