Diddy trial live: Cassie Ventura ends cross-examination in tears after saying she’d return $20m to avoid ‘freak offs’
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s ex-girlfriend is testifying in Manhattan federal court as the defense argues she consented to ‘freak-offs’
Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura has finished her fourth and final day of testimony in Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sex-trafficking trial.
As Ventura’s testimony ended, she told prosecutor Emily Johnson she’d return the $20 million settlement from her 2023 civil lawsuit if she “never had to have ‘freak offs.’” Ventura previously testified that “freak offs” involved her having sex with other men at Combs’s direction, often while using drugs.
“If I never had to have ‘Freak Offs,’ I would have had agency and autonomy,” Ventura said through tears. “And I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.”
Ventura’s testimony ended Friday afternoon. The prosecution called Special Agent Yasin Binda to testify about Combs’s 2024 arrest. Then, Dawn Richard was on the stand.
Richard is Combs’s former bandmate who sued him last year for physical and sexual abuse. Richard testified she once watched Combs beat Ventura.
Combs is facing sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs was arrested in September 2024 as federal authorities alleged he threatened, abused, and coerced victims “to fulfill his sexual desires” between 2004 and 2024. Combs has denied any accusations of wrongdoing.
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Diddy’s defense struck right tone, legal analyst says
Defense attorney Anna Estevao tediously went through years of text exchanges between Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura.
Confrontations, however, didn’t reach the aggression levels often seen from defense lawyers cross-examining a star witness.
The attorney even shared pleasantries with Ventura and made remarks about her beauty and charm, leaving the witness, at one point, to respond: “Thank you.”
Former federal prosecutor Sarah Krissoff told the BBC that Sean Comb’s defense attorney Anna Estevao struck the right tone by not appearing too aggressive and putting off jurors.
Krisoff said the defense was trying to show the jury that it was a toxic and sometimes violent relationship but not a case of sex trafficking or racketeering.
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Cassie’s attorney says client doing ‘great job’ in ‘very-long’ cross-examination
Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura’s attorney praised his client for doing a “great job” in cross-examination and hopes that she can close “this entire chapter” of her life by the end of Friday’s hearing.
“I’m not going to opine on what the jury’s thinking but I think that Cassie’s doing a great job on cross-examination, a very long cross-examination,” attorney Douglas Wigdor told reporters after Thursday’s hearing drew to a close.
“Hopefully it ends tomorrow… so hopefully she can be done by the end of the week and put this entire chapter of her life behind her.”
Judge hopes to wrap up Ventura's cross-examination by midday
Cassie Ventura’s cross-examination is scheduled to continue in just a matter of hours.
Judge Arun Subramanian directed Sean Combs’ defense attorneys to conclude their cross-examination by midday.
“The direct took a day and a half, so the defense will have a day and a half,” he said Thursday afternoon. “So you have today (Thursday), you have the morning tomorrow.”
Subramanian became riled when the defense suggested that its questioning of Ventura, who is eight-and-a-half months pregnant, might extend to next week.
“In what universe did you not understand this was important?” he probed, referring to cross-examination coming to a close by the end of Friday.
They've sat through hours of bombshell testimony. But who are the jurors?
As Casandra “Cassie” Ventura’s testimony is expected to draw to a close later today, jurors have spent hours listening to her bombshell testimony at the witness stand.
Who are the twelve members of the jury who will eventually decide the fate of Sean “Diddy” Combs?
On Monday, eight men and four women from New York were selected to sit for Comb’s federal sext trafficking and racketeering trial, which is expected to last at least eight weeks.
Their ages range from their 30s to 74, and they live across Manhattan, the Bronx and neighboring Westchester County.
They hail from a variety of professions, including an investment analyst, a massage therapist and a physician assistant.
Several of the younger jurors said they listen to hip-hop and R&B music, genres aligned with Combs. Some said they were familiar with a video released by CNN last year of Combs assaulting Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
Diddy, Justin Bieber and the ‘crazy 48 hours’
As the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs continues in New York, attention is turning to the rapper and music mogul’s relationships with other celebrities, particularly Canadian superstar Justin Bieber.
Combs, 55, is facing sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy charges after being arrested in September last year. He has denied any accusations of wrongdoing and rejected a government plea deal offer.
Bieber, now 31, frequently appeared alongside Diddy when he was a teen pop idol but moved on Thursday to dismiss online speculation that he too might have been abused by Combs.
Joe Sommerlad looks at the origins of the relationship between the former teen idol and “Big Brother Puff”:
A history of Diddy’s relationship with Justin Bieber as singer denies being ‘victim’
Cassie Ventura to return to stand soon
Cassie Ventura is set to return to the witness stand, possibly for the final time this week at Manhattan federal court, as she faces further examination by Sean Combs’ legal team.
Judge Arun Subramanian wants to wrap the cross-examination up quickly, directing the defense team to finish by midday. Both sides have tentatively agreed to conclude Ventura’s testimony by lunch, although it could run for most of the day. A rebuttal from prosecutors will follow.
Testimony is scheduled to resume at 9.30 a.m.
Who will testify today?
Cassie Ventura is set to return to the witness stand today to finish her cross-examination.
Judge Arun Subramanian warned the defense team to end their questioning by midday.
After Ventura is dismissed, prosecutors will call Dawn Richard to the stand, they told Subramanian yesterday. Richard sued Sean “Diddy” Combs last year, alleging years of physical and sexual abuse. Richard also says she saw Combs abuse Ventura.
Read more about the lawsuit:
Diddy sued by former bandmate Dawn Richard who claims he ‘brutally beat’ Cassie
Defense and prosecution squabble over Cassie Ventura's testimony
Prosecutors are warning that Cassie Ventura must finish her testimony today because she’s eight months pregnant and could go into labor as soon as this weekend.
This comes after Sean “Diddy” Combs’s defense team accused prosecutors of purposely delaying Ventura’s testimony so the defense would have less cross-examination time.
But prosecutors argue the defense wants Ventura to return Monday so Combs can review the transcripts and help prepare additional questions over the weekend.
Prosecutors also warned that a mistrial is possible if Ventura goes into labor before her testimony is over.