Combs was planning on heading back out that evening to look for a more permanent residence in the area.
The lawyer claimed Combs relationship with Ventura was toxic at times but nowhere near what prosecutors claimed.
The indictment said Combs pattern of abuse included forced participation in highly orchestrated sex performances called freak-offs.
Homeland Security agents at Combs’ Miami Beach home on March 25, 2024.GIORGIO VIERA/AFP/Getty Images
They said hed sought professional help and gone to rehab years prior to address his substance-use issues.
Hes not the same person he was then.
Two hotel employees tellRolling Stonethat a woman was waiting for Combs upstairs when he was taken into custody.
Yet on the eve of his arrest, Combs reached out.
I really just need you to come to New York, Nicole says Combs told her over the phone.
She was weighing if she should go and confront him when news broke that he had been arrested.
He just wanted to get out of jail.
Hes the same person.
He will find a way to get you.
Thats what he gets off on.
In a harrowing account, Pasion alleges Combs had a nonconsensual sexual encounter with her.
Ive decided to speak my truth and take my power back.
This man is sick, she says.
IN NOVEMBER 2020, COMBS needed a change of scenery.
He wanted a 51st-birthday party in paradise.
I mean that in a sexually charged way, I mean that in a manipulation way.
Hes just out for people.
Its always about him.
Pines discovered right from the beginning that working for Combs was all-consuming.
Some days, it might be work connected with a product launch.
Others, it was about a guest coming to one of Combs many residences.
Organizing these events would become a weekly, and sometimes daily, responsibility, Pines says.
Then hed wait until the next part of his job: cleaning up the wreckage.
You could slip because there was baby oil all over the floor, he explains in the documentary.
Pines believes it was a test of loyalty.
Could he do what was being asked of him and not bat an eye?
Its manipulation at its finest; its grooming, Pines tellsRolling Stone.
Its a small batch of people, he says.
He declined to say who else participated but said it wasnt people he would consider celebrities.
Pines says Combs had a constant rotation of women and just was never alone.
My observation was that a woman made him feel like a man.
And always having somebody around [made him] feel like that.
That was kind of his insecurity, in my experience, Pines recalls in the series.
I never saw him sleep alone…. Like, he needed somebody with him to make him feel comfort.
And it was always a guest.
We are not better off if the federal government comes into our bedrooms, he said.
Responding to Agnifilo, Pines says hes not so sure.
I imagine therell be tons of people who will respond to that not in favor of the defense.
Pines recalls two incidents in particular that weighed on him when it came to Combs treatment of women.
In one, Combs allegedly turned violent.
The woman complied, ending up topless.
Pines says he removed his own jacket so the woman could cover herself for her departing Uber ride.
(The woman did not respond to a request for comment.)
The woman looked shaken, he says.
I dont know what took place, Pines says in the episode.
She said something to the effect of Ive never done anything like this before.
Pines himself claims he had an encounter with Combs that would haunt him.
It felt like this was a normal thing, he says in the series.
But that turned very quickly.
Then Combs called him up a second time, Pines says, encouraging him to take another shot.
Hes out of his mind at this point, Pines says inThe Fall of Diddy.
I remember hearing the words, Prove your loyalty to me, King.
Pines says he froze in that moment but ultimately acquiesced out of fear.
Is this fun for him?
Is this a test?
No one knows what it feels like to be in that situation, Pines explains in the episode.
I heard about previous employees getting physically assaulted.
I saw how angry and upset he could get from the most simplest thing.
[I had] a great sense of remorse following that situation, right from the jump.
Although Pines says he wanted to tell someone about what happened, he felt trapped.
There was so much at stake, he says in the special.
My job could be in jeopardy.
This was Covid; jobs werent coming across your desk every day.
Planning for the Turks and Caicos trip dominated his schedule.
Pines describes having tunnel vision, needing to compartmentalize his feelings to make it soldier on with his job.
He has that ability to make you feel like his world comes first, Pines tellsRolling Stone.
Even if its at your expense, his needs and his life [come] before yours.
As a man, youre taught to endure a little bit more to maintain your masculinity.
But for me, its bigger than that, because mental health is not gender-based.
Combs team issued a broad denial of all the claims.
The couple binge-watchedDatelineepisodes and attended church together on Sundays.
He wasnt [this] all-bad person, she explains.
He was very sweet.
We talked about real-life stuff, about my childhood and his childhood.
But deep down, Nicole tellsRolling Stone,she knew shades of the Combs that others were describing.
The man who could turn demonic on benders and would test, push, and flat-out break her boundaries.
He would always take it to a point that I was fearful of my life, she says.
I just ignored the phone calls, she says.
Then the next thing you know, the driver is outside of my door ringing the doorbell.
I ended up giving in and going the next day.
Gradually, Combs began pressuring her to add other people to their sexual encounters, Nicoles lawsuit claims.
It seemed innocent enough at first.
Combs allegedly questioned if shed be interested in having a threesome with a man.
But Combs reassured her it was OK if she wanted to be with other men.
I feel like he was maybe grooming me to do things sexually with him, she says.
Nicoles visits with Combs would almost always include what she described as performing a show for him.
They could easily go through an entire bottle in less than five minutes, she says.
Upon waking up, Nicole would find herself covered in bruises with little memory of the night before.
She says she knew better than to push back against certain sexual requests.
It would be like a switch.
Hes never put his hands on me, Nicole says, denying any violence like what Ventura described.
But I knew what he was capable of.
There were other moments when Combs allegedly violated her boundaries.
Throughout the ensuing night, Nicole says she lost consciousness intermittently before she blacked out.
This man is sick.
Combs lured her back into dating again by late 2022, but Nicole says she was growing increasingly wary.
She says the final time she saw Combs was the July 2024 incident involving the two alleged forced pills.
Once again, she claims Combs allegedly asked her about inviting over a man.
I was in and out [of consciousness] that night, she says.
I am never coming back after this.
It was the final straw.
She bided her time until she felt she could safely leave, avoiding Combs calls in the following weeks.
Pulling his family closer, Combs softened his image.
He remained a shrewd businessman, but he also was a proud, doting father.
Accepting his golden Moonman with some of his children onstage beside him, Combs counted his blessings.
Thats the only intention.
This new Love phase seemed to be no different.
The gathering was depicted on Instagram as a wholesome family trip with his children and relatives.
(The guest had to be escorted off the vessel, OMarcaighs suit alleges.)
She says he only backed off when someone else entered the room, allowing her to escape.
(The crew member corroborated details surrounding OMarcaighs account of her encounter with Christian.)
The captain did not returnRolling Stones request for comment.
Through her lawyer, OMarcaigh declined to comment for this article.)
Combs was frequently highly intoxicated, the crew member claims.
He would do certain things for the video cameras and then switch into a different person, they explain.
He was high on some drug.
We dont know what it was, but his switching of personality was so unnatural.
A short time later, he was fumbling over his words while drinking with his adult sons.
We litty like we got five titties in our mouths,he yelled in an Instagram story.
Was it desensitizing us?
Im sure it was.
Were we aware of it?
No, that was just Saturday night.
HEY YO, PHIL, CAN you give me 20 Xanax, hey?
came Combs groggy voice in one audio recording sent to Pines, played inThe Fall of Diddy.
Im-a need 10 Adderall, Combs said in another.
Do we have any more chocolates?
Cause she is going to need a chocolate in a minute.
I need my Gucci bag up here.
These were the pop in of frequent, sometimes daily, commands Pines says he would receive from Combs.
for clear customs, Pines says in his lawsuit that he hid the drugs in a safe.
As far back as 2008, Ventura alleged, Combs was leading a drug-fueled lifestyle.
His drug use went hand in hand with his sexual activities, according to various lawsuits.
Even his own attorneys have acknowledged Combs history with drug usage.
He cites ketamine and Ecstasy in particular, claiming they gave Combs that ecstatic feeling he needs for sex.
He suspects Combs once drugged him during a freak-off, giving him a horrible reaction.
This stuff had me so out of my mind, he says.
Nathan claims the last time Combs hired him for a freak-off was in late 2019.
Hed sniff a lot of ketamine and kind of black out in the middle.
The hotel rooms were freezing.
Combs would stage-direct the speed and other aspects of Nathans foreplay with the woman, Nathan says.
I think he would have a go at regulate her pleasure, he claims.
Really creepy shit, obviously.
Because its, like, your girlfriend.
Why do you even have to do that?
Nathan describes Combs as entrenched in his alleged compulsions.
Puff has been super rich for decades, Nathan says.
Hes a sex addict…. Hes an obsessive drug addict.
Thats a major part of his problem.
Was anybody too high?
Did anyone express any hesitation?
Was there the slightest inkling that possibly, possibly the woman wasnt consenting?
The lawyer said the responses were, No.
Nicole says she witnessed the shift as well.
In the beginning, she blamed his emotional pivot on the psychoactive substances he ingested.
She now believes the bingeing exposed something that was there all along.
Now, Im realizing that its just him, she says.
The drugs fueled it [but] it was in his personality.
He wrapped a tight hug around a waiting reporter, who was there toprofile him for aVanity Faircover story.
Combs had an announcement to share with the world: The Bad Boy was breaking good.
The man who had gone from Puffy to Diddy to Sean Combs now wanted to be known as Love.
He did get very uncomfortable when I asked follow-up questions, Cottomtold British newspaperThe Independentlast October.
It wasnt consensual, Pasion says of the encounter in the docuseries.
I knew I was never going to see him again.
I never wanted to remember or repeat what happened.
I just was numb, and I suppressed it.
(Representatives for Combs did not respond directly toRolling Stoneregarding Pasions claims.)
Pasion first met Combs at Soho House in Los Angeles in 2013.
He was persistent, Pasion says, making an effort to get to know her.
Puff has been super rich for decades.
Hes a sex addict…. Hes an obsessive drug addict.
Thats a major part of his problem.
Something drew me into wanting to have the drink with him, Pasion says in the documentary.
I felt like I saw somewhat of a grieving, vulnerable person.
The two bonded and became inseparable throughout 2019, Pasion says in the film.
Its strikingly similar to how Cassie and Puffs relationship started, she explains of her early months with Combs.
He was interested in her opinions and showered her with compliments.
Eventually, the veneer began to crack.
I remember being like, There is NOT a little bit of R. Kelly in all of us.
But I wasnt absorbing the severity of that statement until later.
It was just kind of hovering, Pasion says in the series.
We were looking at each other in the eye, and I was like, Dont you fucking dare.
When she stood her ground, he attempted to laugh off the incident.
Im trying to do things differently, Combs allegedly told her at one point.
In hindsight, Pasion says, she believes Combs was referring to his relationship with Ventura.
On the last night Pasion was there, Combs, she says, went dark.
Hours later, Combs woke Pasion up.
Hes telling me I cant go to sleep, Pasion recalls in the series.
I dont want to go too much into it because Im not trying to relive that memory.
It was just scary, to be honest.
His whole tone, everything changed.
She added, He didnt listen to my no.
He finally showed me his true self exposing his darkness.
I feel so insignificant/low.
She refused to talk to Combs after that.
Meanwhile, Combs team was arranging theVanity Fairprofile.
He was furious she was cutting him off, Pasion says.
I said, Youre a demon, and he hung up, she recalls in the film.
The story touted Combs new good-vibes frequency.
For Pasion, it proved he could weaponize his fame in a flash.
Its just very intimidating.
COMBS SUMMER SCHEDULE IN 2024 looked vastly different from previous years.
But if Combs was worried, he didnt show it.
Although the proceeding was supposed to be kept under wraps, Combs allegedly was fully aware it was happening.
Prosecutors described the unidentified man as a male sex worker who allegedly had participated in numerous freak-offs.
Up until August, Combs was allegedly in semi-frequent contact with the man.
Combs would later be accused of deleting the messages from his phone.
At Combs first court hearing, on Sept. 17, prosecutors called him a serial obstructor.
Amid 128 total phone contacts with Combs that week, Harper released a public statement defending Combs.
Through an attorney, Richard declined to comment for this article.)
Combs damage control allegedly stretched back to the days immediately after Ventura filed her lawsuit, prosecutors claim.
One of his first calls was to a woman who prosecutors identified only as Victim-2.
He said he would expose me.
Prosecutors alleged that Combs substantial, monthly financial-support payments to the woman were as recent as September.
Combs team told the court last November that there is simply no financial coercion at all.
Its his world, and if you get in the way, theres going to be repercussions.
He will find a way to get you.
Thats what he gets off on.
The elder Combs wanted to reach for this jury, according to his monitored jail calls released by prosecutors.
I just need one.
She believed Combs when he purportedly threatened to ruin her.
Thats the pattern of his behavior that hes been doing for decades, she says in the docuseries.
But I think true freedom comes with the truth and taking some accountability.
Still, Pines is unsure what the outcome will be.
Like, man, is he gonna be able to pull this shit off?
Ive seen him get away with so much.
For some reason, our culture worships [Combs] and his billionaire status,Jones tellsRolling Stone.
They dont want to see him fall because theyre living vicariously through him.
They have to understand Puffy is no god.
For now, Combs criminal trial is set to begin the first week of May.
At a recent hearing, prosecutors said its possible they might seek a second indictment with new charges.
Either way, the trial will be complicated.
Prosecutors estimate theyll need three weeks for their side alone.
Combs lawyers will argue any sexual encounters were consensual.
(An attorney for Ventura did not immediately reply to a request for comment.)
Karmas a bitch, Pasion says in the film.
Where is he sitting today?
Not on a yacht in the Amalfi coast, Ill tell you that.
At trial, Combs will have to make the critical decision of whether to testify in his own defense.
Experts agree such testimony is extremely risky.
When he invitedVanity Fairinto his home, he allegedly had much to hide.
It wasnt a deterrent.
He was already on the offensive.
