Diddy trial recap: Defense reveals explicit text messages about ‘freak offs’ leading up to 2016 hotel assault
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s ex-girlfriend is being cross-examined in Manhattan federal court today after nine hours at the stand on Wednesday
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura has finished day one of her cross-examination following bombshell testimony accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of rape, blackmail, sexual degradation and physical abuse.
Combs’s defense attorney Anna Estevao ended the day by showing the jury explicit text messages between Ventura and Combs in March 2016. The pair were planning the “freak off” that led up to an alleged assault at an InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. Footage of the 2016 incident, which was released publicly last year, shows Combs hitting and kicking Ventura.
“We can have fun, I don’t want you thinking I don’t want to,” Ventura texted Combs.
Ventura previously testified she went along with “freak offs” throughout their relationship because she was afraid Combs would hurt her or release footage from the encounters. “Freak offs” involved Ventura having sex with other men at Combs’s direction, typically while taking drugs, she said.
Combs is facing sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs was arrested in September 2024 as federal authorities alleged he threatened, abused, and coerced victims “to fulfill his sexual desires” between 2004 and 2024. Combs has denied any accusations of wrongdoing.
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Cassie Ventura cries in court as she describes taking part in weekly ‘freak offs’ to make Diddy happy
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Baby oil, domestic violence and a male escort: Graphic testimony emphasizes the reality of the accusations Diddy faces
Judge sends jury home, cross-examination to resume tomorrow
Judge Arun Subramanian has dismissed the jury for the day.
Cassie Ventura’s cross-examination will continue tomorrow morning. Subramanian said the defense must wrap up cross-examination by Friday midday.
“The direct took a day and a half, so the defense will have a day and a half. So you have today, you have the morning tomorrow,” Subramanian said this afternoon.
Ventura broke up with Kid Cudi over fear of Diddy's reaction
Cassie Ventura says she broke up with rapper Kid Cudi over fears that Sean “Diddy” Combs would hurt them both.
The rapper, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, dated Ventura in 2011.
When Combs found emails between Ventura and a member of Mescudi’s staff in 2011, she said he lunged at her and threatened her with a wine bottle opener.
Cassie Ventura says Diddy 'beat me up' after she attended a Prince party
Cassie Ventura told the court that Sean “Diddy” Combs “beat” her after she attended a party hosted by musical icon Prince in Los Angeles.
Ventura says she attended but didn’t tell Combs because she thought he’d prevent her from going. But she ran into him at the late musician’s house, and said she could tell he was angry.
“I ran out as fast as I could,” she said.
Combs “burst[ed]” into her hotel room later that night, Ventura said.
“He beat me up in that room,” she testified. “He was throwing luggage at me, just calling me all kinds of names.”
Diddy allegedly threatened to blow up Kid Cudi's car
Cassie Ventura testified that Sean “Diddy” Combs threatened to blow up rapper Kid Cudi’s car after he discovered their 2011 relationship.
The rapper’s real name is Scott Mescudi.
"Sean wanted Scott’s friends to see Scott’s car get blown up,” Ventura said.
Cassie Ventura describes alleged 2018 rape
In a particularly graphic moment, Cassie Ventura said Sean “Diddy” Combs came to her home in August 2018 and raped her on the living room floor.
The alleged attack happened just as she was starting to date her now-husband, Alex Fine.
Ventura said his “eyes were black” — a description she used yesterday to describe the moments when Combs would become enraged.
Cassie Ventura says she 'tried to walk into traffic' after relationship with Diddy
After testifying that Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly raped her in 2018, Cassie Ventura then told prosecutors she “tried to walk into traffic” but that her now-husband stopped her, according to Inner City Press.
Ventura said she then attended “trauma therapy.”
Prosecutors went on to ask Ventura what kind of pain Combs put her through.
“Shame, to carry the things that were shameful for him,” she said. “I took on a lot of responsibility for that that I never should have. He brought the concept to me when I was 22. It was expected of me.”
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Cassie Ventura reveals 2023 lawsuit settlement amount
Cassie Ventura revealed she settled her November 2023 lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs for $20 million, according to Inner City Press.
“It settled for $20 million in 24 hours,” she testified.
The settlement amount was previously unknown.
Jury dismissed, cross-examination to begin tomorrow
Judge Arun Subramanian has dismissed the jury for the day after prosecutors finished questioning Cassie Ventura.
The defense will start cross-examining the star witness tomorrow morning.
Day three recap: Prosecution ends questioning of star witness Cassie Ventura
Day three of Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sex trafficking trial has come to an end.
Star witness Cassie Ventura, who is eight months pregnant, spoke softly throughout the day and often rubbed her belly. She seemed to avoid making eye contact with Combs throughout her testimony.
Ventura was very emotional, wiping away tears when she discussed taking on too much responsibility “for [Combs’s] personal shame” when she was just 22 during the alleged “freak offs.”
She paused for a while before testifying that Combs raped her in August 2018, and her voice broke.
The overflow room was about half-full by the end of the day, with far fewer members of the public than earlier in the week.
Cross-examination will begin Thursday morning and is expected to span a day and a half.
Diddy witness plans to share things she ‘would’ve taken to the grave’ - but fears taking the stand
A former employee of Sean “Diddy” Combs is planning to testify against him in his sex trafficking case and share details that the employee would have taken “to her grave” before his arrest, her lawyer claims.
While Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura is serving as the government’s star witness in the case against Combs, the music mogul allegedly abused other people around him – including a former employee who is going by the pseudonym “Mia.”
“Candidly, her nerves are through the roof,” an attorney representing Mia said in court on Wednesday. “She would’ve taken these things to her grave. These are the worst things that ever happened to her.”
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