Judge Arun Subramanian removed juror 6, citing deceptive answers and risk to trial integrity

A juror has been dismissed from the ongoing sex-trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs after inconsistencies emerged over where the man lived — prompting the presiding judge to question his honesty and remove him from the panel after five weeks of evidence.

Juror 6, identified as a Black male, was excused by Judge Arun Subramanian on Monday morning, despite objections from Combs’s defence lawyers, who argued the move would diminish the jury’s racial diversity. The judge, however, firmly rejected that reasoning, saying, “The court should not, indeed cannot, let race factor into the decision of what happens.”

Concerns about the juror’s truthfulness surfaced late last week, when it was revealed he had given contradictory information about whether he lived in New York or across the state line in New Jersey. A review of his jury selection responses and later statements revealed “clear inconsistencies,” Judge Subramanian said.

“This could indicate he potentially had an agenda, that he wanted to be on the panel hearing the Combs trial for a purpose,” the judge added, saying there was nothing the juror could say now to “put the genie back in the bottle.”

As a result, the juror was replaced by an alternate — a white male — ahead of the day’s proceedings.

The trial resumed with testimony from paralegal Ananya Sankar and a special agent, both acting as summary witnesses. Their job is to provide a broader overview of the case by connecting phone records, texts, and evidence already submitted in court.

Among the messages discussed was one from 2016, in which Combs’s then-chief of staff Kristina Khorram allegedly instructed an assistant to prepare a hotel room with Gatorade, water, chicken noodle soup — and to hand $4,000 in cash to a male escort.

Texts also referenced so-called “freak offs,” or forced group sex encounters, which two of Combs’s former partners — singer Cassie Ventura and another alleged victim referred to as “Jane” — say he coerced them into. Ventura dated Combs from 2007 to 2018, while Jane was in an on-and-off relationship with him from 2021 until his 2024 arrest.

Despite a complex picture of Combs’s private life emerging in court, the hip-hop mogul denies all charges, including racketeering conspiracy and multiple counts of sex trafficking. His lawyers insist the relationships were consensual and described Combs as “a complicated man,” while conceding that some jurors might disapprove of his “kinky sex” lifestyle.

As week six of the trial unfolds, Judge Subramanian’s decision underscores growing concerns about jury integrity in one of the most high-profile celebrity trials in recent years