Sean “Diddy” Combs’ “security guard” stood watch so Combs could beat his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, his former personal assistant testified on Tuesday.
Combs’ federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial continued with the testimony of Capricorn Clark, who worked for the rapper and mogul from 2004 to 2012 in various roles and later worked for Ventura from 2016 to 2018. Clark said on the stand Tuesday that Combs threatened to “kill” Ventura’s then romantic fling, rapper Kid Cudi, as he dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night, demanding that she take him to Cudi’s house, per CNN.
It was just after Combs allegedly broke into the rapper’s home that Clark and Ventura encountered him at his Los Angeles rental home—where he “immediately began kicking Cassie,” Clark testified. He was wearing just a robe and underwear, she recalled, and she stood by next to one of Combs’ security guards as he continued kicking Ventura with “100% full force.” Clark said that Combs threatened to hurt her as well if she intervened.
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The so-called guard looked on as Combs continued to assault Ventura, and ultimately told Clark to leave the room. When she exited, Ventura was still on the floor, “just crying silently” as Combs continued kicking her, she claimed. Ventura “didn’t do anything” to protect herself. “My heart was breaking seeing her get beat like that,” Clark said through tears, according to The New York Post.
She then called Ventura’s mother, Regina Ventura, to say, “‘Please help her. I can’t call the police but you can.’” According to Clark, Ventura’s mother said she’d handle it, and hung up the phone.
Regina Ventura testified in Combs’ trial last week, telling the court that she took out a loan for $20,000 after Combs demanded to “recoup” money spent on her daughter—and threatened to release sex tapes of Ventura if his demand wasn’t met. She testified that Bad Boy Records later returned the money without explanation.
Cudi testified last week that Combs told him by phone that he was “waiting” for him at his house after the alleged break-in. When he returned home, gifts he’d bought for his family had been opened and left on his counter, his security cameras had been turned away, and his dog had been locked in a bathroom, he claimed to the court. He also alleges Combs had his car fire-bombed in his driveway as a warning against dating Combs’ ex.
Clark added more details to the incident when she testified Tuesday, telling the court that Combs “kidnapped” her in the middle of the night and was holding a gun as he demanded she ride along to Cudi’s home. “I had never seen anything like this before,” she testified. “He had never come to my house the entire time I’d known him. I had never seen him with a weapon.”
The former assistant claimed that when Combs later fired her, he told her that “I would never work again, that he would show me that all these people weren’t my friends, that he would make me kill myself.”
Combs faces life in prison if convicted of the charges, all of which he denies.
