Cassie Ventura finishes emotional testimony in Sean 'Diddy' Combs's trial

Yahoo

2 days ago

NEW YORK — Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura wrapped up her fourth and final day of testimony in Sean 'Diddy' Combs's federal sex trafficking trial on Friday, as the defense concluded cross-examination of the government's star witness and prosecutors introduced two more: singer Dawn Richard and Homeland Security agent Yasin Binda.
The packed day of testimony revisited accounts of Combs's alleged abuse and revealed new details about the scene of his arrest in September. The music mogul is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution — offenses that could carry a life sentence if convicted on all counts. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ventura, 38, who appeared tired on the stand, spent most of the day under exhaustive questioning from Combs's lawyers, who continued to suggest that she was more sexually mature and enthusiastic about Combs's sex parties than she expressed in her testimony. They also tried to cast doubt about her recollections of her years-long relationship with Combs, 55.
In her final moments on the stand, Ventura also revealed that she had reached a $10 million settlement with the InterContinental Hotels Group — whose Los Angeles location was the site of Ventura's beating by Combs in 2016. In an email to The Washington Post, IHG declined to comment.
Anna Estevao, one of Combs's defense attorneys, resumed her cross-examination of Ventura on Friday with the 2016 incident at the InterContinental hotel.
In text messages between the former couple shortly after the assault, Combs appeared to feel sorry about the incident and proposed having sex with Ventura. 'We need a different vibe,' she wrote back. The couple signed off by texting each other, 'Love you.'
When asked what she recalled after the incident, Ventura said she had done press for her 2016 film, 'The Perfect Match,' whose premiere was two days later. 'After that, I don't really remember too much,' she said.
Ventura said she also attended a 'spa' in Sedona, Arizona, for a week to detox from heavy drug usage after the beating.
The defense questioned Ventura on the events of Sept. 27, 2018, when she and Combs had consensual sex weeks after he allegedly raped her. In previous testimony, Ventura said: 'We'd been together 10 years; you just don't turn feelings off that way.'
On that night, Ventura missed a video call from her then-boyfriend and current husband, Alex Fine. Ventura has testified that Fine punched a wall upon learning she had sex with Combs that night.
Ventura said that Combs had reached out to her multiple times since she saw him last in 2018. He texted her to congratulate her on a pregnancy and to tell her he missed her, was 'sending her love and light' and had a dream about her.
A big moment of Friday's cross-examination was an audio recording in which Ventura threatened to kill a DJ who said he had seen a lurid video of her having sex with Combs.
In the audio, Ventura is heard asking politely to see the video before she starts shouting. 'It's my f---ing life, and I will kill you. I will kill you. I will cut you up, and I will hide you,' she is heard saying. 'I have never killed anyone in my life, but I will kill you. … And it's not going to be my hands. There's not going to be blood on my hands. It's going to be someone else.'
The defense also questioned Ventura about a 2013 birthday party for her brother, where she allegedly got into a physical altercation with a woman and told Combs she 'tried to kill the b----.'
Binda, the Homeland Security agent, testified that she participated in a raid on Combs's hotel room at the Park Hyatt in Manhattan in September. He was arrested in the lobby of the hotel.
In the room, agents found large zip-top bags filled with baby oil and lubricant, plus additional bottles stored in a bathtub and on a nightstand. They also found a Louis Vuitton bag with a bottle of medication prescribed to 'Frank Black' and, in separate pill bottles, ketamine and MDMA. Agents also recovered an external hard drive.
Binda described finding a black fanny pack with $9,000 in cash. Still at the witness stand, she cut open an evidence bag of cash and fanned the bills so the jury could see.
Part of the reason Combs was in New York at that time was to meet with federal agents about his surrender.
Late in the day, the prosecution called witness Richard, who performed in two bands managed by Combs. The Danity Kane singer testified that in 2009, she was at Combs's Los Angeles home to record music when Combs attacked Ventura in the kitchen — an incident she recounted in a lawsuit she filed against Combs last year. (Combs denied the 'series of false claims' in Richard's complaint).
'He came downstairs angry and was saying, where the f--- was his eggs and he was telling Cassie she never gets anything right and where the f--- was his food,' Richard told the jury. 'And he came over to the skillet with the eggs in it and tried to hit her over the head and she fell to the ground.'
Combs continued to beat Ventura as she was on the floor, Richard testified, then dragged her upstairs.
Richard said that the following day, Combs invited her and her bandmate Kalenna Harper, who also saw the alleged attack, to record music in his studio. Richard testified that Combs told the two women that the violence they had witnessed was 'passion.' And she said he threatened that 'where he comes from, people who say something can end up missing.'
Richard will return on Monday but it is unclear how much of her testimony from Friday will be admissible. But prosecutors have argued that Combs's alleged abuse created a culture of violence and fear that allowed him to carry out more-serious crimes.
Kingsberry reported from Washington.