Cassie Ventura has wrapped up four consecutive days of explosive testimony in the criminal trial of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Breaking down in sobs, the singer told a New York court on Tuesday that she would give back a $20 million legal settlement from the rap mogul if it meant never having participated in his “humiliating” drug-fuelled sex parties, referred to as “freak-offs”.
Mrs Ventura, the government’s star witness, faced intense questioning from both legal teams about the decade she dated Combs.
Combs faces charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, and could face life in prison. He’s pleaded not guilty and denied the accusations.
Mrs Ventura’s testimony revealed graphic details about her sex life with the rapper, the physical violence she allegedly endured from him and the posse that she said aided in covering up his crimes.
She also addressed that after filing a lawsuit against him in November 2023, which included many of those allegations, he gave her a settlement of $20 million.
The settlement, which came just one day after the suit was filed, was public knowledge, but the number was previously unknown. The defence seemingly tried to hammer home the financial incentives for Mrs Ventura’s accusations during their cross examination of her testimony, which went on all day Thursday and Friday.
Combs’ lawyer Anna Estevao seemed to imply Mrs Ventura was strapped for cash before filing her lawsuit. The singer had just moved to her parents house with her husband and children, for example.
Mrs Ventura pushed back against this characterization, later sharing that she would trade it all for a life free of the “freak offs”, which she said caused her physical injuries, would sometimes go on for days and stifled her career as a singer.
“I would have agency and autonomy,” she said.
Combs’ legal team also showed the jury dozens of messages between the couple from each stage of their relationship, arguing their dynamic was toxic at times, but not criminal.
The defence also offered one last bombshell minutes before Mrs Ventura was set to leave the stand on Friday: The singer arranged another legal settlement for $10 million connected to her claims against the rap mogul.
Mrs Ventura told the court she is expecting to receive about $10 million from InterContinental hotel.
The settlement relates to an incident at the InterContinental in Los Angeles in 2016, in which viral security footage showed Combs hitting, kicking and dragging Mrs Ventura in a hallway. That footage was played at length in court this week, and is one of the most important pieces of evidence in the trial.
Though the day had nearly come to an end, the prosecution squeezed in two more witnesses before court adjourned. One was Dawn Richard, a singer in the group Danity Kane – formed on Diddy’s show on MTV Making the Band – and last year had filed a lawsuit accusing him of physical abuse and withholding her earnings.
Ms Richard testified about an incident in 2009, when she said she saw Combs assault Mrs Ventura at his Los Angeles mansion.
“She fell down,” Ms Richard told the court. “She was in the foetal position.”
After the incident, she said Combs took her aside and told her what she saw was “passion” and that where he is from, “people go missing” if they talk.
US Homeland Security special agent Yasin Binda took the stand as well, telling the court about the cash, drugs and baby oil that were seized from the rapper’s hotel room when he was arrested in New York.
More testimony is expected from the witnesses called by prosecutors next week. The Lower Manhattan court has been a media circus since the beginning of the trial, with spectators gathering in droves and camping out overnight to get a glimpse of the music mogul, his family, and the celebrities testifying.
