Cassie is at the center of opening statements in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex-crimes trial.
At the official start of Combs’ trial May 12, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson delivered the government’s argument against Combs, who is facing five counts on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
But the prosecution painted an image of a controlling, powerful man who coerced a young artist into a complicated and at times violent romantic relationship. Cassie was 19 when she first met Combs, who was 17 years older than her, Johnson said. He allegedly promised her a 10-album deal, and although she recorded music constantly, he always had a final say on which music she was able to release, Johnson said.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers accuse prosecution of bias against Black jurors
What started as a professional music relationship quickly devolved, Johnson said. Cassie began dating Combs in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship with him for more than a decade. Known for the hit track “Me & U,” the lead single off her self-titled (and only) studio album, Cassie later sued Combs, alleging their professional and romantic relationship quickly changed as he coerced her into sex and physically beat her.
In court May 12, Johnson described one instance in 2009 where Combs allegedly threw Cassie on the floor of an SUV and “stomped repeatedly on her face.”
Cassie will testify about another instance when she said Combs forced another escort to urinate in her mouth, Johnson said.
Diddy used Cassie ‘freak off’ videos for blackmail, prosecutors claim
Cassie entered her first “freak off” reluctantly, but she “loved” Combs and “wanted to make him happy,” Johnson said. Combs’ “freak offs,” the sometimes dayslong sexual performances he is accused of holding, involved illicit substances and commercial sex workers.
Johnson said jurors will hear testimony from some of the escorts, one of whom saw Combs drag Cassie by her hair at a “freak off.”
She continued, saying “the defendant beat (Cassie) viciously,” whether she was taking too long in the bathroom or missed his calls or left a “freak off” early. Combs had power over Cassie’s career and livelihood, and he would threaten to release videos of her with “dozens and dozens of male escorts,” Johnson said. He “had the power to ruin her life.”
For Cassie, the videos are “souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life,” Johnson said.
“Her livelihood and safety depended on keeping the defendant happy,” Johnson said. The prosecution said Combs and Cassie “were unfaithful and jealous,” but “only one had power.”
This argument may factor heavily into the trial as the defense is expected to paint Cassie as equally violent against Combs.
Witnesses of Cassie’s assaults and injuries will also testify, Johnson said, before asking jurors to “please use and trust your common sense.”
Defense argues Cassie was ‘jealous’
In the defense team’s opening statement, Combs’ lawyer Teny Geragos argued that Cassie became jealous when she realized she would never be the music mogul’s wife.
“Regret does not mean coerced,” Geragos said, attempting to poke holes in the one of the prosecution’s signature arguments. Every woman in this case had “free choice,” she said, and argued that the “freak-off” videos were meant to be “intimate” and not intended “to be seen by people outside that room.”
Geragos said the case is about his personal, private sex life, and admitted that he has sometimes been violent.
“Sean Combs has a temper,” Geragos said. “My client is not proud of that.”
Cassie’s husband spotted at Diddy trial
Cassie’s husband, Alex Fine, was spotted at the courthouse during the first day of opening arguments. Fine, who wed Ventura in 2019, shares two children with the singer, with a third on the way.
He is presumably there to support his wife, who will serve as one of the prosecution’s key witnesses.
Cassie hotel video takes center stage
The hotel video from 2016 featuring Combs beating Cassie – which Combs’ defense team failed to convince the judge to remove from the evidence list prior to trial – was a talking point in the prosecution’s opening statement. Lawyers plan to show their own clips of the incident, separate from the recording, largely viewed by the public when CNN released it in 2024.
Combs’ inner circle gave one of the security guards a bag of $100,000 in cash for the video, Johnson said.
In response, the defense team argued that Combs was “not trying to obstruct justice” but rather to protect both him and Cassie from “bad publicity.”
Prosecutors allege Diddy tried to kill new man Cassie was seeing
Describing one violent episode, Johnson said Combs broke into the house of a man who was seeing Ventura with a gun and a bodyguard with the intent to kill. While no one was home, Combs later found Ventura and, “beat her brutally,” flinging “her around like a rag doll,” she argued.
Ventura sued Combs in November 2023, alleging she trafficked, raped and viciously beaten by her former partner over the course of a decade.
Combs and Cassie reached a settlement one day later.
The case was civil, rather than criminal, as part of a one-time legal loophole opened by the city of New York, a fact Combs’ defense team seized upon, claiming it was a “money grab,” since civil suits result in damages but not jail time.
Contributing: Aysha Bagchi, Anika Reed, Anna Kaufman
If you are a victim of domestic violence, The National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org) allows you to speak confidentially with trained advocates online or by the phone, which they recommend for those who think their online activity is being monitored by their abuser (800-799-7233). They can help survivors develop a plan to achieve safety for themselves and their children.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy trial: Cassie Ventura ‘freak off’ videos used for blackmail
