Cassie testifies against Sean Combs : NPR

This report contains descriptions of physical and sexual violence.

Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of Sean Combs, took the stand on Tuesday morning (May 13) as the star witness in the first full day of testimony in the federal trial against the hip-hop mogul better known as Diddy or Puff Daddy.

Ventura, who is now 38 years old and visibly pregnant as she testified, described a tortured, decade-long off-and-on relationship that began shortly after Combs signed her to a 10-album deal with his Bad Boy Records label when she was a 19-year-old ingénue.

During her testimony, Ventura accused him of physically and emotionally abusing her for years, and exerting control over virtually every aspect of her life. She said that she recorded hundreds of songs that were never released and busied herself at his command in the recording studio, she said, but she only released a single mixtape in 2013. Most of her time, she said, was dominated by Combs’ “freak-offs” or “FOs” – drug-fueled, multi-day marathons of sex with prostitutes that he orchestrated and directed. “The FOs became a job where there was no space to do anything else but to recover and try to feel normal again,” she said.

During the episodes in which she describes Combs allegedly physically assaulted her, she said, “He would knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp my head if I was down.” She also claimed that he domineered her: “the way I looked, what I was working on that day, who I spoke to.” She said he would also call her incessantly, or have one of his employees call her repeatedly, until she responded. At other points, she alleged, Combs would send out one of his employees to locate her physically.

Yesterday (May 12), the jury heard opening arguments and testimony from the first two government witnesses in the trial. Prosecutors are accusing Combs of racketeering and sex trafficking — and of using his vast music, media and lifestyle empire as a criminal enterprise to harm women and fulfill his sexual desires. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all the charges, and his defense team has presented him as a violent, troubled man whose actions did not match the government’s allegations.

In her opening argument, prosecutor Elizabeth Johnson sought to head off the possible defense that Combs was having consensual relationships with the women. “This case is not about a celebrity’s private sexual preferences. It’s about coercive crimes,” she said. She pointed in particular to allegations that Combs trafficked his ex-girlfriend, the singer and model “Cassie” Ventura, who is testifying under her nickname, and also to accusations involving another former girlfriend, who will testify under the pseudonym Jane.

Johnson described the “freak-offs” or “FOs” and said that Combs called himself “the king.” She also detailed several alleged instances of violence, including an alleged rape of Ventura and a 2009 episode in which Combs allegedly threw Ventura to the floor of an SUV and stomped repeatedly on her face, then hid her in a hotel for days to allow time for her injuries to heal, while she was monitored by his employees. She also accused Combs of blackmailing Ventura with graphic videos of her in sexual situations with “dozens and dozens” of prostitutes.

According to Johnson, Jane met Combs in 2020, and he soon introduced her to his “freak-offs.” Jane allegedly began coordinating freak-offs in hopes that Combs would grow their relationship and that he would take her on trips; Combs allegedly held financial control over her, even paying her rent. During a fight in 2023, Johnson alleged, Combs kicked down multiple doors at Jane’s house, and forced her into a freak-off the same night. Johnson also referenced another episode in which Combs allegedly sexually assaulted one of his employees.

In her opening statement, Combs’ defense attorney Teny Geragos said that Combs was “a jerk” and “mean, that he “has “a bad temper” and issues with drug use. She also acknowledged that there had been episodes of domestic violence and assault in “toxic” relationships — but, she argued, none of those were what the government had indicted Combs for, and that all of his relationships were consensual. Geragos called the dozens of civil lawsuits filed against Combs “money grabs.”

In the afternoon, the jury heard from the first two witnesses in the case, beginning with Israel Florez. Florez, who is now an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, was working as a security guard at a Los Angeles hotel where Combs attacked Ventura in 2016. Florez testified that he was called to address the couple. He said that Ventura had “a purple eye,” that he saw Ventura trying to leave the hotel and that Combs initially would not allow her to depart. Florez said that he asked if she needed assistance, but that she refused to call police or answer any questions. According to Florez, Combs held up a large wad of cash, which he interpreted as a bribe; Florez said he declined to take the money.

Last year, CNN obtained and aired surveillance video of that attack, in which Combs kicked, dragged and shoved Ventura. After CNN aired the footage, Combs delivered a video apology on Instagram, which has since been removed from the social media platform. During Florez’s testimony, the jury saw footage from multiple angles of that same hotel incident.

The second witness called by prosecutors was a man named Daniel Phillip, who alleged that Ventura gave him large sums of money on numerous occasions between 2012 and 2014 to have sex with her while Combs watched. He also testified that he saw Combs violently attack Ventura on multiple occasions, but that he did not intervene because he feared for his own safety.