Cassie Ventura has tearfully advised a court docket she would give again a $20m (£15m) authorized settlement from Sean “Diddy” Combs if it meant she would by no means have taken half in his “humiliating” drug-fuelled intercourse events.
She rejected defence options that her accusations have been financially motivated as she wrapped up 4 days of testimony within the New York prison trial of her ex-boyfriend.
Ms Ventura, the federal government’s star witness, confronted questioning from each authorized groups about her decade-long relationship with Mr Combs, and their “freak-off” intercourse periods.
Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to racketeering, intercourse trafficking and transportation to interact in prostitution. He may face life in jail.
Ms Ventura’s testimony revealed graphic particulars about her intercourse life with the rapper and the bodily violence she allegedly endured from him.
The rap mogul’s attorneys have been making an attempt to depict Ms Ventura, 38, as an keen participant within the sexual way of life.
She testified this week that she was coerced into the periods, which concerned male escorts, as a result of Mr Combs had threatened her with violence.
On Friday she addressed a $20m pay-out he gave her after she filed a lawsuit in opposition to him in November 2023.
The settlement, which got here simply in the future after the submitting of the authorized motion, was public data, however the quantity was beforehand unknown.
Mr Combs’ lawyer, Anna Estevao, appeared to suggest that Ms Ventura was strapped for money earlier than submitting her lawsuit. The singer had simply moved to her mother and father’ home together with her husband and kids.
Ms Ventura rejected this suggestion, later sharing that she would trade the cash for a life freed from the “freak offs”, which she mentioned induced her bodily accidents, would typically go on for days, and stifled her profession as a singer.
“I might have company and autonomy,” she mentioned.
Mr Combs’ authorized crew additionally confirmed the jury dozens of messages between the couple from every stage of their relationship, arguing their dynamic was poisonous at instances, however not prison.
Minutes earlier than Ms Ventura was set to go away the stand on Friday, the defence questioned her about one other authorized settlement she gained.
Ms Ventura advised the court docket she was anticipating to obtain about $10m from InterContinental Resorts, related to her claims in opposition to Mr Combs.
The settlement pertains to an incident on the InterContinental in Los Angeles in 2016, during which safety footage confirmed Mr Combs hitting, kicking and dragging her in a hallway.
That clip was performed at size in court docket this week, and is among the most vital items of proof within the trial.
On Friday in court docket, Ms Ventura went by way of her texts after that beating. In a single message she advised Mr Combs: “I am not a rag doll. I am someone’s youngster.”
She and Mr Combs have been expressing love for one another days later in different texts.
The defence cross-examination continued on all day Thursday and Friday.
The prosecution squeezed in two extra witnesses earlier than court docket adjourned for the weekend.
One was Daybreak Richard, a singer within the group Danity Kane – fashioned on Diddy’s MTV present Making the Band. Final 12 months she filed a lawsuit accusing him of bodily abuse and withholding her earnings.
Ms Richard testified that she noticed Mr Combs assault Ms Ventura at his Los Angeles mansion in 2009.
“She fell down,” Ms Richard advised the court docket. “She was within the foetal place.”
After the incident, she mentioned Mr Combs took her apart and advised her what she noticed was “ardour” and that the place he’s from, “folks go lacking” in the event that they discuss.
US Homeland Safety particular agent Yasin Binda took the stand as nicely, telling the court docket in regards to the money, medicine and child oil that have been seized from the rapper’s lodge room when he was arrested in New York.
Extra testimony is predicted from the witnesses known as by prosecutors subsequent week.
The Manhattan court docket has been a media circus for the reason that starting of the trial, with spectators gathering in droves and tenting out in a single day to get a glimpse of the music mogul, his household, and the celebrities testifying.