Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bombshell sex-trafficking trial was derailed Wednesday due to a sick juror — because the rapper’s alleged “drug mule” had been poised to start testifying.
Manhattan federal Decide Arun Subramanian knowledgeable Combs, his legal professionals and prosecutors simply after 9 a.m. {that a} juror had been experiencing “vertigo symptoms.”
“I don’t see how we can proceed today,” the choose added.
Brendan Paul, a former faculty basketball participant who allegedly provided Combs with medicine, arrived in court docket Wednesday morning as he was slated to start testifying because the final main witness within the prosecution’s case in opposition to the hip-hop mogul.
The intently watched trial will likely be on maintain till Friday morning due to the Juneteenth federal vacation on Thursday.
Paul, 25, was arrested on March 26, 2024, across the identical time the feds raided the Unhealthy Boy Data founder’s Miami and Los Angeles houses.
Paul was discovered with cocaine and marijuana sweet when he was cuffed simply as he was about to board Combs’ airplane in Miami.
The feds dropped the case in opposition to Paul in December after he accomplished a drug therapy diversion program.
On Tuesday, when the jurors weren’t within the courtroom, Paul briefly took the witness stand to plead the Fifth and train his proper to not incriminate himself.
Nevertheless, prosecutors then stated they might grant him immunity if he testified honestly within the case.
In a $30 million lawsuit filed by producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones in opposition to Combs final 12 months, the hooper-turned-amateur music producer was accused of being Combs’ “drug mule” who additionally provided him with weapons.
Paul, an Ohio native, performed Division I basketball at Syracuse College from 2018 to 2020 earlier than he transferred to Fairmont State College to play for a Division II workforce for his final two years.
The baller is anticipated to be the final main witness in prosecutors’ case in opposition to the “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper.
After Paul, solely two extra regulation enforcement witnesses are scheduled to testify earlier than the prosecution rests its case.
Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo on Monday indicated that the protection case would final as little as two days.
He stated he deliberate to name a minimum of three witnesses, together with two former workers of Combs and a paralegal at Agnifilo’s agency.
The scheduling announcement by the lawyer urged that Combs won’t testify in his personal protection.
Combs, 55, is accused of intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and prostitution-related prices.
Prosecutors declare he pressured girls to have intercourse with male prostitutes whereas they had been excessive on medicine and whereas he watched, recorded and pleasured himself throughout so-called “freak-offs.”
Combs has pleaded not responsible and his legal professionals have argued that the ladies who partook within the drugged-and-lubed-up intercourse marathons had been his gal buddies and prepared individuals.
However jurors have heard testimony from two girls, together with Combs’ former longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura, that he was bodily and emotionally abusive and that their participation within the intercourse periods was coerced.
Combs — who has been behind bars since his September arrest — faces as much as life in jail if convicted on the highest cost.
With Publish wires
