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Singer Daybreak Richard informed jurors at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial on Monday that the hip-hop mogul threatened to kill her if she informed anybody she noticed him bodily abusing his longtime girlfriend.
Richard testified that Combs made the risk the day after she witnessed the Unhealthy Boy Data founder punch and kick Casandra “Cassie” Ventura after taking a swing at her with a skillet. Richard stated he informed her and one other lady who noticed the assault that “we may go lacking” in the event that they didn’t keep quiet.
Combs’ legal professionals have acknowledged the rapper might be violent however keep that the sexual acts have been consensual. They are saying nothing he did amounted to intercourse trafficking or racketeering (the costs he faces), insisting he simply has distinctive sexual proclivities.
Day 6
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Mitzi Steiner requested Richard what she took “we may go lacking” to imply.
“That we may die,” Richard responded, saying she was shocked as a result of all of this occurred simply as she was starting to report with Diddy — Soiled Cash, a musical trio with Combs and one other R&B singer.
Richard disclosed the alleged risk as she returned to the witness stand to kick off the second week of testimony in Combs’ intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal courtroom.
Witness Daybreak Richard testifies in Manhattan federal courtroom throughout the intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, Monday, Could 19, 2025, in New York.
Elizabeth Williams by way of AP
Combs, 55, is accused of exploiting his leisure powerbroker standing to abuse ladies, together with Ventura, by means of threats and violence for twenty years from 2004 till his arrest final September. He has pleaded not responsible. His legal professionals argue that prosecutors compiled proof of home violence, however not the federal crimes he’s charged with.
Richard, who started her testimony on Could 16 and Could 19, stated she witnessed Combs assault Ventura a number of instances, together with throughout a go to to Combs’ residence recording studio in 2009, when Richard stated she and one other lady noticed Combs hit Ventura “on the pinnacle and beat her on the bottom” after Ventura deflected a swipe at her head by a skillet.
Richard stated she witnessed Combs beat his girlfriend continuously – he “would punch her, choke her, drag her, slap her within the mouth. I noticed him kick her, punch her within the abdomen.”
Beatings got here when Ventura spoke up for herself, “if she had an opinion about one thing,” stated Richard, who additionally carried out within the group Danity Kane.
She stated Combs’ employees, together with his bodyguards, additionally witnessed violence however they “wouldn’t react. They wouldn’t do something.”
Richard supported Ventura’s testimony that Combs had stifled Ventura’s fledgling singing profession, saying she heard Combs inform Ventura that he “owned her” and that any success she had can be on his phrases.
Richard stated Combs would get mad — generally violent — when she and different artists supplied to assist Ventura write songs.
Defence lawyer Nicole Westmoreland urged Richard was testifying as a result of she was offended at Combs for ending Danity Kane and Diddy — Soiled Cash, and since she has a pending lawsuit towards him.
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“You felt that Mr. Combs ruined your profession not as soon as, however twice?” Westmoreland requested.
“Sure,” Richard answered.
She contended, although, that she was unhappy, not offended, over the top of the teams, and is suing Combs as a result of he mistreated her and withheld her earnings.
Unhealthy Boy signed Ventura to a 10-album deal in 2006, however solely launched one — the self-titled Cassie, which got here out the identical yr. Ventura and Combs began relationship in 2007 and broke up for good in 2018.
Ventura’s former finest buddy remembers violent outbursts
Earlier than day’s finish, Ventura’s finest buddy of 17 years and a former private assistant to Combs testified that she felt trapped as prosecutors tried to uncover proof that Combs was working a legal racketeering group that relied on workers to assist him management Ventura and different ladies in his life.
Testimony about Combs’ beatings of Ventura got here with hardly a point out of the drug-fuelled “freak-offs” that dominated testimony final week, when Ventura defined over 4 days how her want for a loving relationship with Combs led as an alternative to her weekly sexual performances with male intercourse staff that left her too exhausted to pursue her musical profession.
After Richard got here testimony from Kerry Morgan. She stated she was Ventura’s longtime finest buddy till that they had a falling out after Morgan suffered a concussion when Combs’ choked Morgan and slung a wood hanger at her in 2018 when he got here to Ventura’s Los Angeles residence enraged that Cassie was relationship another person.
Morgan stated she was going to sue Combs, however Ventura met her at a pizza parlour and had her signal a nondisclosure settlement in return for US$30,000 from Combs whereas accusing her of “milking” and “overexaggerating” the assault. Morgan and Ventura each testified that they haven’t spoken since.
Witness Kerry Morgan arrives at Federal Court docket for the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial, on Monday, Could 19, 2025, in New York.
AP Photograph / Ted Shaffrey
Morgan, a reluctant witness who acknowledged that she solely testified in response to a authorities subpoena, stated she noticed Combs beat Ventura not less than twice, together with as soon as so severely on a visit to Jamaica, when Combs grew to become offended that Ventura was taking too lengthy within the toilet, that she thought her buddy had been “knocked out.”
She stated she inspired Ventura to interrupt up with him after realizing that the very assured lady she had met in 2001 throughout modeling gigs and who roomed along with her for a time had “misplaced her spark” and had assumed a slumped posture as she catered to Combs’ wants. However she stated Ventura was reluctant to depart Combs.
“He managed all the things. She would’ve misplaced all of her livelihood,” Morgan stated, noting that Combs paid for Ventura’s automobile and condominium, and had her below contract with Unhealthy Boy.
Ventura testified final week that though she continued to go to the recording studio and work on songs, Combs refused to launch them.
“He was in command of her profession,” Morgan testified, including that Ventura generally expressed frustration that her music wasn’t being launched.
Ex-employee says Combs referred to as Ventura ‘very moldable’
David James, who served as Combs’ private assistant from 2007 to 2009, began crying as he testified that, when he interviewed for the job, one of many hip-hop heavyweight’s lieutenants pointed to a photograph of Combs on the wall and informed him: “That is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all right here to serve him.”
James’ employment coincided with the early days of Combs and Ventura’s relationship. He recalled her being astonished — and maybe overwhelmed — by Combs’ high-flying, globetrotting methods.
David James witness for the prosecution arrives at Manhattan Federal Court docket throughout the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ trial on Could 20, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
John Lamparski/Getty Photos
“Man, this way of life is loopy,” he recalled Ventura saying as they smoked cigarettes on a dock along with her then-best buddy Morgan.
James, who will return to the stand Tuesday, stated he urged Ventura go away Combs if she was uncomfortable, to which he stated she replied: “I can’t. I can’t get out. You understand, Mr. Combs oversees a lot of my life.”
James recalled speaking to Combs on one other event concerning the ladies in his life. Combs, he stated, described his longtime girlfriend Kim Porter, the mom of a few of his youngsters, as “my queen.”
When the topic turned to Ventura, James testified that Combs informed him: “She’s good. I received her proper the place I would like her. She’s younger.”
James recalled Combs describing Ventura as “very moldable.”
What Combs is on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing ladies with assist from a community of associates who helped silence victims by means of blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that features descriptions of freak-offs, that are outlined within the courtroom doc as “elaborate and produced intercourse performances that Combs organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and sometimes electronically recorded.”
Quite a few witnesses have come ahead to accuse Combs of terrorizing folks into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in line with prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled somebody from a balcony.
Though dozens of women and men have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 ladies.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He has denied all the costs towards him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as an alternative.
If discovered responsible within the New York courtroom, he may face life in jail.
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Day 5 testimony
Day 4 testimony
Day 3 testimony
Day 2 testimony
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International Information might be protecting the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please verify again for updates.
— With recordsdata from The Related Press
