Diddy plans to testify at criminal trial, lawyer confirms: ‘He’s very eager to tell his story’

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Louise Thomas

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Sean “Diddy” Combs is said to be “very eager” to testify at his upcoming criminal trial, according to his lawyer.

“I don’t know that I could keep him off the stand,” the music mogul’s attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a teaser of TMZ’s new The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment documentary. “I think he’s very eager to tell his story.

“I think he will tell every part of his story, including what you see on the video,” Agnifilo added, referring to the shocking surveillance footage that emerged in May showing Combs physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016.

“He has his story, and he has a story that, I think, only he can tell in the way he can tell it in real time. It’s a human story. It’s a story of love, it’s a story of hurt, it’s a story of heartbreak,” Agniflo said.

“When he describes that relationship, the word he uses more than any other word is heartbreak. He was heartbroken. She was heartbroken.”

Ventura, who dated Combs on and off between 2007 and 2018, sued the rapper in 2023, alleging that she was trafficked, raped and beaten by him on many occasions over their years-long relationship.

The lawsuit ended up being settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money the day after it was filed.

Following Ventura’s lawsuit, Combs has since faced a string of other lawsuits accusing him of rape, sexual assault and misconduct.

On September 16, the “Last Night” artist was arrested and indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

At his arraignment the next day, an unsealed federal indictment revealed that he allegedly hosted “freak off” parties, where he coerced and drugged women to participate in “highly orchestrated performances” of sexual activity that would sometimes last days and often included male commercial sex workers.

He’s also been accused of running a criminal enterprise that included his associates, employees and the influence of his business empire to coerce, control and abuse female victims.

In a resurfaced 1999 interview with Entertainment Tonight, Combs nonchalantly predicted he would likely get arrested for “doing all types of crazy things.”

Speaking about his infamous parties, he said: “They won’t even give me a permit for the parties. And they don’t want me to throw the parties no more. But we ain’t going to stop. We gonna keep on having fun. Bringing people together from all walks of life.

“You’re going to hear about my parties. They gonna be shutting them down. They gonna probably be arresting me – doing all types of crazy things just because we want to have a good time.”

During his first hearing, Agnifilo called Combs “an innocent man with nothing to hide.” He said the musician has been cooperating with federal authorities and voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of the arrest.

Combs’s next hearing is scheduled for October 9 at 2pm.