NEW YORK (AP) — A former personal assistant who accuses Sean “Diddy” Combs of rape testified Monday that she continued sending the hip-hop mogul loving messages for years after her job ended in 2017 because she was “brainwashed.”
The woman, testifying under the pseudonym “Mia," pushed back at defense lawyer Brian Steel’s suggestions that she fabricated her claims to cash in on “the #MeToo money grab against Sean Combs.”
Mia was on the witness stand for her third and final day at Comb’s federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan, which is in its fourth week of testimony.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers concede he could be violent, but he denies using threats or his music industry clout to commit abuse.
Steel had Mia read aloud numerous text messages she sent Combs. In one from 2019, she told Combs that he'd rescued her in a nightmare in which she was trapped in an elevator with R. Kelly, the singer who has since been convicted of sex trafficking.
“And the person who sexually assaulted you came to your rescue?” Steel asked incredulously. He rephrased, asking if she really dreamed of being saved by a man “who terrorized you and caused you PTSD?” Prosecutors objected and the judge sustained it.
It was one of many objections during a combative and often meandering cross-examination that stood in contrast to the defense’s gentler treatment of other prosecution witnesses. Several times, the judge interrupted Steel, instructing him to move along or rephrase complicated questions.
In an Aug. 29, 2020, message to Combs, Mia recalled happy highlights from her eight years working for him — such as drinking champagne at the Eiffel Tower at 4 a.m. and rejecting Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger's offer to take her home — saying she remembered only “the good times.”
In the same message, Mia mentioned once feeling “bamboozled” by a woman. Steel asked why she didn't say Combs had bamboozled her as well.
“Because I was still brainwashed,” Mia answered.
Asked to explain, Mia said that in an environment where “the highs were really high and the lows were really low," she developed “huge confusion in trusting my instincts.”
When Steel suggested her assault claims were made up, Mia responded: “I have never lied in this courtroom and I never will lie in this courtroom. Everything I said is true.”
She said she felt a moral obligation to speak out after others came forward against Combs, telling jurors: “It's been a long process. I'm untangling things. I'm in therapy."
Mia alleges Combs forcibly kissed her and molested her at his 40th birthday party, and raped her months later in a guest room at his Los Angeles home. She testified last week that the assaults were “random, sporadic, so oddly spaced out” she didn’t think they'd happen again.
For a long time, Mia said, she kept the assaults to herself — staying quiet even after her friend, Combs’ former longtime girlfriend Cassie, sued Combs in November 2023 alleging sexual abuse. The lawsuit, settled within hours for $20 million, touched off Combs’ criminal investigation.
Mia followed Cassie as the second of three key prosecution witnesses. The third, using the pseudonym “Jane,” will testify later this week.
Mia said she didn’t feel comfortable telling Cassie, the R&B singer whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, that she was also victimized. She said she didn't tell prosecutors when she first met with them in January 2024, waiting about six months to do so.
“Just because you find out something doesn’t mean you immediately snap out of it. I was still deeply ashamed and I wanted to die with this,” Mia testified.
Steel suggested Mia only told prosecutors after she obtained legal counsel, accusing the witness of trying to lay the groundwork for a lawsuit against Combs.
But Judge Arun Subramanian shut down Steel’s attempts to ask Mia if she chose her attorney because of that lawyer’s success getting hefty judgments for writer E. Jean Carroll in sex abuse-related lawsuits against President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors warned that Steel’s treatment of Mia in the closely watched Combs case could deter victims from testifying in other, unrelated cases.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey accused Steel of yelling at and humiliating Mia, and argued that picking apart her social media posts was excessive and irrelevant.
“We are crossing the threshold into prejudice and harassing this witness,” Comey told Subramanian after jurors left the courtroom for a break.
Subramanian said he hadn’t heard any yelling or sarcasm in Steel’s questions but cautioned the lawyer not to overdo it with questions about Mia’s social media posts.
Defense attorney Brian Steel, center, cross examines Kid Cudi, far right, as Sean "Diddy" Combs, far left, looks on during Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court,Thursday, May 22, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Sean "Diddy" Combs looks on as defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland cross examines Dawn Richard during Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court, Monday, May 19, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
