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 strategies that her accusations have been financially motivated as she wrapped up 4 days of testimony within the New York felony 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 might 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 attempting to depict Ms Ventura, 38, as an keen participant within the sexual life-style.
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 towards him in November 2023.
The settlement, which got here simply sooner or later after the submitting of the authorized motion, was public information, 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 dad and mom’ home along with her husband and youngsters.
Ms Ventura rejected this suggestion, later sharing that she would alternate the cash for a life freed from the “freak offs”, which she mentioned triggered her bodily accidents, would generally go on for days, and stifled her profession as a singer.
“I might have company and autonomy,” she mentioned.
Mr Combs’ authorized staff additionally confirmed the jury dozens of messages between the couple from every stage of their relationship, arguing their dynamic was poisonous at occasions, however not felony.
Minutes earlier than Ms Ventura was set to depart 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 Lodges, related to her claims towards 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 likely one of the most essential items of proof within the trial.
On Friday in court docket, Ms Ventura went by means of her texts after that beating. In a single message she advised Mr Combs: “I am not a rag doll. I am any individual’s little one.”
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 – shaped 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, “individuals go lacking” in the event that they speak.
US Homeland Safety particular agent Yasin Binda took the stand as nicely, telling the court docket in regards to the money, medication and child oil that have been seized from the rapper’s resort room when he was arrested in New York.
Extra testimony is anticipated from the witnesses referred to as by prosecutors subsequent week.
The Manhattan court docket has been a media circus because the 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.
