The R&B singer Cassie gave uncomfortable testimony on Tuesday during the sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, detailing allegations of physical abuse and control that included dayslong, drug-fueled sexual encounters with male escorts under his direction.
“I just felt pretty horrible about myself. I felt disgusting. I felt humiliated,” Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, said in a federal courtroom in Lower Manhattan, describing how at times Combs’ “eyes go black. The version of him I was in love with was no longer there.”
Ventura, the star prosecutorial witness whose 2023 lawsuit against Combs became a framework for the government’s sprawling case against him, took the stand for several hours on the trial’s second day. Wearing a modest long-sleeved brown dress accentuating her pregnant belly, Ventura, 38, remained mostly calm and soft-spoken.
She said she didn’t want to engage in the encounters, known as “freak offs,” but “just didn't feel like I had much of a choice.” She testified that she first participated in them around 2008, when she was 22, and they continued while she dated Combs on and off before the pair split in 2018.
The sex would occur in Combs’ homes, her homes and in hotel suites around the world, and Ventura said they might find escorts off of Craigslist, paying them between $1,500 to $6,000.
While her testimony was almost somber at times, she became emotional in the early afternoon, when prosecutor Emily Johnson asked her what she enjoyed when being with Combs, and she recalled the time alone she would get with him after the “freak offs.”
“When you really care about somebody and you’re in love with them,” she said after wiping away tears, “you don’t want to disappoint them.”
Ventura testified that she first met Combs, now 55, in 2005, when she was 19 and he was a “larger than life” hip-hop artist and music producer. He signed her to his Bad Boy label with a 10-album deal, releasing her debut, “Cassie,” in 2006.
She recorded “hundreds” of songs in the following years, but most of them were shelved as her career stalled and she did not release any more albums. She sighed when she told Johnson that arranging “freaks offs” for Combs instead “became a job.”
“I also felt a sense of responsibility with him sharing something like that with me,” Ventura said. “I was confused, nervous, but also loved him very much and wanted to make him happy.”
During her testimony, Combs leaned back, appearing to listen intently.
Ventura went on to say that angering him would result in physical and ongoing psychological abuse.
"If I just looked a certain way that he didn't like, maybe I was a brat or something, like, he would let me know I need to fix my face or watch my mouth," Ventura said. "Those were things that were said in the relationship quite often, 'fix your face,' 'watch your mouth,' or 'you have a slick mouth.'"
The allegations mirror what was first described in her lawsuit against Combs, in which she accused him of physically assaulting her, forcing her to have sex with male sex workers and raping her in September 2018.
Combs settled the suit privately in one day, with the terms undisclosed.
One of his lawyers, Ben Brafman, said at the time that Ventura’s demands for money came “under the threat of writing a damaging book,” but that Combs’ decision to settle was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
Ventura, who in legal filings was referred to as Victim-1, is one of at least three accusers expected to testify against Combs.
The five criminal counts, which include racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, allege Combs used violence and threats against women to force them to participate in the “freak offs.” He has adamantly denied the allegations against him.
Ventura said Combs controlled much of her life, and that she permitted it, being both young and afraid of how he might react and that he could potentially blackmail her with recorded sex acts.
"I didn't know if he would be upset enough to be violent or if he would write me off and just not want to be with me at all," she testified adding, "Over time, it turned into the fact that there were actually blackmail materials to basically make me feel like, if I didn't do it, that it would be hung over my head in that way, or that these things would become public."
Ventura’s testimony was the first time in six years that she and Combs had seen each other in person. When she first entered the courtroom, Combs turned to her, but she did not look at him, walking straight to the witness box.
Before Ventura took the stand, Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that her husband, Alex Fine, could remain in the courtroom, but would have to leave in the event the accusation of the 2018 rape was discussed.
Ventura’s testimony concluded with discussion about a 2016 surveillance video from a Los Angeles hotel that has become key evidence in the case and shows Combs assaulting Ventura. The footage was initially released by CNN a year ago.
When asked if she ever left one of Combs’ alleged “freak offs,” Ventura responded yes. Video from the assault was played for jurors.
"When I chose to leave, I grabbed what I could and I got out," Ventura testified. "And Sean followed me into the hallway before the elevators and grabbed me up, threw me on the ground, kicked me, tried to drag me back to the room. He took my stuff."
Following the release of the surveillance footage, Combs apologized for his “inexcusable” behavior in a since-deleted Instagram video. During opening statements, his defense team admitted there was domestic violence, but said Combs’ ex-girlfriends were engaged in consensual relationships.
Ventura’s testimony is expected to continue Wednesday and could last through the week.
If you or someone you know is facing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence hotline for help at (800) 799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for more. States often have domestic violence hotlines as well.
