Sean Combs trial updates: Court adjourned until Tuesday after Kid Cudi testimony

The jury was shown assault-style rifles with defaced serial numbers that were discovered on a shelf inside the main bedroom of Sean Combs' Miami Beach home, according to a federal agent.

The jury also was shown various gun parts. These included a BCM-brand upper receiver rifle part, which the agent testified was discovered wrapped in a towel, along with a red-dot optic, or sighting mechanism. A second upper receiver, make unknown, with an iron sight was found wrapped in the same towel, according to the agent. Also discovered Inside of a box were two lower receivers and magazines, the federal agent testified.

Upper receivers contain the assault-style rifle barrel, ejection port and sights, the jury was told, while the lower receivers contain the trigger, pistol grip, the magazine well and the rifle stock. The jury was shown how the serial numbers on both firearms were defaced.

Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerard Gannon cut open the evidence bags containing the actual items and held them for the jury to inspect.

"Could these lower receivers be connected to the upper receivers we were just looking at?" prosecutor Madison Smyser asked.

"Yes, they could," Gannon responded.

The search of Combs' Miami home took an unusually large contingent of 80 to 90 agents "due to the size of the property and the security measures on the property," testified Gannon, who led the search.

The 20,000-square-foot home at 2 Star Island is surrounded by walls and a gate in front, the jury was told, and features a main residence and a smaller guest house. Combs also owns the adjacent property, 1 Star Island, Gannon testified, but said federal agents did not search it.

Combs' Los Angeles and Miami homes were raided by federal agents in March 2024, according to authorities.

The jury saw a photo of the mangled front gate at the Miami property that Homeland Security Investigations used a special vehicle to break through, which Gannon described as "standard practice when conducting a search warrant." The jury was also shown an image of the waterfront dock and pool.

Darla Miles reports on the testimony the jury heard Tuesday.

On cross-examination, Hayes testified regarding a book he wrote about erectile dysfunction entitled "In Search of Freezer Meat" -- so titled, he said, because "what's harder than freezer meat?" The remarked prompted a smattering of laughter in the courtroom.

Hayes testified that his book mentions his sexual encounters with Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura but does not name them, describing them instead as a "married, wealthy couple."

Hayes also testified that he has danced semi-nude or clad in in a G-string for "hundreds of thousands of ladies" during a 30-year career as an exotic dancer, performances that sometimes included what he described as a "professional dry hump." Hayes told the court that he began his career as an exotic dancer on Labor Day 1995 and noted that he has a "big anniversary" coming up.

"When you're dry-humping all these ladies it's a job, it's not personal, right?" defense attorney Xavier Donaldson asked.

"Yes," Hayes responded.

"You began to have feelings for Cassie, correct?" Donaldson asked.

"That is incorrect," Hayes answered. Instead, he testified, he "felt special" because Ventura had selected him from among the male dancers available for the encounters.

"Most of what I do is more fun," Hayes testified. "I'm not trying to turn anybody on. This was very sexually natured," he told the court, referring to the alleged sexual encounters with Ventura and Combs. "So, it was different from my exotic dancing performances."

Hayes testified that part of his job was to understand how his clients felt during his performances. He told the court that he believed Ventura was comfortable with the sexual encounters between them.

"I didn't get any cues there was any discomfort there," Hayes testified.

"Because if you had gotten cues, you wouldn't have done that, correct?" Donaldson asked.

"That is correct," Hayes responded.

Federal prosecutors contend that Ventura was coerced into the so-called sexual "freak offs" under the alleged threat of violence or reputational harm from Combs.

"When you were performing oral sex on Cassie it appeared to you that she was enjoying herself, correct?" Donaldson asked.

"Yes," Hayes replied.

After Sharay Hayes told the defense about one alleged "steamy" encounter with Cassie Ventura during which it appeared to him that she was "having a good time," he told prosecutors on re-direct that her focus during the alleged session remained on Sean Combs.

"At other times you saw her wince?" prosecutor Meredith Foster asked.

"Yes," Hayes answered. "At some of the directions."

"And she would sigh?" Foster asked.

"Yes," Hayes said. "There was a consistent awareness to Mr. Combs' direction and his perception and desires during the moment."

Hayes' testimony is now complete. The next witness is a federal agent. The jury also is expected to be shown some additional physical evidence.

During each of the eight to 12 times Sharay Hayes claimed he was hired by Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura to "create a sexy scene," he testified that they went through a "considerable amount" of baby oil.

"It was preferred to keep our bodies covered. I guess the look of it, to shine, or whatever," Hayes told the court. "It was implied, and known by me, to keep the bodies covered in baby oil."

Hayes testified that each encounter began the same way. "It was to create a sexy scene but I understood it could escalate to more sexual activity whether it was oral sex or penetrative sex," he told the court. "It appeared to me at some point that this appeared like a fetish thing."

According to Hayes' testimony, the rooms in which the alleged encounters took place were dimly lit and included candles. Sometimes music would play in the background and the furniture was always covered in sheets, he told the court. Combs would eventually enter the room, "sit in the distance, give subtle directions to Ms. Ventura -- angles, lighting, positions and sometime sexual activity," Hayes testified.

"Some of the directions at times were very specific in terms of 'move the candle, move the candle again, position your body, position your body again,'" Hayes testified.

Hayes told the court that at some point during the encounter, Combs would instruct him to finish. "Finishing is me having an orgasm," Hayes testified, adding that during those times, Combs would allegedly provide specific instructions in that regard.

Hayes told the court that he was paid either $1,200 or $2,000 for each alleged sexual encounter.

According to Hayes' testimony, Combs normally kept his distance during the encounters but he told the court about one occasion when Combs allegedly approached and threw some condoms at him.

"He presented the condoms and said, 'I'm ready to see you f--- her,'" Hayes testified, adding that in that instance, he could not perform. He told the court that was his last sexual encounter with Combs and Ventura.

"Me personally, a sexual scenario with a woman's partner present giving directions was not the norm for me," Hayes testified, adding that there were times that he would use Cialis, Viagra and other erectile dysfunction substances: "anything that could help me perform. It was a lot of pressure."

Sharay Hayes, who was known professionally as "The Punisher," a nickname he said he was given on the West 4th Street basketball court, testified that he came to know Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura in late 2012 after he was hired "to create like a sexy scene, sexy erotic scene for them on occasion."

Hayes testified that he advertised on a website and his phone number was on the website. He told the court that a woman who went by Janet called "stating it was her birthday, and her husband said she could hire a dancer."

Hayes testified that he was instructed to go to Trump Tower on Central Park West to perform a striptease. When he arrived, he testified that Ventura greeted him in a bathrobe with "nothing on underneath" and explained "that she didn't want me to actually dance."

Instead, Hayes testified that the woman he still knew as Janet said she and her husband "liked to create a sexy scene" that included the application of baby oil while her husband watched. She allegedly handed him a stack of money that he counted in the bathroom totalling $800.

"I was specifically told to not acknowledge her husband. Try not to look at him. No communication between me and him," Hayes testified. He told the court that he did not recognize the man Ventura referred to has her husband but came to learn in subsequent encounters that it was Combs.

"The room was dimly lit, maybe electronic candles," Hayes testified. "All of the furniture was covered in sheets and there was an area pretty much for me to sit and for her to sit across from me. There were bowls of water and bottles of baby oil."

During the encounter, Hayes testified that a man entered the hotel suite.

"The man was nude but I could not see his face," Hayes testified. "So it was a nude male with a veil on. What I saw was a bottle of Astroglide he was carrying." He told the court that he used the product himself and recognized the purple cap.

"There was a table and chair so he sat behind the table and chair," Hayes recalled in his testimony. "I noticed that at times he was masturbating."

Hayes testified that Combs spoke to Ventura during the 25-45 minute episode. "It was mostly subtle directions. Move the light to the side. Move her body a certain way," Hayes testified.

"At some point the man stood up and left the room. Ms. Ventura followed him out. I sat there waiting on the couch," Hayes told the court.

When Ventura re-entered the room, "She asked me if I wanted to finish. I declined. I said I was good, as long as they were happy I was happy. She said that's what we wanted, and I was handed additional money." It was an additional $1,200, according to Hayes' testimony.

Hayes told the court that the couple called him another eight to 12 times.

The court is now on lunch.