Diddy trial recap: Defense reveals explicit text messages about ‘freak offs’ leading up to 2016 hotel assault
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s ex-girlfriend is being cross-examined in Manhattan federal court today after nine hours at the stand on Wednesday
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura has finished day one of her cross-examination following bombshell testimony accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of rape, blackmail, sexual degradation and physical abuse.
Combs’s defense attorney Anna Estevao ended the day by showing the jury explicit text messages between Ventura and Combs in March 2016. The pair were planning the “freak off” that led up to an alleged assault at an InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. Footage of the 2016 incident, which was released publicly last year, shows Combs hitting and kicking Ventura.
“We can have fun, I don’t want you thinking I don’t want to,” Ventura texted Combs.
Ventura previously testified she went along with “freak offs” throughout their relationship because she was afraid Combs would hurt her or release footage from the encounters. “Freak offs” involved Ventura having sex with other men at Combs’s direction, typically while taking drugs, she said.
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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Judge addresses text message issue before Cassie's cross-examination
Judge Arun Subramanian said that he’d address concerns over the handling of certain text messages in the case at 8.30 a.m. this morning – approximately one hour before testoony is scheduled ot start, according to CNN.
Prosecutors voiced concerns about the defense bringing in text messages that reference Casandra “Cassie” Ventura having sex with someone other than Sean “Diddy” Combs or an escort.
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said his team wants the jury to see exchanges between Combs and Ventura that reference infidelity and jealousy that use a more “vulgar” vocabulary.
“This is the real-world way that people express hurt over realization that there’s cheating going on,” he said.
New suit: Accuser details Diddy’s ‘violent sexual assault’
Mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with a new civil suit from a “Jane Doe” plaintiff who alleges he violently assaulted her in 2001. The legal filing is separate from the trial in New York, where he faces sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
According to the complaint filed today in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the plaintiff alleged Diddy raped her at his Park Avenue apartment the last time they saw each other.
The rapper is the defendant in multiple similar civil suits relating to sexual assault, with many centered on his alleged “freak off” parties. He is also facing criminal charges in relation to many allegations, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
In recounting the alleged incident in court documents, the unnamed woman gave an unflattering description of his penis, saying that it appeared to be “the length and girth of a large tootsie roll,” later describing him as “itty bitty Diddy,” according to court records.
Oliver O’Connell has the details.
Accuser details Diddy’s ‘violent sexual assault’ in new suit amid criminal trial
Cassie Ventura returns to witness stand
Cassie Ventura has returned to the stand for the third day of her testimony.
She’s wearing a light-colored blouse with a tuxedo-style jacket, The Washington Post reports. Her hair is tied back.
She will now face cross-examination from Sean “Diddy” Combs’s defense team.
Defense asks Cassie Ventura if she loved Diddy
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s defense attorney Anna Estevao began her cross-examiniation by asking Cassie Ventura if she loved the music mogul.
“I did,” Ventura responded.
Estevao then asked: “Others called him Diddy or Puff Daddy, but you called him Sean, right?”
“Yes,” Ventura said.
“To you, he was Sean,” Estevao added. “You knew the real Sean that other people didn’t see.”
Who is defense attorney Anna Estevao?
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s attorney Anna Estevao is cross-examining star witness Cassie Ventura today.
She’s a partner at the New York law firm Harris Trzaskoma LLP, and formerly clerked for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Estevao said she was “proud” to represent Combs during a hearing in October 2024.
Defense attorneys signal potential argument as Ventura's cross-examination begins
Defense attorneys have already hinted at the argument they plan to make: Sean “Diddy” Combs and Cassie Ventura had a long relationship filled with a lot of love but also a lot of jealousy, which ultimately fueled violent arguments.
But they’ve maintained that the sour side of the relationship did not amount to sex trafficking, racketeering, or transportation for prostitution.
Defense reveals early emails between Cassie Ventura and Diddy
The defense showed the jury emails between Cassie Ventura and Sean “Diddy” Combs from January 2008, early in their relationship, CNN reports.
Combs wrote: “It makes me so happy that you would fly to ATL just to see me.”
“I love you, I miss you, can’t wait to hold you,” he added.
Ventura wrote back: “I’m a very lucky woman. I miss you so much. I’d fly wherever you needed me, whenever. I love you.”
Jury sees texts between Cassie Ventura and Diddy
The defense showed the jury several text messages between Cassie Ventura and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
This included an exchange from two-and-a-half years into their relationship, CNN reported.
“Going to sleep now so it can be tomorrow faster,” Ventura wrote. “I love you.”
“Love my baby,” Combs responded.
Ventura then sent Combs a smiley-face, to which he responded: “I love you so much it consumes my life…”
The defense also shared an April 2010 email from Ventura, expressing that she wanted more “attention” from Combs.
“I haven’t talked to you AT ALL, I know you can take 3 minutes out of your day to talk to me and you don’t even try,” she wrote to Combs.
“You’re in too much of a rush to get me off of the phone,” she added. “That’s not being in a relationship with someone that you love and are in love with. I am really hurt by the way you deal with me, I don’t need your money, I need some attention. I am thankful, but I can pay for these things myself.”
Defense asks Cassie Ventura if she did 'freak offs' to make Diddy happy
Defense attorney Anna Estevao asked Cassie Ventura if she told Sean “Diddy” Combs she wanted to participate in “freak offs” to “make him happy.”
“There’s a lot more to that,” Ventura responded, according to CNN.
Earlier this week, Ventura testified that she would have sex with other men at Combs’s direction during these “freak offs.” The first one happened when she was 22, she said.
Ventura told prosecutors earlier this week she felt she couldn’t say no to the “freak offs” after Combs allegedly blackmailed her with images from the encounters.