The Latest: Cassie now faces cross-examination after exposing Diddy's violence
NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie is facing cross-examination Thursday after two days of testimony recounting tumultuous details of life with her ex-boyfriend, Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
Prosecutors allege Combs used his fame and fortune to orchestrate an empire of exploitation, coercing women into abusive sex parties. His lawyers argue that all the sexual acts were consensual, and although he could be violent, he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering.
Combs' team of seven attorneys is led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo and also includes Atlanta attorney Brian Steel, who represented Young Thug in a lengthy trial before the rapper pleaded guilty to gang, drug and gun charges.
Here's the latest:
The cross examination of Cassie will soon be underway in Manhattan federal court. Defense lawyers say they'll be scrutinizing how infidelity fueled the combustible nearly 11-year relationship between the R&B singer and the music mogul who controlled her career.
Defense attorney Teny Geragos suggested yesterday during a discussion between lawyers and the judge that the gameplan for today was changing on the fly out of necessity.
She didn't get into particulars but she told Judge Arun Subramanian that the questioning of Cassie by prosecutors over two days 'has gone much differently than I expected.' She added: 'So we are kind of changing our strategy.'
Agnifilo later told the judge that questioning Cassie about infidelities is important. 'Everybody knows that we are going to bring up infidelities, that we're going to want to bring up text messages of infidelities, and these text messages are often in colorful language,' he said.
Defense attorney says infidelity will highlight cross-examination
After the jury was sent home for the day, lawyers squabbled over ground rules for the cross-examination of Cassie, which is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.
Agnifilo said infidelity would be the featured subject of the questioning that is expected to stretch until day's end Friday.
'We have worn our defense on our sleeves since the first bail hearing,' Agnifilo said. 'Everybody knows we are going to bring up infidelity and text messages of infidelity.'
What to know about Cassie
Cassie sued Combs in 2023 alleging years of rape and abuse. The suit was settled within hours, but was followed by dozens of similar legal claims and touched off a criminal investigation.
A singer, actor, dancer and model, Cassie's professional ambitions began in adolescence, when she signed to the top-tier talent and modeling agency Wilhelmina. Her music career launched shortly thereafter, when she left her home state of Connecticut for New York, where she signed with manager Tony Mottola and first met Combs.
Cassie met Combs in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37. He signed her to his Bad Boy Records label and, within a few years, they started dating.
▶ Read more about Cassie
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