Singer Cassie Ventura testified in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial that he once handed her a loaded gun while she was under the influence of drugs.
Taking the witness stand on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Ventura, who is pregnant with her third child by her husband Alex Fine, was questioned about the presence of firearms throughout her decade-long relationship with the music executive.
Ventura, 38, testified that during her time dating Combs, 55, from 2007 to 2018, she “only ever saw handguns,” which were kept at his residences in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and Alpine, NJ. She further claimed that she occasionally saw the guns outside of the rapper’s safes.
When prosecutors asked if she had ever handled any of Combs’ firearms, Ventura responded, “I was handed one. We were going to a club in downtown LA.”
“I just remember we took mushrooms, and I was really high. I was handed the gun just to hold in my bag, but I was freaking out the whole time that it was going to go off,” Ventura recalled. She explained that she didn’t know how to operate a pistol at the time and that the gun remained in her bag for about an hour while they were at the nightclub. “I felt terrified,” she said.
She claimed she eventually returned the firearm to Combs’ security team, stating, “I have no idea why I had a loaded gun.”
When asked if she had ever handled other firearms belonging to Combs, Ventura said, “The guns were taken out here and there. I always felt like it was a little bit of a scare tactic. I didn’t know for what purpose.”
During her testimony, Ventura, the key witness in the case, recounted the abuse she suffered during her relationship with Combs. She claimed, “He would bash me on my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me on the head if I was down… [I would] make the wrong face, and the next thing I knew, I was getting hit in the face.”
She added that the “violent” physical assaults became so severe that she would “get knots” on her forehead.
Ventura also described Combs’ drug-fueled “Freak-Offs,” where she was allegedly made to perform for him after an escort was hired. According to Ventura, these events became so routine that they “became a job” for her. She testified that the longest “Freak-Off” lasted for four days, with breaks in between.
The singer made headlines in November 2023 when she filed a lawsuit against Combs for rape and abuse. The Bad Boy Records founder quickly settled, but a video surfaced six months later showing him beating her in the hallway of an LA hotel in 2016.
Combs’ indictment revealed that in March 2024, federal agents raided his LA and Miami homes, finding over 1,000 bottles of lubricant, various narcotics, and three AR-15 rifles.
Combs was arrested six months later and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transporting individuals for prostitution.
If convicted, Combs could face life in prison.
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