NOTE: The following article contains disturbing details and video footage. Please read at your own discretion.
Cassie Ventura is back on the witness stand Friday to testify for a fourth day in Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ sex trafficking trial.
Defence lawyers began cross-examining the star witness on Thursday, pressing her to read aloud text messages that appeared to show her expressing desire for the drug-fuelled group sex — called freak-offs — she previously testified left her traumatized.
For the first time during the trial, there was some tension among counsel about timing. In a letter to the judge, prosecutors insisted that the defence wrap up their questioning in time to allow for prosecution follow-ups on Friday, citing concern for Ventura’s “health and safety” and the potential for a mistrial if she goes into labour with her third child.
“The inefficiency of cross-examination yesterday” the government wrote, “raises the inference that the defendant hopes to accomplish precisely that outcome.”
Ventura is eight-and-a-half months pregnant.
Day 5
Defence lawyer Anna Estevao resumed her cross-examination with questions related to the March 2016 recording of Combs attacking Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel. In it, Combs can be seen throwing Ventura to the floor, kicking her and dragging her into a hotel hallway.
Estevao had Ventura read aloud a text message in which she complained that Combs was out of control from drugs and alcohol that day. In the message, Ventura told Combs: “I’m not a rag doll. I’m somebody’s child.”
In text messages read aloud to the jury, Combs and Ventura expressed love to one another again, just days after the attack.
Ventura told Combs in one text: “We need a different vibe from Friday.”
She also told the court that Combs was wary of her dating or giving attention to other men, even during breaks in their decade-long relationship.
The hip-hop star confiscated her phone on numerous occasions, including when he found out she was dating a football player and when she suspected her of dancing with the singer Chris Brown.
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Ventura didn’t name the player and denied dancing with Brown.
The defence also played Ventura an audio recording of her threatening a man who had alluded to seeing a video of her performing sex acts in 2014. Ventura is heard pleading to see the video and using profanity to threaten him.
“It’s my life and I’ll kill you,” she could be heard screaming at the man, with expletives. “I’ve never killed anybody in my life, but I will kill you.”
She had previously testified that Combs told her to not let the man out of her sight until she found out what was going on.
Ventura acknowledged in her testimony that Combs subsequently made efforts to keep the video private. It appears the defence is attempting to establish that Ventura and Combs were united in their efforts to keep videos private, despite Ventura testifying that Combs tried to blackmail her by threatening to release the videos.
Ventura testified that she broke up with Combs for good in August 2018 after she saw a photo of him with another woman he’d been dating for the last few years of their decade-long relationship.
“I just don’t trust anymore. That last shot put the nail in the coffin,” she texted Combs, referring to the photo of Combs with a woman identified in court as Gina.
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“I promised myself I wouldn’t be with you anymore if you did that to me again,” she wrote, telling Combs “you lied to me” and “she never went away.”
Soon after, she said, she started dating her now-husband, Alex Fine.
“Can I not get a chance to make things right?” Combs texted Ventura shortly after their final breakup. “I haven’t taken care of you?”
“You took care of me materialistically, not where I needed it,” she replied. “I needed you to love me and put me first.”
Estevao asked Ventura if she still had feelings for Combs after he allegedly raped her in August 2018, when the pair met up for dinner and Ventura initiated the break-up.
“You didn’t hate him then. And you don’t still hate him now,” Estevao said.
“I don’t hate him,” Ventura responded.
“You still have love for him?”
“I have love for the past, what it was.”
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Ventura then confirmed that she got video from Fine during the last time she had sex with Combs, shortly after their breakup and the alleged 2018 rape.
“Your now-husband didn’t know that you were with Mr. Combs at the time, correct?” Estevao asked. Ventura said that Fine eventually found out the sex, as well as the alleged rape, which prompted him to punch a wall.
Ventura’s testimony ended Friday with a bombshell disclosure: She said she expects to receive a US$10 million settlement from the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where she was assaulted by Combs in 2016.
She revealed the figure during questioning by Combs’ lawyer in a phase of her testimony known as re-cross. She said the figure was an estimate and that the settlement was reached recently. She didn’t disclose the nature of her claim against the hotel.
The revelation came after the defence tried to suggest that she had cancelled a music tour after she settled her lawsuit against Combs to the tune of $20 million and no longer needed the money a tour would bring in.
Not true, Ventura told the lawyer, saying her reason for cancelling the tour was because she was feeling overwhelmed and didn’t want to be away from her family for so long.
At the conclusion of her testimony Friday, Ventura’s legal team shared a statement on her behalf: “This week has been extremely challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing for me. I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors, and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from the abuse and fear.
“For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember. And the more I can remember, the more I will never forget. I want to thank my family and my advocates for their unwavering support, and I’m grateful for all the kindness and encouragement that I have received.
“I’m glad to put this chapter of my life to rest. As I turn to focus on the conclusion of my pregnancy, I ask for privacy for me and for my growing family.”
Her husband also shared a statement Friday afternoon, which was read by lawyer Dougals Widgor.
“Over the past five days, the world has gotten to witness the strength and bravery of my wife freeing herself of her past.”
He continued: “I have felt so many things sitting there. I have felt tremendous pride and overwhelming love for Cass. I have felt profound anger that she has been subjected to sitting in front of a person who tried to break her. So to him and all of those who helped him along the way, please know this: You did not. You did not break her spirit, nor her smile, that lights up every room. You did not break the souls of a mother who gives the best hugs and plays the silliest games with our little girls. You did not break the woman who has made me a better man.”
He added that it is an insult to say he saved her: “Cassie saved Cassie. She alone broke free from abuse, coercion, violence and threats. She did the work of fighting the demons that only a demon himself could have done to her.”
What Combs is on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing women with help from a network of associates who helped silence victims through blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that includes descriptions of freak-offs, which are defined in the court doc as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Numerous witnesses have come forward to accuse Combs of terrorizing people into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, according to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled someone from a balcony.
Although dozens of men and women have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will highlight the claims of four women.
Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has denied all the charges against him and has rejected a plea deal, choosing to go to trial instead.
If found guilty in the New York court, he could face life in prison.
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Day 4 testimony
Day 3 testimony
Day 2 testimony
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Global News will be covering the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please check back for updates.
— With files from The Associated Press
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