On this handout picture offered by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division, Ash Armand poses for a mugshot on June 17, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ash Armand, who stars in Showtime’s controversial actuality collection Gigolos, was arrested for homicide in
NEW YORK, NY – Day considered one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial opened with surprising allegations, which have now gained much more consideration after rapper 50 Cent took to social media to highlight one of many male intercourse staff named within the proceedings.
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What we all know:
Combs is dealing with a number of federal fees, together with racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion, and transporting people for prostitution. Prosecutors allege he ran a prison community that exploited girls for intercourse, typically utilizing coercion and intimidation. The case facilities on disturbing claims from a number of witnesses, together with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who says Combs compelled her into intercourse acts with male escorts and managed her by abuse and medicines.
He has pleaded not responsible.
What they’re saying:
Witnesses started testifying final Monday, together with male escort Daniel Phillip, who instructed jurors he was initially employed to strip at Manhattan’s Gramercy Park Resort. However the night changed into one thing extra disturbing, he stated, when he was allegedly paid to have intercourse with Cassie Ventura—Diddy’s former longtime girlfriend—because the music mogul watched. Ventura, who dated Combs publicly for six years, alleges he subjected her to years of abuse, drug coercion, and compelled sexual acts with different males.
One of the crucial dramatic moments got here when prosecutors launched a binder throughout Ventura’s testimony crammed with headshots of 13 male escorts who Ventura claimed she recruited at Combs’ behest for “freak offs” in Las Vegas, Miami and Los Angeles.
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Amongst them was Ash Armand, a former actuality TV persona on Showtime’s Gigolos, whose actual identify is Akshaya Kubiak. After discovering his background, rapper 50 Cent took to Instagram, calling out Armand and his prison historical past in a put up captioned: “This s### is a film. One of many intercourse staff caught a physique.”
The backstory:
Armand, as soon as identified for his “zen grasp” persona on Gigolos, was arrested in Las Vegas in July 2020 for the brutal killing of 29-year-old Herleen Dulai, a good friend and alleged consumer. Armand known as 911 himself, admitting, “It’ll sound insane as a result of it’s insane,” and instructed dispatchers he and Dulai had taken psychedelic mushrooms collectively earlier than the deadly incident.
Dulai, who had moved to Las Vegas in 2017 to pursue graduate research after incomes a biology diploma from Temple College, died from blunt drive trauma and strangulation. Armand claimed he blacked out after she attacked him in an try to “steal his soul” whereas they had been each beneath the affect.
He later pleaded responsible to voluntary manslaughter and mayhem, and in 2021, was sentenced to eight to twenty years in jail, based on Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal. His case was lately revisited within the March 2025 Paramount+ docuseries Sin Metropolis Gigolo, which incorporates interviews with producers of the docuseries, a neighborhood journalist, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Division detective, former Gigolo castmates, his former girlfriends, and members of the family.
The revelation that Armand was allegedly employed for Combs’ personal intercourse events has added a sensational layer to the already high-profile trial.
What’s subsequent:
The proceedings are anticipated to proceed for a number of weeks, with extra testimony anticipated from people tied to Combs’ interior circle and alleged prison operations.
FOX 5 New York is offering stay, real-time protection of the trial on their YouTube channel and web site.
