R&B singer Cassie set to testify in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex trafficking trial

NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie could testify as soon as Tuesday in Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial, as the Bad Boy Records founder faces charges that he orchestrated a deviant empire of exploitation that forced women into drugged-up sex parties called “freak-offs.”

Testimony in the trial began Monday. Prosecutors told jurors that, for years, Combs used his status as a powerful executive to coerce women into abusive sexual encounters and became violent if they refused.

Lawyers for three-time Grammy winner argue that, though he could be violent, Combs never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering, telling jurors the sexual acts were consensual. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty.

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, has been at the center of Combs’ stunning downfall. She sued him in 2023 alleging years of abuse. A surveillance video made public last year showed Combs beating her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. CNN aired the video last year, leading Combs to apologize.

The video, which was played for jurors, shows Combs wearing only a white towel, punching, kicking and dragging Cassie in a hotel hallway.

Israel Florez, a former security officer at the hotel, testified Monday that he came across Combs while responding to a call about a woman in distress, and found Combs sitting in a chair with “a devilish stare.” Florez said Combs offered him a stack of money and said “Don’t tell nobody.”

Florez said he refused the cash and told Combs, “I don’t want your money. Just go back into your room.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said Combs beat Cassie often and with little provocation and threatened to ruin her music career by releasing videos of her engaging in sexual acts with male escorts during encounters he arranged.

Johnson said Combs sexually exploited and beat other women, including a woman identified only as Jane, who Combs is accused of attacking after she confronted him about the “freak-offs.”

Cassie’s lawsuit against Combs was settled within hours but it was followed by dozens of similar legal claims and touched off a criminal investigation.

An attorney for Combs, Teny Geragos, told the jury Combs’ accusers were after his money, adding that jurors might think he’s a “jerk” and might not condone his “kinky sex,” but that “he’s not charged with being a jerk.”

The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done.

Combs has been jailed in Brooklyn since his arrest in September. If convicted, he could get at least 15 years and up to life in prison.