New York (AFP) – US rapper Kanye West showed up at a Manhattan federal courthouse Friday to support music mogul Sean Combs, who is on trial for alleged sex trafficking and racketeering. West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, never entered the courtroom; he briefly watched the proceedings in an adjacent room on closed-circuit video with one of Combs’s sons and then left.
When asked by broadcaster ABC whether he was there to support Combs, the 48-year-old West nodded and replied: “Yes.” His brief appearance came one day after a former girlfriend of Combs wrapped up her testimony. The woman, speaking under the pseudonym Jane, delivered emotional, graphic details about how he allegedly pressured her into drug-fueled sex sessions with escorts. Her description closely tracked with the testimony of a previous star witness, Combs’s longtime girlfriend Casandra Ventura, who said the encounters were called “freak-offs.”
In her testimony, Jane described traveling to Las Vegas last year on a well-known rapper’s private plane, and that she had recommended a male escort to that rapper and his girlfriend. For nearly a month, jurors in the Manhattan court have heard a series of witnesses describing the influence the 55-year-old Combs exerted over staff and ex-girlfriends.
Combs faces life in prison if convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking. The music mogul has pled not guilty to the charges against him, with his lawyers arguing that what prosecutors deem to be sex trafficking was in fact consensual. The trial is expected to continue at least through June.
© 2024 AFP
