Ventura told the jury Combs controlled a lot of her life, from her career to the way she dressed. “And it just didn’t feel like I had much say in it being super young, naïve, people-pleaser. I didn’t know if he would be upset enough to be violent or if he would write me off and not want to be with me at all,” Ventura testified.
If she refused Combs, Ventura said “it was always in the back of my mind that I would somehow be hurt.” Over time, she said “there were blackmail materials.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ watches as his former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura is sworn in as a prosecution witness at his sex trafficking trial in New York City, May 13, 2025 in this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
“I think I was just really confused at the time, and young, new artist, just didn’t know the lay of the land when it came to things like that. In my confusion just kind of cried and ran off,” Ventura testified. “I just wasn’t familiar with having an executive or anybody pay attention to me or be that forward at that point. Pretty naïve, I would say.”
Though 17 years younger than Combs, Ventura said she “wanted to be around Sean for the same reasons as everyone else at the time. He’s just this exciting and entertaining fun guy that just also happened to have my career in his hands.”
She testified that Combs introduced her to oral sex in a New York hotel room. “He basically taught me how,” she said.
“How did he introduce you to oral sex? “Johnson asked.
“He gave me oral sex,” Ventura responded.
The two first had intercourse on a boat Combs had rented on a trip to Miami, Ventura testified.
“I became one of his girlfriends,” Ventura said.
Combs listened passively to Ventura’s testimony as he sat the defense table with his hands in his lap. Combs’ family listened in the second row.
Ventura’s husband, Alex Fine, is also in the courtroom.
