Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Cassie Ventura breaks down as testimony concludes
The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
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.
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- Cassie Ventura, Alex Fine share statement through attorney after 4-day testimony
- Cassie Ventura concludes her testimony after 4 days
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."
Defense begins cross-examination of Cassie Ventura
Defense lawyer Anna Estevao said she expected the cross-examination of Cassie Ventura to last all of Thursday and into Friday. Federal prosecutors told the judge that Ventura must finish her testimony by the end of the day Friday because she “is very, very pregnant” and could go into labor soon.
“We are afraid she could have the baby over the weekend,” Assistant United States Attorney Maurene Comey said.
Ventura took the witness stand in a long black tuxedo-like jacket covering a light-colored blouse.
Combs, clad in light-colored pants, shirt and sweater, watched her enter. His family is seated in the gallery
“You and Sean Combs were in love for 11 years, right?” Estevao's questioning began.
“Yeah,” Ventura responded.
Cassie Ventura takes the stand ahead of cross-examination
Cassie Ventura has taken the witness stand for the third consecutive day, with defense cross-examination scheduled to begin this morning following two days of her testimony against Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
Court adjourns after dramatic Cassie Ventura testimony
Judge Arun Subramanian opted to adjourn court for the day and begin the defense's cross-examination of Cassie Ventura on Thursday.
The defense said it expected cross-examination to take all of Thursday and that it will likely continue into Friday, followed by redirect examination by the prosecution.
Ventura is off of the witness stand and has been excused for the day.
Cassie Ventura's 2023 civil lawsuit settled for $20 million, according to her testimony
Cassie Ventura testified that in 2023, she went to rehab and trauma therapy because of what she described as losing her will to live, and her contemplation of suicide.
“I was spinning out and I didn’t want to be alive anymore at that point,” Ventura testified, breaking down as she recounted how “I couldn’t take the pain I was in anymore.”
Holding a tissue to her eyes, Ventura testified that she “tried to walk out the front door into traffic” but that “my husband would not let me.”
Ventura told the jury that she wrote about her experiences in the chapters of a book, “putting everything on paper for the first time so I could really understand what I had been through over many years.”
Ventura testified that she wanted Combs to read what she'd written because she “wanted him to recognize the pain he put me through.”
Combs listened to Ventura with his chin resting on his hand, elbow on the table.
“He brought the concept to me when I was 22,” Ventura testified, speaking of the "freak offs." “And it never stopped.”
Ventura testified that she participated in “hundreds” of alleged "freak offs" during her relationship with Combs, and none since.
Through tears, Ventura told the court, “I was always so numb because that’s what I chose to get through it.”
Ventura claimed in her testimony that she offered Combs the rights to her book for $30 million, a figure she said she picked at random and “that would alert him.” She received no money, she told the court.
Ventura testified that she filed a civil lawsuit against Combs in November 2023 that he settled the next day for $20 million. Ventura's testimony was the first time that the monetary amount of the settlement detail has been publicly revealed.
Asked why she agreed to testify against Combs in this trial, Ventura replied, “I can’t carry this anymore. I can’t carry the same, the guilt, the way I was guided to treat people like they were disposable."
"What’s right is right, what’s wrong is wrong," Ventura told the court. "I’m here to do the right thing.”