NEW YORK (AP) — Casandra Ventura, the R&B singer and actor recognized merely as Cassie, started testifying Tuesday in Sean “Diddy” Combs ‘ intercourse trafficking trial.
The music mogul is charged with utilizing his standing as a strong government to coerce girls — together with Cassie — into abusive sexual encounters and changing into violent in the event that they refused. He has pleaded not responsible. Cassie sued Combs in 2023 alleging years of rape and abuse. The go well with was settled inside hours, however was adopted by dozens of comparable authorized claims and touched off a prison investigation.
Right here’s what it is advisable to know concerning the 38-year-old star witness:
A gifted performer
A singer, actor, dancer and mannequin, Cassie’s skilled ambitions started in adolescence, when she signed to the top-tier expertise and modeling company Wilhelmina. Her music profession launched shortly thereafter, when she left her residence state of Connecticut for New York, the place she signed with supervisor Tony Mottola and first met Combs.
Cassie is maybe finest recognized for the 2006 hit single “Me & U,” which secured the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Sizzling R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and No. 3 on the Billboard Sizzling 100 all genres chart. It was licensed platinum by the Recording Business Affiliation of America (RIAA). The Ryan Leslie-produced track was the lead single of her solely studio album, launched by Combs’ Unhealthy Boy Data, and was self-titled. She left the label in 2019.
As an actor, she appeared in a number of tv and movies tasks together with Fox’s “Empire,” “The Perfect Match” and “Spenser Confidential.” She made her acting debut in 2008 in “Step Up 2: The Streets” and contributed the song “Is It You” to its soundtrack.
She’s appeared in numerous music movies as properly, together with Wiz Khalifa’s “Roll Up” and Mario’s “Just A Friend 2002.”
Though she by no means launched her long-teased sophomore album, directly level tentatively titled “Electro Love,” she did drop a few tracks: the R&B-pop “Official Girl” with Lil Wayne, “Must Be Love” with Combs, and “Let’s Get Crazy” with Akon. And in 2012, Nicki Minaj tapped her for a characteristic on “The Boys” from Minaj’s “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded — The Re-Up.”
Cassie can be a spouse and a mom. She married private coach Alex High-quality in September 2019. Their first daughter, Frankie Stone High-quality, was born that very same yr and so they welcomed their second daughter, Sunny Cinco High-quality, in 2021. She is at the moment pregnant with their third youngster, a son.
The Combs’ connection
Cassie met Combs in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37. He signed her to his Unhealthy Boy Data label and, inside just a few years, they began courting.
In her 2023 civil lawsuit, Cassie alleges Combs trapped her in a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking” for greater than a decade, together with raping her and forcing her to interact in intercourse acts with male intercourse employees. Combs settled the lawsuit the following day.
In Could 2024, CNN aired video that confirmed Combs attacking Cassie in resort hallway in 2016. The video intently mirrored an assault described in her lawsuit, which stated Combs had already punched her that night time, and he or she was making an attempt to depart the InterContinental Resort in Los Angeles when he woke and got here after her. Within the footage, a person who seems to be Diddy, carrying solely a towel, punches Cassie, kicks her, and throws her on to the ground. The lawsuit alleges Combs paid $50,000 to bury the video on the time.
Later, Combs apologized for the assault on Cassie in his first actual acknowledgment of wrongdoing because the stream of allegations started.
Amongst different issues, Cassie alleges Combs raped her when she tried to depart him and infrequently punched, kicked and beat her, inflicting accidents together with bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding.
She additionally alleges that Combs was concerned in blowing up rival rapper Child Cudi’s automobile when he realized that Cudi was romantically eager about her, and he or she alleges that Combs ran out of his residence with weapons when he realized that Suge Knight, a rival producer, was consuming close by.
On the primary day of Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial, a witness, Daniel Phillip, stated he was an expert stripper who was paid $700 to $6,000 to have intercourse with Cassie whereas Combs watched and gave directions, with the primary encounter in 2012.
Phillip informed jurors that he stopped assembly with the couple after he noticed Combs throw a bottle at her after which drag her by her hair right into a bed room as she screamed.
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AP author Mike Sisak contributed to this report.
