Two people close to singer Cassie Ventura testified in the federal trial of Sean Combs this week. Ventura's mother, Regina Ventura, and her former best friend, Kerry Morgan, both told the court what they saw during Ventura's nearly 11-year relationship with Combs.
Prosecutors allege that Combs wielded his power across the music and entertainment industries to control Ventura's personal and professional life. They say he frequently beat the singer and coerced her into highly orchestrated, drug-fueled sexual performances involving male escorts. Combs allegedly filmed the encounters and blackmailed Ventura with the footage. The hip-hop mogul faces charges of sex trafficking, transportation for prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. Combs' defense attorneys admit there was violence in the relationship, but they say Combs did not traffic or coerce Ventura into anything.
During her testimony last week, Cassie Ventura told the court that in December 2011, she and Combs were on a break and she was seeing the rapper Scott Mescudi, otherwise known as Kid Cudi. Combs allegedly became enraged when he found out; Ventura testified Combs kicked her in the back and threatened to release sexually explicit videos of her. Combs also allegedly threatened to have associates physically harm Ventura and Mescudi while he was traveling out of the country. Ventura testified that she wrote up an email detailing Combs' threats and sent it to her mother and one of his employees. She then flew home to spend the holidays with her family.
On Tuesday (May 20), Ventura's mother took the witness stand. She confirmed that she received that email from her daughter and testified that Combs "demanded" money from her family. "He was going to need $20,000 to recoup money he had spent on [Cassie] because he was angry she was dating Scott Mescudi," Ventura said.
Regina Ventura told the court that she and her husband took out a home equity loan in order to pay Combs. She testified that she received email instructions from Combs' bookkeeper for how to wire the money to a Bad Boy Entertainment account, and she complied. "I was scared for my daughter's safety," she said.
Within four to five days, the money was returned to Regina Ventura's bank account. She said she never communicated with Combs about the $20,000.
During her testimony, Regina Ventura said that her daughter confided in her about Combs' physical abuse for the first time in December 2011. She testified that she took photos — which were shown to the jury — of bruises on her daughter's body that resulted from Combs' violence. Combs' defense did not cross-examine Regina Ventura, citing no further questions at the end of her testimony.
On Monday (May 19), Kerry Morgan took the witness stand. She told the court that she and Cassie Ventura met while they were both working as models in 2001, and upon graduating high school, they moved in together in Manhattan. Morgan said that once Cassie began dating Combs, she often saw her friend being yelled at, talked down to and criticized by her boyfriend. "She lost her confidence big time," Morgan said. "She lost her spark."
Morgan said she witnessed Combs slap or push Cassie several times throughout the relationship, and she described two specific instances of violence that she said stood out above the rest. The first allegedly took place at Combs' home in Los Angeles, where Morgan said she saw Combs push and hit Ventura; she said the two friends then fled Combs' house and hid under a next-door neighbor's front steps while Combs and his security searched for them.
Morgan testified that the second incident took place in Jamaica in 2013, where they were on a group vacation. She said while Cassie was using the bathroom, Combs became angry that she was taking too long and set out to find her. Morgan then allegedly heard "guttural" screams and ran to the hall to find Combs dragging Cassie outside by her hair. Outside, she allegedly managed to get up and Combs then pushed her onto the ground, where she hit her head on bricks. Morgan testified she believed Cassie was "knocked out," but her friend later ran into the woods barefoot. Morgan said that when she found Cassie, the two hid in a ditch for what felt like hours while Combs searched the property for them.
During cross-examination, Combs' defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked Morgan about jealousy, infidelity and drug use in Combs' relationship with Cassie Ventura. He showed photos of Morgan, Cassie and Combs attending parties and events like Burning Man, a week-long festival they went to together several times — and emphasized whether that was a fun period for Morgan and Cassie. Morgan responded that she and Cassie did have good times throughout the time Cassie dated Combs, but that she often felt her friend was better off leaving the relationship. Morgan said that whenever she expressed this to Cassie, her friend would tell her she could not leave because Combs "controlled everything."
Morgan also said she was one of Cassie's only friends who was not an associate or employee of Combs. She testified that she cut all ties with Cassie in 2018, after Combs choked and hit Morgan on the head with a wooden hanger at Ventura's apartment. During cross-examination, defense attorney Agnifilo doubled down on how the friendship fell apart. "I draw the line at physical abuse," Morgan told the court.
Morgan said she suffered dizziness, vomiting and a concussion following the alleged assault, and she went to an urgent care clinic for treatment. She hired a lawyer to reach out to Combs in anticipation of a lawsuit, but ultimately did not file one. About a month after the assault, Cassie Ventura allegedly gave Morgan $30,000 to sign a non-disclosure agreement and they did not speak again. During cross-examination, Morgan said she believes Combs made the payment. "The money did not come from her," Morgan told the court. "She was the in-between."
Earlier in the week, the singer Dawn Richard — who has a pending civil lawsuit against Combs — testified that she also witnessed Combs hit, choke, punch and drag Ventura by the hair multiple times. Richard worked with Combs from 2004 to 2011, first as a member of the group Danity Kane – which debuted on Combs' reality television program Making the Band – and later alongside Combs in the electrosoul trio Diddy - Dirty Money. Richard's civil lawsuit is built on her own personal and professional experiences with Combs, but her testimony during the criminal trial was centered on what she witnessed between Combs and Ventura. During cross-examination, Combs' defense attorney, Nicole Westmoreland, honed in on several discrepancies in Richard's recollection of events.
For the first week and a half of the trial, the prosecution has painted a detailed picture of how Combs allegedly wielded power over Cassie Ventura, and how he used that power to satisfy his own sexual desires against her will. Following Ventura's own testimony, the government has called multiple witnesses to theoretically corroborate many of the claims she made about the abusive and controlling nature of the relationship, often referring back to instances that she discussed on the stand. Prosecutors have also called two male escorts to testify in connection with the prostitution charges. One former employee of Combs, a personal assistant named David James, took the stand this week to describe his time working for the mogul from 2007 to 2009 — the prosecution is expected to call more of Combs' staff in the coming weeks in order to lay the groundwork for the racketeering charge.
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