Casandra "Cassie" Ventura spoke for the first time about the sexual, physical and emotional abuse she experienced in her decade-long relationship with Sean "Diddy" comb, the details of the drug-driven "freak" hardly involved synonyms for the allegations against the comb.
The 38-year-old R&B singer, model and actress stood up on Tuesday in the first week of a sex trafficking and extortion conspiracy trial in combs. The hip-hop tycoon pleaded not guilty to five charges against him.
Tuesday was the first time the former celebrity couple met in person since they broke up in 2018. Supported by her husband, Alex Fine, her brother and other relatives, he testified for the majority of the day that she "hate" alleged rituals and "choreography" sex, but felt no choice.
Ventura told jurors that after her first freak at the age of 22, she described herself as “naive” and “obsessed” with her label boss combs—long, “humiliated” sex with combs and male escorts happening almost every week. Ventura testified that male escorts paid thousands of dollars in cash and their payments depended on how they performed during sex.
She claimed that the comb controls almost every aspect of her daily life and is afraid to make him angry, which could lead to physical violence. To participate in the freak while testifying, Ventura, who is over eight months pregnant for a brief period of time, was drowned by emotions and cried while trying to explain why she continued to suffer the freak and the overall loss she caused.
Ventura is expected to testify the next day on Wednesday, about her decade-long "abuse" relationship with the comb. Prosecutors said they will ask further questions about the March 2016 InterContinental Hotel attack, which was arrested in surveillance video and introduce photo evidence related to the videotape. After a direct check, the Combs All-Star Defense Team plans to ask about Ventura on Thursday.
These are the seven biggest gains from Ventura's testimony.
Ventura leads the jurors through every step of the “freak” of the heightened ceremony, claiming that the comb is carefully planned and controlled. Despite the locations, Ventura testifies, the settings are usually similar: Hotel suites and personal bedrooms contain bottled baby oil, lubricant and strong mood candles. Ventura says the light is switched to LED color lights used in the studio.
Ventura said that the sexual encounter with male escorts follows the pattern, and the two rubbed each other's baby oil until "glittering." According to Ventura, it was followed by touch and massage, then oral sex, then sexual intercourse. "It's his fantasy," Ventura said. "He's controlling the whole situation. He's guiding it. He's doing the lighting. He's telling us where, how to say, how to act in the room."
Ventura said that sometimes, she would try to "speed up" the incident because she just wanted to comb alone. “I often wish to be able to get to another room where we can spend our time alone,” she said.
Ventura said she signed Combs' record label for 19-year-old "naive" and she was "infatuated" with him when they formed a relationship. Ventura claims that combs claim dominance in both their career and personal life.
The comb allegedly pointed Ventura to her hairstyle, and she should have painted the color of her nails, even suggesting some body piercings. "Shaun controls my life, both in profession, like my outfit, everything," Ventura testified. "I just felt like I didn't talk much at the time, and this was a very young, innocent, completely pleasing person."
Regarding her living conditions, the comb paid for almost all apartments in Ventura in New York City and Los Angeles - conveniently located to his residence.
Despite signing 10 Album deals with Combs’ label Bad Boy, Ventura released only one studio album. Ventura said she has been recording new music but has not released it. Ventura testified that many of the songs she recorded “just didn’t see a day.”
Venture said the comb wondered where she was always and if he couldn't catch her on the phone right away, the comb would keep calling until she responded. Other times Combs allegedly sent his security team to track Ventura physically. She claimed he often took her car and phone and kicked her out of the apartment as a punishment.
Ventura claims that by the age of 22, the comb began to abuse her physically. She testified, “He will smash me, knock me down, drag me, kick me, well, if I fall down, step on me.”
The abuse happened “too often”, she said, causing “the knot on my forehead, my lips were open, my lips were swollen, my eyes were dark, my eyes would be red, well, my body was bruised.”
Ventura said that physical beatings may have arisen from a change in the mood of the comb. "I made the wrong face, and the next thing I know is that my face was hit," she testified. Ventura said she was very worried about the potential comb and would do her best to avoid getting angry.
During her hours of testimony, Ventura collapses when she tries to explain her reasons for continuing to take part in the freak with her comb. "I just don't want anything bad to happen," Ventura said, clarifying that "any bad" could be the comb "violence" and that he found out that another woman was willing to be a freak with him. She added: “When you really care about someone and you fall in love with them, you don’t want to let them down.”
But Ventura testified that continuing to participate in the freak has done a damaging to her mental health. "I just felt that it was everything to him," she said, shakingly. "I was just really scared of myself. I felt sick. I was humiliated. I didn't have those words to put together at the time, like how scary I really felt."
Ventura claims that at the end of the freak, male escorts are usually paid several thousand dollars. She said some people have difficulty maintaining an erection. "In fact, people we don't know much about are very frequent," Ventura said. "They express...every time Sean talks, it throws them away, or if he moves a candle, it's distracting."
Ventura claims that those who cannot perform in the way the comb expects “absolutely don’t get the normal amount.”
Ventura claims that the comb instructed her to hire male escorts to the freak and gave them the situation thrill when they arrived at a hotel suite or one of the houses.
She said she was responsible for ensuring that the person was "safe". Ventura clarified that it meant the comb “would me clarify if this person is a policeman,” she said. "At first, I didn't understand, I only understood the reason later."
Ventura testified that the comb made her have sex with her male escort and she found her “humiliation”, including freaks and men urinating on her periods during menstruation.
“It’s really disgusting,” Ventura said. "Too much. It's overwhelming. I choked. It's impossible for me to read something on my face that I wanted to do. I'm just lying on the floor where I can't get out of it easily."