Day: September 15, 2025

• Sean “Diddy” Combs is due for sentencing on two prostitution counts on October 3.
• His lawyers hope some of his former escorts will help in his quest for leniency.
• His team and federal prosecutors differ widely on how much of the escorts’ evidence should be public.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is hoping for sentencing help from an unlikely source: some of the dozens of escorts he hired for “freak offs,” men the prosecutors are counting as victims.

As early as Friday, Combs’ legal team intends to submit a sentencing brief to the judge, arguing that some of these “entertainers” gave prosecutors never-revealed interviews that actually help the defense.

“We plan to summarize these individuals’ accounts to the government for the court,” the defense told US District Judge Arun Subramanian in a filing last week.

Federal prosecutors want any pre-sentencing arguments relating to these pretrial interviews to be sealed from the public.

“Statements of non-testifying witnesses are traditionally considered nonpublic,” prosecutors argued in a recent court filing. They have asked the judge to count these escorts as victims at a sentencing scheduled for October 3.

Combs’ team counters that none of the escorts are victims, and that details from their pretrial, prosecution interviews should not be sealed or even partially redacted.

A prosecution spokesman declined to comment. A defense lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Combs’ six-week trial ended July 2. The millionaire rap entrepreneur was found not guilty of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges and convicted of two lesser counts of transporting people across state lines for purposes of prostitution.

Prosecutors say Combs caused multiple people to cross state lines for the dayslong sex performances he called freak offs — not just longtime girlfriends Cassie Ventura and a second ex who testified pseudonymously as “Jane,” but male escorts as well.

Two of these escorts testified at trial that they witnessed Combs being violent with Ventura and Jane during freak offs.

But in closing arguments, Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik showed the jury a collage of 27 escorts whom she alleged Combs hired, many of whom were caused by Combs to cross state lines for these encounters.

“This slide shows you just a subset of the strangers who had sex with Jane and Cassie in these rooms for hours and days on end, drugged, covered in oil, sore, exhausted, over and over again,” Slavik told the jurors as the escort collage was shown to jurors and the courtroom audience.

All 27 were referred to by photo and by either name or alias during the trial. It’s unclear how many of the 27 gave pre-trial interviews to prosecutors, or how many of them prosecutors intend to say were victims when they file their own pre-sentencing brief later this month.

The judge has yet to rule on whether the defense will have to redact the names of these non-witness escorts in their sentencing memo.

The defense has also argued for more time — and more pages — for this all-important sentencing brief. The judge previously set a 25-page limit for both sides and has ordered the defense to have its brief ready by Friday. The defense has asked to submit it on Monday instead.

Combs faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced; the maximum for each of the two counts is 10 years.

Prosecutors have said that they will seek at least five years in prison total.

But that was in July; the number of “victims” will figure into their final sentencing recommendations. Prosecutors have also said they will count the trial evidence of Combs’ admitted violence and drug use in their ultimate sentencing recommendation.

The defense has said they will ask for zero jail time, and told Business Insider last month that he is a changed man who hopes to become an anti-domestic abuse advocate. They argued this month that the escorts should not count as victims in the judge’s sentencing math.

“The government has taken the view that several consenting male ‘entertainers,’ who willingly consented to sexual activity with Ms. Ventura and Jane, are now victims” under the meaning of federal sentencing guidelines, defense lawyers wrote this month.

“These individuals did not testify, and we plan to summarize these individuals’ accounts to the government for the court.”

Combs has been jailed since his arrest in September 2024.

Subramanian has not said when he will rule on the defense requests for more time and pages, or on their request to file any pre-sentencing arguments relating to the escorts without redaction.

• Chinese companies have mastered the art of attracting customers, a skill they honed at home.
• Companies like Luckin Coffee and Temu thrive on aggressive marketing, random promotions, and cheap goods.
• Now, they’re exporting that playbook overseas.

My occupational hazard is that I sometimes become a fan of the Chinese retail companies I report on.

In the past year, I’ve become a Luckin Coffee addict and discovered that Mixue’s soft serve is superior to McDonald’s.

And in August, as I stared at the sad “out of stock” notice on Pop Mart’s website, I shared bitter disappointment with hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide over the overwhelming FOMO from the mini Labubu.

That got me, a onetime Labubu cynic, thinking about how Chinese companies have slowly but surely mastered the art of conquering markets.

Now, these Chinese consumer juggernauts are using tried-and-true tactics overseas on their international consumer base, and it’s working.

Allison Malmsten, a public research director at Daxue Consulting, a China-focused strategy consultancy, said China has always been known as the factory of the world. We’ve been buying Chinese products all along.

“The difference is now that they’ve figured out that not only can they sell the products overseas, but they can also sell the brand,” Malmsten told Business Insider.

Global growth

Over the last few years, Chinese companies have dominated several industries, from F&B and fast fashion to automobiles.

Here are some noteworthy companies exporting their playbook to the West:

• Starbucks’ biggest competitor in China, Luckin Coffee, just set foot in the US, opening two new outlets in New York City in June.
• In March, budget bubble tea chain Mixue became the biggest publicly traded food and beverage company in the world after its initial public offering. Mixue has outlets in Southeast Asia and Australia, and according to local media, it’s set to open an outlet in Lower Manhattan.
• Fast-fashion giant Shein considers the US its largest market. But it’s also seen massive growth in other Western markets like the UK, where it reported a more than 56% profit gain in 2024 compared to 2023.
• Temu, a budget marketplace owned by the retail giant Pinduoduo Holdings, was one of the most downloaded apps by US Gen Zers in 2024.
• EV producer BYD‘s sales overtook Elon Musk’s Tesla sales in Europe in April.
• Pop Mart has drawn massive queues for its viral doll, Labubu, from South Korea to the UK. Pop Mart reported a 401% profit jump in the first half of 2025.
• Fans of TikTok, a social media platform owned by ByteDance, have been fighting hard against its divest-or-ban order in the US this year.

Hooking people with dopamine-inducing strategies

Chinese companies rely on dopamine-inducing, in-your-face marketing much more than their Western counterparts.

E-commerce apps like Temu and Taobao have busy interfaces with numerous pop-ups. The constant pop-ups and flashy ads screaming the latest discounts encourage customers to buy into a scrolling loop. And with more scrolling comes more spending.

Malmsten from Daxue Consulting said global players like Amazon focus on making their platforms seamless and easy to use.

But Chinese e-commerce platforms are geared to making the shopping experience entertaining.

Malmstem said Chinese companies have figured out that the most addictive systems have randomized rewards.

“You don’t know when the reward will come, that’s when something will be the most addictive,” she said.

Jacob Cooke, the CEO of Beijing-based e-commerce consulting firm WPIC Marketing + Technologies, said Chinese brands don’t rely on repetitive promotions.

“Instead of simply cutting prices, they layer discounts with loyalty programs, livestream flash events, and gamified shopping experiences that feel interactive,” he said.

Cooke said global players who use traditional “static” discounting can’t match that level of engagement.

For instance, Austin Li, a Chinese influencer who is known as China’s “Lipstick King,” has amassed a following of 35 million on Dou Yin, the country’s version of TikTok.

He sells beauty products and skincare on the live streams, which are filled with colorful pop-ups, banners, and a rolling rundown of everything he’s hawking.

Something new is always around the corner

These brands churn out new products at a record pace.

Cooke said Shein and Temu test thousands of products, identify hits almost instantly, and “push them to the right consumers with pinpoint accuracy.”

At their fastest, Chinese beauty brands like Florasis and Flower Knows take just three months from conceptualization to launch to get a new product line out the door.

The same goes for automobiles. Xiaomi, which started as a phone manufacturer, announced in 2021 that it would invest $10 billion in a new electric vehicle unit in the next 10 years. By the end of 2023, it had already launched its first car.

Jeffrey Towson, the founder of US and China-based retail consultancy TechMoat Consulting, contrasted this with Apple’s “Project Titan,” its EV line, which was rumored to have started in 2015 but never came to fruition.

“I can’t think of many Silicon Valley companies that work at the speed of companies like Xiaomi,” Towson said.

Now, this high-frequency product model is proving successful in Western markets.

“Western consumers are responding to this formula because they want the same variety and instant gratification Chinese shoppers have enjoyed for years,” said Cooke. “The model is proving globally transferable.”

Low-cost blind boxes make people want to take a gamble

Some companies, like Pop Mart, have a different MO.

Pop Mart has about 570 brick-and-mortar outlets in 18 countries. It also has nearly 2,600 vending machines, which it calls “Roboshops,” and a sprawling network of stores on e-commerce platforms.

Pop Mart’s secret sauce is its blind boxes — packaging that hides the toy inside. Step into any Pop Mart store, and you’ll see customers shaking the boxes, hoping that will help them identify which item they’ll pull.

Towson from Techmoat Consulting said that, at best, blind boxes induce reward-seeking behavior. But at its worst, it’s gambling.

“When you open a blind box, there’s a moment of excitement. You think, ‘Which one did I get? Oh, I didn’t get the one I wanted. Let’s buy one more,'” Towson said.

“So you’ve got reward-type behavior, which increases anticipation and increases repeat buying,” he added.

It’s not just Pop Mart that’s betting big on this playbook. Temu and Taobao’s aggressive advertising and random promotions work on similar principles of hooking customers with dopamine spikes.

Malmsten said this tactic is working exceptionally well on Gen Z and younger customers, because dopamine production is highest in youth.

“You get addicted to whatever was relevant at that age. So for millennials, that was YouTube and Instagram, and for Gen Z, that’s all Chinese apps — TikTok, Shein, Temu,” she said. “They’re coming of age during a time when China’s soft power is at its all-time high.”

Undercutting competitors

Chinese companies like Luckin Coffee, Shein, and Temu have snatched big slices of the consumer pie by being cheap.

Towson said Chinese companies operate on a 50% price, 80% quality system: Their price is half that of their competitors, but nearly matches their quality.

Malmsten said Chinese companies, unlike their Western counterparts, can expand fast because they are much more willing to focus on growth first and profit second.

For example, she said Luckin Coffee’s discounts were unsustainable, but “it works to get everyone to get their first coffee from Luckin and download the app.”

China’s domination has run into roadblocks

Despite being cheap, addictive, and fast, Chinese companies face unique challenges in the international market.

Regulatory hurdles are one such challenge, particularly with the Trump administration cracking down on the de minimis loophole, which allowed small parcels under $800 to enter the US tax-free.

“With Shein and Temu, the removal of de minimis in the US is potentially a big hamper on their ability to market in the country,” Malmsten said.

But Chinese companies that have expanded globally are forces to be reckoned with. Towson said they’re the strongest of the lot, after conquering domestic competition.

“Any company that’s going international has probably won at home already, which means they’re the toughest gladiator in the arena,” Towson said.

He added, “That means they’re the gladiator in the arena surrounded by 50 dead bodies.”

• Meta leaked videos of its new smart glasses before its Meta Connect event.
• The leaked videos show Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses with advanced tech features.
• Meta’s CEO believes smart glasses will be key for future AI interactions.

Meta’s would-be surprise announcement about its new smart glasses display was leaked on Monday ahead of a major company event. The culprit? Meta itself.

Meta posted and then removed a YouTube video showing off its new Ray-Ban smart glasses and Oakley smart glasses days before Meta Connect, the company’s annual flagship conference that is set for Wednesday and Thursday this week.

UploadVR first reported on the leaked video, which it also captured and uploaded clips of to X. A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed the leak to Business Insider.

One video clip shows off a new pair of Meta Ray-Ban glasses that include a heads-up display, or HUD, that will let wearers superimpose maps and text onto the real world, as well as a wristband that interacts with them. The glasses appear to be labeled “Display.” The second video clip shows off a pair of wraparound Meta Oakley glasses with a center camera.

Meta did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The leaked video appears to have spoiled what could have been an exciting surprise at Meta Connect — the integrated HUD, which brings the company a step closer to producing commercial glasses with the level of tech it showed off in its Orion prototype.

Meta’s Orion glasses, which Business Insider’s Peter Kafka tried out last year, are augmented-reality glasses that come with a HUD and a wristband that tracks muscle movements. Meta said at the time the product was too expensive to bring to mass market.

Meta isn’t the first company to show off smart glasses with a built-in display. Google showed off its own version in May, powered by Android XR, a new platform for augmented reality glasses. Google is partnering with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to design its frames, which are expected to be released later this year.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been bullish on smart glasses. During the company’s second-quarter earnings call in July, he said smart glasses will eventually be the primary way people interact with AI and that anyone not using them would be at a “cognitive disadvantage.”

• Daphne Tay left Bain to solve a daily work problem and launched an AI-powered document translation startup.
• Consulting skills helped her, but she had to learn sales and the startup’s playbook from scratch.
• The former Bain consultant never saw founding a company as taking a huge risk.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Daphne Tay, the founder of Singapore-based AI startup Bluente. Tay was a consultant at Bain & Company for five years. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Bluente started in 2021. We raised our first round for a language learning product — very similar to Duolingo, but focused on the business side of things.

Over time, that didn’t work out. Clients just want it done for them instead of learning the language.

We pivoted and focused 100% on what we have raised today: Blu Translate, our flagship AI-powered document translation platform.

We translate any file, and the unique thing is that we keep the format exactly the same. That worked out much better.

At Bain, I had been doing exactly what our clients do now: copying and pasting text from translation tools, fixing formatting, and losing hours that should have been spent on actual consulting work.

What Bain taught me

I always think back to one of my first few projects when I was at Bain.

This was a yearlong digital transformation project with an agriculture company around 2016 or 2017. Back then, they didn’t have in-house tech people — today they have engineers, product designers, all of that.

We were working on automating their warehouse. One of my team members was drawing out the app on slides, and I said, “Hey, I think there’s a better way to do this.”

Figma wasn’t around yet, but there were other prototyping tools. I tried one of them and we built our first clickable prototype. We could iterate on that with the client and automate the warehouse in a very MVP manner. That was my first dabble into product building.

A lot of that has applied to how I build Bluente — how to think about product design, how to build a minimum viable product.

At Bain, we dealt with many established Fortune 500 companies. There’s a lot to learn about building a solid marketing and sales team.

What I had to learn from scratch

The biggest thing I had to learn was sales. At Bain, we learned a lot about influencing people — how to create analytical work that could influence a client in a certain direction. But you’re never actively selling until you get to partner level.

When I first started Bluente, one of my advisors told me: “If you don’t go out and sell the company, no one will.”

People may buy and believe in you, but that alone doesn’t create a repeatable motion.

Over time, we’ve cracked the playbook on how to sell to multinational companies, law firms, and different client segments.

It’s about putting the brand out there, sharing what your product does, and helping your clients solve the problem.

Coming from a corporate background, I also had to learn functions we usually take for granted, like HR, payroll, and finance. Through my first fundraising experience, I also learned a lot about shareholders’ agreements — how to protect both the company and myself.

I also had to rethink what an MVP looks like. As consultants, we like to pack a lot in and say, “That’s possible.” But it’s really about distilling it down to what truly moved the needle and launching.

When we launched our first product — the language-learning app — we had five different features that we wanted to push out: flashcards, practice questions, case studies, speech-to-text, and so on.

In hindsight, customers just wanted the flashcard function. We should have launched with that and built on top of that instead of waiting two months to build all five functions and then pushing them out.

Small team

I never saw founding a company as taking a huge risk. It’s more about building something sustainable and making sure you’re always making progress. Every little bit adds up over time.

The scariest moment came last year, when one of our colleagues was hit by a car on the way to work. That was pretty scary because we were like, “Oh shit, what do we do?” It was my first time sitting in an ambulance.

The incident brought us closer together, knowing how to handle these situations when they hit.

Having a good team makes it possible. I’m very thankful for the six individuals who have brought us to this point. They all have very good founder mentalities — they really drive things for clients — and I’m grateful for that.

Do you have a story to share about building a business in Asia? Contact this reporter at cmlee@insider.com.