(NEW YORK) — For six hours on Tuesday in a packed Manhattan courtroom, Cassie Ventura testified about how her decade-long relationship turned violent as her then-boyfriend, Sean “Diddy” Combs, seized control of her personal and professional lives and demanded she orchestrate his drug-fueled sex parties known as “freak offs.”
Ventura is the star witness in the federal racketeering and sex-trafficking case against Combs, who faces the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted. Ventura’s 2023 civil lawsuit — which Combs settled with no admission of guilt — prompted federal authorities to begin investigating Combs’ conduct, and he was indicted last September.
Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied the federal charges. His lawyers insist that any sexual conduct was consensual and, though Combs’ lifestyle may not be appropriate for everyone, law enforcement has no right to invade his bedroom and private life. They also insist that any acts of assault show domestic violence, but not coercion or evidence of trafficking.
Ventura testifies about her relationship with Combs turning violent
Ventura testified that her relationship gradually became violent, as Combs allegedly took control of her personal and professional lives.
Combs signed Ventura to his Bad Boy record label in 2006, when she was 19 years old. Though 17 years younger than Combs, Ventura said she wanted to be around the man who helped catapult rap music and urban fashion into the mainstream.
“I wanted to be around Sean for the same reasons as everyone else at the time. He’s just this exciting and entertaining fun guy that just also happened to have my career in his hands.”
As she continued her relationship with Combs, Ventura told jurors, she began to experience “a different side” of the mogul – one that featured fits of rage, violent outbursts and unpredictable mood swings.
“He would bash my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head when I was down,” she said, recounting violent arguments with Combs.
“How frequently was Sean physical with you during your relationship?” prosecutor Emily Johnson asked.
“Too frequently,” Ventura responded, saying she feared triggering his anger.
Ventura added that members of Combs’ security team would “keep an eye” on her and that Combs would incessantly call her if she ignored him. With Combs paying for her apartment, she experienced her “stomach in knots” moments when he would drop by unannounced, not knowing if he was angry.
Ventura recounts ‘Freak Offs’ in detail
Ventura broke down in tears on the witness stand as she testified how she participated in drug-fueled sex parties called “freak offs” or “wild king nights.”
She said she had just turned 22 when Sean Combs first proposed these marathon, drug-addled sex performances with male prostitutes.
She said she originally agreed to participate in order to indulge Combs’ voyeuristic fantasies. Eventually, she told the jury, the orgies “became almost weekly,” oftentimes lasting two or three days, and once going on for four straight days. She testified she was awake the whole time, fueled by ecstasy, molly and cocaine supplied by Combs.
According to Ventura, she participated in the sex parties in every one of Combs’ homes and, most frequently, in hotels in New York, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Ibiza, and Turks and Caicos. She described that Combs carefully directed the freak offs, ordering specific lighting and candles, and insisting that only Johnson & Johnson Baby Oil be used to ensure participants “glistened.”
Combs shook his head as Ventura testified about the use of baby oil, describing at least one party where a baby pool was filled with oil that Combs ordered she immerse herself in while fully clothed.
“It was a mess,” she said.
She testified about another instance when she thought she would choke because Combs and a male sex worker both urinated on her; multiple jurors shook their heads and looked down as she recounted the story.
It did not take long, Ventura said, before she realized she did not want to participate in future parties.
“Did you want to participate in every freak off?” prosecutor Emily Johnson asked.
“No,” Ventura answered. “I felt like it was all I was good for. It was disgusting. I felt humiliated. I didn’t have the words for how horrible I really felt.”
She said that Combs “would be violent” with her if she refused to participate, adding that her professional career stalled as she was forced to devote nearly all her time to planning the freak-offs that Combs demanded. As she testified, Ventura flipped through a binder containing the photographs of the male escorts she says were hired for the freak-offs and recounted needing to self-medicate with illegal drugs to make it through the prolonged sessions that were demeaning and emotionally and physically draining.
When Johnson asked if there was any part of the freak offs she enjoyed, Ventura began to sob. She grabbed a tissue and, through tears, said, “I thought it was the only time I could get.”
“The version of him I was in love with was no longer there,” she said.
Early witnesses lay foundation for Ventura’s testimony
Ventura was long billed as the key witness against Combs after CNN last year obtained a 2016 videotape showing Combs kicking and dragging her in a hotel elevator lobby.
Prior to Ventura taking the stand, the jury heard from two other witnesses who appeared to corroborate and bolster part of Ventura’s testimony.
Male escort Daniel Phillip testified he was paid as much as $6,000 for having sex with Ventura while Combs watched and masturbated. He also testified that he witnessed Combs throw a bottle at Ventura after she did not immediately obey his instructions and then “grabbed her by her hair and dragged her by her hair into the bedroom.” Defense attorney Xavier Donaldson tried to raise doubts about Phillip’s testimony, pointing to a discrepancy about dialogue in a previous statement to authorities, Philip stood by his account of the physical abuse.
On the first day of the trial, prosecutors showed the 2016 video to the jury and prepared jurors for Ventura’s testimony to come. Israel Florez, an LAPD officer who was working security at the now-shuttered InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, testified that Combs offered him money to cover up the assault and that he noticed Ventura had a “purple eye.” Florez said he refused the money.
“These are foundational witnesses. They create the context and the backdrop in which Cassie then testifies and gives more color and more examples, building upon earlier testimony to be the star witness that the government expects her to be,” ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said.
Ventura concluded her testimony on Tuesday by explaining the moment depicted in the video watched by jurors was the result of her effort to try to escape one of the freak-offs.
“There’s an instance in Los Angeles where it got violent, and I chose to leave,” she said. “When I chose to leave, I grabbed what I could and got out and Sean followed me into the hallway by the elevators, grabbed me, tried to drag me back to the room.”
While jurors have already seen the video, it was played again in court on Tuesday afternoon. “That’s me,” Ventura said.
Ventura is expected to return to the stand when the trial resumes Wednesday morning.
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