Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Cassie Ventura to face cross-examination in federal sex trafficking case

Yahoo

15-05-2025

The trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs continues in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, with Cassie Ventura, his former girlfriend, returning to the witness stand for the defense's cross-examination.
The 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Federal prosecutors say that for decades, Combs abused, threatened and coerced women to participate in marathon sexual encounters called "freak offs," and used his business empire, along with guns, kidnapping and arson, to conceal his crimes.
During two days of direct questioning from prosecutors, Ventura told the court her decade-long relationship with Combs was frequently marked by violence and physical abuse, describing in detail the drug-fueled "freak offs" that would take days to recover from. Jurors were also shown a 2016 surveillance video of Combs hitting, kicking and dragging Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.
Combs has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face life in prison. He is being held without bail in a Brooklyn jail. A jury of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates will decide his fate. The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.
Follow the live blog below for the latest updates on the trial, culled from various reporters and news organizations in the courtroom, including the Associated Press, CNN, the New York Times and NBC News.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Find more resources here.
Cassie Ventura's testimony has concluded for the day, and her cross-examination is scheduled to begin on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Defense attorney Anna Estevo told Judge Arun Subramanian that the defense team expects their cross-examination will take all day tomorrow and likely go into Friday, but it should be completed by the end of the week.
Ventura has spent the last two days recounting the more than 10 years she spent in an on-and-off relationship with Sean "Diddy" Combs.
During Wednesday's testimony, Ventura described several violent situations she faced with Combs, including when he assaulted her in a hotel hallway in 2016 and the first time he beat her, sometime in 2007 or 2008. She testified that he pressured her into "hundreds" of drug-fueled sex performances known as "freak offs," which subsequently caused her to develop an addiction to opiates. Ventura recalled how she did not feel that she had the resources to leave Combs when she wanted to and did not feel safe asking her friends or family for help.
She also told the jury that Combs raped her after a dinner in 2018, at the end of their relationship, where they had what she'd interpreted as a "closure conversation."
The prosecution told Judge Arun Subramanian that it has no further questions for Cassie Ventura at this time.
Ventura concluded her direct testimony by estimating she had been in "hundreds" of "freak offs" during her relationship with Sean Combs and hasn't been involved in any since they broke up in 2018. She testified that she settled her lawsuit against Combs for $20 million.
While the prosecution has pushed for cross-examination to begin today, the judge has called for the defense to start questioning Ventura tomorrow.
After two days on the stand, Cassie Ventura finally broke down Wednesday afternoon while answering questions about why she decided to go to rehab and trauma therapy in 2023.
"I was spinning out," she said. "I didn't want to be alive anymore at that point."
Ventura said she decided to start writing a book about her relationship with Sean Combs after she went to rehab. She said her mom helped her write it.
"I really wanted Sean to read the information. I wanted him to understand what I had to learn to understand over that period," she said.
Editor's note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, you can dial or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org for free, confidential support.
Cassie Ventura testified that she agreed to see Sean Combs for dinner in Malibu, Calif., in August 2018 for what she thought was a "closure conversation" at the end of their relationship. Ventura said she had started seeing her now-husband, Alex Fine, around that time.
Ventura said Combs was playful and somewhat romantic during their dinner, and he drove her home.
"Then he raped me in my living room," she said. "I just remember crying and saying 'no,' but it was very fast."
She said she was consensually intimate with Combs once more after that, but the relationship officially ended around that time. Ventura said they had some sporadic contact afterward until March 2019, when Combs sent her a message that referred to "iPads full of skeletons," which she interpreted as referring to the sexual videos they had recorded.
As Cassie Ventura continues to testify about what she describes as Sean Combs's violence throughout their relationship, she noted his physical abuse was not limited to her.
She said she personally witnessed him assaulting his own employees and assistants, from punching one man in the head to dragging another woman, known in the trial as "Mia" or "Victim-4," out of bed during a trip.
Ventura said her friends weren't safe either. She said she watched Combs once attack a friend by holding her over a 17th-floor balcony — an incident that was mentioned in her 2023 civil lawsuit as well as a 2024 lawsuit filed by fashion designer Bryana "Bana" Bongolan. Ventura said she watched Combs hit one of her best friends with a wooden hanger in 2018, which ended their 17-year friendship.
In response to Sean Combs's reaction to Cassie Ventura dating Scott Mescudi, also known as rapper Kid Cudi, Ventura said she ended the relationship in early 2012.
"Too much danger, too much uncertainty of what could happen if we continued to see each other," she said.
Ventura testified that Combs had threatened to blow up Mescudi's car, hoping that Mescudi and his friends would be present when it happened. She mentioned the allegation in her 2023 lawsuit, claiming, "Around that time, Kid Cudi's car exploded in his driveway." Through a spokesperson, Mescudi told the New York Times that one of his cars did explode in early 2012. "This is all true," the spokesperson said.
The indictment from last year that led to Combs's arrest states he used arson to control victims.
In the courtroom, Ventura testified that the three met at the Soho House after she broke up with Mescudi. She said Mescudi asked, "What about my vehicle?" to which Combs replied, "What vehicle?"
Cassie Ventura testified that she went to see her mother in Connecticut in December 2011 after Sean Combs had allegedly beaten her and that her mom took photos of her bruises.
But during the same visit, Ventura said she lied to her mother by saying it was "the first time" she had been assaulted by Combs.
And Ventura said she had not told her mother about the "freak offs."
'I couldn't hurt her like that,' Ventura said. 'You can't justify it to anyone. Especially not your mom.'
Cassie Ventura testified that in late 2011, she met the rapper Kid Cudi (whose real name is Scott Mescudi) and they soon began dating.
When Sean Combs found out about her new relationship during one of their "freak offs," Ventura said he lunged at her with a wine bottle opener. She fled to another hotel and called Mescudi on a "burner" phone to pick her up.
She said Combs subsequently threatened to release two "freak off" videos and have someone "hurt" Ventura and Mescudi while he was out of the country.
Ventura sent an email to her mom and one of Combs's employees detailing the alleged threats.
Ventura said Combs became violent with her after a party at a Los Angeles nightclub in 2009 and started calling her names. She testified that she drunkenly punched him in the face after hearing him insult her — "as hard as you can hit somebody when you're drunk like that," she testified — and he responded by throwing her to the floor of the car and stomping on her face.
When they arrived at Combs's house, she tried to run away, but Combs's security staff caught her and brought her in. She said she did not recognize herself when she looked in the mirror.
She testified that Combs told her she needed to stay in a hotel with security to recover. She said she wanted to stay at Combs's house instead of a hotel, but he said no. She explained that even when she felt ready to leave the hotel after staying there for about a week, she felt like she couldn't.
"I didn't have the resources I needed to get out and move, to get out and not have anybody stop me," she said. "I understood Sean's capabilities, his access to guns and the threats that he made prior to that."
Ventura said she didn't feel comfortable potentially getting other people involved by telling them what was happening. She said her mom read a gossip item online about the nightclub incident and called Ventura to ask if it was her.
"I didn't tell my mom the truth because I was ashamed, but I also felt like at that point I didn't know what was going to happen," Ventura said. "I didn't want to put my mother in danger of knowing anything of that magnitude."
Cassie Ventura testified about the physical violence in her relationship with Combs, stating that the first incident was around 2007 or 2008. (The two first met in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37.) Ventura said she saw Combs flirting with someone else at a group dinner, and when they got into his car after the meal, she said "he knocked me around and was just really mean."
Ventura said Combs hit her on the side of the head, causing her to fall to the floor of the car in front of security staff and his driver.
"I was just shocked," she said.
Ventura said that she initiated some of the physical fights throughout their relationship, but she said Combs was never injured after those incidents. But when he got physical with her, she said she would get bruises and would sometimes hide out for days afterward.
She said that there were multiple employees who witnessed Combs's abuse, including members of his security team, his management team and his assistants. She testified that at least one assistant had told her that they quit because of how Combs treated her.
After hearing hours of detailed testimony from Cassie Ventura about the "freak offs," the jury was shown images of them for the first time.
Still images from "freak off" videos were displayed on monitors only visible to the jury box and witness stand.
In them, Ventura identified herself, several male escorts and a woman — referred to by the pseudonym Mia — who is expected to be called as a witness for the prosecution later in the trial.
During her testimony on Tuesday, Cassie Ventura recalled that one "freak off" in Los Angeles was interrupted when Combs found out that rival rap mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight was at a nearby diner. Combs and a bodyguard then grabbed guns from a safe and loaded into an SUV, she said.
Knight — who is serving a 28-year prison sentence for the death of a man during a hit-and-run incident on the set of the movie 'Straight Outta Compton' — called in to Chris Cuomo's NewsNation show from prison to discuss the Combs trial.
The cofounder of Death Row Records said he believes that Combs "will be all right," because the defense only has to convince one juror he's not guilty.
"And if he gets convicted," Knight predicted, "Trump's going to pardon him.'
Judge Arun Subramanian is back on the bench as jury members return to their seats. Cassie Ventura is back on the witness stand and will continue answering questions from prosecutor Emily Johnson.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson told Judge Arun Subramanian that she expects to finish questioning Cassie Ventura before the end of today, meaning the defense lawyers could begin their cross-examination later this afternoon.
Teny Geragos, one of the defense lawyers for Combs, told the judge the prosecution team's questioning had "gone differently than we expected" and that the defense will be adjusting its strategy in response in terms of what will be submitted as evidence. It was previously reported that the defense had planned to argue that the sexual interactions between Ventura and Combs were fully consensual.
Judge Arun Subramanian announced the court will now continue at 1:45 p.m. ET.
Just before the break, Cassie Ventura testified that on a commercial flight back from the Cannes International Film Festival in 2013, Combs pulled up "freak off" videos on his laptop that she thought had been deleted.
"He was showing them with other people around," Ventura testified. "I was scared;, I felt trapped."
Within hours of landing in New York, he demanded they arrange a "freak off" or the videos would be released.
'At that point, whatever was going to make him not be angry at me and threatening me, I was willing to do,' she said.
The court is taking a brief lunch break. Testimony will resume at 1:15 p.m. ET.
In addition to the "freak offs," Cassie Ventura said that Sean Combs would also make her visit sex clubs, where she would have sex with him and, on at least one occasion, a male escort.
The defense team for Combs has argued that the music mogul kept up a "swinger" lifestyle and that the conduct was far from criminal.
But Ventura made it clear in court that she was not a willing participant.
When Ventura told Combs that the club visits made her uncomfortable and that she didn't want to go, she said he "would push and try to convince me."
Cassie Ventura testified that in 2013, she was with friends in her apartment before going to a music festival.
She said that Combs came into the room and started yelling at Ventura for not packing. Ventura said that when Combs moved to hit her, her friends "jumped on his back" to make him stop. During the fight, Combs threw Ventura down, and she cut her eyebrow on the corner of her bed frame, Ventura said.
Combs's security escorted Ventura to a plastic surgeon's office to examine the cut, which she took a photo of and later texted to him with the caption, "So you can remember."
Combs responded to the photo, texting, 'You don't know when to stop. You pushed it too far. And continued to push. Sad.'
Ventura says she has a permanent scar on her eyebrow from the 2013 altercation.
The court showed a text exchange between Cassie Ventura and Combs from March 2014, after a DJ at a party in Atlantic City, N.J., told Ventura he had heard about a "sexually explicit video" of her circulating.
"Immediately, my thoughts went to a 'freak off' video," she said.
The texts showed Combs telling Ventura to find out more about the video and how the DJ saw it.
"You gotta tell him this is your life," Combs texted her. "This is serious."
The next day, Ventura met with the DJ and the man who had shown him the video at a restaurant in New York. She brought security and her manager, James Cruz, with her to the dinner.