By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — The Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial resumed Monday when singer Dawn Richard testified that the hip-hop mogul threatened to kill her if she told anyone that she saw him beat his longtime girlfriend.
Richard told a jury in Manhattan federal court that Combs issued the threat the day after she witnessed the Bad Boy Records founder try to hit Casandra “Cassie” Ventura with a skillet and then beat her. She said he told her and another woman who saw the attack that “we could go missing” if either revealed what they saw.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitzi Steiner asked Richard what she took “we could go missing” to mean.
“That we could die,” Richard responded, saying she was shocked because all of this happened just as she was beginning to record with “Diddy — Dirty Money,” a musical trio she formed with Combs and another R&B singer.
Combs, 55, is on trial in New York on sex trafficking and racketeering charges alleging that he exploited his status as an entertainment power broker to abuse women, including Cassie, through threats and violence. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have argued that prosecutors compiled proof of domestic violence, but not federal crimes.
In four days on the witness stand last week, Cassie testified that she wanted a loving relationship with Combs during their nearly 11 years together but was instead subjected to weekly drug-fueled “freak-offs” with male sex workers that left her too exhausted and damaged to pursue her music career.
Shortly after Cassie finished testifying on Friday, Richard began her stint on the stand, saying she witnessed Combs attack Cassie on multiple occasions, including during a visit to Combs’ home recording studio in 2009, when Richard said she and another woman saw Combs hit Cassie “on the head and beat her on the ground.”
She said Combs tried to hit Cassie over the head with a skillet, but Cassie was able to deflect it.
On Monday, Steiner asked Richard how frequently she witnessed Combs beat his girlfriend.
“Frequently,” Richard said. “He would punch her, choke her, drag her, slap her in the mouth. I saw him kick her, punch her in the stomach.”
Richard said that on other occasions, she saw Combs punch Cassie in the face with a closed fist and that she saw him punch her in the stomach during an argument at a restaurant.
Cassie used makeup, clothing and sunglasses to cover up injuries, which included bruising on her face, eyes, lip, arms and knees, Richard said.
Richard testified that the beatings sometimes occurred when Cassie spoke up for herself, “if she had an opinion about something.”
At other times, she said, “it could be random. We wouldn’t even know where it came from.”
Richard, who also performed in the group Danity Kane, said Combs’ staff, including his bodyguards, also witnessed violence.
“They wouldn’t react. They wouldn’t do anything,” Richard testified.
Richard supported Cassie’s testimony that Combs had stifled Cassie’s fledgling singing career, saying she heard Combs tell Cassie that he “owned her” and that any success she had would be on his terms.
“It would come when he said it would come,” Richard said.
Bad Boy Records signed Cassie to a 10-album deal in 2006, but only released one — the self-titled “Cassie,” which came out the same year. Cassie and Combs started dating in 2007 and broke up for good in 2018.
Cassie testified last week that although she continued to go to the recording studio and work on songs, Combs refused to release them.
Richard said Combs would get mad — sometimes violent — when she and other artists offered to help Cassie write songs.
“Mr. Combs didn’t like that when we talked to Cassie and oftentimes, we would pay for it,” Richard testified, adding: “If you didn’t stay in line, there was consequences.”
She recalled Combs cursing and telling her to stay out of his relationship.
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