Beatings, disgusting sex marathons: The horrific revelations made by singer Cassie in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

It was an explosive day in court as the trial against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs’ gets underway. He faces five counts, including one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

If convicted, he could face life in prison.

On Tuesday, “victim 1” — Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie in the music world — was called to the stand. She was on the stand for about four-and-a-half hours Tuesday and is set to return for further questioning.

In her lengthy testimony, Cassie, who was once the partner of Combs, revealed that she was often subjected to disgusting and humiliating drug-fuelled marathon group sex sessions.

She also detailed beatings and abuse at the hands of Combs in her bombshell testimony that underpins much of the prosecution’s case against the music industry figure, who is alleged to have used violence and blackmail to manipulate women over many years.

During the revelation, Ventura pointed out that she was “just in love and wanted to make (Combs) happy, to a point I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice.” The singer, who is eight-and-a-half months pregnant, further disclosed that the music mogul would on occasion urinate on her or direct one of the numerous sex workers in his employ to do so.

It is to be noted that the escorts, who were almost exclusively male, were compensated with cash payments of several thousand dollars or more after each interaction. Cassandra, who is 17 years junior to Diddy said, “It was disgusting. It was too much. It was overwhelming.” The witness added that the hotel rooms utilised for the extended sexual encounters often incurred significant damage, leading to substantial cleaning and repair bills issued by the establishments, which included charges for linens soiled with blood and urine.

Asked if she enjoyed anything about the curated encounters that Combs allegedly instructed her to coordinate, Ventura wept openly. “I was just in love and wanted to make him happy,” she said of their on-and-off relationship that lasted more than a decade.

Combs’s defence team indicated that during cross-examination, which is expected as early as Wednesday afternoon, they would seek to emphasise that Ventura took drugs of her own free will and behaved erratically.

Ventura said that during the encounters she took drugs including ecstasy, ketamine or cocaine, and that the “drugs honestly helped” her meet Combs’s demands to stay awake for days on end. The drugs also had a “dissociative and numbing” effect, she said, “a way to not feel it for what it really was.”

Let us take a look at who Cassie is and what she testified in court.

Who is Cassie?

Cassie, who has worked as a singer, actor, dancer, and model, initiated her professional aspirations during her teenage years, securing a contract with the leading talent and modelling agency Wilhelmina. Her music career began soon after she relocated from her home state of Connecticut to New York, where she signed with manager Tony Mottola and had her initial meeting with Combs.

Cassie is perhaps best known for the 2006 hit single Me & U, which secured the number one spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 all genres chart. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The song was the lead single of her only studio album, released by Combs’ Bad Boy Records, and was self-titled. She left the label in 2019.

As an actor, she appeared in several television and film projects including Fox’s Empire, The Perfect Match and Spencer Confidential. She made her acting debut in 2008 in Step Up 2: The Streets and contributed the song Is It You to its soundtrack.

Cassie is also a wife and a mother. She married personal trainer Alex Fine in September 2019. Their first daughter, Frankie Stone Fine, was born that same year and they welcomed their second daughter, Sunny Cinco Fine, in 2021. She is currently pregnant with their third child, a son.

How did Cassie meet Combs?

Cassie met Combs in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37. He signed her to his Bad Boy Records label and, within a few years, they started dating.

In her 2023 civil lawsuit, Cassie alleges Combs trapped her in a “cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking” for more than a decade, including raping her and forcing her to engage in sex acts with male sex workers. Combs settled the lawsuit the next day.

Later, Combs apologised for the assault on Cassie in his first real acknowledgement of wrongdoing since the stream of allegations began.

What has Cassie said about Combs?

Speaking about Combs, she said, “Sean controlled a lot of my life whether it was (my) career, the way I dressed.” She asserted that Combs would often turn violent when trying to control her. “He would mash me in my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me on the head if I was down,” Ventura said.

Jurors were shown hotel surveillance footage from March 2016 on Monday and again on Tuesday, which visually documented Combs brutally beating and dragging her down a hallway. During Ventura’s testimony, the prosecution presented excerpts from this video. When asked to explain her lack of physical response or attempt to rise, Ventura simply replied that being curled up on the ground “felt like the safest place to be.”

Former security officer at a Los Angeles InterContinental hotel, Israel Florez, told the court Monday that he was first on the scene after that incident and that Combs sought to pay him off. Florez’s testimony provided the foundation for the prosecution to introduce the security footage that was published by CNN last year.

The panel of 12 jurors and six alternates responsible for determining Combs’s fate have started hearing of the famed artist’s explosive outbursts, exploitation of his partners and an attempt to preserve his own reputation and celebrity through bribery.

What did the defence state?

The 55-year-old’s music mogul’s defence team insisted that while some of his behaviour was questionable, at times constituting domestic abuse, it did not meet the evidence needed to prove racketeering and sex trafficking charges. Combs has pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Combs’s defence lawyer Teny Geragos called Combs’ accusers “capable, strong adult women,” and said his situation with Cassie was a “toxic relationship” but “between two people who loved each other.” Florez’s testimony was followed by a male dancer who engaged in a sexual relationship, often in exchange for money, with Combs and Ventura from 2012 to approximately the end of 2013. He concluded his testimony on Tuesday.

If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in bringing hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison. The proceedings are expected to last eight to 10 weeks, and Combs was joined in the courthouse by family members as well as former lovers including Misa Hylton.

With inputs from agencies