When federal authorities introduced sweeping legal fees in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs final yr, they stated the case was about rather more than the mogul’s alleged unlawful conduct.
They stated their instances would expose how the music legend-turned-entrepreneur used his energy and cash to get away with stunning crimes, typically with assist from a cadre of advisors and aides.
This week, the tales of these in Combs’ internal circle had been heard in his federal trial on racketeering and intercourse trafficking fees. They advised of his threats of homicide, coercion, kidnapping and the beatings he inflicted on his former girlfriend.
Prosecutors known as a sequence of witnesses to bolster their competition that the hip-hop mogul is greater than a home abuser and makes use of his whole Dangerous Boy empire to coerce, threaten and abuse his victims and, most particularly, his onetime lover Cassie Ventura.
One witness described himself as a Combs cleanup man who tossed out liquor bottles and narcotics after wild events. One other witness stated he as soon as drove a closely armed Combs for a confrontation with rap mogul Suge Knight.
Essentially the most dramatic testimony got here from the previous world model director for Combs’ Dangerous Boy Leisure, Capricorn Clark, who described years of threats and violence by the mogul.
The federal indictment alleges that Combs and his associates lured feminine victims, typically beneath the pretense of a romantic relationship. It alleges that he then used power, threats of power, coercion and managed substances to get girls to interact in intercourse acts with male prostitutes whereas he sometimes watched in gatherings that Combs known as “freak offs.” Combs gave the ladies ketamine, ecstasy and GHB, a date rape drug, to “maintain them obedient and compliant” throughout the performances.
Combs’ alleged “legal enterprise” threatened and abused girls and utilized members of his enterprise to interact in intercourse trafficking, compelled labor, interstate transportation for functions of prostitution, coercion and enticement to interact in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, prosecutors stated. In bringing so-called RICO fees, prosecutors in opening statements stated Combs was helped by cadre of firm staff, safety employees and aides.
Clark stated that on the morning of Dec. 22, 2011, she heard banging on her L.A. condominium door. She opened it to seek out Combs holding a gun. She testified that he requested, “Why didn’t you inform me? Who’s Scott?”
Clark advised a Manhattan jury that she knew Combs was referring to Child Cudi, whose actual identify is Scott Mescudi, based on Related Press reporting from contained in the courthouse. Clark knew Cudi and Ventura had been in a relationship, however she advised the hip-hop mogul that she didn’t know who Scott was.
However Combs knew he was the rival musician and declared, based on Clark: “We’re going to kill this n—.”
About quarter-hour later, they arrived exterior Cudi’s house. A gun-wielding Combs, together with a bodyguard, went inside, however Cudi wasn’t there.
Clark testified that she known as Ventura on a burner cellphone and stated, “Cassie, cease [Cudi], he’s going to return get himself killed.” Ventura, Clark testified, stated Cudi was on his solution to the home.
Clark stated Combs acquired again within the automotive and realized she had known as Ventura’s burner cellphone. Shortly after, Cudi pulled up subsequent to Combs’ Escalade exterior his house after which accelerated away. Combs’ car gave chase unsuccessfully, she stated.
She testified that they ended up at a nightclub and Combs advised her to name Ventura and inform her that “he has me, and he’s not going to let me go till I come get her.”
Clark testified that Combs then stated she and Ventura wanted to persuade Child Cudi to not inform police that Combs was concerned within the break-in at Cudi’s house. Clark quoted Combs as saying: “When you guys don’t persuade him of that, I’ll kill all you,” based on CNN.
Clark stated Ventura then went together with her to Combs’ house in L.A. on the time and he started kicking the singer. Clark stated she and a safety guard stood and watched as Combs repeatedly kicked Ventura with “100% power” because the singer curled as much as shield herself, based on Related Press. Clark stated Combs threatened to harm her too if she tried to intervene. The safety guard ordered her to depart. She then known as Ventura’s mother to warn her.
Throughout 4 days of testimony within the trial’s first week, Ventura described being raped, crushed a minimum of six occasions, most severely in 2009, recalling him “stomping” on her face after he found she was courting Child Cudi.
Cudi testified about a number of incidents involving Combs, who prosecutors contend was so upset on the rapper that he organized to have Cudi’s Porsche 911 convertible firebombed. Cudi advised jurors about discovering his automotive burned within the driveway of his Hollywood Hills house in 2012, the AP reported.
Cudi stated his canine watcher known as him to say his Porsche was on fireplace. He advised jurors it seemed like the highest of his Porsche was reduce open and “the Molotov cocktail was put in.”
Clark admitted she hung up on arson investigators who known as her.
She testified that Combs threatened her 50 occasions throughout her final yr of labor.
Clark stated Combs as soon as accused her of stealing diamond jewellery that was on mortgage to him from a jeweler. She stated a Combs aide administered a lie detector check to her. He warned her that if she failed the check or he couldn’t get a transparent studying, “they’re going to throw you into the East River.” After 5 days of testing and being held, she was launched, she stated.
Combs’ protection attorneys have sought to differentiate between the violence described in testimony and the costs dealing with the mogul, saying that “home violence is just not intercourse trafficking.”
Combs has pleaded not responsible, and his attorneys say he by no means kidnapped Clark. Below cross-examination by Combs’ legal professional Mark Agnifilo, Clark acknowledged that whereas Combs waived a gun when arriving at her condominium, he by no means pointed it at her. The protection lawyer acquired her to acknowledge that she repeatedly returned to work for Combs after leaving his employment.
George Kaplan, a private assistant for Combs from 2013 to 2015, advised jurors he was a cleanup man who tossed out liquor bottles and narcotics and scoured the scene for objects from freak offs. Kaplan, who was granted immunity by prosecutors, testified he by no means reported abuse to authorities. He testified that he heard Ventura screaming within the bed room of Combs’ jet. “Isn’t anyone seeing this?” he recalled her crying, accompanied by the sound of crashing glassware.
David James, one other private assistant in 2007 and 2008, testified that Combs had him inventory lodge rooms with Viagra, condoms and child oil. He stated he as soon as drove Combs, who had three handguns on his lap, to a Los Angeles diner in search of Knight, the rap mogul.
James recalled a dialog one night time with Ventura on the Miami dock by Combs’ house as they smoked cigarettes. He requested her why she didn’t depart. “I can’t get out,” James testified that Ventura advised him.
“Mr. Combs oversees a lot of my life,” James recalled her saying. “He controls my music profession, he pays for my condominium, he provides me an allowance.”
James advised the jury he believed her: “I simply didn’t assume that she may simply depart.”
