Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Cassie Ventura breaks down as testimony concludes

The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

Last Updated: May 19, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT

This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.

Friday is day five in the trial of Sean Combs after the jury was seated.

May 13, 10:11 am

Sean Combs trial underway

The highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is underway. Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Combs is accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that "abused, threatened and coerced women" into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called "freak offs," and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn't engaged in trafficking.

Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he "vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY" and "looks forward to his day in court."

May 14, 2025, 12:02 PM EDT

Cassie Ventura testifies that 'freak off' videos were used as 'blackmail' threats

As she did on the stand Tuesday, Cassie Ventura again flipped through a binder containing photographs of escorts that she testified then were hired for "freak offs."

In a matter-of-fact tone she recalled their names: Ash, Brian, Dave, Greg and someone she testified she knew as “Islander.”

Ventura testified that she had sex with all of them, some in multiple cities. She also told the court that it’s possible she and Combs had some of the escorts flown to different places for the purpose of having sex, testimony that federal prosecutors hope will prove one of the charges Combs faces: that of transportation for the purposes of prostitution.

Ventura told the court that she hired the escorts herself: “It was expected of me."

Ventura also testified that Combs turned the "freak offs" into “blackmail,” allegedly threatening to release video recordings of the sex sessions “when he was upset about something.”

Ventura testified that Combs threatened “to embarrass me and put my career in jeopardy,” and that she “absolutely” feared he would release the videos.

“I just feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing and disgusting. Nobody should do that to anyone,” Ventura testified.

Ventura also said on the stand that Combs allegedly told her that the videos “could ruin everything“ that she had worked for and make her look “like a slut.”

The jury saw a text message from Ventura asking Combs to “please delete any video” from his phone. Combs responded that he had but Ventura testified that there were times when she had seen videos that she thought had been deleted.

May 14, 2025, 11:18 AM EDT

Cassie Ventura recounts violent 2016 encounter with Combs: 'You are sick for thinking it’s ok to do what you’ve done'

Cassie Ventura’s testimony returned to March 5, 2016, at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, California. She narrated the video depicting Sean Combs throwing a vase full of flowers at her after she said she tried to escape a "freak off" that had turned violent.

“I just remembered it coming towards me. I didn’t get hit. I remember it hitting the wall. He was yelling at me,” Ventura said.

Image the prosecution submitted as evidence in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial.
US Department of Justice

Ventura testified that Combs sent a barrage of text messages to her after she had left the hotel, begging her to get in touch.

The text messages were shown in court. “Yo pls call me. I got six kids. Pls call me,” one message said. “Call me. Call now,” another said.

“I have a premiere Monday for the biggest thing I’ve ever done and I have a black eye and fat lip,” Ventura messaged Combs in response. “You are sick for thinking it’s ok to do what you’ve done.”

Ventura testified that when she arrived home, a friend noticed her injuries and called police.

“I answered a couple of questions but when they wanted me to say who I was talking about I would not, so they left,” Ventura said of the police visit. “Just in that moment I didn’t want to hurt him in that way. Too much going on for me in that moment. I wasn’t ready.”

Ventura testified Combs then showed up at her apartment building. She said Combs’ assistant, known as KK, notified her.

Ventura testified that she heard “chaos outside the door, banging, kicking, yelling” and “just commotion in a very private building.”

Jurors saw photographs of the sparkling gold gown Ventura wore to the premiere she attended. She is also wearing sunglasses in the photos -- “to cover up my eye” since she “got hit in the face," Ventura testified, referring to the attack shown in the video.

Ventura also testified that she “wore quite a bit of makeup” at the premiere to cover “the bruising on my face.”

Ventura also pointed out bruises on her right leg that were visible in a photograph of her with Combs in her blue after-party dress.

May 14, 2025, 10:05 AM EDT

Cassie Ventura's 2nd day of testimony expected to include explicit videos

Cassie Ventura's Wednesday testimony is expected to include explicit videos of the alleged sex "freak offs" she said she arranged so often for Sean Combs that it “became a job, where there was no space to do anything else.”

Ventura previously testified that the "freak offs" became private pornography shoots with Combs setting up video equipment.

“It was very, like, like porn,” Ventura said. “I was an object being heavily objectified by men in that scenario.”

She told the jury Tuesday that the idea these “humiliating, disgusting” sessions, which she said involved male prostitutes, were recorded left her “feeling insane.”

“I never wanted anyone to ever see me like that,” Ventura testified. “It just was not OK for me.”

Combs is seated at the defense table and is wearing gray pants, a white collared shirt and a cream-colored sweater. There appear to be fewer members of the Combs family in court today than there were Tuesday.

Ventura, who is pregnant, is seated in the witness box and is wearing a long gray dress covered by a long, dark-colored jacket.

May 14, 2025, 9:50 AM EDT

Cassie Ventura is back on the witness stand for day 2 of her testimony

Cassie Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs, has taken the witness stand again following a dramatic day of testimony on Tuesday.

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