Diddy assaults ex-girlfriend Cassie in new footage shown in court
Sean 'Diddy' Combs's violent attack on his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel has been made public after the entire unedited video was shown in court on Tuesday.
Ms Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, testified that she participated in Combs' drug-fuelled parties known as 'Freak Offs' for a decade, fearing he could become violent if she didn't.
Jurors were shown surveillance footage from the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel where a towel-clad Combs threw Ms Ventura to the ground and began to kick her.
She said the video was taken after a 'Freak Off' where Combs gave her a black eye.
'I made it to the elevators, I got my sneakers on, and the next thing I knew, I was thrown to the ground,' Ms Ventura, 38, told the court on Tuesday.
Asked by a prosecutor why she stayed on the ground, Ms Ventura said: 'I felt like it was the safest place to be.'
Combs shook his head from side to side as jurors were shown the footage in full for the first time.
The court fell silent as the video played without sound.
The footage showed Ms Ventura walking down the hallway at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City with a bag before Combs runs after her.
Combs catches up to Ms Ventura near the lift, slapping her across the head and pulling her to the ground using her hood.
He then kicked her several times as she lay motionless on the ground, before picking up her bag and dragging her back into the hallway.
Israel Florez, an assistant to the hotel's security director, then entered the fray, attempting to diffuse the situation.
He testified in court on Tuesday, and claimed Combs offered him a $100 bribe.
Ms Ventura is the star prosecution witness at Combs' trial in the Manhattan federal court.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
If convicted on all counts, he would face a minimum of 15 years in prison, and could face life behind bars.
The trial could last two months, and Combs is being held in a Brooklyn jail when not in court. He also faces dozens of civil lawsuits by women and men who accuse him of sexual abuse. He has denied wrongdoing, and said his relationships were consensual.
Ms Ventura testified that she once viewed her relationship with Combs, which began in her early 20s, as her first real adult relationship.
But she said Combs became more controlling as the 'Freak Offs,' which she said lasted as long as four days, took over their relationship and derailed her music career.
Combs has apologised for the video, and his lawyers have said prosecutors have tried to improperly punish him for his 'swingers' lifestyle.
The trial continues.
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UPI
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- UPI
Sharon Horgan: A mother's love is central to 'Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox'
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Amanda Knox returns to the U.S. Amanda Knox, left, follows her attorney Michael Nifong as they attend a news conference held at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport near Seattle, Washington on October 4, 2011. After spending four years in an Italian prison Knox arrived in the United States after departing Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport. Knox's life turned around dramatically Monday when an Italian appeals court threw out her conviction in the sexual assault and fatal stabbing of her British roommate. UPI/Jim Bryant | License Photo
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Elle
2 hours ago
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By 2015, Italy's Supreme Court had definitively exonerated both, but not before their lives had been fundamentally reshaped by years of legal uncertainty. Rudy Guede, whose DNA and fingerprints were found at the scene, was convicted separately and served 13 years of his 16-year sentence before his release in 2021. Yet even with this conviction, questions lingered — the kind that are resistant to the finality that courts are meant to provide. Adrienn Szabo The first trial began in 2009, capturing international attention as prosecutors painted Knox and Sollecito as participants in a fuelled sexual assault gone wrong. Knox's behaviour during the investigation — including cartwheels at the police station and public displays of affection with Sollecito — was scrutinised and criticised by media and prosecutors alike. In December 2009, both Knox and Sollecito were convicted of murder and sentenced to lengthy prison terms: 26 years for Knox, 25 for Sollecito. The second trial, an appeal that began in 2010, introduced new forensic evidence that cast doubt on the prosecution's case. Independent experts questioned the reliability of DNA evidence that had been central to the original conviction. In October 2011, Knox and Sollecito were acquitted, with Knox breaking down in tears as the verdict was read. After serving four years in Italian prison, she was free to return to Seattle. But Italy's complex legal system wasn't finished with them. The third trial came when Italy's highest court overturned the acquittal in 2013, sending the case back to a lower court. In 2014, Knox and Sollecito were convicted again in absentia — Knox remaining safely in Seattle while the legal proceedings continued without her physical presence. This conviction carried a 28-year sentence that Knox vowed never to serve. Andrea Miconi Finally, in March 2015, Italy's Supreme Court definitively exonerated both Knox and Sollecito, ruling that the evidence was insufficient for conviction. The court's reasoning was scathing, describing the investigation as plagued by 'stunning flaws' and 'sensational failures'. Knox and Sollecito were declared innocent, their legal nightmare officially over after eight years of uncertainty. Rather than Knox's return to freedom in 2011 marking an ending, it instead was the start of a complicated beginning. After four years in Italian prison, she found herself back in Seattle, attempting to reconstruct a life that had been interrupted at its most formative moment. The world had moved on; she had to catch up while simultaneously processing trauma that defied comprehension. Her path back to normalcy took deliberate steps. She completed her creative writing degree at the University of Washington in 2014, reclaiming the educational journey that had been so violently derailed. Her 2015 memoir Waiting to Be Heard became both catharsis and clarification — an attempt to wrestle her narrative back from years of media speculation and legal proceedings. But Knox's legal troubles proved as persistent as her determination to move forward. Her acquittal was annulled and the case sent to lower courts, leading to re-conviction in 2014 before the Supreme Court's final exoneration in 2015. Even then, shadows remained. In 2024, she returned to an Italian courtroom to face a slander conviction related to statements made during her original interrogation. Ida Mae Astute Knox's relationship with Italy remains complex and ongoing. She has returned multiple times since her exoneration, including a poignant 2022 trip with Sollecito to Gubbio — the city they had planned to visit the day Kercher was found dead. 'It was bittersweet to go back as we were supposed to go there in such different circumstances,' Sollecito observed in a 2022 interview, 'but it was just nice for us to be able to talk about something that wasn't the case.' Today, Knox lives in the Seattle area with her husband Christopher Robinson, whom she met in 2015 at his book launch. 'I was probably the only person at the party who didn't really know who she was,' Robinson later recalled in a 2017 interview. They married in 2020 in a space-themed ceremony and share two children: daughter Eureka, born in 2021, and son Echo, born in 2023. As an ambassador for the Innocence Network, Knox channels her experience into advocacy for others caught in similar legal predicaments. The couple co-hosts the Labyrinths podcast, while Knox hosts several others on her own including Hard Knox With Amanda Knox . Her latest book, Free: My Search For Meaning , was published earlier this year. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox is available to stream on Disney+ in the UK and Ireland, on Hulu in the U.S., and Disney+ internationally. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE . Netflix Has Renewed 'Dept Q' For Season 2 Farewell, 'And Just Like That' Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years' worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. 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