Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Cassie Ventura breaks down as testimony concludes

The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

Last Updated: May 19, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT

This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.

Friday is day five in the trial of Sean Combs after the jury was seated.

May 13, 2025, 10:11 am

Sean Combs trial underway

The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is underway. Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Combs is accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking.

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY" and "looks forward to his day in court."

May 14, 2025, 10:05 AM EDT

Cassie Ventura's 2nd day of testimony expected to include explicit videos

Cassie Ventura's Wednesday testimony is expected to include explicit videos of the alleged sex "freak offs" she said she arranged so often for Sean Combs that it “became a job, where there was no space to do anything else.”

Ventura previously testified that the "freak offs" became private pornography shoots with Combs setting up video equipment.

“It was very, like, like porn,” Ventura said. “I was an object being heavily objectified by men in that scenario.”

She told the jury Tuesday that the idea these “humiliating, disgusting” sessions, which she said involved male prostitutes, were recorded left her “feeling insane.”

“I never wanted anyone to ever see me like that,” Ventura testified. “It just was not OK for me.”

Combs is seated at the defense table and is wearing gray pants, a white collared shirt and a cream-colored sweater. There appear to be fewer members of the Combs family in court today than there were Tuesday.

Ventura, who is pregnant, is seated in the witness box and is wearing a long gray dress covered by a long, dark-colored jacket.

May 14, 2025, 9:50 AM EDT

Cassie Ventura is back on the witness stand for day 2 of her testimony

Cassie Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs, has taken the witness stand again following a dramatic day of testimony on Tuesday.

May 14, 2025, 5:37 AM EDT

Ventura to return to witness stand Wednesday

Cassie Ventura is expected to return to the witness stand on Wednesday.

May 13, 2025, 5:37 PM EDT

Cassie Ventura recounts her perspective of 2016 video showing Combs attacking her in hotel

Cassie Ventura concluded her first day of dramatic, graphic and emotional testimony by recalling the time she says she tried to leave a "freak off" before it was over, returning jurors to a visceral piece of evidence.

Witness Cassie Ventura answers questions from assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson, left, with Judge Arun Subramanian presiding in Manhattan federal court, May 13, 2025, in New York City.
Elizabeth Williams/AP

“There’s an instance in Los Angeles where it got violent and I chose to leave,” Ventura said, referring to the March 2016 incident at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, depicted on video shown to jurors Monday and today.

“There was a lot of drinking, a lot of partying. I’m not sure what happened but in the middle of it I got hit by Sean and got a black eye,” Ventura said.

“When I chose to leave, I grabbed what I could and got out and Sean followed me into the hallway by the elevators, grabbed me, tried to drag me back to the room,” Ventura said.

The video was played again for the jury. “That’s me,” Ventura said, referring to the footage.

Ventura said she made it to the elevators when “the next thing I knew I was just thrown to the ground.”

Ventura said Combs grabbed her by the back of the hoodie and threw her down. She told the jury that Combs had previously thrown her to the ground on multiple occasions: “too many to count,” she said.

Earlier, Ventura described how degrading the "freak offs" became.

“The idea of objectifying me was tossed around like it was nothing, putting me in these compromising positions with strangers,” she said.

She said that Combs insisted on recording the sex sessions, which she said “made me feel insane” because it was “humiliating, disgusting. Never wanted anyone to see me like that.”

Testimony has ended for the day. Ventura will return to the witness stand on Wednesday.

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola