While R&B singer Cassie Ventura was in a decadelong relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs, her music career was floundering.
Ventura testified in Combs’ criminal sex-trafficking trial on Tuesday that the hip-hop mogul “stifled” her career over the years.
Instead of working on her music, Ventura told the Manhattan jury, she spent days participating in and recovering from “freak offs” — which she described as drug-fueled, sexual performances with escorts designed to satisfy Combs.
For a time, Combs had the freak offs “weekly,” Ventura said.
“The freak offs became my job,” Ventura testified.
In early 2006, Ventura signed a 10-album deal with Combs’ label, Bad Boy Records.
She recorded “hundreds of songs” in the subsequent years, but many “didn’t see the light of day,” she testified on the witness stand.
Only a handful of Ventura’s songs were officially released following her eponymous first album, the well-reviewed “Cassie,” which was released in the summer of 2006 and included the popular single “Me & U.”
Aside from the sole album, Ventura released one mixtape and a handful of singles with Bad Boy Records over the years. She said she wasn’t paid for the uncompleted nine albums that were part of the deal.
Ventura said most of her time was spent preparing for and physically recuperating from “freak offs,” which she also called “partying.” She said the sex sessions led to dehydration and exhaustion, and that she took drugs to stay awake for several days in a row in order to have sex with other men at Combs’ direction.
“When I wasn’t working on my music, I was recovering from partying,” Ventura said. “That was a big chunk of my life.”
Diddy released just one Cassie album despite a 10-album deal
Ventura took the stand as the third witness to testify in Combs’ sex-trafficking trial on Tuesday morning. Eight months pregnant with her third child with husband Alex Fine, she wore a stretchy brown dress and camel overcoat in the lower Manhattan courtroom.
After Ventura first signed onto Bad Boy Records, her relationship with Combs was platonic, she said.
But things changed on her 21st birthday, in August 2007, when they partied in Las Vegas, she said. There, Combs kissed Ventura in his hotel bathroom, she testified.
Ventura wasn’t sure what to do, she said. She was new to the music industry and couldn’t grasp the power dynamics between herself and Combs, she testified.
“I think I was just confused at the time,” she said on the witness stand. “I’m a young, new artist who did not really know the lay of the land.”
But her career was moving fast, and she said she recognized that Combs, as the head of her record label, controlled her career.
“He chose what was next for me, basically,” she said.
Fine, Ventura’s husband, appeared to hold back tears while Ventura testified. His face was ruddy, and he often appeared to swallow and rapidly blink back tears.
Fine sat in the courtroom in the same row as Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, who represented Ventura in a civil lawsuit she filed against Combs in November 2023. Combs quickly settled the lawsuit, but the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan initiated a criminal investigation into Combs.
Combs’ attorneys have cast the indictment against him as a distortion of the true events, which they describe as a mutually toxic relationship between Combs and Ventura. Both consented to sex, abused each other, and were unfaithful, Combs’ legal team says.
Ventura testified Tuesday in a quiet, deflated voice as she talked about being in love with Combs.
Combs decided on nicknames for the two of them, she said. He told Ventura to call him “Pop Pop” because that’s also what she called her grandfather, while he called her “CC” for “Cassie Combs,” she testified.
When Combs first suggested “setting up performances” in their relationship, Ventura felt shaken, but agreed to it because she loved him, she testified.
“At that point, Sean controlled a lot of my life,” she said. “Whether it was my career, the way I dressed — everything.”
Meanwhile, her career was stalling. Ventura said Combs gave her instructions to develop her music, but few songs were released. Ventura testified she came to believe she was doing only “busy work” so Combs could “control” her.
And though Combs was in charge of Ventura’s album releases, he blamed her for the lack of output, she said.
“If you’re not releasing music, you’re not doing your job,” Ventura said, characterizing Combs’ attitude.
Ventura made money by hosting events in nightclubs, which could net between $7,500 to $20,000 for each appearance, she testified. She also had the occasional modeling job.
Combs still had veto power over those gigs and often instructed her not to take them, Ventura said.
Prosecutors have alleged that Combs used his companies’ resources to exploit women and facilitate a sex-trafficking enterprise.
Ventura said Combs instructed his assistants and bodyguards to set up rooms for “freak offs.” They were required to bring baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms, colorful lights, and scented candles, Ventura said.
“It was just super pungent and strong,” she said.
Combs and Ventura never lived in the same home during their on-and-off relationship, Ventura said. At first, the two were in New York City, and then moved to Los Angeles when Combs decided he wanted to be closer to his children, whom he had with his late ex-wife Kim Porter.
In Los Angeles, Combs paid the rent for Ventura’s homes, she said. He had his own set of keys and occasionally dropped by unannounced, she said. Ventura also paid for her own house in Studio City, she said.
Combs eventually assigned James Cruz, a Bad Boys Records employee, to manage Ventura’s career, she testified.
Cruz disclosed to her that he “was managing me with one hand tied behind his back,” she testified.
“He couldn’t work as a normal manager,” Ventura said Cruz told her. “He had to make decisions through other parties. It was just a different way of doing things.”
Combs’ trial is expected to run about eight weeks. If convicted on the sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges against him, he could face up to life in prison.
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