Cassie Ventura testifies about violence and ‘freak offs’

Sean “Diddy” Combs had weapons in safes in his a number of properties, based on his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.

Ventura, who generally had entry to those safes, mentioned Combs had weapons in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and New Jersey. She mentioned she noticed the weapons exterior of the safes “a number of occasions.” The safes additionally contained money, jewellery and video tapes, she mentioned.

When she requested if she ever dealt with any of Combs’ alleged weapons, she mentioned she was handed a gun at a membership in downtown Los Angeles to place in her bag whereas she was on mushrooms.

“I used to be freaking out it was going to go off,” she mentioned, including that she handed the gun off to somebody after she left the membership. Ventura mentioned it wasn’t the one occasion she got here involved with one among Combs’ alleged weapons.

“The weapons got here out right here and there. I at all times felt it was a little bit little bit of a scare tactic,” she mentioned.

The sketch exhibits Sean “Diddy” Combs watching as his former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura is sworn in at the moment.

Cassie Ventura recalled how Combs would lash out at her by taking away her electronics, vehicles and different possessions as a type of punishment.

“He would take the automotive away, the home, jewellery,” she mentioned. “The bodily issues did not matter; I simply needed his approval.”

The previous romantic associate mentioned Combs would dispatch his staffer for these take backs.

“Employees would take them,” she recalled. “If I wasn’t there, it might be a workers member or safety.”

When Cassie Ventura got here again to the stand after a lunch break, she mentioned Combs had the ultimate say on her profession and her look.

Whereas James Cruz managed her, he informed her that he was doing it with “one hand tied behind his again,” and that every little thing needed to undergo Combs, she mentioned.

Ventura additionally mentioned Combs made feedback about her bodily look, together with telling her that she “appeared too Mexican,” that her hair appeared dangerous, or that her nails “wanted to look a sure approach.”

“My look was crucial to him, it was fairly instant,” she mentioned in court docket. “Some days he would need me to be actually attractive and different days like a tomboy. He was simply very concerned in it.”

Ventura added that he most well-liked her nails to be white, and through “freak offs” they needed to be white or a French tip. Combs would additionally make feedback about her understanding and holding her form, and talked to her about breast implants, she mentioned.

“I needed to look a sure approach throughout freak offs,” Ventura mentioned. “Positively my self-worth took successful in the course of the entirety of the connection.”

The defendant’s former associate, Cassie Ventura, returned to the witness stand following the court docket’s lunch break.

Ventura donned a camel-colored overcoat, which she didn’t have earlier than lunch, on high of her brown costume.

Cassie Ventura walked into court docket at the moment carrying a long-sleeved brown costume that went right down to her ankles. Her pregnant stomach was very apparent to onlookers.

She remained soft-spoken and composed by way of the vast majority of her testimony, although there have been occasions she wanted to take steadying breaths whereas answering questions. This was most evident when she was describing what “freak offs” have been to the courtroom. She dabbed at her eyes a number of occasions with tissues when answering the query.

Ventura adjusted herself a number of occasions throughout her testimony, principally holding her arms clasped in her lap, although there have been occasions she rubbed or pressed down on her abdomen.

When Cassie first started discussing freak offs, a member of the general public seated within the overflow viewing room yelled out, “That’s disgusting!” She expressed concern that Cassie was made to testify about such issues whereas pregnant and exited the room after being informed by a U.S. marshal to conduct herself the identical as she would in a courtroom.

A courtroom sketch exhibits Combs making a coronary heart gesture to members of the family arriving at his trial at the moment.

U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian dismissed the jury for a 40-minute lunch break.

All events must be again in court docket by 1 p.m. ET because the defendant’s former associate, Cassie Ventura, continues her testimony.

Cassie Ventura mentioned that “freak offs” turned her job “and there was no area to do the rest.”

“Staying out for days on finish, taking medicine and consuming, having intercourse with a stranger,” she mentioned in court docket. “They might be 36, 48, 72 hours, the longest one was 4 days.”

Ventura mentioned that she recorded lots of of songs regardless of solely releasing one studio album and one mixtape. The “freak offs” took precedence over her music profession, she mentioned.

“Sean determined I couldn’t launch one other album,” she mentioned.

Cassie lived in a number of properties throughout Southern California, and Combs made some extent of constructing unannounced visits when she was residing at a spot he paid for, she mentioned.

And “relying on his temper,” he would incessantly pop in with out discover “to test in on us with out us figuring out,” based on the witness.

“It was a stomach-in-knots second, didn’t know what was going to come back of the go to,” she informed the court docket.

Cassie Ventura described Combs as mercurial, saying his moods “swung alternative ways fairly a bit.”

Ventura mentioned his moods affected her “vastly,” and that an instance of this was abuse he allegedly inflicted on her, even when she wasn’t the rationale he was in a nasty temper.

“Make the mistaken face and the following factor I knew I’d get hit within the face,” she mentioned in court docket. “He would say, ‘Watch your mouth.'”  

Cassie Ventura mentioned that Combs was in a relationship with Kim Porter once they began a bodily relationship.

Ventura mentioned in court docket that after a Miami journey when she and Combs had intercourse for the primary time, they started to spend extra time collectively, however their relationship “was not public for a few years.”

“He simply did not need it to look dangerous, but in addition knew it was due to his youngsters and private issues like his household,” Ventura mentioned.

When requested who he was with on the time, Ventura mentioned, “Kim Porter.”

Cassie recalled having intercourse for the primary time with Combs, an encounter that she mentioned occurred whereas she was excessive on medicine on a ship in Miami.

“I used to be consuming wine, then began to take medicine, a blue dolphin ecstasy tablet,” the witness mentioned. “Sean gave it to me; I had by no means taken it earlier than. I used to be simply out of it, laughing, did not know what it was till a little bit bit later.”

Cassie recalled how the medicine gave her a “euphoric” feeling as “you’re simply actually excessive, delicate to the touch and your entire senses.”

Cassie Ventura mentioned Combs allegedly kissing her on her twenty first birthday in a toilet on the VMAs.

“I used to be confused, I used to be a brand new artist that did not know the lay of the land and issues like that,” she mentioned in court docket. “I wasn’t used to an government or anybody being that ahead that approach with me, in a greater than associates approach, a sexual approach, a romantic approach. I bear in mind working out and again to my lodge and telling somebody about it.”

Ventura mentioned she didn’t wish to kiss Combs on that day. There’s a 17-year age hole between her and Combs, she mentioned.

After the incident, Ventura mentioned she went to see him a handful of occasions on the Trump Lodge in Manhattan, the place they mentioned her music profession and “began to develop a cushty relationship with one another.”

Throughout these conferences, he launched her to the thought of oral intercourse, she mentioned, instructing her learn how to carry out it and giving it to her.

When requested if she reciprocated, Cassie mentioned no.

“He made me really feel loopy for not reciprocating, on the time I didn’t perceive that type of relationship and I used to be in a relationship with another person,” she mentioned. “I used to be simply so younger and didn’t have the vocabulary for a number of the issues we talked about. I used to be simply attempting to know it, simply utterly inexperienced at that time.”

As a 19-year-old aspiring artist, signing a take care of Combs’ Unhealthy Boy Data appeared like an enormous, early profession break, Cassie mentioned.

“He was a larger-than-life musician, a fan of music, didn’t know an excessive amount of about him personally,” she informed jurors.

“After I signed contract, I used to be 19, it was a 10-album deal, launched an album later that 12 months in 2006 in August,” she mentioned.

It was the one album she’d launch with Unhealthy Boy.

Cassie Ventura mentioned she was 22 when Combs first launched “freak offs” to her, including it made her nervous, however that she cherished him and “needed to make him completely satisfied.”

“In some unspecified time in the future I felt I did not have a lot of a alternative, I did not know what ‘No’ might flip into,” she mentioned in court docket.

Ventura mentioned Combs managed loads in her life on the time, together with her “profession, intercourse, every little thing.”

“I didn’t know if he could be upset sufficient to be violent or not wish to be with me in any respect,” she mentioned, including that she additionally feared she could be blackmailed with movies and footage of her encounters with escorts.

The federal government witness described herself as a confused 22-year-old when Combs first requested her to have intercourse with one other man as he watched.

“I used to be 22 on the time, my abdomen churned, did not have an idea of how that may be a activate however I accepted the duty,” Cassie testified. “I used to be confused, nervous, but in addition cherished him very a lot and needed to make him completely satisfied.”

Even when she did not like these sorts of sexual encounters, Cassie mentioned she simply needed to please Combs.

“It wasn’t one thing that I needed to be doing particularly as commonly because it turned,” she mentioned. “However once more, I used to be in love and needed to make him completely satisfied. In some unspecified time in the future, I felt I did not have a lot of a alternative.”

Minutes into taking the stand this morning, Cassie Ventura was requested to establish a nonetheless picture of the hallway wherein she was overwhelmed by Combs. Video of the incident circulated final 12 months.

“That is me and Sean, InterContinental, Century Metropolis,” Ventura mentioned in court docket. “We have been having an encounter, we name it a ‘freak off.'”

Ventura was requested to explain what a “freak off” was, which she mentioned was a sexual encounter proposed by Combs a 12 months into their relationship, wherein she would “carry out” for him with a 3rd occasion, normally an escort.

“And he would direct us in what we have been doing,” she mentioned.

Ventura mentioned Combs was in command of hiring escorts for the “freak offs” at first, however ultimately it turned her job.

Earlier than Cassie Ventura took the stand, Decide Arun Subramanian dominated that her husband, Alex Effective, may be within the courtroom when she takes the stand as a witness, however should go away within the occasion a 2018 rape that she accuses Combs of comes up.

Protection attorneys requested that Effective not be within the courtroom throughout Ventura’s testimony as a result of he could possibly be known as as a witness himself, whereas prosecution mentioned she ought to have her assist system, together with her husband, within the courtroom. The choose selected a compromise.

Ventura informed jurors that Combs was typically violent towards her in the course of the course of their 10-year relationship.

“Sure, they have been violent arguments, normally resulted in bodily abuse and dragging, various things,” she informed jurors. “He would mash my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me.”

When requested how typically this could occur, she mentioned: “Incessantly.”

The accidents have been frequent and visual, based on the witness.

“Often I’d get knots on my brow, black eyes, purple eyes, bruises throughout my physique, it simply depended,” Ventura added.

The federal government known as Combs’ former associate, Cassie Ventura, to the witness stand.

She is carrying a brown, cosy becoming costume that exhibits off her being pregnant as she takes the stand, indicating the protection misplaced their movement to have her seated earlier than the jury returned so they might not see her pregnant abdomen.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson is about to query the federal government’s star witness.

After a quick cross and redirect from attorneys, Daniel Philip is completed along with his testimony and has left the stand.

There’s now a ten minute break in court docket.

A male escort’s sexual encounters with Cassie Ventura all got here on the route of Combs, the intercourse employee testified, as prosecutors search to blunt protection efforts to solid these acts as consensual.

All of Philip’s intercourse with Ventura have been paid jobs, Phillip mentioned beneath re-direct questioning by prosecutors, recalling how he as soon as wasn’t compensated as a result of he could not preserve an erection.

Below cross examination, Phillip denied he ever noticed Ventura exterior these paid occasions or had developed any romantic emotions for her. The protection needs to color any Phillip-Ventura encounters as consensual and maybe undermine the federal government’s assertion that Combs was utilizing his enterprise as a legal enterprise to fulfill sexual needs.

An lawyer for Combs pressed Daniel Phillip, a male escort who’s alleged to have had a number of sexual encounters with Cassie Ventura, on if he had emotions for her.

Lawyer Xavier Donaldson requested Phillip if he thought he was establishing a bond with Ventura, to which he mentioned “appropriate,” however when requested if he thought he was in a relationship together with her, he mentioned “incorrect.”

Phillip additionally described a state of affairs wherein Ventura was scared and shaking after Combs allegedly hit her. When Combs left the room, Phillip and Ventura spoke, began kissing and have been transferring within the route of getting intercourse, he mentioned. Phillip mentioned he misplaced his erection after Combs got here again into the room.

Phillip was additionally requested if he informed federal prosecutors final 12 months that he was jealous when Ventura and Combs have been having intercourse, to which he mentioned he doesn’t recall.

Combs’ workforce repeatedly introduced up whether or not Cassie Ventura was drunk or excessive in her sexual encounters with a male escort, seemingly to contradict prosecutors’ allegations Combs pressured her to take medicine.

Phillip, the escort who mentioned he was paid to have intercourse with Ventura as Combs watched, recalled just one occasion out of a number of encounters with Ventura when she did look like beneath the affect.

Daniel Phillip, the male escort who informed jurors he witnessed Combs’ alleged assaults on girlfriend Cassie Ventura, entered the courtroom to renew his testimony.

Decide Arun Subramanian has but to rule on what sort of specific materials will probably be proven in open court docket or if Ventura, the federal government’s star witness, must be seated on the witness stand earlier than jurors enter the room.

The protection fears that Ventura, who’s eight months pregnant, could be an unfairly sympathetic witness if jurors see her on this state.

Protection lawyer Anna Estevao introduced up an alleged occasion wherein Cassie Ventura assaulted a safety guard and mentioned the protection would handle her alleged drug use.

Prosecutor Emily Anne Johnson mentioned the alleged assault is a previous dangerous act that doesn’t help her credibility. Estevao argued that prosecutors say violence was a part of Ventura and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ relationship, however truly that it was associated to Combs believing that his longtime-girlfriend was dishonest on him.

Estevao additionally mentioned that prosecutors are trying in charge Combs for Ventura’s drug use, however that the protection will argue she did that of her personal free will.

Decide Arun Subramanian overruled prosecutors’ objection.

Combs’ attorneys requested Decide Arun Subramanian to fastidiously edit what sort of specific materials is proven in open court docket, saying a lot of it quantities to porn.

“There isn’t a side to any of the movies the federal government is seeking to put into proof that’s not grownup pornography, that’s what it’s, people who find themselves nude having intercourse or about to have intercourse,” protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo mentioned. “It’s a privateness subject and it is pornography, what would the press do with it if they’d it?”

Robert Balia, an lawyer for information organizations masking this trial, mentioned that “our choice is for movies to be proven in open court docket.”

“Testimony isn’t an alternative to this movies,” Balia mentioned. “The folks within the press ought to have the ability to see justice being accomplished and to see if these folks have been being coerced.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs arrived again in court docket at the moment carrying a cream-colored shirt with slacks — just like what he wore in court docket yesterday. He waved to his household within the courtroom.

Sean Combs’ attorneys are against jurors seeing the federal government’s star witness, Cassie Ventura, as pregnant.

The protection would need the eight-months anticipating Ventura seated on the stand earlier than jurors enter court docket.

“As a result of I believe there’s a prejudicial high quality,” protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo informed the choose. “Being pregnant is gorgeous and fantastic. It is also a supply of potential sympathy.”