'More Than Once': Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Ex-Aide Tells Trial Of Being Raped By Grammy Winner; 'Mia' Details Cassie Ventura Beatings She Witnessed

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4 days ago

With a quiet voice, a former personal assistant to Sean 'Diddy' Combs this morning told the Bad Boy Records founder's sex-trafficking trial that the Grammy winner raped her.
'More than once,' the witness going under the alias 'Mia' stated to Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Smyser Thursday morning while listing off a series of violent acts Combs subjected her to over the years she worked for him, often going days without sleep.
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'He's thrown things at me, he's thrown me against the wall, he's thrown me into a pool, he's thrown an ice bucket on my head,' the witness outlined for the jury and Judge Arun Subramanian in the lower Manhattan courtroom. 'He has slammed my arm into a door. He sexually assaulted me.'
Detailing the insults and constant threats of being fired over her 2009 to 2017 tenure working for Diddy, 'Mia' also Thursday laid out what she observed up-close in the 'toxic,' as the witness called it, decade- long relationship between Combs and Cassie Ventura. 'We became like sisters, best friends,' the witness said of still close pal Ventura, who testified during the trial's first week.
When it came to Combs and Ventura, 'Mia' described an intense controlling, manipulative and violent relationship. 'He was abusive towards her,' she told the court, rarely looking up. 'I've seen him crack her head open,' the witness added, telling the court of the 'terrified look' she once saw in a hiding Ventura's eyes. Stating that she never saw Ventura fight back under Diddy's assaults, 'Mia' did recount one occasion where the assistant herself and a bodyguard tried to stop Combs allegedly stomping on Ventura in her L.A. apartment.
In terms very similar to what Ventura used during her testimony, 'Mia' stated how Combs' 'eyes turned, like, black and there was like no getting through,' during the attack on his then girlfriend. 'I was trying to get him to stop, and it was like he was looking through me,' she said, also noting the 'severe danger' she felt she and Ventura were in during that incident. The assault, described in past testimony by Ventura, left the 'Me & U' singer with a large gash on her head. 'Mia' said that Diddy told her to organize a plastic surgeon for Ventura to fix up the wound and to tell anyone that asked that Ventura was drunk and fell.
As the much anticipated 'Mia' spoke, Combs himself was just several feet away with his lawyers at the defense table. Also in the courtroom today were several members of Combs' family, including at least two of his sons and his mother. Earlier today, there was a move to restrict video of 'Mia' being fed to the media and general public in the overflow rooms at the cavernous Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, but the judge rejected that move.
The criminal trial of the much-accused and currently incarcerated Combs follows his arrest last September on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. Having entered a not guilty plea, the 55-year-old Combs faces the rest of his life behind bars in federal prison if found guilty by the jury. The trial started on May 12 and, even with the prosecution moving a bit faster than initially assumed, Judge Subramanian says it will last about nine weeks.
Earlier Thursday, the jury heard more testimony from subpoenaed celebrity stylist and Cassie Ventura pal Deonte Nash, who had been on the stand on May 28.
Yesterday, noting he did not want to be in court, Nash gave very specific testimony of the beatings he says he saw Combs subject Ventura to, her frequent reluctance to participate in the 'freak-off' sex sessions, and the time in 2013 when Combs got violent with him. The stylist, who worked for Combs and Ventura for most of their 2007 to 2018 relationship, also detailed the threats by the Bad Boy Records founder to Ventura to release the videos and photos from the 'freak-offs' where Ventura had baby oil and drug enhanced sex with male escorts while Diddy pleasured himself.
Of note, at least one of those violent incidents of Combs attacking Ventura involved the 'I Need A Girl' performer's then assistant 'Mia' being present and even trying to stop the beatings. Mentioned several times in the trial before this week, including prominently in the prosecution's opening statement on May 12, 'Mia' herself was assaulted and abused by her then boss – as her own testimony displayed.
Before Nash, the prosecution had LAFD arson investigator Lance Jimenez and LAPD Officer Christopher Ignacio on the stand respectively. The two West Coast witnesses spoke primarily about the alleged torching of Kid Cudi's Porsche by a violently jealous Diddy when the Man on the Moon rapper was briefly dating Ventura.
The court also had a flutter mid-morning Wednesday when defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro asked for a mistrial to be declared based on claimed prosecutorial misconduct and previous testimony. Unsurprisingly, the feds called a mistrial 'absolutely unwarranted,' Not unexpected at this point in the criminal trial, the mistrial request had little legs and was quickly rejected by Judge Subramanian. Having said that, the judge did order some testimony struck from the record about a fingerprint card taken from Kid Cudi's home in late 2011 following a break-in. The LAFD's Jimenez told the jurors that much of that evidence was destroyed by the department in 2022.
Wednesday also saw news break that Ventura, who testified for four days during the trial's first week, had given birth to her third child on May 27. Reported by various outlets, the information landed in the courtroom via stylist Nash who almost casually mentioned speaking to Ventura the day before to congratulate her. Born just under two weeks after Ventura's often harrowing time on the stand concluded, the new arrival is a boy. Ventura and husband Alex Fine, who was in court for most of his wife's testimony during the week of May 12, already had two daughters.
The feds' star witness, Ventura will clearly not be returning to the court, however the testimony of 'Mia' is expected to go all day Thursday and likely into Friday, I hear.
Judge Subramanian has set the proceedings to run from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET, but has cautioned the jury they could go a bit long some days to wrap testimony up. Just before the lunch break today, the judge said he will keep the jury until 4 p.m. ET Thursday and maybe the same on May 30.
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