Former SU basketball player bought drugs, set up parties for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
No. 12 Brendan Paul, former SU basketball player and assistant to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, testified on trial he set up parties and bought drugs for the disgraced musician. Paul is protected from the prosecution by an immunity deal with the government. Jordan Phelps | Daily Orange File Photo
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Editor’s note: This article contains mentions of sexual assault.
Brendan Paul, a former Syracuse University men’s basketball walk-on and personal assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs, denied accusations of being Combs’ “drug mule,” in the federal trial Friday, The New York Times reported.
In his Friday testimony, Paul highlighted his duties as Combs’ assistant, which he said began to go beyond standard responsibilities, including buying drugs and setting up hotel rooms for his drug-fueled parties.
Prosecutors allege the parties involved Combs directing drug-fueled, dayslong “sex marathons” between his girlfriends and male escorts, during which he watched.
Paul’s testimony marked one of the final stages in a case that has revealed a pattern of coercion, drug abuse and alleged criminal activity inside Combs’s inner circle.
In court, Paul said he was regularly instructed to purchase substances including marijuana, cocaine, ketamine and Xanax. Some drugs were stored in a Gucci bag used by Combs, which aides began referring to as “personal Gucci items,” the Times reported.
Paul, who was arrested in March 2024 after federal raids on Combs’s properties, testified under an immunity deal with the government that shields him from prosecution, the Times reported. On the witness stand, he confirmed that he regularly procured drugs and prepared hotel rooms for what he described as “wild king nights.”
While Paul played only two seasons at SU as a walk-on guard, his brief college basketball career has gained national attention since he was named in the trial.
After graduating from Fairmont State University, Paul was hired in 2022 to assist Combs with daily logistics, but he said the role quickly evolved. According to his testimony, another employee told him the job would become all-consuming and involve tasks well beyond traditional assistant duties.
Instead, he was tasked with handling illicit drugs, stocking hotel suites with various intimate items and executing other orders from Combs or his senior staff.
“He used to say that he wants us to move like SEAL Team 6,” Paul said, referencing the unit known for killing al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Paul’s March 2024 arrest took place at a Florida airport. At the time, he was carrying 0.7 grams of cocaine that he had found in Combs’s room earlier that day, the Times reported. When asked in court why he didn’t tell law enforcement the drugs weren’t his, Paul said, “Loyalty.”
Paul confirmed that he helped set up hotel rooms with various items, including baby oil, lubricant, special lighting and liquor. He said he coordinated these setups several times and followed a shared checklist of supplies that circulated among staff via a notes app, the Times reported.
The initial civil lawsuit against Combs named Paul 19 times, accusing him of aiding and abetting Combs’s trafficking operation. The suit also alleged Paul paid sex workers in cash and benefited himself financially.
His drug charges were dropped last year after completing a court-mandated intervention program. But Paul’s name continues to show up prominently in legal documents. In a lawsuit filed by a music producer, he was described as Combs’s “drug mule,” an accusation Paul firmly denied on the stand.
Prosecutors are working to prove that Combs ran a racketeering operation that trafficked women, including ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura and another woman known only as Jane, into repeated sexual encounters with male escorts.
Ventura previously testified that she was coerced into these encounters and later blackmailed with video recordings. Jane told jurors that she used drugs like ecstasy to numb herself before the events.
Despite the serious allegations, Paul testified that he never believed he was involved in anything criminal, the Times said.
Paul is the only member of Combs’s entourage known to have been arrested in connection with the federal investigation. Three former assistants, including Paul, testified under immunity orders from the government.
The prosecution wrapped its case Friday with its 34th witness.
Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges, including racketeering, sex trafficking and transporting individuals for prostitution. His defense argues all sexual activity was consensual and denies the existence of any criminal conspiracy.
The prosecution expects to rest its case Monday.
