Court has now adjourned for the day, according to reporters in the room.

After the hours of testimony she has given today, we're expecting to hear more from Casandra Ventura on the stand again tomorrow.

Stay with us as we bring you today's final details from court.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Warning: This post and others below contain distressing details

Prosecutors are continuing to question Ventura about the details of every act that took place during the so-called freak-offs.

She tells the court of every event that usually took place, saying one "session" could last as long as three hours.

She spends much of her testimony explaining that she did not want to be participating in the "freak-offs."

"I just wanted it to be over," she says. Sometimes she would have "freak-offs" with several male escorts in one night, she tells the court.

"I hated it," she testifies. “I was an object being heavily objectified by men."

The court took a brief recess a few minutes ago, according to reporters in the room, on Ventura's request.

After about 10 minutes, the jury filed back in and Ventura returned to the stand.

Stick with us for more details from her testimony.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Warning: This post and others below contain distressing details.

As Ventura's testimony continues this afternoon, we are hearing more details about how the couple - she and Combs - hired escorts and organised the freak-offs.

Ventura tells the court they would pay the escorts $1,500 - $6,000 for their services.

The court is shown photos of six escorts that Ventura is asked to identify. She testifies that some of the men were flown to destinations to have sex with Ventura, getting at the prosecution's allegations of transporting people for the purpose of prostitution.

Ventura says she used drugs at "all" of the freak-offs - marijuana, ketamine, GHB - because it was "a way to not feel it for what it really was", she says: “Having sex with a stranger I don't really want to be having sex with."

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

After going into graphic detail about what she was expected to do at freak-offs, Ventura's testimony has moved to how she acquired the male escorts.

Combs tasked her with hiring them and approved each one, she said. He preferred they be black men.

She tells the court she was instructed to tell them that her husband was into voyeurism, and he wanted to see her with another man.

Several services were used to contract the escorts in different cities, including Craigslist, Backpage, and Cowboys for Angels. Cowboys for Angels has come up multiple times in both her and the escorts’ testimony, and she says it became her most frequently used across the US.

There are 12 jurors hearing the ongoing Diddy case in New York, here's what we know about some of them:

• A licensed massage therapist who has a family member who was a victim of domestic violence
• A 51-year-old veterinary with a Ph.D. in molecular biologist and neuroscience
• A 42-year-old who works at a nursing home
• A corrections department employee who says they will not have any bias towards law enforcement officials
• A retired 68-year-old who previously worked at a bank
• A physicians assistant who has on occasion worked with psychiatric patients

Image source, Jane Rosenberg

Cassie Ventura is back on the witness stand in the sex-trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

And we have another sketch from inside the courtroom to share with you, showing an emotional Ventura testifying in front of her former partner, Combs.

Stick with us, we will bring the latest details as they happen.

Cassie Ventura has been on the witness stand giving emotional and graphic testimony for most of the day. The court is now going to take a brief pause.

When we return, Ventura will be back on the stand again.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

After some emotional testimony from Ventura, who talked about how the freak-offs "humiliated" her, we now have a change in pace for her testimony.

Prosecutors are asking dozens of details about the freak-offs, asking Ventura to name the hotels they took place in (there are too many to name, she says) as well as the types of candles Combs wanted to use during the encounters.

Combs’ lawyers begin to object to the repetitive line of questioning, and the judge calls a side bar.

Throughout, prosecutors are trying to emphasise that Combs made all the calls for the freak-offs.

"I couldn’t say no," Ventura says at one point.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

Warning: This post and others below contain distressing details

Ventura is now taking the courtroom through her first few "freak-off" experiences.

In tears, she describes on the stand the fear and humiliation she says she experienced when Combs called the first escort to his home.

She then explains how she took ecstasy and got drunk beforehand. She also put on a masquerade mask, which she tells the court Combs instructed her to wear.

She was too high to feel much, Ventura tells the court, but does remember feeling "dirty and confused".

The freak-offs then became a weekly ritual, she says.

Ventura says she was worried if she declined to participate, Combs would become angry.

"His eyes would go black," she testifies, describing episodes of rage. "The version of him I was in love with was no longer there."

She started to feel like her only alone time with Combs was during these parties, Ventura says.

The prosecution asks her if there was anything she enjoyed about the freak-offs.

"The time spent with (Combs)," she answers.

She says she tried to tell him "gently" that "doing this made me feel horrible, it made me feel worthless". But he didn't care, she says.

Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty
Podcast host, Diddy on Trial

The BBC's Diddy on Trial podcast has followed every twist and turn in Diddy’s case since November 2024.

From bombshell balcony dangling allegations, to featuring in a Kanye West track behind bars, and Diddy accusing the federal government of racism - there have been headline-making moments every week... and that's before the trial even started.

Now we're bringing you all the updates straight from court in New York.

You can listen to the podcast on BBC Sounds or watch on our YouTube channel, external.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

As her testimony continues, the prosecution is now asking Cassie Ventura about Combs' guns, which she says he kept in safes at all of his houses, along with cash, jewellery and video tapes.

Ventura recalls an incident when one of Combs' security guards came into his LA home and told him rival music mogul Suge Knight was at a diner nearby.

She tells the court that Combs and the security guard dressed in black, covered their heads and faces, grabbed guns and left the house while Ventura cried and begged him not to do anything stupid.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

Back on the stand in her brown dress, and now also yellow sweater, we are still slowly walking through the details of Ventura’s old life.

She’s talking about all of the things Combs paid for - cars, houses, luxury trips - and the items he would take away to "punish" her - her phone, her laptop.

Prosecutors have begun to show the court photos of Combs’ employees - including several of his security guards, one of whom Ventura says would take away her things at Combs’ direction.

It appears the government is now trying to get into the racketeering element of its case - this involves the allegation that Combs used his loyal network of associates to run a criminal enterprise and cover up his alleged crimes.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

We’re back in court with Cassie Ventura on the stand once again.

On our way up through security, we got a look at Combs’ entourage of family and friends in court - more than a dozen people.

That includes his identical twin daughters, who were wearing matching white blazers and heels, as well as Combs’ mother and one of his sons. There were also other friends and supporters of the music mogul.

We now have the first court sketch featuring Casandra Ventura as she testifies for the prosecution in the sex-trafficking trial of Sean Combs.

The sketch shows the moment that Ventura, who is eight months pregnant, is sworn in by the court.

Image source, Jane Rosenberg / Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Before Ventura's testimony began earlier, reporters in the courtroom said the judge and lawyers for both sides spent several minutes conferring over whether the R&B singer's husband, Alex Fine, would be allowed to be in the courtroom during her testimony,

The defence argued that he should not be - they said they may call Fine as their own witness later. But the prosecution says he should be present as support for Ventura.

In the end, US media report that all parties agreed that Fine would be allowed be in the courtroom for part of Ventura's testimony, but not the portions which might be relevant to the defence's potential later questions.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from court

The short lunch break is now over, and Cassie Ventura will be taking the stand once again.

When we left off, prosecutors were having her walk through her long relations op with Combs, including some of the abuse she endured.

She also talked about the toll the so-called "freak-offs" took on her.

Warning: This post and others below contain distressing details

The federal court in New York is taking a lunch break. Here is what has happened in the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex-trafficking trial so far today:

• Daniel Phillip, a male stripper, finished his testimony, which he began yesterday. He was cross-examined by defence lawyers.
• He told the court about his encounters with Cassie Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, whom Phillip said the hip-hop mogul would pay Phillip to have sex with while he watched
• "I cannot say that", he told the court, when asked whether Ventura appeared to be in control complete of those situations
• Ventura then took the stand. She has been emotional in the witness box as she recounts her relationship with Combs, which she said "frequently" involved physical abuse
• Ventura, who is about eight months pregnant, told the court about the "freak-off" encounters, which she said Combs introduced her to. In them, Combs watched and recorded as she had sex with male escorts, Ventura told the court
• The R&B singer said that although she didn't want to participate, she did anyway because she loved Combs and was afraid of physical violence she could face if she declined

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

Warning: This post and others below contain distressing details

As she continued testifying, Ventura described her career stalling, saying the drugs and sex parties with Combs consumed her life at that time.

"The freak-offs became a job, where there was no space to do anything else but recover," she said.

She told the court the sessions could last anywhere from 36 hours to four days.

Court has adjourned for lunch. Ventura will continue her testimony when we resume in about 30 minutes.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from court

Warning: This post and others below contain distressing details

Before court recessed for lunch, Ventura testified about how Combs controlled every aspect of her life, from how she looked to what she did all day.

Assistants and security would get involved too, she tells the court, trying to contact her and find her when she was out of reach.

Combs also had access to several of her residences where he'd show up unannounced, Ventura said.