Who’s Cassie Ventura within the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial? What to find out about key names within the case

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial continued Wednesday in New York Metropolis. His ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura was again on the stand for a second day. 

The hip-hop mogul is accused of operating a legal enterprise since no less than 2004 that manipulated ladies into taking part in industrial intercourse acts with him, and generally male intercourse employees, throughout what prosecutors described as drug-fueled events referred to as “freak offs.”

Combs has been jailed on the Metropolitan Detention Heart Brooklyn since his arrest final September. He faces 5 counts from 4 totally different ladies, together with Ventura. 

To date, jurors heard from a former safety supervisor on the Los Angeles lodge the place Combs was seen on a now notorious video attacking Ventura in 2016, together with a person who says he was employed to have intercourse with Ventura whereas Combs watched, and Ventura herself. 

This is what to know in regards to the costs and key names within the case. 

Who’s Cassie Ventura? Resort video a key piece of proof

Ventura, who performs beneath the title Cassie, rose to fame with the only “Me & U” on her self-titled debut album. The tune landed the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Sizzling R&B/Hip-Hop chart in 2006.

In her testimony, she stated she signed with Dangerous Boy Data when she was 19, and Combs first kissed her on her twenty first birthday. She and Combs dated off-and-on for greater than 10 years, from about 2007 to 2018.

She stated she recorded tons of of songs as a part of a 10-album deal, however most have been by no means launched. She testified Combs turned controlling and violent, and the “freak offs” turned her job. 

Ventura spoke about years of alleged psychological and bodily abuse. She additionally stated Wednesday that he raped her after that they had damaged up in 2018. 

The safety video of Combs attacking Ventura within the hallway of the InterContinental lodge is a key piece of proof in his trial. The video, obtained and revealed by CNN final 12 months, reveals Combs throw her onto the ground earlier than kicking and dragging her. 

Prosecutors allege the lodge assault occurred throughout a “freak off,” however Combs’ legal professionals, who sought to have the video excluded from trial, argue it was a “glimpse into a posh however decade-long consensual relationship.” 

Ventura filed a federal lawsuit towards Combs in 2023, accusing him of rape and bodily abuse. The go well with additionally stated Combs paid the lodge $50,000 for the footage. 

“After years in silence and darkness, I’m lastly prepared to inform my story, and to talk up on behalf of myself and for the advantage of different ladies who face violence and abuse of their relationships,” Ventura stated in a press release to CBS Information on the time. “With the expiration of New York’s Grownup Survivors Act quick approaching, it turned clear that this was a chance to talk up in regards to the trauma I’ve skilled and that I will probably be recovering from for the remainder of my life.”

Combs later apologized for the conduct seen on the video, however denied the allegations within the lawsuit. In a social media submit that has since been eliminated, he stated he was “f—ed up” and “hit all-time low.”

“I take full accountability for my actions in that video,” he stated. “I used to be disgusted then once I did it. I am disgusted now. I went and I sought out skilled assist. I bought into going to remedy, going to rehab. I needed to ask God for his mercy and charm. I am so sorry. However I am dedicated to be a greater man each day. I am not asking for forgiveness. I am really sorry.”

Someday after the go well with was filed, a settlement was introduced. Whereas the small print weren’t disclosed, Ventura stated in a press release, “I’ve determined to resolve this matter amicably on phrases that I’ve some stage of management.”

Combs’ protection attorneys stated of their opening statements that he and Ventura hadn’t seen one another since his ex, Kim Porter’s, funeral in 2018.

Ventura is now married and pregnant along with her third little one. Her husband and brother have each been seen in courtroom for help. 

Who’re Diddy’s different accusers?

Since 2023, dozens of men and women have filed lawsuits towards Combs alleging sexual and bodily abuse. 

Most of the accusers stated they have been drugged after which abused whereas incapacitated, and a few claimed different celebrities have been current or participated within the abuse. 

Nonetheless, the majority of these allegations are usually not a part of the legal case. Prosecutors have chosen to deal with allegations the place there’s bodily proof or witness corroboration. 

The opposite three ladies concerned within the trial haven’t been publicly named and they’re anticipated to testify utilizing pseudonyms. The indictment refers to them as Sufferer-1, Sufferer-2 and Sufferer-3.

Combs has denied all the allegations by means of his legal professionals, who described the ladies as “former long-term girlfriends, who have been concerned in consensual relationships.”

Different high-profile names within the Sean Combs case

Potential jurors have been requested in the event that they have been acquainted with a listing of some 190 celebrities, together with Michael B. Jordan, Kanye West and Mike Myers, although it wasn’t clear how these persons are associated to the trial, if in any respect.   

The choose overseeing the case is U.S. District Choose Arun Subramanian, a Columbia Legislation College graduate and former clerk for the late Supreme Court docket Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. President Joe Biden appointed Subramanian as a federal choose in 2022. 

The prosecution workforce is made up of eight assistant U.S. attorneys, seven of them ladies. They embrace Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She was one of many prosecutors within the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of conspiring Jeffrey Epstein to recruit and sexually abuse teenage ladies. 

Combs’ protection workforce is led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who alongside together with his spouse Karen Friedman Agnifilo can be defending Luigi Mangione within the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Additionally on the seven-person protection workforce is Atlanta lawyer Brian Metal, who represented Younger Thug in a trial that lasted practically two years earlier than the rapper pleaded responsible to gang, drug and gun costs.

Are you able to watch the Diddy trial stay?

Per federal courtroom guidelines, photographs and movies from inside courtroom are usually not allowed. Courtroom sketches, nonetheless, are permitted. 

The extremely anticipated trial is anticipated to final eight to 10 weeks. For the primary week, courtroom will probably be held from 9 a.m. to five p.m. each day. 

CBS Information New York’s Alice Gainer will probably be on the courthouse during trial and supply real-time updates.

Emily Mae Czachor

contributed to this report.