Defence lawyers don’t want jury to see Cassie is pregnant
Before today’s court session gets under way, the lawyers in the Manhattan court are having some discussions about Cassie Ventura’s testimony.
ABC News
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial updates: Cassie Ventura testifies Combs ‘would bash my head’
The hip-hop mogul is charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Cassie Ventura takes the stand in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trialCassie Ventura, the ex-girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs, is taking t…Show more
ByAaron Katersky and Mason Leib
Last Updated: May 13, 2025, 12:38 PM CEST
This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.
This is day two in the trial of Sean Combs after the jury was seated.
Prosecution calls Cassie Ventura to testify against ex-boyfriend Sean Combs
May 12, 2025, 9:45 PM CEST
Jury sees 2016 video showing Cassie Ventura attack
May 12, 2025, 7:33 PM CEST
Defense addresses Combs’ relationship with Cassie Ventura, ‘Jane’
May 12, 2025, 6:38 PM CEST
Defense says Combs is ‘not charged with being mean,’ mentions Combs’ ‘swinger’s lifestyle’
May 12, 2025, 5:32 PM CEST
Opening arguments: Prosecution details Combs’ alleged dealings with Cassie Ventura, another victim
Here’s how the news is developing.
May 13, 4:11 pm
Sean Combs trial begins
Opening arguments got underway Monday in the highly anticipated trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Combs is accused of being the ringleader of an alleged enterprise that “abused, threatened and coerced women” into prolonged, drug-fueled sexual orgies with male prostitutes, which he called “freak offs,” and then threatened them into silence. Combs has said that all of the sex was consensual and that while his relationships sometimes involved domestic violence, he wasn’t engaged in trafficking. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said Combs was simply part of the swinger lifestyle and that he “vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY” and “looks forward to his day in court.”
1 Updates
42 minutes ago
Cassie Ventura describes participating in ‘freak offs’ to please Combs
Cassie Ventura testified that she did not remember how the term “freak off” came about but she recalled Sean Combs proposed “this sexual encounter, that he called voyeurism, where he would watch me in intercourse, sexual activity with another man” within the first year of their relationship.
“I just remember my stomach falling, just the nervousness. I think I was 22 at the time, I didn’t have a concept to how that would be a turn-on but I also felt a sense of responsibility, him sharing that with me,” Ventura testified. “I wanted to make him happy.”
In soft-spoken, sometimes halting testimony interrupted by deep breaths, Ventura said the freak offs occurred so often that “eventually it became a job for me” to set them up.
After the first one, Ventura said her willingness to participate changed.
“Pretty quickly over time I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to be doing, especially how frequently. But I was in love and wanting to make him happy,” Ventura said. “I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice, didn’t really know what ‘no’ could turn into.”
Ventura alleged violent arguments with Combs that she said “would usually result in some physical abuse.”
“He would bash my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me in the head when I was down,” Ventura testified.
“How frequently was Sean physical with you during your relationship?” prosecutor Emily Johnson asked.
“Too frequently,” Ventura responded.
repatioship with Cassie Ventura, ‘Jane’
Cassie Ventura and “Jane” are both “capable, strong” women who chose to remain with Sean Combs, the defense insisted during opening statements.
Ventura was “not coerced to engage in this sex life,” and “Jane” was “desperate” to be with Combs, defense attorney Teny Geragos said.
According to Geragos, Ventura attended the funeral of Kim Porter in 2018 when she heard Combs call Porter his soulmate. The defense attorney said it became clear to Cassie then that she was never going to be the love of Combs’ life and so she left him with no repercussions.
The singer and model, 38, who is the prosecution’s star witness, is eight months pregnant. Defence lawyers for Sean Combs, her former long-time partner, are opposed to jurors seeing this.
“Because I think there is a prejudicial quality,” defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo told Judge Arun Subramanian. “Pregnancy is beautiful and wonderful. It also is a source of potential sympathy.”
