Ashley Banfield (13:38)
So this is the government's case, and prosecutors say it all adds up to racketeering, a criminal enterprise based around getting sex and drugs and built on fear and violence and cash and silence. The trial is taking a break today because it's Juneteenth. It's a holiday. So today we're doing something special. We're hitting rewind and we're Bringing you the biggest, most jaw dropping moments from the trial so far. The moments that stopped us in our tracks, that made us say, did they really just say that? So let's get into it later. Cassie signed a 10 album deal with Bad Boy Records, and eventually she and Diddy became romantically involved, she said. She testified that their first sexual encounter happened in Miami after Diddy gave her a, quote, blue dolphin ecstasy pill. She said she thought it meant they were exclusive, but later, she said she realized she was just one of many girlfriends. She told the jury, quote, he would say, I'm Puff Daddy, and Puff Daddy has many women, end quote. That's when the control started, Cassie said, said, and according to her, it touched every corner of her life. She said he dictated what she wore, how she looked, how she smiled, how her nails had to be French tip or white in color. She had to be tan. He even talked about her getting breast implants once. She testified Diddy told her that she looked too Mexican with her hair styled a certain way. And if Diddy didn't like what he saw, Cassie said, quote, the next thing I knew, I was getting hit in the face, end quote. She told the jury that Diddy would snap, telling her, quote, fix your face, quote, or quote, watch your mouth, quote. But she said it happened quite often. But nothing, she said, compared to the freakoffs. She told the jury they were, quote, very choreographed experiences, each one staged down to the lighting and the baby oil. Diddy insisted, she said, on Johnson's brand, and it had to be warm. Cassie said his staffers would supply the rooms and stick the bottles in hotel sinks that were filled with hot water just to get them ready. The goal, to make sure she and any male escort involved were, quote, glistening. Stop for a moment there. Just file this one away. This little piece of information where Cassie told the jury that staffers would get the free coughs ready, staffers would bring the products, the baby oil, the lube and the condoms and all these things. Staffers would do this. That's important for later. I'll get to it in a moment. Cassie testified that if she started to look dry during the free coughs, that Diddy would stop everything and tell her to reapply the baby oil, sometimes every five minutes, she said. This was the point in court where Diddy actually shook his head when Cassie described rubbing baby oil on the escorts. So I'm like, wait, that's the point where you're shaking your head, where Cassie's rubbing baby oil on a guy. Because the stuff I'm about To tell you all, there are a lot of other places where if I'm the defendant, I'm shaking my head, and I don't think that would be one of them, because that is the most benign thing you're about to hear. If Cassie's telling the truth that she's putting baby oil on an escort, that is nothing. I don't know why that elicited that kind of response from Diddy, but he did. He shook his head. Cassie said when they ran out of baby oil, which she said actually often happened, they had to call a staffer again. Staffer. File that away for later or they'd have to tip the hotel bell desk to bring in more. Once, she said, they actually inflated a kiddie pool in the middle of a hotel room and filled it with baby oil and lube. This is weird, this next part. Cassie said that Diddy made her climb in fully dressed. He wanted the visuals, the performance, she said she estimated they went through about 10 large bottles of baby oil per session. And Cassie testified that sometimes the free coughs would last three to four days. She told the jury, quote, it was such a mess. It was like, what are we doing? End quote. Prosecutors asked who decided how these sessions played out. Cassie's answer never changed. Sean, she said it was his decision, she said, to bring in male escorts. His idea to pour hot candle wax on her body. His setup, his rules. But that wasn't all that the jury learned. Cassie told them about drugs and said there were a lot. Ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, ketamine, mushrooms. She said Diddy provided them all. And Cassie says she used the drugs not to party, but to numb herself to what was happening. As far as the escorts, she said there were more escorts than she could name. The jury saw photos of six male escorts. She said they'd hired those guys, including one of them with a nickname, the Punisher. Cassie said Diddy had her look for them on craigslist and backpage.com. his preference, she said, was, quote, black males with large penises, end quote. She said each one was paid in cash, 1500 bucks to 6000 bucks a session. Prosecutors pressed for details, asking, quote, at what point did would the escorts ejaculate, end quote. And Cassie answered, quote, usually when it was okay for them, per Sean, but usually they did it on me, end quote. And then she said Diddy would lead her into another room and tell her to spread the escort's semen on his body. Cassie said she would do that, quote, usually on his chest or nipples, end quote. First came the masturbation Then came the touching, then came the oral. You know what? It was a routine, she said it was a sequence. And according to Cassie, it was never about her inside these hotel rooms. Cassie said the aftermath was disgusting. And what was left behind, she said, was pure chaos. Oil and wax was smeared everywhere. On the walls, on door handles, on furniture. She said the smell of urine, of sweat, and of body odor and candle wax was everywhere. She said sometimes there was actually blood on the sheets because she said she was expected to participate in this behavior even when menstruating. So another ick moment. And can I just remind you who's behind Diddy in the court? All his kids, mom, baby, mom, like so many family members are hearing all this. And it got even worse. If you didn't think it could, it did. Cassie then said that Diddy urinated on her during some of the free coughs. She said he had the escorts urinate on her. In one case, she said an escort urinated into her mouth. And she described the incident in detail for this jury. And I will quote her. I choked. There was too much urine in my mouth. I was laying in a position I couldn't easily get out of. I put my hands up to get him to stop, but nothing happened. End quote. She said she never wanted the escorts to urinate on her, that she never asked for it. But that quote, it was a turn on for him, meaning, did he. So it happened at that point. You could see the jury shift, physically move uncomfortable in their chairs. That's the point where the one black male juror shook his head repeatedly and looked right at Diddy as Cassie was describing what was happening to her. And a black female juror looked stunned. Her face, like reacting in disbelief and shock and at times, disgust. Misa Hilton. That's Justin Combs, mom. Right? So Justin Combs is Diddy's son. And his mom, Misa, left the courtroom at that point after Cassie described getting urine in her mouth from Diddy and male escorts. So, yeah, I get it. Good on Misa for leaving. I wouldn't have wanted to be there in the first place. And when Cassie named the Intercontinental Hotel in New York City, she said that Diddy was actually charged a massive cleaning fee to, quote, redecorate the room after one of the freak offs in court. Cassie was the one who narrated the footage. And she sort of went frame by frame. And by now you've probably seen a lot of it. She's seen leaving. She's on the surveillance, leaving the room barefoot, carrying a purse and a bag And a phone. And the prosecutors are probably trying to show here that she's trying to flee. You know, who walks out of a hotel room barefoot to the elevators unless you're in a hurry. Right. Possibly that she was fleeing because she was being coerced, maybe even kidnapped. Cassie testified that the bag that she was carrying and the phone, that they were hers. And that's important because it contradicts what Diddy had claimed at his bail hearing. That those things belonged to him, he said, and that he was simply trying to retrieve his things when he chased after Cassie and beat her up to get his things. You know, Diddy's point was that he wasn't stopping Cassie from escaping anything, that he was just chasing her down to get his things. Well, Cassie testified today they were her things. Purse, bag, phone. And by the way, it's also very different than what Diddy's defense lawyer said in their opening statement, that he was just trying to get his phone. Right. This is going to be hard for his lawyers to sort of get past. Cassie also in court today confirmed that an escort named Jules was inside that hotel room when she fled for the elevator doors. And keep in mind, that is a person. That is someone the prosecution may call to corroborate her story if they ever found the guy named Jules. I don't know. Stay tuned. Cassie told the jurors that she tried to defend herself against Diddy, but that any resistance just made things worse. She testified, quote, it would escalate the fight more and make it worse for myself. It would make him stronger and make him want to push harder. When asked how many times Diddy pulled her to the ground, she answered, too many to count. The next witness on the stand was Regina Ventura, Cassie's mom. Regina testified that In December of 2011, Cassie came home to Connecticut and she was badly bruised. Regina photographed the marks on her daughter's back and the marks on her daughter's thigh and said Cassie finally admitted that Diddy had beaten her. Cassie's mom also told the jury, quote, she was beaten by Sean Combs. End quote. Cassie's mom also read a disturbing email from her daughter out loud in court. In the email, Cassie told her mom, quote, the threats that have been made towards me by Sean Puffy Combs are that he is going to release two explicit sex tapes of me. One on Christmas Day, maybe before or right after, and another one sometime soon after. He has said also that he will be having someone hurt me and Scott Mascuddy physically. He made a point that it wouldn't be by his hands. He actually said he he'd be out of the country when it happened, end quote. Cassie's mom told the jury she was physically sick after reading that email. She told the jury, quote, the sex tapes threw me. I didn't know the other person in it, but I knew that he was going to try to hurt my daughter. And when asked who she was referring to with he, she said, Sean Combs. Cassie's mom also testified that around the very same time, Diddy demanded $20,000 from her. It was money that Diddy claimed he'd spent on Cassie and now wanted back because he discovered that Cassie was seeing Kid Cudi. The prosecutor asked, so who paid it? And Cassie's mom replied, my husband and myself. Cassie's mom told the jury that she got wire instructions from Diddy's bookkeeper at Bad Boy Records. Stop for a minute. Diddy's bookkeeper at Bad Boy Records sent her wire instructions for the $20,000. Look, you can debate whether or not this is extortion, but it sure is coincidental that Diddy's demanding $20,000 from Cassie's mom right after he's threatening to release sex tapes and suggesting he's angry that Cassie's seeing another guy. You can debate whether that's extortion. But if it is, and he uses the wire service to do it, and he uses an employee of Bad Boy Records, you are getting dang close to the charges of racketeering, maybe even absolutely proving racketeering. Then Cassie's mom said that she and her husband actually had to take out a home equity loan for $20,000. They had to put a loan on their home to wire diddy. That 20k let that sink in. They mortgaged their home to. To pay what they felt was extortion money. 20k to a billionaire. 20k that they didn't even have. Lucky for them, four days later, the money mysteriously was sent back, no explanations. And that was that. It turns out, if federal prosecutors are right, Puff Daddy didn't just beat up his girlfriend. He beat up her friends, too. And two of those friends threw down on the stand today. You remember last week when Dawn Richard told the jury about witnessing Diddy attacking his girlfriend Cassie with a frying pan? Because, you know, make the eggs, woman. She said afterwards that Diddy looked right at her and threatened her career if she told anyone about what she saw Sean Combs do to Cassie. And Dawn Richard dropped this bombshell, too, when she said Diddy went way beyond just threatening her career. Where I come from, People go missing if they talk. And that's a quote she said. That's what Diddy said. And not only that, but the Department of Justice released a series of photos that are really jarring. They were marked into evidence when they were shown to the jury. But now the public, that's you and me, we're getting a look at them, too. There were eight photos in all showing Cassie in the aftermath of what she says were brutal beatings by Diddy. We're talking bruises on her thigh, bruises on her back, a deep gash over her eyebrow, swollen lips, black eyes. Three of the images are selfies taken inside an Uber. Cassie's wearing oversized dark sunglasses and trying to hide her face. And then there's a stark picture of a knife, a large chef's knife that's just lodged into the handle of an apartment door to make the lock more secure. According to Cassie, she used that knife in 2018 to protect herself against Sean Combs. Last week, she testified that Diddy started showing up unannounced at her apartment. And in her words, quote, I was getting a lot of unannounced visits from Sean. I, I was trying to kill two birds with one stone. Lock it. And I had a weapon. And finally, the hotel room. These next photos were taken in September of 2024 inside Diddy's suite at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan. They were taken on the day that Sean Combs was arrested. And they show all of the personal effects that Diddy had in his hotel room with him, like stacks of cash, bottles of baby oil and personal lubricant, pill bottles and bags of pink powder, which prosecutors allege were the same drugs used for the so called free coughs. She wrote that on any given day, her duties could swing wildly from doing 17,000 things like cracking his knuckles or handling his taxes, to doing absolutely nothing at times. But the most important part, Mia said it all came down to one thing. His mood. In that email, she wrote that reading and anticipating Diddy's emotional state was key because his mood dictated everything. The tone, the energy, the structure of the day. And if you got it wrong, she said, there were consequences. Mia told the jury there were no boundaries, not even inside the house. She said she wasn't allowed to leave without permission. But she figured once Diddy went to bed, she was off the clock. And one night at 2am, sometime around 2009 or 2010, she decided to sneak out just for a couple hours to see some friends. According to Mia, that decision did not go over well. She testified that not long after she left, security told her that Diddy sent people out looking for her. Like a manhunt. And privacy? She said there was none. Mia told the jury that she wasn't allowed to lock her own bedroom door. The rule, as she understood it, came straight from Diddy himself. Quote, this is my house, end quote. And in his house, lady, locked doors were not allowed. Weird thing was it didn't seem to be the case for the men who lived at the house. They did have locks. They had deadbolts. Security guards like Uncle Paulie Drock and Reuben. Yeah, they had deadbolts. In a moment, you are going to find out why this is such an important detail that Mia told the jury. She said her time with Cassie was always on Diddy's terms. He decided when they could see each other, when they could talk, when she could help. And sometimes, Mia said her job wasn't just to support Cassie. It was to actually spy on her, to, quote, keep tabs on her, end quote. Mia said that apparently was part of the assignment. Mia told the jury, quote, I had to do everything that he told me to do. We had to be wherever Puff told us we could be, end quote. And if he made a move without his green light, Mia said the consequences were chilling. Quote, something bad, like, very scary could happen. That's how she put it. She called Diddy's punishments, quote, unpredictable, but always, always, she said, quote, terrifying. And according to Mia, when Diddy wanted to reach Cassie, he made sure it happened. She testified that he'd call, text, email, and if Cassie didn't respond, he'd find another way. Sometimes that meant using staff, sometimes security, and sometimes it meant using Mia. He said she was often tasked with relaying his messages. And on more than one occasion, if Cassie didn't respond fast enough, security would physically show up and look for her. And then Mia's testimony turned much darker. The first incident Mia said she remembered clearly happened in 2009 or 2010. She described being inside Diddy's home when she heard loud thuds coming from upstairs and then looked up to see suitcases flying over a railing. They came crashing down into the foyer below. And later she found Cassie outside, hiding behind a bush. Mia said Cassie was crying and shaking and silently waved her away as if to say, you don't see me. I'm not here. But that would not be the last time that Mia said she saw violence up close. One of the most disturbing incidents mirrored something the jury had just heard from Deontay Nash the night that Cassie's Head was split open. Mia told the jury that Diddy showed up in a rage, screaming, have you been drinking? Not just a Cassie, but also at her and at Deontay, too. Mia described Diddy as, quote, crazy aggressive. She said Diddy threw Cassie to the ground and began beating her. She said both she and Deontay jumped in to try to stop it. At that moment, she said she feared for Cassie's life. She told the jury, quote, I thought he's actually going to kill her. Mia said she watched as Diddy slammed Cassie's head into what she called, quote, the sharpest, strongest corner of the bed frame. And then Cassie's forehead started gushing blood. That is when Mia said everything shifted. She told the jury that Diddy flipped instantly into what she described as, quote, protector mode. She said that Diddy demanded that she call another assistant named Kayla and then instructed her to tell the doctor that Cassie had been drunk and hit her head. Mia said she made the call not because she wanted to lie, but because she said it was the only way to get Cassie help. And she made it clear to the jury those instructions came directly from Diddy. Throughout that night, Mia said he was consumed with rage. She told the jury, quote, his eyes turned black. There was no getting through, end quote. Mia said that she'd seen Diddy high before, but not that night. That night, she told the jury, there was no indication that he was on drugs. To her, it was something even more terrifying. Pure, unfiltered rage. Mia also described a drug experience that she said left her shaken. And it didn't happen at a club or a party. It happened on Diddy's tour bus at burning man. She said. She testified that the bus had been outfitted for the night. Blackout shades were drawn, Disco lights were flashing, and laid out in front of them, three separate plates of powdered drugs. According to Mia, Diddy turned it into a game. Everyone there was expected to take a hit of either cocaine, molly, or ketamine. And Mia said it was not an option. Mia told the jury that she was nervous, like, really nervous, and that she tried to say no, but that Diddy wouldn't let it go. What started as joking quickly turned serious. She said he got stern, Told her, quote, she was messing up the whole vibe, end quote. Mia admitted that she even tried to fake it, pretended to snort the powder without actually doing it. But she said that Diddy caught on. Mia said he got right up in her face and said that he was upset. And that's when she said, did he cut a line of Drugs just for her. Mia testified that she did snort it, but that the second she got away, she tried to blow it back out. Mia didn't just testify about her own drug use. She said she witnessed Diddy using drugs, too. She told the jury that she saw him take mdma, ketamine, and prescription pills, usually at parties, but sometimes in more unexpected places like the recording studio. There were moments, she said, that made her feel deeply uncomfortable. She remembered thinking, this is an inappropriate time to be doing drugs, like right before a board meeting, she said, or even before appearing on the Chelsea Handler show. But prosecutors asked if Diddy ever used drugs while working, and Mia did not hesitate. Quote, to me, she said, Puff was always working. She also testified about where he kept the drugs. A Louis Vuitton bag she referred to as his med bag. It's the same bag other witnesses have already testified to. Mia said she tried not to snoop, but occasionally she'd catch a glimpse. Once, she said she saw pills stamped with a smiley face with X's over the eyes. Whatever was in that bag, she said, it was always close by. Mia also described a violent outburst on the set of a music video, one that she said could have ended very differently. It happened in Los Angeles, she said, sometime around 2011 or 2012. The Wi Fi had gone down and Diddy was furious. Mia testified that he wanted her to fix it immediately and screamed, quote, I don't care if you have to call Bill Gates, end quote. But then she said, he threw a computer right at her, hard. Mia said the laptop flew across the room and, quote, came very close to hitting her in the head. She told the jury this wasn't a one time thing. There were other incidents, she said, other objects, other moments where she felt like a target. And each time, she said, the feeling was the same. She told the jury, quote, I was terrified and so humiliated and so confused. What did I do wrong? End quote. As if Mia's testimony up until this point wasn't disturbing enough, the worst was yet to come. She told the jury that Diddy sexually assaulted her. And not just once, multiple times over the course of her employment. Mia made it unequivocally clear she never wanted to engage in sexual activity with Diddy. These incidents, she said, were, Were never consensual, and they happen sporadically over the span of several years. Mia told the jury that Cassie was never present during these assaults and that she never told Cassie about them. But she said the first assault happened at the Plaza Hotel in New York during Diddy's 40th birthday party. @ the time, she'd only been working for him for a few months. She told the jury he gave her two vodka shots and that when she drank them, something felt off almost immediately. She says she remembered thinking, quote, whoa, did I eat today? End quote. Mia said she was in her 20s back then, living in New York, and that two vodka shots should not have hit her that hard, but they did. Mia testified that it wasn't long before she found herself backed up against the kitchen wall. She said Diddy leaned in close, told her not to be nervous, and that he'd noticed the, quote, good job she was doing. That's when, Mia testified he kissed her and slipped his hand up under her dress. She said she felt completely frozen and that the next thing she remembered was waking up at sunrise alone in a chair. She was wearing her clothes, but she said she did not remember how she got there. She told the jury, quote, he was my boss. He was the boss or the king. A very powerful person, end quote. Mia testified that at the time, she told herself it was a one off, that maybe Diddy was drunk, maybe it was a mistake, an accident. But what happened next, she said, shattered that illusion. She told the jury about a second assault, this time at Diddy's house in Los Angeles, where he lived from 2009 to 2010. Mia said she was sleeping in the upstairs bedroom, the one with the bunk beds. She stayed on the bottom bunk. And the door, she said, was unlocked because it had to be. She told the jury that Diddy would not allow her to lock the doors, even though male staffers, they had deadbolts and they used them. Mia testified that she woke up in the middle of the night with Diddy on top of her. She said he told her to be quiet. And then with one hand, he began to remove his pants. And through tears, Mia said he, quote, put himself inside of her, end quote. At that moment, she said, she froze. Mia told the jury she felt, quote, terrified, confused and ashamed, end quote. The prosecutor lowered her voice, gently guiding Mia through this testimony. But even as she struggled to speak, Mia told the jury, quote, it was very quick, but it felt like forever, end quote. Mia said she couldn't remember exactly how it ended, but she said one thing with certainty. Quote, he didn't leave a job unfinished. She said it ended, quote, when he got what he wanted, end quote. Later in her testimony, Mia described, yes, yet another assault. This one, she said, happened at another Los Angeles home that Diddy kept at the time. She told the jury that she was helping him get Ready for a meeting, something she did often. She described sitting on the floor of his closet and prepping his wardrobe for a trip, handling the last minute details. And then she said, quote, I looked up and he was standing right in front of my face. He had his penis out and he grabbed my head and he put it in there. At that point, Mia was no longer holding it together. She was sobbing on the witness stand. When asked how she felt in that moment, Mia answered, quote, like trash, scared, defeated, and like an idiot, end quote. Just months later, she says she found herself at the center of a far more terrifying ordeal. This one involving a bag of missing diamonds and a locked office with a lie detector test. And this one is where I thought it sounded real Sopranos like. Capricorn told the jury about an incident in 2011 when she was asked to transport three pieces of very expensive jewelry to Miami. A diamond watch, a bracelet, and a necklace. These pieces of jewelry were out on loan to Diddy from Jacob the Jeweler. But before she even made it to the airport, she said she realized that the bag containing the jewelry was missing. She never said exactly how or where it went missing, just that she noticed it was gone before leaving, and she immediately notified security. Capricorn told the jury that shortly after that jewelry went missing, Diddy's longtime bodyguard, Paul, Uncle Paulie, offered, showed up at her front door. When asked to describe Uncle Paulie, Capricorn called him quiet, stoic, a bit menacing. In that quote, physically, he looks like a linebacker, end quote. She also said that he wore blackout sunglasses almost 100% of the time. Capricorn testified that Uncle Paulie forced her to come with him to a vacant building at 1710 Broadway. She said once they got there, they went up to the sixth floor, where they met a heavyset man chain smoking cigarettes and sipping black coffee. A lie detector test was set out in front of him. And that man, she said, looked her straight in the eye and said this quote, if you fail this test, they're going to throw you in the east river, end quote. Capricorn told the jury she was terrified. She said the results kept coming back inconclusive. And when she struggled to calm down, Cap, Capricorn said the chain smoking man told her, quote, I'm not getting a good reading. You need to calm down. You're going to be in the east river if I can't get a reading on this. End quote. Capricorn admitted that she wasn't doing a good job of calming down. And she was there, she said, for a full workday with the lie detector being administered intermittently all day long, she said. Capricorn testified that Uncle Paulie took her home after being grilled all day and, quote, he told me, I'll be back tomorrow to get you. We still got to figure this out, end quote. Talk about trying to sleep. After that, she told the jury that she spent five full days taking lie detector tests. And when she was done, she testified that she was told, quote, you can return to work Monday. Let that sink in. Yay. Thanks. Capricorn said she never called the police, nor did she tell anybody about it, because she said she was bound by an NDA, a non disclosure agreement. And she said she was afraid for her safety, but she kept showing up for work because, in her words, quote, I wanted to prove my innocence, end quote. No one ever found out what happened to that missing jewelry, by the way. By that point, emotionally and professionally, though, she said she decided she was done. She walked away from Bad Boy thinking that she'd closed the that chapter for good. But finding work after Bad Boy was not easy. She told the jury she lost her apartment, she lost her car, she lost her benefits. And she told the jurors that Diddy warned her she'd, quote, never work again and that she'd, quote, probably kill herself, end quote. So in 2016, she came back. She came back to work for Bad Boy, this time to work as Cassie Ventura's creative director. She says that she tried to set boundaries, telling the jury, quote, I didn't want to work in close proximity to Diddy. I didn't want to be trapped in the house, end quote. But those boundaries did not stick. According to Capricorn, Diddy paid for her phone and for Cassie's phone too. So one day when Cassie texted Capricorn on that phone saying that she planned to go hiking with Kid Cudi, guy she was dating, Capricorn said she flew into a panic. She told the jury that she didn't want that kind of message sitting on a phone tied to Diddy. And that she told Cassie, quote, this is going to get us all killed, end quote. Capricorn then drove Cassie to Best Buy and helped her buy a burner phone just to keep their messages off Diddy's radar. Capricorn told the jury that that fear wasn't paranoia, that it was justified, especially because of what happened next. Something she said she'll never forget, something that involved Diddy and Cassie and a rapper that Diddy just learned was dating Cassie Scott Muscati, aka Kid Cudi. It was 6 o' clock in the morning, she said, just days before Christmas. Capricorn told the jury that she was inside her apartment in Los Angeles when suddenly she heard a loud banging on the door. Metal on metal. Capricorn said she looked through the peephole and saw Diddy outside of her door, furious and pacing and wearing a white shirt and gray slacks that strangely were ripped wide open on the crotch area to a point where she said she could see his underwear. But more importantly, she said that Diddy had a gun in his hand. When she opened the door, she said Diddy yelled, quote, who is Scott? And then told her, quote, get dressed. We're gonna kill this N word. Of course, he didn't say N word. Right. Capricorn testified that she told Diddy she didn't want to go, but that Diddy responded, quote, I don't give a fuck what you want to do. Go get dressed now. She said that Diddy then tucked the gun into his waistband. And feeling threatened, Capricorn said she put her clothes on and got in the Escalade with Diddy and his security guard, Reuben. The destination, Kid Cudi's house. Capricorn testified that when they got to Kid Cudi's house, she stayed in the car and that she said she could see that Diddy and Reuben got out and walked right through Cuddy's open front door. Then she said she called Cassie on a burner phone and said, quote, puffy came and got me with a gun and brought me to Cudi's house to kill him, end quote. She said she could hear Kid Cudi scream in the background. He's in my house. Soon. According to Capricorn, she testified she could hear a car, the engine pulling up behind the car that she was in. And she said it was Kid Cudi pulling up to the house. She said he slowed down, spotted the Escalade, and then sped off. And that's when she testified Diddy came out of the house and got back in the car. She testified that Diddy yelled, there's that N word right there. Capricorn told the jury they took off after Kid Cudi, but that a chase through the neighborhood ended quickly. Apparently, the flashing lights of a police cruiser threw cold water on everything she said. But the night didn't end there, not even close. Capricorn then testified that Diddy forced her to call Cassie and tell Cassie, quote, diddy has me and he's not letting me go until you come. Capricorn told the jury that after she called Cassie, Diddy threatened her and Cassie by saying, quote, you need to convince Kid Cudi to tell the police it wasn't me. If you don't, I'll kill all you. Kid Cudi told the jury that In December of 2011, he and Cassie were seeing each other and that Cassie called him around 5:30 or 6 in the morning, scared and panicked. Kid Cudi told the jury, quote, cassie told me that Sean Combs had found out about us. She sounded really stressed out on the phone. Scared, nervous. So I went to pick her up, end quote. He said he brought Cassie to the Sunset Marquee Hotel and that that's when his phone rang again. He said this time it was Capricorn Clark, Diddy's assistant. Capricorn told Kid Cudi that she was sitting there parked outside of his house and that Diddy was inside. She also said that she'd been forced to go along like that she did not have a choice in this matter. Kid Cudi testified that he immediately called Diddy and said, quote, motherfucker, you in my house, end quote. And that Diddy replied, quote, I just want to talk to you, end quote. Kid Cudi told the jury he rushed home, but that when he got there, no one was inside yet. And it's a big yet. Something was clearly off. The security cameras had been moved. They were facing the wrong way. Christmas gifts for his family had been opened. This is the worst part. His dog was locked up inside a bathroom. And that dog, normally calm, he said, became jittery and anxious all the time. Kid Cudi said, quote, I wanted to confront him. Meaning, did he. I wanted to fight him, but instead I called the police, end quote. And this is where Kid Cudi's testimony was explosive. And I mean, like, really literally explosive. Up in flames. Kid Cudi told the jury that a few weeks later, In February of 2012, his car was firebombed. He told the jury that he got a phone call in the middle of the night and that the caller on the other end of the line told him his car was on fire. Cuddy testified that he didn't know why. What else to think besides, quote, what the. End quote. The jury was shown photographs of the aftermath of Kid Cudi's car. And the photo showed the Porsche 911 with a blackened door, a charred driver's seat, and the roof slashed open. Kid Cudi said, quote, the top of my Porsche was cut open. That's where they inserted the Molotov cocktail, end quote. So he added that he saw the bottle that was used for the Molotov cocktail But that, quote, it was kind of burnt up. Can I just, like, jump in here and say this kind of crime is officially called arson in legal terms. But the story did not end there. Just after the Porsche firebombing, Kid Cudi picked up the phone and called Diddy. He told the jury, quote, I finally told him we needed to meet up and talk. He'd been wanting to talk to me after the fire. I said, this is getting out of hand. End quote. When prosecutors asked why he called Diddy, Kid Cudi didn't mince words. Quote, I knew he had something to do with it. Kid Cudi testified that he and Diddy planned to meet up at the Soho house in Los Angeles. And when Kidd walked in, he told the jury he saw Diddy, quote, standing there staring out the window with his hands behind his back like a Marvel super villain. That so stood out to me. I'm just picturing, like, Diddy standing at the window, you know, like a movie scene, hands behind his back. Oh, man, he really created an image for the courtroom. And when he said that, by the way, the whole courtroom erupted in laughter, even the jury, everybody laughed. Kid Cudi said they sat down and they talked about how he and Cassie met, how it started, how it ended, and about how neither of them knew Cassie was involved with the other. He said Diddy's demeanor during the meeting was eerily calm. He told the jury that seeing Diddy, that calm was weird and actually pretty off putting. When the meeting was over, Kid Cudi said that he shook Diddy's hand, waited until they had a firm grip, and asked Diddy point blank, quote, what are we going to do about my car? Kid Cudi said that Diddy looked him dead in the eyes with a cold stare and said, quote, I don't know what you're talking about. Kid Cudi withdrew his hand. He said, Diddy fired back, quote, I thought we were cool. Do we have a problem? Kid Cudi said he asked for Diddy's word that he had nothing to do with the Porsche getting firebombed. And he said Diddy gave it. But Kid Cudi told the jury, quote, I thought he was lying. Fast forward a couple of years. Diddy and Kid Cudi crossed paths again at the same place of all things, right? The Soho house. This time, Diddy was with his daughter. And according to Kid Cudi, did he pull to besides and said, quote, man, I just want to apologize for everything, all that bullshit. End quote. But then things between Diddy and Bana got worse. The most terrifying Moment of Bona's life didn't happen in a studio or a club or on a beach or in a back alley. She said it happened on a balcony 17 stories up. Bana told the jury it was her early morning, September 2016, at Cassie's apartment in Los Angeles. She was asleep on the couch with her girlfriend when suddenly there was violent pounding on the front door. She said it was Diddy. Bona said she felt an immediate wave of panic and woke up her girlfriend, who was also staying over. She says she pushed her girlfriend into the guest bathroom to protect her and whispered, shh. Then she told the jury that she walked out to the balcony and tried to look casual. She says she grabbed a joint but couldn't remember if it was lit or if she was about to light it, but that it didn't matter. Bona said that all of a sudden, Diddy was behind her. She told the jury, quote, he basically came up from behind me, he lifted me up and then put me on the top of the rail, end quote. Bana showed the jury how it happened. She demonstrated it. How did. He allegedly grabbed her under the armpits and physically hoisted her to so that her feet were on the top of the railing. Just let that sink in for a moment. Like, seriously, try to picture it. 17 stories up and you're essentially dangling with just inches. That could mean the difference between life and death. It's important to know that Bana said she weighed around 100 to 115 pounds at the time and that she was only about 5ft or so. So that, you know, logistically, could that happen. She did say that Diddy was bigger, and she said that the railing only came up to about waist height as well. She told the jury that she started pushing back against him, bracing herself and trying not to slip. She said that Diddy was yelling and screaming, quote, you know what the you did? Banna said that all she could think about was the fact that she was about to fall 17 stories to to the pavement, as if dangling off a balcony isn't insane enough. Banna said she had no idea what Diddy was talking about. She told the jury, quote, I had no idea, and I still have no idea. Bona said that she looked back at Diddy and shouted, I don't know what the I did. But Bonnet said that Diddy kept yelling and kept her perched on that 17 story ledge for about 10 to 15 seconds, long enough to hear him repeat the same phrase over and over. You know what the fuck you did? And then she says he threw her right into the balcony furniture. So there you have it, some of the biggest bombshells from the prosecution's case against Sean Diddy Combs. And remember, this trial is far from over. In fact, the defense is almost up to bat and you can bet that they're going to come out swinging. We'll be here for every twist and turn, every last minute surprise. And by the way, make sure that you're subscribed on your favorite podcast app because not every episode that I do makes it onto YouTube. Some are just podcasts and trust me, I don't want you to miss a second of this trial. I'm Ashley Banfield. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious. If you work as a manufacturing facilities engineer, installing a new piece of equipment can be as complex as the machinery itself. From prep work to alignment and testing, it's your team's job to put it all together. That's why it's good to have Grainger on your side. With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
