By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A former personal assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs gave a glimpse into the hip-hop promoter’s world when he worked for him nearly two decades ago, testifying at the hip-hop promotor’s sex trafficking trial about his former boss’ use of guns, lie detector tests and drugs.

David James’ testimony came in the second week of a trial in Manhattan federal court that is scheduled to last up to two months. If convicted of the charges he faces, including racketeering, the Bad Boy Records founder could be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.

James was one of several former Combs employees expected to testify, as prosecutors try to prove that Combs for two decades used threats and violence to control employees and associates and commit crimes.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he used threats and his powerful position in the hip-hop world to abuse women and others and subject Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, his decade-long girlfriend, to take part in drug-fueled sexual performances with other men that she said left her too drained to pursue her singing career.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, right, blows kisses to people in the audience during his sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court, Monday, May 19, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

James, a personal assistant for Combs from 2007 to 2009, testified about a job that seemed to come with increasing perils until he realized his life was in danger and quit, with notice, after he was forced to drive a car in which an angry Combs sat in the back seat with three handguns on his lap.

He said his job sometimes required him to ensure that hotel rooms where Combs stayed under the name “Frank Black” were stocked with what he needed for comfort, including fresh underwear, an iPod, apple sauce, vodka, baby oil, Viagra and condoms.

There were also surprising moments, James said, like one in 2008 when Combs asked him to bring an iPod from his Miami home to a hotel room. Upon entering, James said he saw Cassie on the bed with a white comforter pulled up to her neck and an unfamiliar naked man wearing a condom running from the room.

Cassie Ventura, right, walks out of the courtroom past Sean Diddy Combs after testifying in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Another time, he said Combs summoned him to his office to show him video he’d recorded at a party of James dancing wildly and told him: “Ok. I’m going to keep this footage in case I ever need it.” James said he took it as a threat to keep him in line.

Cassie testified last week that Combs threatened to release videos of her having sex with male sex workers during the so-called freak-offs if she didn’t do as he said.

James also described being required to take lie detector tests twice when Combs was trying to find out who stole cash in one instance and a watch in another.

He said Combs was on drugs nearly every day, often taking Percocet by day and ecstasy by night. When he stocked Combs’ hotel rooms, he said, drugs were in a bag dropped off by security, including the pill meant to look like then-President Barack Obama.

Related Articles

Pets with a toolkit: Protection dogs train to handle burglars as sports stars boost home security

‘Dried out prune’? ‘Corrupt’ and ‘incompetent’? It’s getting nasty between Springsteen and Trump

Honda pulls back on EV strategy for now and will push hybrid sales

Home Depot says it doesn’t expect to boost prices because of tariffs

Maintenance worker says inmate threatened to shank him if he didn’t assist in New Orleans jail break

James testified that he was also involved in Combs’ attempt to confront his music industry rival Suge Knight at a Los Angeles diner in November 2008 — an incident that Cassie also testified about.

James said he was with Combs’ bodyguard picking up food for Combs and his security staff at around 4 a.m. when the bodyguard spotted Knight and saw someone passing a gun to him.

They fled the diner and went back to Combs’ home, about 10 minutes away, James testified. Combs, itching to go to the diner, was outside the house arguing with Cassie, who didn’t want him to leave, James said.

James told jurors that Combs then ordered him to drive them — Combs and the bodyguard known as D-Roc — to the diner. James said he looked back at one point and saw Combs in the backseat with three handguns on his lap.

When they got to the diner, he said, Knight and his entourage were gone. Combs told him to drive around the block, but Knight was nowhere to be found, so they drove back to Combs’ home, James said.

“I was real shook up by it,” James testified. “This was the first time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that I realized my life was in danger.”

By COREY WILLIAMS

DETROIT (AP) — As a fan, Shaun Horne is all about Detroit’s professional sports teams. But when it comes to playing, the high school junior has his eyes on one game.

Related Articles

Loons vs. St. Louis City: Keys to match, updates and a prediction

Twins, Guardians game suspended; to be resumed on Tuesday, weather permitting

Kody Clemens makes most of opportunity with Twins

Frederick: We’ve always known Timberwolves and Thunder were ‘Next.’ But which one is now?

Hughes-Heise battle could determine Frost’s fate in PWHL Finals

“I only play golf,” Horne said after taking his turn on a simulator inside a gym on Detroit’s westside.

Embracing golf makes the 16-year-old a rarity among his Detroit peers — particularly Black high schoolers.

Coaches and community groups in the city are taking ambitious steps to spread the game’s popularity among students — noting that only about 50 of more than 14,000 high school students in Detroit’s school district play golf on school teams.

In Detroit, the biggest challenge is exposing Black youth to the game, said Jesse Hawkins, who is Black and coaches Horne’s team at Renaissance High School. Backing from local corporations and nonprofits, providing access to equipment and even college scholarships is helping.

“When you go into high schools and you go into elementary schools often times we’ll hear narratives around basketball players, football games, those things,” Hawkins said. “And golf is really not as propagated as much for our community.”

Who’s playing?

In Detroit, advocates of increasing play among Black young people have partnered with some of the city’s largest businesses and community organizations. At least two nonprofits offer programs that teach kids how to play golf.

The Rocket Classic has steered nearly $10 million from the annual PGA event held in Detroit to local charitable organizations. Of that, $800,000 has been given to programs that teach kids how to play the game. One program provides access to college scholarships to high school seniors, while upward of 700 children and teens take part each year in programs put on by First Tee of Greater Detroit.

“Golf is the why we get them there, but while we have them there we’re teaching them life skills,” said Carl Bentley, chief executive of First Tee of Greater Detroit, which has donated a golf simulator to the school district. “Learning how to say ‘yes sir, yes ma’am’ — shake a hand properly, how to start a conversation. We’re teaching them life skills and then we get to putting and swinging and things like that.”

Among the 28.1 million Americans who played golf on a course in 2024, about 25% were Black, Asian or Hispanic, according to the National Golf Foundation. Interest is wider when considering those who played or followed professional golf coverage on TV, in writing or via podcasts.

But Hawkins said his experience as a coach suggests Black high schoolers aren’t among that audience.

“You don’t hear kids talking about the latest golf shoes or the cool golf apparel,” Hawkins said. “You’re not necessarily going to get a badge of honor walking into your high school and you’ve got the newest golf shirt.”

Lack of money is a barrier

Golf and equipment can be pricey, sometimes too pricey for families struggling just to make ends meet.

Detroit, which is just under 80% Black, had a median income of about $39,500 in 2023 compared to $69,100 statewide, according to the census. The city’s poverty level was about 32%. Statewide, that figure was about 13.5%.

A set of good golf clubs can cost a few hundred dollars or more. It’s $28 for juniors to play 18 holes and use a cart weekdays at the two public golf courses in Detroit.

The PGA brought its first event to Detroit in 2019, and city native Dan Gilbert’s Rocket Companies has been its sponsor. The company works with partners to bring the game to Detroit’s youth and cover some of the costs, said Trina Scott, vice president of Civic and Community Affairs at Detroit-based Rock, which is Gilbert’s family office.

“How do we attract Black and brown youth into seeing (golf) as a possibility?” said Scott. “One way of doing that is by making it accessible (and) also eliminating the barriers — being able to have the right clothing to go on a golf course, being able to have the clubs that you need, being able to have the skillset to be confident on the course.”

From the gridiron to the golf course

Mike Schuchard has about a dozen players on his Detroit Cass Tech golf team. That’s about double the number from last season, but only two are considered “varsity level.”

That’s not enough to compete against some suburban schools with strong golf programs.

The first-year golf coach says he’s trying to recruit students who are already interested in others sports.

“These schools are loaded with great athletes, but they just haven’t been introduced to this game, yet,” Schuchard said.

Ahmari Flowers, the senior captain on Cass Tech’s golf team, agrees. He started playing the sport after his freshman year.

“I’m an athletic guy and golf like came easy to me,” said Flowers, 17. “For an athletic person, it’s still a sport, a lot of body movement and all you got to do is control that athleticism and use it to your advantage.”

By HILLEL ITALIE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Former FBI director James Comey says that he’s still a bit bewildered over how a seemingly innocent Instagram shot of shells arranged in the sand led to allegations by Donald Trump among others that he was calling for the president’s assassination and to an interview with the Secret Service.

“It’s been a bit of a distraction, honestly,” Comey said with a weary laugh Monday night during an appearance at a Barnes & Noble on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Comey was promoting “FDR Drive,” a crime novel coming out this week. One of the book’s themes, ironically, is weighing the potential of speech to incite others to violence.

Related Articles

‘Dried out prune’? ‘Corrupt’ and ‘incompetent’? It’s getting nasty between Springsteen and Trump

Trump expected to announce ‘Golden Dome’ space missile defenses that will cost billions

More tornadoes and fewer meteorologists make for a dangerous mix that’s worrying US officials

Elon Musk says he will cut back on political spending after heavily backing Trump in 2024

Trump officials set new requirements for COVID vaccines in healthy adults and children

Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017 amid an FBI investigation into potential ties between Russia and Trump’s first presidential campaign, explained Monday that he and his wife, Patrice, had been returning from a walk on the beach last Thursday when they came upon some shells organized in a way that resembled numbers, including “86.”

They speculated over whether it was a home address, or a political message. His wife noted that “86” in some restaurants means they had run out of an ingredient. Comey remembered it was slang for saying something was boring and should be “ditched.”

“And she said, ‘You should take a picture of it.’ So I took a picture of it, and then we walk home and she said, ‘You should really put that on Instagram. It’s kind of a cool thing.’ I said, ‘You’re right. It’s a cool thing,’” he explained.

To many viewers, the numbers seemed to spell out 86 and 47. Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” It notes: “Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ’to kill.’”

Trump is the country’s 47th president.

“Some hours later she (Patrice) said to me, ‘You know, people on the internet are saying you’re calling for the assassination of Donald Trump,” Comey explained. “And I said, ’Well, if they’re saying that, I’m taking it down because I don’t want any part of violence.’”

Comey quickly pulled the image, but it had already reached the attention of Trump and other administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel. Trump himself, interviewed on Friday on Fox News, said that Comey “knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant. If you’re the FBI director and you don’t know what that meant, that meant assassination. And it says it loud and clear.”

Comey confirmed Monday that he received a call from the Secret Service later Thursday, spoke to them on the phone and agreed to meet with them in person.

“And so they gave me a ride to their headquarters, the Washington field office interviewed me,” he said. “It seems like a year ago, but it was Friday, right? I told them what I just told you. And so I, it seems like a thing that I don’t fully understand and maybe it’ll go away now.”

Comey has written several books since Trump fired him, including the million-selling memoir “A Higher Loyalty.” More recently, he has taken up fiction, his previous novels including “Central Park Drive” and “Westport.”

By KEN MAGUIRE

EMBOROUGH, England (AP) — Scream all you want, but Lobo isn’t letting go.

Related Articles

With little progress after phone calls and talks, Ukraine’s allies hit Russia with new sanctions

Iran’s supreme leader rejects US stance on uranium enrichment

Today in History: May 20, United States detonates first hydrogen bomb

After US cuts funding, WHO chief defends $2.1B budget request by comparing it with cost of war

Radio calls asked tugs for help 45 seconds before Mexican ship hit Brooklyn Bridge, officials say

The young German shepherd has chomped into the arm of a would-be attacker wearing a padded suit at K9 Protector in southwest England.

A command later, Lobo is back at the feet of Alaster Bly and awaiting his next instruction.

“I describe them as pets with a toolkit built into them. A toolkit that you hope you’re never going to use,” said Bly, K9 Protector co-owner.

Expensive protection dogs like Lobo have been in demand among professional athletes to guard against burglars who target wealthy homes often as part of sophisticated crime rings. Athletes are particularly vulnerable while they’re away at games.

“He will end up in somebody’s home with high-net worth that is potentially at risk from more than your opportunist burglar,” Bly said of Lobo, who costs $60,000 and boasts a Bavarian bloodline that is “second to none.”

The lengthy list of athletes whose residences have been hit includes Premier League stars Jack Grealish and Alexander Isak. England cricket captain Ben Stokes’ home was burglarized while he was playing in Pakistan.

It’s becoming a major problem in the United States, too, with former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman a recent example.

The homes of Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were burglarized in October as part of a wave of break-ins that also targeted Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Seven Chilean men were charged in connection with those burglaries, as well as the break-in at Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis’ home, where nearly $1.5 million in cash and valuables were stolen.

After consulting the FBI, the NBA drew up guidance for players.

One of the recommendations: “Utilize dogs for home protection.”

German Shepherd family protection dog Lobo attacks a pretend criminal during a training session at the Strapestone Kennels in Radstock, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Which breed is best?

While almost any dog can provide some deterrence, protection-dog providers offer breeds like German shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Rottweiler, Doberman and Cane Corso.

Bly and his wife, K9 Protector co-owner Sian Bly, work predominantly with German shepherds.

“They are the most proven dogs at being family dogs,” Alaster Bly said.

They begin to differentiate early on which pups show potential.

“If we’ve got a puppy that’s really confident, is chasing a rag, biting hold of the rag, and their food drive is high, that’s a good starting point,” Sian Bly said. “We look at how competitive they are with their siblings, as well. You’re looking for quite a strong dog.”

Dogs that don’t make the cut might get routed to prison service or police duty.

“You can’t place a dog with young kids that’s nervous or that the temperament isn’t 100%,” she said.

Protection dogs are expensive

The handful of K9 Protector dogs that reach “high-threat environment” status cost up to $100,000.

It can take a couple of years to train for all sorts of scenarios.

“It’s vast — the ability to deal with four intruders at once, vehicle carjacking tactics, being acceptant of multi-handlers,” Alaster Bly said. “Husband, wife, nanny, housekeeper, estate manager all being able to handle that dog in an equal way in a threat scenario, and the dog still responding in the same way — is very different to a pet-level-trained dog with protection training.”

Clients must be a good match, though.

Sian Bly said if they think a buyer “might use the dog in the wrong way, then we don’t sell them the dog. It doesn’t matter about the finances.”

German Shepherd family protection dog Lobo listens to owner Alaster Bly at the Strapestone Kennels in Radstock, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Between 10-15% of their clients are professional athletes and they typically require nondisclosure agreements, as do the actors and singers who come calling.

They sell about two or three dogs per month. When the economy is bad and crime increases — demand is higher. Winter months see more sales and the pandemic period of 2020-21 was “the busiest we’ve ever been,” Sian Bly said.

UFC fighter Aspinall picks a German shepherd

UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall added a protection dog to his family after moving to a new house. The Manchester native posted a video about it.

“I’m not here all the time. I just wanted someone else kind of looking after the family, as well as me, even when I’m here,” Aspinall said of his German shepherd.

U.S. soccer midfielder Tyler Adams opted for a Rottweiler from Total K9, the North Yorkshire company that provided Aspinall’s dog.

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison got a 145-pound Cane Corso from Leicestershire-based Chaperone K9, which also counts Grealish as a client.

Grealish’s mansion was burglarized just after Christmas in 2023 while the Manchester City midfielder was playing a game at Everton. Family members called police when they heard noises and after Grealish’s Belgian Malinois and Cockapoo reportedly started barking.

German Shepherd family protection dog Lobo awaits commands at the Strapestone Kennels in Radstock, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Grealish later called it “a traumatic experience for all of us, I am just so grateful that nobody was hurt.”

Tips for home security

The NBA memo urged removing online real estate listings that show interiors.

Some stars post their protection dogs on social media along with the pets’ names — but they probably shouldn’t.

“There is nothing more off-putting to a dog than being called by its own name when you’re breaking into the home,” Alaster Bly said.

The Blys use German commands, which buyers must learn.

On K9 Protector’s website, former long-distance runner Mo Farah, a four-time Olympic champion, described turning to a protection dog after his home was burglarized despite an alarm system, video coverage and 24-hour security patrols.

Intruders at Burrow’s house eluded manned security at his property while he was playing a Monday Night Football game at Dallas in December. The criminal complaint on the Chilean crew said they liked to approach from “a wooded or dark area.”

Knowing the rules

Under the UK’s “Guard Dogs Act,” someone capable of controlling a guard dog must be at the premises, and a notice must be posted at the entrance about the dog.

Technically, there are scenarios that could result in criminal prosecution of dog owners in Britain — even in burglaries.

German Shepherd family protection dog Lobo rests at the Strapestone Kennels in Radstock, England, Wednesday, March 5, 2025 .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

The National Association of Security Dog Users “does not promote the use of dogs as personal/family protection dogs and issues no certification or training courses in relation to this type of dog,” said Roger Flett, a NASDU director.

Samantha Gaines of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals warned against the “glamorization” of painful ear-cropping on breeds like Doberman and Cane Corso. The procedure is prohibited in England and Wales, but it’s legal to import them that way.

UK burglaries are decreasing

It’s unknown if break-ins at wealthy homes are increasing, but statistics for England and Wales show residential burglaries overall are decreasing.

From the year ending March 2018 to the year ending September 2024, there was a 42% drop, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Just a small percentage of burglaries get solved, however. Only in late 2022 did police chiefs commit to responding to all break-ins.

Alaster Bly, a former police officer, said it’s not just about burglaries. A CEO of a company might be facing a threat, or a person might be dealing with a stalker.

“There are life-changing incidents that take place regularly,” he said. “The array of problems and crime that’s going on in the UK at the moment keeps us busy.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer