Sean Combs trial updates: 'Jane' testifies on 'hotel nights' with Combs

The cross-examination of Bryana Bongolan began with the jury seeing two text messages that she sent to her friend and Sean Combs ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that included photos of drugs.

Bongolan sent Ventura the photos about two weeks after she said Sean Combs threatened her.

"He came up really close to my face and said something on the lines like 'I'm the devil and I could kill you,'" Bongolan told the jury Wednesday regarding the incident.

"You were just continuing on dealing with Cassie, right?" defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland asked.

"Yes," Bongolan testified in response.

"You weren't too scared to do that?" Westmoreland followed up.

"I guess not," Bongolan testified.

The defense also sought to cast more doubt on Bongolan's claim that Combs held her over a balcony at Ventura's 17th-floor apartment in Los Angeles.

"You testified that Mr. Combs held you over the balcony?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yes, he hung me over the balcony," Bongolan testified.

"You said that Cassie Ventura witnessed this?" Westmoreland asked.

"I said I heard her voice," Bongolan told the court.

"You're not saying that Cassie Ventura saw this?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't know," Bongolan testified. "I can't speak for her."

Federal prosecutors contend that the alleged incident on the balcony is further evidence of what they say is Combs' coercion of Ventura, because it helped make her aware of what he was capable of.

Westmoreland also questioned Bongolan regarding her claim in her civil lawsuit that Combs allegedly groped her while lifting her over the balcony.

"When you spoke to the government, you told them he grabbed your breast, right?" Westmoreland asked.

"I told them where he placed his hands," Bongolan testified.

"You never told the government, never claimed that Mr. Combs grabbed your breast in any shape, form or fashion, did you?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't remember," Bongolan told the court in response.

"You kept repeating that lie about grabbing your breast," Westmoreland said. "You continued to accuse Mr. Combs of sexually assaulting you even though you knew that wasn't true."

Bongolan testified, "The way that you're asking the question, I don't agree with all of it."

"Ma'am, did you believe, did you believe, that the only way for you to file a lawsuit was to say that Mr. Combs sexually assaulted you?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't recall," Bongolan testified.

The alleged victim testifying under the pseudonym "Jane," a central figure in the government's second sex trafficking count against Sean Combs, is expected to tell the jury starting today that he allegedly used lies, drugs and threats to force her into participating in so-called "freak-off" sexual encounters.

According to prosecutors, "Jane" initially agreed to one "freak-off," thinking it would make Combs happy and help turn what began as a secret relationship with him into something more meaningful. Instead, she "spent years in hotel rooms for forced sex," according to prosecutor Emily Johnson.

"'Jane' will tell you about those nights in detail, how she wanted the escorts to wear condoms but many times the defendant did not let them. And Jane will tell you how he had her take drugs to stay awake and aroused for days," Johnson previously told the court.

"Jane's" testimony will follow that of Bryana Bongolan, whose cross-examination will continue when court resumes at 11 a.m. ET.

Bongolan, a friend of Cassie Ventura's, Combs' ex-girlfriend, testified Wednesday that Combs allegedly dangled her from Ventura's 17th floor balcony while yelling, "You know what the f--- you did."

Combs, who denies the allegation, shook his head during Bongolan's testimony.

During their cross-examination Wednesday, the defense asserted that Bongolan's testimony differed from how she described the alleged incident in a 2024 civil lawsuit that seeks $10 million in damages.

Bongolan on Wednesday also testified during cross-examination that Rob Holladay, a music producer close to Combs, called her on behalf of Combs to discuss a settlement. During a sidebar, prosecutors said Holladay offered Bongolan $1 million not to go public with her claim.

On cross-examination, a defense attorney sought to cast doubt on Bryana Bongolan's account of Sean Combs allegedly bursting into ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura's home and throwing a knife at her.

Bongolan testified during cross-examination that she didn't know how it happened, but she testified, "I just saw what I saw."

In answer to defense questions, Bongolan couldn't explain where Combs allegedly found the knife and when he picked it up, nor where exactly in the apartment the alleged incident occurred.

"So you really don't remember this incident, true?" defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland said.

"I just saw the knife get thrown and the knife get thrown back," Bongolan testified.

"You didn't call the police?" Westmoreland asked.

"Nope," Bongolan testified.

"You didn't leave the house?" Westmoreland asked.

"He left," Bongolan told the court, referring to Combs.

"You testified that Mr. Combs would just come over and he would get in the house, but you don't know how?" the defense attorney asked.

"Yeah," Bongolan testified.

In her relentless cross, Westmoreland also pointed out what she contended were inconsistencies in the way Bongolan testified about the balcony incident, the way she spoke about it to federal prosecutors in advance of trial, and the way it's portrayed in her civil lawsuit.

"Today you testified that you were sleeping and that Combs came over?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yes," Bongolan testified.

"Isn't it true that in your first interview you told the government this was a party, not that you were sleeping?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't remember," Bongolan told the court.

Asked to recall where she was on the balcony, Bongolan testified, "I was looking at the view."

Westmoreland asked, "Do you recall telling the government in your first interview that you were looking at him and saw Mr. Combs charging across the room?" Bongolan testified that she didn't remember.

Bongolan's civil lawsuit accuses Combs of groping her breast. "You didn't tell the government Mr. Combs tried to grope you?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't remember," Bongolan testified.

"Isn't it true that just two days ago you just don't recall the details of the balcony allegation?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't remember," Bongolan again testified.

"What drugs were you on that night?" Westmoreland asked.

"I don't remember," Bongolan told the court in response.

At one point, as the clock ticked well past 3 p.m., the usual time court has adjourned, Judge Subramanian intervened, asking, "Ms. Westmoreland, how much do you have left?"

She responded, "It's going to be a while."

Court is now adjourned for the day and convenes Thursday at 11 a.m.

Eyewitness News team, and ABC News legal analyst Channa Lloyd dig deeper into everything that happened in court on Wednesday.

A month before she filed her civil lawsuit against Sean Combs, according to Bryana Bongolan's testimony, she received a FaceTime call from music producer Rob Holladay from what she told the jury "looked like Puff's backyard."

She testified that Holladay, whom she considered a friend, told her he was calling on behalf of Combs. "He was trying to talk about settling with me," Bongolan told the court.

"When was the next time you spoke to Rob Holladay?" prosecutor Madison Smyser said.

"We never talked again," Bongolan testified in response.

Bongolan filed a civil complaint against Combs about the alleged incident in November 2024, seeking $10 million in damages. "I wanted to seek justice for what happened to me," she testified. Combs has denied the incident occurred.

On cross-examination, Bongolan testified that she and Cassie Ventura had a drug problem.

Under questioning from defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland, Bongolan testified that she and Ventura would use marijuana, edibles, cocaine, ketamine, ecstasy, molly, GHB, acid, Vicodin and "coco puffs." "It's when you take a blunt, open it, put weed in there, sprinkle cocaine in there," Bongolan explained of the latter.

Bongolan told the court that she would also sell drugs to Ventura while the two of them worked on a t-shirt line and other clothing. The clothing lines launched but, Bongolan testified, they did not work out.

"They didn't work out because you and Cassie were competing against people like Beyoncé?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yeah," Bongolan testified.

"And you were competing against people like Rhianna?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yes," Bongolan testified.

Westmoreland also asked several questions that appeared to imply Bongolan and Ventura coordinated their accounts of the alleged balcony incident.

"You and Cassie discussed locations where this happened, true?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yes," Bongolan told the court.

"You and Cassie were discussing potential dates?" Westmoreland asked.

"Yes," Bongolan testified.

Ventura told the jury that she did not see Bongolan being dangled from the balcony but did see Combs allegedly pull her back from the rail and throw her into furniture.