Former aide says Sean 'Diddy' Combs kidnapped her in plot to kill Kid Cudi
A former top aide to Sean 'Diddy' Combs has testified that the hip-hop mogul threatened to kill her during her first day on the job and kidnapped her at gunpoint as he sought to kill rapper Kid Cudi.
Capricorn Clark's account of Combs' volatility and violence launched the third week of testimony at his federal sex trafficking trial in Manhattan.
Prosecutors called Clark, the former global brand director for Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment, as they work to prove he led a two-decade racketeering conspiracy that relied on beefy bodyguards, death threats and the silence of frightened staff to ensure he got what he wanted.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to an indictment alleging he abused his longtime girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, and others.
If convicted, he could face 15 years to life in prison.
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Clark's testimony came days after Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, testified that Clark called him from a car outside his home in December 2011 and told him Combs had forced her to accompany him to Cudi's house.
Combs was angry Cudi was dating Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, Clark said.
Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean "Diddy" Combs appear at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating "China: Through the Looking Glass" in New York on May 4, 2015. (Source: Associated Press)
Clark, who mostly referred to Combs as 'Puff' during her testimony, said he came to her home with a gun in his hand, demanded that she get dressed and come with him because 'we're going to kill Cudi.'
Clark, her voice shaky at times, said they rode in a black Cadillac Escalade to Cudi's Los Angeles home, where Combs and his bodyguard entered the residence while Clark sat in the SUV and called Cassie.
Clark testified she told Cassie that Combs 'got me with a gun and brought me to Cudi's house to kill him".
Clark said she heard Cudi in the background asking, 'He's in my house?' She said she told Cassie, 'Stop him, he's going to get himself killed.'
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Cassie told her she couldn't stop Cudi, she recalled.
Combs returned to the Escalade and asked Clark who she was talking to, Clark testified. He grabbed the phone and called Cassie back, she said.
They then heard Cudi driving up the road, she said.
Combs and his bodyguard got back in the SUV and chased after Cudi, finally giving up when they passed police cars that were heading for Cudi's house.
After the break-in, Clark said, Combs told them that they had to convince Cudi 'it wasn't me".
'If you don't convince him of that I'll kill all you,' he said, punctuating his threat with an expletive, according to Clark.
Clark said she and Cassie then went to Cudi's home, telling jurors: 'We needed to talk to him. We needed to make sure he wasn't going to make a police report about Puff."
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After that, she said she watched in shock as Combs viciously assaulted Cassie over her relationship with Cudi.
Combs kicked Cassie with '100% full force" to the legs and back as she curled on the ground outside his home in a fetal position and wept silently, Clark said.
Clark said her 'heart was breaking from seeing her get hit like that' and that neither she nor Combs' bodyguard intervened.
The answer prompted an objection from Combs' lawyers, and Judge Arun Subramanian told jurors to disregard it.
Combs' lawyer Marc Agnifilo questioned Clark's recollection, leading her to reconsider certain details. She admitted some haziness about events that happened "such a long time ago".
On Thursday, Cudi testified that he dated Cassie briefly in December 2011, believing she'd broken up with Combs, but they agreed over the holidays to end the relationship.
Assistant US Attorney Mitzi Steiner questioned Clark about her off-and-on employment with Combs from 2004 to 2018, beginning with her first day when she said Combs and a bodyguard took her to Central Park after 9pm and said he hadn't been aware of her past work for other rappers.
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Clark testified that Combs told her that if that work became an issue, he'd have to kill her.
Clark said she was only weeks into the job when Combs tasked her with carrying diamond jewellery, and it went missing.
As a result, she said, she was repeatedly given lie detector tests over a five-day stretch by a man who seemed five times larger than her own size.
'He said: 'If you fail this test, they're going to throw you in the East River,'' she recalled, adding that they eventually let her return to work.
Even the alleged kidnapping didn't scare Clark away, Agnifilo noted.
Last year, after federal agents raided Combs' homes, she suggested returning to his employment as his chief of staff. Combs rejected the offer, Agnifilo said.
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The federal investigation of Combs began in November 2023, a day after Cassie sued him alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. The lawsuit was settled by Combs for US$20 million (NZ$33 million) the next day. In four days of testimony last week, Cassie said Combs physically abused her during most of their relationship from 2007 through 2018. She said she ended her relationship with Cudi in late 2011 after only a few weeks because Combs learned about it. George Kaplan, Combs' personal assistant from 2013 to 2015, testified earlier Thursday that he saw Combs be violent with Cassie once, on a 2015 trip to Las Vegas on Combs' private jet. He said no one helped her as she screamed, "Isn't anybody seeing this?" Kaplan said he didn't intervene because he feared losing his dream job but quit after that attack and a later episode in which he saw Cassie with a bruised eye. After Cudi, jurors heard from makeup artist Mylah Morales, who had worked for Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and other stars. She said Combs stormed into Cassie's bedroom at a hotel on the weekend of the 2010 Grammy Awards. Combs shut the door, and she heard "yelling and screaming". Then she saw Cassie with a "swollen eye and a busted lip, and knots on her head". Later, the general manager of the ritzy L'Ermitage Beverly Hills hotel testified that Combs frequently stayed there using aliases such as Frank White and Frank Black — names Cassie said he used when checking in for freak-offs. Frédéric Zemmour said Combs' guest profile noted he "ALWAYS spills candle wax on everything and uses excessive amounts of oil". The profile instructed staff to "place the room out of order upon departure for deep cleaning". The trial is set to resume Tuesday.
