After Casandra "Cassie" Ventura filed an explosive lawsuit against ex-boyfriend Sean Diddy's comb, the R&B singer will file a lawsuit Tuesday for a decade that has taken her emotionally, physically and sexually abused by someone who has taken her away from her, he will stand up in front of a packed court.
Ventura's court appearance will be the first time she and Comb meet in person since their breakup in 2018. She is considered the main witness in a criminal case against combs in southern New York and is known as the victim in the alleged indictment 1. Combs pleaded not guilty to his five felony charges.
Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo fears jurors will lean towards his client if they see Ventura, who is eight and a half months pregnant, walk into the court. On Monday, Agnifilo asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian if Ventura could sit in the witness box when the jurors entered.
"I think there is a quality of bias," Agnifilo said in a closed-door meeting ahead of Monday's opening statement. "Pregnancy is beautiful and wonderful. It is also the source of potential sympathy." Prosecutors objected, deeming that the court treating any witness with a different condition "very inappropriate."
Ventura is expected to testify in the first week of the trial. She will provide testimony to reflect her painful and graphic civil lawsuit starting in November 2023, which began a federal investigation that sent the comb from a seemingly unshakable billionaire tycoon who now faces the possibility of life in prison if he is convicted of the crime against him.
Ventura will be the third witness to prove in a highly anticipated trial that is expected to last eight weeks. Jurors heard news from Israel Florez, a former security manager who worked at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles on Monday. Florez testified that he was present immediately after a group of elevator banks kicked and dragged Ventura in March 2016.
A surveillance video of the attack published by CNN last year was shown to jurors on Monday, showing a comb chasing Ventura and then throwing it to the ground. Florez claimed that the comb had a "devil-like stare" and provided what he called a "bribe" to keep the incident quiet, he refused. Florez claimed that when he left the hotel, his eyes looked at Ventura, and he questioned whether she wanted him to call the police, and she refused.
Male escort Daniel Phillip also testified on Monday, giving detailed and clear testimony to his multiple freaks with Ventura and the comb between 2014 and 2016.
Although initially because of being "with such a notorious man," Phillip testified that his passion for the first time claimed to have witnessed a comb attack on Ventura in a freak. The comb called on Ventura to come to the bedroom, but when she didn't follow immediately, Phillip claimed that the comb threw a bottle of wine in her direction and the bottle hit the wall. The comb allegedly dragged the screaming Ventura back to the room, where he heard the slap, Ventura apologized and said, "I'm sorry, sorry!"
After the incident, Philip said he was not doing well in the freak with Ventura and the comb. Phillip said they were alone in another freak and he tried to warn Ventura about the "danger" he thought he was in, asking why she was staying in the comb when he "strikes" her. Philip said Ventura tried to assure him that she would be fine.
When Ventura first met the 37-year-old comb in 2005, she was an aspiring 19-year-old singer and was happy to sign a record deal with the bad boy. By the time she was 21 years old, the comb had already started pursuing her romantically, and was eventually forced to kiss in the bathroom on the night of her 21st birthday party.
The prosecutor eventually said the comb forced Ventura to have sex with male escorts while watching and masturbating. If she refuses, prosecutors say the comb will beat her and regularly provide her with drugs to keep her awake and compliant. Ventura claims she will have to camp in a hotel and comb mansion until the bruises from her body beaten gradually fade.
When Ventura said she was trying to escape the comb, his team helped her track it and encouraged her to return to the boss who was allegedly abusive tag. Outside the bedroom, the comb allegedly controls every aspect of Ventura's life and career.
While Combs' team admitted in its opening remarks that Mogul had abused Ventura, they reminded jurors that Combs was not prosecuted for domestic violence in this case. Instead, they claimed that Ventura was the consent of an adult and had a personal motivation to establish a relationship with the comb, and later litigated him. “Ask yourself why,” Gragos said. "The answer is money."
Last week, Combs' lawyers claimed that Ventura was a woman with full ability and suggested that her nature was not forced into anything. Judge Subramanian quickly shot down the concept. "The powerful can be coerced like the weak," Subramanian said.
This is a development story