The music magnate and entrepreneur SEAN “Diddy” Combs arrives at the Billboard Music Awards, on May 15, 2022, in Las Vegas.
Jordan Strauss / Invision via AP
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Jordan Strauss / Invision via AP
This report contains descriptions of physical and sexual violence.
During the counter-examination Thursday, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura detailed in the federal sexual traffic and racketeering trial against the Sean Hip-Hop “Diiddy” magnate “Diddy” breaks at their group sex meetings, the extent of their drug use and his own feelings towards combs.
Thursday scored the fourth day of the New York trial against Combs. Ventura continued her testimony in which she allegedly alleged a model of sexual coercion, drugs and physical violence.
Combs faces three main accusations of sex trafficking, racketeering and transport for prostitution. The defendant denies that he has committed these crimes.
The defense highlighted Ventura’s texts helping to plan “freak-offs”
One of the lawyers for the defense of Combs, Anna Estevao, tried to establish that there was a romantic relationship between the pair, and that Ventura anticipated and planned some of the “freak-offs”. Ventura described these events as those in which Combs asked Ventura to take various drugs and hired male prostitutes so that she can have sex while he was watching.
The defense relied on text messages between the pair of Ventura saying that it “cannot wait” for the “freak-off”, it is “always ready for FO” and that it appreciates them when “we want it both”. The texts also refer to Ventura Picking Rooms, supplies and escorts.
Ventura said that the texts were “just words”.
She said earlier in her testimony that she had sometimes launched the acts out of fear, and would do her best to do “Damage control” so she would know when they occurred. She also said that she loved him and had tried to make him happy. Ventura said that most of her time had spent “panic” or recovering from one. If she refused, Combs would become violent, said Ventura.
She said on Thursday that the “freak-off” was like a job and that she hated them, especially when Combs recorded them.
Combs lawyer has referenced combs with weaning symptoms of opiates
The defense interviewed Ventura about Combits’ state of mind during some of his violent episodes, but did not explicitly linked the two.
In the opening declarations, combat lawyers admitted the reprehensible acts of Combs in a 2016 video published last year by CNN. Combs is shown after Ventura in the hallway of a hotel, throwing it on the ground, cutting them, dragging it and striking it.
Ventura said on Thursday that the two used medication in depth throughout their relationship, and Combs had tried to stop them at several times, but never through a rehabilitation center.
She added that he often went through withdrawal symptoms, such as irritability, but did not know if he was in intoxication during the incident shown on the video of the hotel.
Defense asked Ventura to feel jealous during her relationship with the combs
In declarations of opening earlier this week, defense lawyer Teny Geragos described this as “jealousy and infidelity”.
Estevao said on Thursday, Combs often saw various women and Ventura often complained of not being the “main girlfriend”.
Ventura said that it bored her that and Combs were not public the first years of their relationship, and that Combs was also always involved with Kim Porter, the mother of several children of Combs.
Estevao added that Ventura wanted the relationship to be more about sex. In a 2009 text, Ventura said that Combs had treated it as if they were only one person to “withdraw your fantasies and that’s it”.
In 11 years together, Ventura said that she never felt entirely part of a family with Combs and her seven children.
She also said that it was often planned that she was a monogamous comb, but not the opposite. Ventura said that she had started to go out with rapper Kid Cudi while she and Combs were broken, but she finished her in less than a month when Combs started to threaten him. In 2023, Cudi said The New York Times His car exploded in his alley when he saw Ventura.
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento of NPR contributed to this report.
