Nationwide — Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura told jurors during her testimony in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex crimes trial that she cried when he kissed her for the first time on her 21st birthday. She said the moment left her confused and marked the start of a relationship that later turned abusive.The kiss happened in August 2007 after a VMA event in Las Vegas. Cassie said she was confused and didn’t want the kiss, especially on her birthday. “There was a 17-year age difference,” she explained. “I was really confused at the time, you know, new artist. I was pretty naive.”
After that night, she started spending time with Combs in New York, often visiting him at the Trump Hotel. She admitted she wanted to be around him “for the same reasons as everyone else at the time — this exciting, entertaining, fun guy who also happened to have my career in his hands,” she said.
Now 37, married to trainer Alex Fine and expecting their child, Cassie is the prosecution’s key witness in Combs’ federal sex crimes trial. She accused him of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse over their 11-year relationship.
Combs was arrested in September 2024. He pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transporting women for prostitution.
On the first day of the trial in Manhattan, jurors watched hotel security footage from 2016 showing Combs beating and kicking Cassie. Prosecutors alleged that Combs used his influence in the music industry to drug women and force them into “Freak Offs,” group sex acts that sometimes included male prostitutes.
Defense lawyer Teny Geragos argued that all sexual activity was consensual. She said Cassie chose to stay with Combs for years and later left him for her trainer, whom Combs had originally hired.
If convicted, Combs faces a possible life sentence. He remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Complex in Brooklyn.