Singer and model Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, began testifying from a federal ju judge on Tuesday morning in a sex trafficking and assault case against Sean Combs.
The scheduled testimony was Ventura's first big public comment after filing a bombshell lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend and label boss Combs in late 2023. The incident led to a government investigation and Combs' arrest in September 2024.
In the first minutes of her testimony, she was asked by prosecutors to explain her relationship with Mr. Combs over a decade.
“There was usually a violent debate that led to some kind of physical abuse,” she replied. “Drugs, various things in their nature.”
Ventura, 38, is visibly pregnant, wore brown clothes that fit her form. Once she entered the courtroom, Mr. Combs went back to his chair to watch her walk. His lawyer asked the judge to place her present on the stand before the judge could enter.
Her husband, Alex Fein, was allowed to attend court for the start of her testimony, but the judge said Mr Fein must leave during the sexual assault discussion.
Ventura was expected to speak for the ju umpire how Combs enacted a system of abuse and control over her life and career for over a decade. Prosecutors say they are hanging musical opportunities that executives are constantly seeing. He beat her when she stopped the line. He then took her out of the drugs, asked Ventura to do a marathon session with a male prostitute, and recorded the encounter.
The legal application for the case only identified her as victim 1, but there was no doubt that the singer, who had been Combs' online girlfriend for over a decade, was a witness at the heart of a conspiracy and sex trafficking suit against him.
After extensive treatment, it was Ventura's decision in late 2023 to file a federal lawsuit accusing him of rape, years of physical abuse and his decision not to settle before it was made public, which prompted a criminal investigation that led to trial. Comb and Ventura quickly reached an eight-figure settlement in a civil suit.
Ventura was Combs' on and off girlfriends and employees, from the time they met in 2005 until they finally broke off from his renowned record label, Bad Boy in 2019.
