Cassie Ventura testified on Friday that Sean “Diddy” Combs allegedly raped her in 2018, following their breakup.
Ventura was reportedly dating her now-husband when she sought to completely end her relationship with Combs. Ventura testified it was during that time when Combs raped her at her home after the pair had dinner, according to The New York Times.
Ventura referred to the alleged rape in her 2023 lawsuit against Combs, which Combs reportedly settled for $20 million. She also mentioned the incident to federal agents two weeks after filing the lawsuit.
The defense zeroed in on the fact that Ventura told the state in a preparation meeting last month that the rape occurred in August 2018 — not September 2018 as mentioned in her lawsuit and comments to federal agents, according to CBS.
In August 2018, Combs allegedly texted Ventura, “I know I look bad to you. I could tell I didn’t turn you on yesterday. I fell off.”
Ventura also testified on Friday that Combs had been acting “nice but strangely” and ignored her pleas to stop. The defense floated the idea that Combs might have been experiencing a bipolar episode, marking the first time it has been mentioned during the weeklong trial, per The New York Times.
Ventura and Combs dated from 2007 to 2018. Prosecutors plan to introduce two other key witnesses who claim they were abused by Combs. Unlike Ventura, the two other witnesses will use pseudonyms.
Ventura previously testified that Combs “stifled” her music career while forcing her to participate in “freak offs,” which often entailed her having sex with other men in Combs’ presence. Ventura said the drug-fueled ordeals left her sleep-deprived and dehydrated, as they would last for days on end.
Ventura said Combs “often” injured her during these rendezvous.
Ventura testified that she met Combs when she was 19, and their 10-year relationship was rife with physical abuse. She also described Combs’ controlling behavior — which entailed him controlling her physical appearance and having guards track her down when he could not find her.
Another witness, Daniel Phillip, said he was a male stripper when he was paid to have sex with Ventura at a New York hotel while Combs watched and masturbated. The alleged arrangement lasted about a year or two, and Phillip testified that Ventura appeared to “be on drugs” during at least one of the encounters.
Phillip stated that he watched Combs throw a liquor bottle at Ventura when she did not walk over to him fast enough. Phillip then dragged her to another room and possibly smacked her. He recounted another instance where he overheard Combs hitting Ventura as she said, “I’m sorry.” Phillip said Combs left the hotel, and Ventura ran to him and sat on his lap.
“I asked her, ‘Why is she doing this, why is she staying with this guy?’ ” Phillip testified, according to The New York Times. “I tried to explain to her that she was in real danger if she stayed with him.”
Upon being asked why he never called the cops, Phillips stated that he feared what would happen if he reported Combs — who he believed had “unlimited power.”
“And chances are even if I did go to the police, that I might still end up losing my life,” he also said.
Combs was arrested on September 16, 2024, outside a Manhattan hotel on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has been denied bail three times, as Judge Andrew L. Carter determined there was a “serious risk” of witness tampering in this case.
Combs’ legal team sought home detention with GPS monitoring. In exchange, they offered to post $50 million bail and to use Combs’ home as collateral.
“The government has proven the defendant is a danger. The bail package is insufficient even on risk of flight,” Carter said while denying Combs’ bail.
Federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills, California, and Miami in March 2024. Reports indicated that the raids were connected to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation that resulted in his arrest months later.
The reported raids also occurred four months after Ventura accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
However, last May, a video surfaced showing Combs assaulting Ventura at a California hotel in 2016. After the video was released, Combs put out a video expressing remorse for his behavior.
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
In that case, Gardner claimed Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall drugged and raped her and a friend following an Uptown Records event in 1990. Gardner said she was 16 at the time of the incident. She also accused Combs of choking her a day after the assault.
Days after footage of the Ventura assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a New York Fashion Institute of Technology student who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs of sexually assaulting her on four occasions between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Lampros claimed Combs promised to mentor her and connect her with executives in the fashion industry. Instead, Combs allegedly forced her to drink before raping her in a hotel room. Lampros recalled another instance in which Combs forced her to perform oral sex in a parking garage while a parking attendant watched.
Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in at least 30 other lawsuits — including one, filed in October, which alleges he and Jay-Z raped a 13-year-old girl in New York in 2000. The accuser in that case had her lawsuit dismissed in February.
Combs turned down a plea deal days before jury selection began. His trial is expected to last two months.
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[Featured image: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP]
