UPDATE, 12:20 PM: In fully sudden testimony, Cassie Ventura admitted right this moment at Sean Combs‘ sex-trafficking trial that she has a settlement for $10 million coming from an L.A. lodge.
Underneath questioning from protection lawyer Anna Estevao, a hesitant and considerably stuttering Ventura revealed that she and her representatives have come to an settlement with the InterContinental Lodge in Century Metropolis for the eight-figure payout.
Ventura’s testimony has now ended and she or he has left the courtroom after 4 days within the witness field.
Because the very pregnant Ventura rose to exit, Decide Subramanian mentioned to her “Have an incredible weekend.”
Explaining that the settlement with the Intercontinental had been reached previously month”, Ventura acknowledged that she has not but obtained the cash. Nevertheless, this $10 million sum to return follows the $20 million settlement Ventura reached shortly with Combs in November 2023 after submitting an abuse and assault civil go well with in opposition to her longtime ex-boyfriend. Although Ventura had earlier this afternoon advised Assistant U.S. Lawyer Emily Johnson that she had no monetary destiny in Combs’ felony trial, the information of the multi-million greenback lodge settlement elicited gasps within the courtroom.
Extraordinarily deftly performed by the protection, the revealing of the $10M lodge settlement at what many assumed was going to be a low-key ending to Ventura’s testimony comes as a blow to the prosecution. It additionally emboldens the notion the protection has been making an attempt to create that Ventura was at all times a prepared and consenting participant within the drug-fueled “freak-off” intercourse classes and different sordid parts and “poisonous relationship” she had with the Unhealthy Boy Information founder for over a decade.
Deadline has reached out to Ventura’s authorized representatives for remark and extra info on the InterContinental Lodge settlement.
Usually showing agitated and often passing notes to his authorized crew, Combs made some extent of giving Estevao an enormous hug within the courtroom as she wrapped up questioning.
Captured in March 2016 on the InterContinental’s safety cameras and investigated by one of many lodge’s guards on the time, the beating of Ventura by the half-naked Diddy has been extensively seen out and in of court docket because it was obtained and broadcast by CNN final spring.
PREVIOUS, 11:09 AM: The protection’s cross-examination of Cassie Ventura at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial has concluded.
In exactly any time in any respect after getting back from the lunch break, Combs’ lawyer Anna Estevao instantly concluded her questioning of the star witness. That abrupt transfer got here after a collection of questions the place Estevao appeared confused about dates and sequences of occasions, reminiscent of when Ventura and her household moved again East from Los Angeles in 2023.
The tip of the cross-examination seems to have sped up the timeline to get the 8 1/2-month pregnant Ventura out of the witness field by EOD. The prosecution is quickly to start a re-direct, which they earlier right this moment mentioned ought to take not more than half an hour.
General, the trial, which may see Combs behind bars for all times if discovered responsible, is anticipated to final eight to 10 weeks.
PREVIOUSLY, 8:58 AM, UPDATED with extra particulars: On Cassie Ventura’s seemingly final day as a witness in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-trafficking trial Friday, the singer was in a credibility vs. coercion standoff along with her ex-boyfriend’s protection attorneys.
“You at all times need to present me that you’ve the ability and also you knock me round,” the jury heard as Ventura learn aloud a 2016 textual content she despatched then-boyfriend Combs after the Unhealthy Boy Information founder brutally attacked her in an L.A. lodge hallway because the singer tried to flee one of many couple’s now notorious drug-fueled “freak-offs.” The message continued: “I’m not a ragdoll I’m somebody’s baby.”
Captured in March 2016 on the InterContinental’s safety cameras and investigated by one of many lodge’s guards on the time, the beating of Ventura by the half-naked Diddy has been extensively seen out and in of court docket because it was obtained and broadcast by CNN final spring. Sitting along with his protection crew in Decide Arun Subramanian’s Decrease Manhattan courtroom, a steely-eyed and fidgeting Combs this morning listened because the “Me & U” singer resumed her testimony underneath questioning from legal professional Anna Estevao.
On the stand answering questions on her personal 2023 time at a rehab and trauma program in Arizona and receiving PTSD therapy, Ventura was additionally requested by Estevao if she knew Diddy entered a rehab facility quickly after the L.A. lodge incident 9 years in the past. The witness admitted she had a tough time recalling that step by Combs in any element.
The protection lawyer additionally needed to know, as Ventura had mentioned beforehand, whether or not she believed her now-ex had “blacked out” from substance abuse on the time of the lodge melee. “I imagine he was intoxicated,” Ventura replied. She added, “all people’s definition of blackout is completely different.”
What was not completely different in anybody’s definition was Ventura’s declaration that Combs took or promised to take her passport, different ID and cellphone(s) when he was offended along with her or thought she was dishonest on him. To that, the court docket heard Combs would react harshly when he suspected one thing was happening between Ventura and singer (and no stranger to controversary himself) Chris Brown and an unnamed NFL participant.
RELATED: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial Testimony Will get Carnal & Violent As Paid Intercourse Accomplice Of Cassie Ventura Unveils What Went On Behind Closed Doorways
Within the undeniably difficult and unorthodox relationship Ventura and Combs had from 2007-2018, such actions may show a big think about proving the costs in opposition to the defendant and the shortage of company Ventura aka Sufferer-1 truly had.
Emphasizing their consumer’s drug abuse (which was spotlighted by revelations of a 2012 OD on Thursday) and Combs’ quick mood when underneath the affect, the protection crew have tried to color the couple’s years collectively as two damaged folks uncontrolled and feeding into one another’s worst, most uncooked and most wicked needs. It’s a portrait that the protection concedes is gloomy and maybe pathetic however not a criminal offense underneath the costs Combs in going through.
Nevertheless, a crying Ventura’s vivid recollection in testimony on Could 14 of being raped in 2018 by Diddy in her L.A. condo after they broke up may show a tough blow to the protection’s narrative. Right now, Estevao probed Ventura for missteps and conflicting statements in her retelling of the alleged rape each in court docket and to legislation enforcement.
Whereas that effort didn’t actually go a lot of anyplace, the protection lawyer herself launched a brand new ingredient when Estevao introduced up Combs having bi-polar dysfunction. Seemingly by no means talked about earlier than, info was raised within the context of Combs appearing “surprisingly” on the “closure” dinner he and Ventura have been having in Malibu on the day the producer is claimed to have raped his then ex-girlfriend seven years in the past.
Arrested on September 16 at an upscale NYC lodge foyer, the 55-year-old Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. The allegations within the preliminary and since amended indictment may see the Grammy-winning performer in jail for the remainder of his life if he’s discovered responsible. Up in opposition to dozens of civil fits claiming assault and abuse as effectively, Combs has denied all accusations, entered not responsible pleas, and exclaimed he’s being persecuted for his unconventional however absolutely consensual sexual obsessions by a prudish authorities and gold diggers.
With statements just like the 2009 textual content “I’m at all times able to freak-off,” from Ventura to Combs that was learn out yesterday, the prosecution is aware of that on re-direct Friday it should ensure that the Step-Up 2 actress places essentially the most obtrusive of the litany of correspondence in some context. Underneath a dialogue with the decide earlier than the jury was introduced in, the prosecution pledged to have a speedy re-direct and conclude Ventura’s testimony if the protection can get its cross-examination accomplished by 4:30 p.m. ET on the newest.
Irritated Friday by the protection’s typically virtually dithering method to pulling up texts and different proof, Decide Subramanian has made it crystal clear that he sees it as important the about-to-give-birth-any-day Ventura is out of the witness field ASAP. The unique want was to have her testimony wrapped up earlier than the 12:30 p.m. ET lunch break, however that plan has evidently been revised. The change of plan is partially resulting from protests by the protection. The attorneys say they’ve loads to ask the star witness earlier than they lose her completely as soon as she goes into the hospital for the start of her and husband Alex High-quality’s third baby.
To punctuate how critical that timetable is, earlier right this moment the feds despatched a letter to the decide floating that Combs and his protection truly needed Ventura to enter labor on the stand so they might use the flurry as pretext for a brand new mistrial movement. “The inefficiency of cross-examination yesterday raises the inference that the defendant hopes to perform exactly that consequence,” the doc starkly declared. (Learn the letter right here).
The significance of Ventura to the federal government’s case can’t be overstated, which is one purpose the jurors have been proven specific and stunning in any other case sealed pictures of the infant oil and drug-drenched “freak-offs.”
One can, because the Assistant U.S. Lawyer Maurene Comey-led prosecution definitely does, draw a straight line between the at present incarcerated Combs in court docket now and the abuse and assault go well with Ventura filed in opposition to him in November 2023. Nonetheless, whereas sticking to his line that he did nothing incorrect, Combs did settle with Ventura inside 24 hours of the submitting of her go well with. Sources advised Deadline on the time that Combs paid Ventura “round $30 million,” however on Could 14 the singer revealed formally for the primary time it was truly $20 million.
On Could 15, Ventura was requested by protection lawyer Estevao if she acknowledged that Combs’ “profession was ruined at that time,” after her short-lived and much-covered go well with was filed. With out a lot of a pause, Ventura answered: “I may perceive that, yeah.”
Because the fits piled up and the standing acutely aware Combs grew to become a pariah within the music business and virtually all over the place else, the innocence proclaiming mini-mogul did apologize for the severity of his abuse in his relationship with Ventura after the safety digicam footage emerged in Could of him hitting and kicking her in 2016. On the time, because it additionally was revealed that Combs purchased the footage for $50,000 the day after the incident, Ventura’s attorneys slammed his apology as “disingenuous.”
Whether or not or not that’s true, it’s a undeniable fact that the apology has since been deleted type Combs’ social feeds. Now, after dispute the accuracy of the video for a number of months, the protection concedes that the footage is disturbing for example of home violence. Centering the incident as a combat over a cellphone, as legal professional Teny Geragos did within the protection’s opening assertion, Combs’ crew asserted what all people can see doesn’t rise to the costs the feds have hit the “All In regards to the Benjamins” performer with.
After the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace intent earlier this week to strongly present that self-admitted home violence predator Combs was responsible of the costs in his fixed coercive efforts to pressure a basically unwilling Ventura into filmed intercourse with male escorts and extra with threats of battering, profession catastrophe and public humiliation, the protection sought to flip the script Thursday. To that, with light nudging and a definite studying of proof just like the textual content message, Estevao tried Thursday and right this moment to reiterate the protection’s opening assertion of Could 12 that whereas Combs generally is a violent drug-using ass, Ventura was an lively and consenting agent in every thing the couple did – not matter how sordid.
Correspondingly, on the stand for almost 15 hours thus far this week, a typically tearful, triggered and voice-cracking Ventura has greater than held her personal in opposition to protection lawyer Estevao since yesterday. In truth, as many of the day was spent analyzing the copious texts and emails Combs and Ventura despatched one another over their 11-year on-and-off “poisonous relationship,” parts of the protection’s ways appeared to virtually be doing the job of the prosecution. An agitated Combs may very well be seen repeatedly passing notes to attorneys and talking on to Estevao at one level throughout a break.
Right now Diddy appeared extra composed, although how lengthy that can final is TBD. Throughout a brief break Friday, Combs was alone on the protection desk as his attorneys left the room to organize for the remainder of the morning session. Wanting bored, the now white haired and as soon as entourage main defendant had a staffer assist him with the place of the monitor in entrance of him.
With the schedule in flux, it’s unknown proper now when the prosecution’s subsequent witness, Daybreak Richard, will start her testimony. As soon as one of many singers from the Combs’-fronted MTV collection Making the Band and different Diddy tasks, Richard in September final 12 months sued her previous producer for rape and extra. Filed proper across the time Combs was arrested on this felony case, that civil case is ongoing.
(L-R) Daybreak Richard, Sean Combs and Kalenna attend the Paris Menswear Style Week in January 2011
Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Photographs
This felony case is anticipated to final eight to 10 weeks. Decide Subramanian advised the jury once they have been seated on Could 12, promising to free them up by the July 4th vacation. On the cease and begin tempo the proceedings are at present going, that deadline may show elusive.
