May 14, 2025 – Day 3 of testimony in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial

• Cassie Ventura on the stand: Cassie Ventura, the former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs and one of his accusers, has given two days of intense testimony in his federal sex-trafficking trial. She described the physical abuse she said she endured from Combs and testified about the “Freak Offs,” or drug-fueled sex performances, he orchestrated. The jury was shown sexually explicit images from videos Combs allegedly kept as blackmail.

• What’s next: The defense team will begin their cross-examination of Ventura tomorrow morning. They say they expect it will stretch into Friday.

• Federal charges: Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If convicted on all counts, he could face up to life in prison.

• Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with intimate partner violence, there are resources available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Our live coverage of the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

During her testimony today, Cassie Ventura revealed, in detail, numerous times how her relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs became physically violent.

At one point Ventura broke down in tears as she talked about going to rehab and trauma therapy in February 2023. She said she was having flash backs during a shooting for a music video with another artist. She also said she was suicidal.

Here’s details of Ventura testimony during her direct examination today:

Cassie Ventura, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend, continued her testimony today, as prosecutors focused their questioning on issues of coercion.

Here are some pieces of evidence that the jury saw as Ventura testified about the alleged physical violence that she sustained:

The defense attorneys will cross-examine Ventura tomorrow.

Looking forward, Ventura’s mother is expected to take the stand.

Douglas Wigdor, Cassie Ventura’s attorney, told reporters outside court in New York City today that his client delivered “powerful testimony” in her second day on the stand in the trial of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“Just the whole thing was powerful, and (she) told her truth,” Wigdor said. “I wouldn’t want to be doing that cross-examination, that’s for sure.”

He also said he was not surprised when Ventura revealed on the stand that her 2023 lawsuit against Combs was settled for $20 million, saying it was a “fact.”

Widgor said Ventura testifying during her pregnancy is always a concern especially when she is about to give birth in the coming weeks.

When reporters asked about Ventura’s state of mind recounting her relationship with Combs, Widgor said his client “was numb from the drugs she was taking and everything she had gone through; she realized that she had to tell the truth.”

Widgor was also asked how Ventura’s husband was doing, he said, “put yourself in his shoes.”

The attorney reiterated he has “great faith” in the jury system, adding “today was a powerful day.”

Some of the evidence introduced in the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex-trafficking trial has been made available to the public, including an email from a former security guard who responded to a 2016 incident between Combs and Cassie Ventura, his then-girlfriend, in which hotel surveillance footage showed Combs physically assaulting her.

The evidence is related to testimony on Monday from Los Angeles Police Officer Israel Florez, who was a security official at the former InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in March 2016 when he got a call saying there was “a woman in distress.” Florez testified that Combs later approached him in the hotel room with a wad of cash that he interpreted to be a bribe. He said he declined the cash.

In his email to management about the incident, Florez wrote that Combs told him “you take care of this and I’ll take care of you.”

There are also four photos of the aftermath of the assault in the hallway. They show the broken vase and flowers strewn across the hallway and stains on the wall.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ family was seen embracing in a prayer circle at court, after Cassie Ventura finished her direct testimony against Combs.

Combs’ sons, mother and others were holding hands inside the courthouse lobby on today. Shortly after, the family exited the courthouse together.

Cassie Ventura’s husband Alex Fine walked out of the courtroom when the prosecution started asking about the events of 2018, following Judge Arun Subramanian’s order yesterday.

Why this happened: Defense lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs indicated yesterday that they may call Fine to testify about allegations that Combs raped Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend and one of his accusers, in 2018. So, Judge Subramanian allowed Fine to sit in the courtroom to support his wife during her testimony, which began on Tuesday, until the 2018 allegations are brought up.

Some background: Ventura and Fine married in 2019 during a secret ceremony in Malibu, one year after Ventura and Combs’ years-long relationship ended. According to an interview with Vogue, Fine, who is a personal trainer, and Ventura first met at a gym.

Prosecutors have finished their direct examination of Cassie Ventura, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former girlfriend, and her testimony was exactly what the government was looking to get from its “star witness,” one former prosecutor said.

Ventura “gave testimony that was credible, that was believable,” Elie Honig, CNN senior legal analyst and former federal and state prosecutor, said.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Notably, these are federal charges. That means, even though Ventura’s testimony appears to show “that crimes were absolutely committed as it relates to his conduct,” prosecutors have to prove they were federal crimes, Joey Jackson, a CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney said.

Ventura will be back on the stand for cross-examination tomorrow.

In their questioning, Combs’ attorneys are likely ”going to have to hone in whether or not they were federal crimes,” Jackson said. “And if they’re federal crimes, it’s one thing. If it’s state crimes, then it’s quite another.”

After the jury was dismissed for the day, prosecutors and defense attorneys discussed how they’ll handle certain text messages in the case.

Prosecutors raised concerns about the defense bringing in text messages that reference Cassie Ventura having sex with someone else other than Sean “Diddy” Combs or an escort. They say the messages would be in violation of the parties’ agreement to not allow that kind of evidence into the trial.

Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said the defense team wants to show the jury conversations between Combs and Ventura that reference infidelity and jealousy that use a more “vulgar” vocabulary.

“This is the real-world way that people express hurt over realization that there’s cheating going on,” he said.

Judge Arun Subramanian asked the parties to submit letters on the issue tonight. He said they’ll address it tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. ET before the jury comes in.

Testimony is expected to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET tomorrow.

For the first time, Cassie Ventura has confirmed the amount in which she settled her November 2023 civil lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, testifying today that they agreed to settle the suit for $20 million.

Ventura alleged in her lawsuit that Combs raped her in 2018 and subjected her to years of repeated physical and other abuses over the course of their relationship. Combs denied Ventura’s allegations at the time, and they settled Ventura’s lawsuit the day after it was filed.

“We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love,” Combs told CNN in a statement at the time.

Ventura also released a statement to CNN at the time, saying: “I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.”

Details of the settlement were not immediately released at the time, CNN previously reported.

Combs’ then-lawyer Ben Brafman also said in a statement at the time that Combs’ “decision to settle” the lawsuit was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”

Ventura’s civil suit is separate from Combs’ ongoing criminal sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial.

Judge Arun Subramanian has dismissed the jury for the day.

The defense will begin their cross-examination of Cassie Ventura tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. ET.

The judge said the prosecution and defense need to resolve issues regarding the cross-examination before it begins.

Defense attorney Anna Estevao said she expects cross-examination to stretch into Friday.

Cassie Ventura’s direct testimony is over, and the prosecution and defense are at side bar.

Cross-examination is expected to begin momentarily.

The jury is on a 10-minute break.

Cassie Ventura is now testifying about the book she wrote in 2023, saying that she didn’t think Sean “Diddy” Combs “understood” the pain she was in.

“I didn’t think he understood. I don’t think after all those years of begging for sorrys and for him to actually recognize the pain that he put me through, I just wanted him to understand,” she said.

Ventura said she sent the book to Combs through a lawyer and told him that he could buy the rights to it for $30 million.

Asked how she reached that number she said, “I really didn’t do any research. I just picked a number that I felt like would alert him.”

She later reached out to Combs’ employee to ask if he had read her book and was told that “it hadn’t been taken seriously.” She said she did not receive any compensation from Combs for the rights to her writing.

In November 2023, she filed a lawsuit. Ventura testified that she agreed to settle with Combs and his companies for $20 million 24 hours after filing the lawsuit.

Cassie Ventura broke down in tears as she talked about going to rehab and trauma therapy in February 2023.

She said she was having flash backs during a shooting for a music video with another artist. She also said she was suicidal.

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. Dial or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org for free and confidential support.

Cassie Ventura testified that Sean “Diddy” Combs continued to threaten her after their relationship ended.

In messages from 2019, Combs told Ventura “if I was you, I would get me my money.” Ventura said that Combs wanted to be reimbursed because her current husband, Alex Fine, was formally her personal trainer who Combs paid for.

Combs also messaged her “YOU WILL NOT BE THREATENING ME” and said that she had “too many iPads full of skeletons.”

In the messages, Ventura said, “Do you want me to tell the truth? It’s way deeper than iPads.”

“There was way more than ‘Freak Offs,’” she testified in court this afternoon. “There was abuse, there was many things that happened over our relationship.”

Cassie Ventura is testifying about how she went to dinner with Sean “Diddy” Combs in Malibu in August 2018 for what she thought was a “closure conversation.”

She said she was seeing her now-husband at the time.

Combs was playful and romantic at the dinner, she recalled, and then he drove her home.

After a long pause sitting on the witness stand Ventura said, “And then he raped me in my living room.”

“I just remember crying and saying ‘no,’ but it was very fast,” she testified. She said she wasn’t sure if he even noticed her crying.

Ventura said she was intimate with Combs voluntarily one other time after that instance. she also testified that she and Combs have had “a few check-ins” since they ended things in 2018.

“Just checking in, sending love, nothing crazy,” she said.

Scott Mescudi, also known as rapper Kid Cudi, was just mentioned in the federal criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Kid Cudi has been a player in the story of Combs and his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura since her civil lawsuit against the music mogul in 2023.

Ventura, who is on the stand for the second day today, testified that Combs learned she was dating Kid Cudi during a “Freak Off” in 2011. She said that Combs told her “he was going to hurt Scott and I.”

Ventura also testified that Combs told her Kid Cudi’s car would be blown up — which, at some point, it did.

The testimony mirrors statements Ventura made as part of a civil suit. Ventura alleged in her civil claim that Combs found emails between her and Kid Cudi and “became enraged” at Ventura, later telling her that he was “going to blow up Kid Cudi’s car,” and that was “around that time, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway.”

Representatives for Kid Cudi confirmed Ventura’s account to The New York Times in 2023. “This is all true,” a spokesperson for the artist said at the time.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Kid Cudi for comment today.

In the government’s indictment, Combs is accused of “acts of violence [including] arson,” though it is unclear if prosecutors are referring to the same incident with Kid Cudi.

Cassie Ventura testified that she wedged a knife in a door handle because at the time she was getting a lot of “unannounced visits from Sean where he was really angry.”

Prosecutor Emily Johnson showed the jury a photo from 2018 of the large knife in the door handle.

“Kill two birds with one stone — lock it and have a weapon,” Ventura said.

Cassie Ventura testified that she often took narcotics from and with Sean “Diddy” Combs, and she said there was a period of time where she took opiates daily. She would feel ill if she didn’t take them, she said.

Ventura said she was ”heavily dependent on opiates” throughout her relationship with Combs. She said she sought professional help for the opiate use five or six times during the span of the relationship.

She said she last did drugs in 2022 and she no longer uses narcotics.

“I went to rehab and sought professional help,” she said.

Cassie Ventura said her friendship with her best friend of 17 years ended in 2018 after an altercation with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“He came in, saw that we were going to do drugs, and he hit [her] in the head with a hanger,” she said, noting that it was a wooden hanger.