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, 1:01 PM EDT

Cassie Ventura describes violence and threats from Combs: 'I just felt trapped'

In addition to the attack by Combs at the InterContinental hotel that was captured on video, Cassie Ventura testified that there were other times that she was injured at a "freak off."

“He would put his hands on me,” Ventura testified, referring to Combs. “He would grab me up, push me down, hit me on the side of the head, kick me.”

Prosecutor Emily Johnson asked, “How frequently did Sean put his hands on you during 'freak offs'?”

Ventura responded: “Too frequently. A lot.”

Ventura testified that there was a time in August 2013 when she was packing for a music festival in Canada and Combs allegedly entered her apartment “and it just was commotion, him yelling at us, about me being passed out on the couch, about me being asleep.”

Ventura testified that Combs threw her onto the bed, causing her to strike the side of her face on a corner.

“I had a pretty significant gash on the side of my eyebrow,” Ventura told the court.

The jury was shown a photo of the injury. “That’s my eyebrow after I was thrown," Ventura testified, referring to the photo of her.

Ventura testified that she texted the image to Combs with the message, “So you can remember.”

Ventura testified that the injury left her with a permanent scar on her eyebrow. “I cover it with makeup,” she said.

Ventura also told the court that she had an argument with Combs on a yacht on which the two were staying during the Cannes Film Festival. On the plane ride home, she testified, Combs showed her videos of "freak offs."

“I just felt trapped. Like, how do you get out of this situation?” Ventura said on the stand. “He would put these videos out. He would ruin me, embarrass me. Just make me out to be someone that I’m not.”

Ventura told the court that the “humiliating, derogatory” videos gave Combs “leverage” over her.

Upon landing in New York, Ventura testified that she and Combs went to dinner, after which he allegedly wanted to have a "freak off."

“So we had a 'freak off',” Ventura testified. “Whatever was not going to make him angry at me and threatening me I was willing to do. I just didn’t want to feel scared.”

May 14, 2025, 12:26 PM EDT

Cassie Ventura testifies about recovery process, UTIs after 'freak offs': 'Can’t believe that I dealt with that'

After a "freak off," Cassie Ventura testified that she and Sean Combs would receive intravenous fluids, massages, food and, often, drugs.

Ventura told the court that she had “an off-and-on addiction” to opiates.

“Opiates made me feel numb, which is why I relied on them so heavily,” Ventura testified. “I didn’t actually want to feel what was going on in my life in real time. It was just an escape for me.”

Ventura also testified that Combs sometimes supplied the opiates she took. Other times, she testified, she got them from a drug dealer or from friends.

Taking drugs left her with “stomach issues and gastrointestinal issues,” Ventura testified. She also told the court that she had “a lot of UTIs,” referring to urinary tract infections.

“If you’ve had one you know how painful it is,” Ventura testified. “When we were having frequent 'freak offs' sometimes they were back-to-back. Sometimes I was doing the 'freak off' with an infection.”

“I actually can’t believe that I dealt with that," Ventura told the court.

“How did it feel to have sex when you had a UTI?” prosecutor Emily Johnson asked.

“Horrible, just the most uncomfortable burning,” Ventura responded.

The jury saw a text exchange between Ventura and Combs in which she told him about a urinary tract infection she had. She also told him how she was rehearsing her singing following a "freak off."

“I have all these sores on my tongue so it’s kind of uncomfortable,” her message said.

In addition to what she said was the physical pain, Ventura testified that the "freak offs" left her emotionally “empty.”

“It just felt like, okay, I did my job and I’m getting on with my life. Just gross,” Ventura testified.

“Did you want to do freak offs?” Johnson asked.

“No,” Ventura replied.

May 14, 2025, 12:02 PM EDT

Cassie Ventura testifies that 'freak off' videos were used as 'blackmail' threats

As she did on the stand Tuesday, Cassie Ventura again flipped through a binder containing photographs of escorts that she testified then were hired for "freak offs."

In a matter-of-fact tone she recalled their names: Ash, Brian, Dave, Greg and someone she testified she knew as “Islander.”

Ventura testified that she had sex with all of them, some in multiple cities. She also told the court that it’s possible she and Combs had some of the escorts flown to different places for the purpose of having sex, testimony that federal prosecutors hope will prove one of the charges Combs faces: that of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.

Ventura told the court that she hired the escorts herself: “It was expected of me."

Ventura also testified that Combs turned the "freak offs" into “blackmail,” allegedly threatening to release video recordings of the sex sessions “when he was upset about something.”

Ventura testified that Combs threatened “to embarrass me and put my career in jeopardy,” and that she “absolutely” feared he would release the videos.

“I just feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing and disgusting. Nobody should do that to anyone,” Ventura testified.

Ventura also said on the stand that Combs allegedly told her that the videos “could ruin everything“ that she had worked for and make her look “like a slut.”

The jury saw a text message from Ventura asking Combs to “please delete any video” from his phone. Combs responded that he had but Ventura testified that there were times when she had seen videos that she thought had been deleted.

May 14, 2025, 11:18 AM EDT

Cassie Ventura recounts violent 2016 encounter with Combs: 'You are sick for thinking it’s ok to do what you’ve done'

Cassie Ventura’s testimony returned to March 5, 2016, at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, California. She narrated the video depicting Sean Combs throwing a vase full of flowers at her after she said she tried to escape a "freak off" that had turned violent.

“I just remembered it coming towards me. I didn’t get hit. I remember it hitting the wall. He was yelling at me,” Ventura said.

Image the prosecution submitted as evidence in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial.
US Department of Justice

Ventura testified that Combs sent a barrage of text messages to her after she had left the hotel, begging her to get in touch.

The text messages were shown in court. “Yo pls call me. I got six kids. Pls call me,” one message said. “Call me. Call now,” another said.

“I have a premiere Monday for the biggest thing I’ve ever done and I have a black eye and fat lip,” Ventura messaged Combs in response. “You are sick for thinking it’s ok to do what you’ve done.”

Ventura testified that when she arrived home, a friend noticed her injuries and called police.

“I answered a couple of questions but when they wanted me to say who I was talking about I would not, so they left,” Ventura said of the police visit. “Just in that moment I didn’t want to hurt him in that way. Too much going on for me in that moment. I wasn’t ready.”

Ventura testified Combs then showed up at her apartment building. She said Combs’ assistant, known as KK, notified her.

Ventura testified that she heard “chaos outside the door, banging, kicking, yelling” and “just commotion in a very private building.”

Jurors saw photographs of the sparkling gold gown Ventura wore to the premiere she attended. She is also wearing sunglasses in the photos -- “to cover up my eye” since she “got hit in the face," Ventura testified, referring to the attack shown in the video.

Ventura also testified that she “wore quite a bit of makeup” at the premiere to cover “the bruising on my face.”

Ventura also pointed out bruises on her right leg that were visible in a photograph of her with Combs in her blue after-party dress.

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