Sean “Diddy” Combs’s former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, the star prosecution witness at his sex trafficking trial, testified on Tuesday that the rapper and hip-hop mogul forced her into repeated drug-fuelled sex parties he organised, undermining her career.
Ms Ventura, a rhythm and blues singer known as Cassie, said she began taking part in Mr Combs’s parties known as “Freak Offs” over more than a decade to please him, and continued because he blackmailed her with videos of the encounters.
“The ‘Freak Offs’ became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and just try to feel normal again,” Ms Ventura told jurors in Manhattan federal court.
She said performances could last 1½ to four days, with Mr Combs giving her drugs to keep her awake and being preoccupied with how she looked.
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“If I wasn’t doing my nails, I was getting a tan,” Ms Ventura said. “After a while that wears down on you, on your confidence and self-worth.” She said a 10-album contract she signed with Mr Combs’s Bad Boy record label in 2006 yielded only one album.
Ms Ventura held back tears as she recalled the only parts of the “Freak Offs” she enjoyed were times she was alone with Mr Combs, but that he often changed during the encounters.
“His eyes were black,” she said. “The version that I fell in love with was no longer there.”
Mr Combs (55) has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
If convicted on all counts, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and could face life behind bars.
The trial began on Monday, and could last two months. Mr Combs is being housed in a Brooklyn jail when not in court.
Defence lawyer Teny Geragos conceded to jurors on Monday that Mr Combs had a bad temper and jealousy problems, but that his conduct wasn’t criminal.
Mr Combs’s lawyers have said prosecutors wanted to criminalise his “swingers” lifestyle, where he and his girlfriends invited other men to join them for sex.
“This case is about voluntary choices made by capable adults in consensual relationships,” Ms Geragos said.
Wearing a brown dress and later adding a light-coloured coat, Ms Ventura said she began dating Mr Combs in her early 20s, in what she thought was her “first real adult relationship”. She said she loved him at the time and wanted to make him happy.
Now 38, Ms Ventura said Mr Combs changed as time passed, as he began frequently beating her, and leaving her with black eyes and bruises all over her body.
“He would bash my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head if I was down,” Ms Ventura said.
Ms Ventura said her “Freak Offs” began when she was 22. She said she didn’t want to do them, but was afraid of making Mr Combs angry.
“He was a scary person. He could be very violent,” she said.
Ms Ventura also said Mr Combs controlled much of her life and career.
“Control was everything, from the way that I looked to what I was working on that day, who I was speaking to,” she said.
Prosecutors have said Mr Combs used his music industry clout to bend victims to his will and keep them silent about his abuse.
On Monday, they introduced a widely-seen video broadcast on CNN last year, showing Mr Combs beating Ms Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Mr Combs, wearing only a towel, was shown throwing Ms Ventura to the ground and kicking her in a hallway when she tried to leave. He apologised after the video first aired.
Marc Agnifilo, Mr Combs’s lead lawyer, has said the video depicted the aftermath of a dispute over infidelity.
At a hearing on Friday, he said Ms Ventura had a history of domestic violence, signalling he may use it during cross-examination to undermine her credibility.
Ms Ventura filed a civil lawsuit in November 2023 accusing Mr Combs of rape and serial sexual abuse. They settled after one day.
Jurors may hear testimony from two or three of Mr Combs’s other female accusers, and former employees who prosecutors say helped arrange and cover up Mr Combs’s criminal conduct.
Ms Ventura married personal trainer Alex Fine in September 2019. They have two daughters, and Ms Ventura is pregnant. – Reuters
