At the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, his ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, testified for multiple days. Her testimony was completed on Friday.
Ventura is a critical witness in the prosecution’s case against Combs, who has been accused of sexually assaulting, trafficking and exploiting women for decades until his arrest on multiple charges last September. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The music mogul could receive a lifetime prison sentence if convicted on all of them.
Here are some key takeaways from Ventrua’s testimony.
Violence occurred “frequently”
In her initial statements before the court, Ventura, now pregnant with her third child and married to personal trainer Alex Fine, recalled her and Combs’ early interactions and how she started to see a different side of him over time. She said she met Combs when she was a newly signed singer at 19, and their burgeoning friendship became romantic two years later.
Jane Rosenberg / REUTERS 
She also described his alleged violence throughout their 10-year on-off relationship, recounting instances where he knocked her over, kicked and dragged her, and stomped on her head, causing black eyes and bruises on her body. When asked, Ventura said the abuse she endured happened “frequently.”
Combs is seen attacking Ventura in video footage CNN obtained and published last year, which shows him throwing her to the floor, kicking and dragging her in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.
“Control was everything”
Ventura characterized Combs as physically and psychologically abusive throughout the first hours of her testimony.
“Control was everything — from the way that I looked, to what I was working on that day, who I was speaking to,” she said. “Control was an all-around thing to a certain point.”
Combs allegedly introduced Ventura to “freak offs,” drug-fueled events where he is accused of forcing women to perform sex acts with hired sex workers, which were a focus of the indictment outlining his alleged crimes.
Ventura said Combs broached the idea of sexual encounters involving voyeurism during the first year of their relationship, and he would hire an escort or dancer with whom he would watch her engage while he directed them. The singer testified she felt confused and nervous, “but I also loved him very much and wanted to make him happy.”
She testified she worried about making Combs angry because of how much control he had over her life and career, and the possibility that he could blackmail her by releasing images of the “freak offs.” Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Combs often recorded these performances with or without participants’ consent.
A shift in the relationship
Ventura recalled Combs looking out for her when she first met him. They fell in love, she said, while spending time together in the studio or traveling elsewhere.
“I think I was just enamored by him. We were just having a good time. It was really fun at this point,” she told the court. But as her appearance, transportation, rent and overall lifestyle came under Combs’ control, Ventura said her music career — and record deal — eventually took a backseat to the alleged “freak offs,” which left her feeling humiliated.
She testified that despite recording hundreds of songs and nine albums while she was with Combs, the work was never released because “freak offs” became her job. They took up too much time and energy to leave room for other pursuits, Ventura said, adding that she would stay up for several days at a time to party, drink and have sex with strangers.
The “freak offs” could last from 36 to 72 hours at a time, she said, with the longest continuing for four days. She recalled them happening almost weekly for years.
Ventura felt “disgusted” and “humiliated” by “freak offs”
Ventura began to cry during her testimony when asked whether she wanted to participate in every “freak off.” She said she didn’t and that she felt “disgusted” and “humiliated” by them, but she also didn’t want to disappoint Combs.
Ventura told the court Combs dismissed her when she expressed how she felt about them, calling her predictable for not wanting to engage.
Testifying at length about the “freak offs,” Ventura said Combs provided ecstasy and cocaine, which she took to stay awake during the incidents.
2016 hotel incident
Ventura recalled the 2016 hotel altercation seen on video footage. After being shown a clip from the incident during the second day of her testimony, she recounted that Combs was yelling and threw something at her during the attack.
She said she told Combs via text message she had a black eye from the incident and reminded him of a premiere she was supposed to attend.
“You are sick for thinking it’s OK to do what you’ve done,” she wrote in a text to Combs. “Please stay far away from me.”
Ventura told the court she wore sunglasses to cover her eyes and used makeup to hide bruises on other parts of her body when she attended the premiere.
Prosecutors showed several photos of Ventura at the premiere event and after party, where the injuries could be seen.
Drug use
Combs allegedly provided stimulant drugs, like cocaine, to keep participants awake for the length of his “freak offs,”
Ventura said. She also testified about a time when she requested ketamine, an anesthetic that has been used recreationally for its hallucinogenic and dissociative effects.
Prosecutors allege Combs’ “freak offs” involved excessive drug use, “in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant,” and accuse him of using substances in part to exercise control over the people he targeted.
She said Combs didn’t like the drug and argued a successful “freak off” can be remembered, but explained ketamine was her preference because it allowed her to be less present in the moment.
Rape allegation
Ventura told the jury that Combs raped her in her living room in 2018. They were not together at the time and Ventura was seeing the man who is now her husband, she testified. Ventura said she remembered crying and saying no, but Combs did not stop. After, he got up and left, Ventura testified.
Ventura accused Combs of rape in a lawsuit she filed in 2023. The lawsuit was settled the day after she filed it. Combs denied the allegation.
Text messages
During cross-examination Thursday and Friday, the defense asked Ventura about numerous text messages she and Combs exchanged over the course of their relationship.
They included affectionate messages where Ventura told Combs she loved him and saw a future with him, potentially one that involved starting a family.
Other messages related to the alleged “freak offs,” including one exchange allegedly coordinating one of them.
“You told him you wanted to do freak offs?” they asked Ventura at one point, to which she replied, “No, there’s a lot more to that.”
During redirect on Friday, Ventura told prosecutors there were times Combs was kind and loving, but they didn’t last.
She said Combs’ moods affected her life, career and how she felt about herself, and if Combs wanted a “freak off,” then her work would take a backseat.
“I had to do freak offs,” she said.
Alice Gainer
contributed to this report.
