Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie will be among first witnesses in hotly anticipated sex-trafficking trial
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie will be one of the first witnesses at his bombshell sex-trafficking federal trial — and could take the stand as soon as Monday, prosecutors said.
The R&B singer, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, will be the feds’ third witness after testimony kicks off in the case in which the embattled hip-hop mogul is charged with orchestrating a decades-long reign of sexual terror, prosecutor Maurene Comey said Friday.
The first two witnesses will include an escort and another person who needs to testify Monday for logistical reasons, the feds said.
The reveal came after Manhattan federal court Judge Arun Subramanian pushed the final stage of the jury selection process until Monday after citing concerns that selected panelists could get “cold feet” about the headline-grabbing case over the weekend.
One would-be juror had written a letter to the court asking to be excused because of “issues of personal well-being.”
Subramanian granted Combs’ lawyers’ bid to push the process back over the prosecution team’s objections.
The 12 jurors and six alternates who make the cut will be sworn in Monday morning and then hear each side’s opening statement in the hotly anticipated case, the judge said.
Ventura, 38, who was photographed in New York City on Thursday, is expected to be the feds’ star witness at the two-month-long trial.
Among the most crucial evidence jurors will see at the trial is footage of Combs, 55, punching and kicking Ventura in a disturbing, caught-on-camera attack at a hotel in 2016.
The “Me & U” artist is expected to testify that Combs forced her into “freak-offs” — drug-fueled, days-long “sexual performances” in which the rapper and producer’s ex-girlfriends would have sex with male escorts while he watched.
The über-wealthy Bad Boy Records founder sometimes filmed the sexual escapades to use as leverage to keep the women compliant with his demands, prosecutors alleged in their indictment against him.
Prosecutors asked Subramanian on Friday to allow Ventura, who is pregnant, to pause her testimony for a bathroom break every 90 minutes.
Comey referred to Ventura Friday not by name but as “Victim-1,” but sources close to the case have confirmed to The Post that Victim-1 in the indictment is Ventura, who will testify using her real name.
Ventura, who was once signed to Combs’ record label, first brought to light many of the shocking allegations contained in the indictment as part of a quickly settled civil lawsuit filed against the powerful music producer in September 2023.
She alleged in the suit that Combs forced her to have sex with male escorts while he filmed the encounters, and that he blew up Kid Cudi’s car when he learned the rapper was romantically interested in her.
Ventura’s lawyer in the civil case, Doug Wigdor, observed Friday’s proceeding from the courtroom gallery and was seen huddling in the hallway with the prosecution team after court wrapped for the day.
Combs’ legal team plans to admit at trial that the Sean John fashion label founder physically abused Ventura, but will claim that she was “violent” with him as well, lead defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo disclosed Friday.
“We are going to take the position that there was mutual violence in their relationship…There was hitting on both sides,” Agnifilo said as Combs sat at the defense table in a dark blue sweater, white shirt, and black reading glasses.
Combs’ lawyers also wanted to show jurors past episodes of Ventura’s alleged violence against other people, as part of what attorney Alexandra Shapiro claimed would show that the singer is a “strong” person who could not easily be “coerced,” as the prosecutors have said she was.
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But Subramanian shot down that argument Friday, calling it a “stretch,” and appeared wary of allowing jurors to see Combs’ team’s proposed evidence on that front.
“Strong people can be coerced just like weak people,” the judge said.
Combs, who was hit with sex-trafficking and racketeering charges in September 2024, is being held without bail in a Brooklyn lockup after the feds argued that he was a “danger to society” and that he’d tried to contact witnesses in the case ahead of his trial.
The feds allege Combs forced several of his former romantic partners into the “freak-offs,” according to his indictment.
The Harlem native is also accused of helming Bad Boy Records as a “criminal enterprise” that carried out kidnappings, at least one arson, and several assaults, including dangling one of his alleged victims over an apartment balcony.
The “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His lawyers plan to argue at trial that the freak-offs were a “consensual” part of Combs’ admittedly kinky, but not criminal, sex life.
He could face life in prison if convicted.
