Diddy trial: Rapper threatened to kill me, singer Dawn Richard testifies – National | Globalnews.ca

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Singer Dawn Richard informed jurors at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ intercourse trafficking trial on Monday that the hip-hop wealthy person threatened to kill her if she informed somebody she noticed him bodily abusing his longtime female friend.

Richard testified that Combs made the risk the day after she witnessed the Bad Boy Records founder punch and kick Casandra “Cassie” Ventura after taking a swing at her with a skillet. Richard mentioned he informed her and every other girl who noticed the assault that “we could go missing” in the event that they didn’t keep quiet.

Combs’ legal professionals have said the rapper might be violent however deal with that the sexual acts have been consensual. They say not anything he did amounted to intercourse trafficking or racketeering (the costs he faces), insisting he simply has distinctive sexual proclivities.

Day 6

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitzi Steiner requested Richard what she took “we could go missing” to imply.

“That we could die,” Richard answered, announcing she was once surprised as a result of all of this came about simply as she was once starting to file with Diddy — Dirty Money, a musical trio with Combs and every other R&B singer.

Richard disclosed the alleged risk as she returned to the witness stand to kick off the second one week of testimony in Combs’ intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal courtroom.

Combs, 55, is accused of exploiting his leisure powerbroker standing to abuse ladies, together with Ventura, via threats and violence for 20 years from 2004 till his arrest closing September. He has pleaded now not accountable. His legal professionals argue that prosecutors compiled evidence of home violence, however now not the federal crimes he’s charged with.

Richard, who started her testimony on May 16 and May 19, mentioned she witnessed Combs assault Ventura more than one occasions, together with right through a seek advice from to Combs’ house recording studio in 2009, when Richard mentioned she and every other girl noticed Combs hit Ventura “on the head and beat her on the ground” after Ventura deflected a swipe at her head by means of a skillet.

Richard mentioned she witnessed Combs beat his female friend ceaselessly – he “would punch her, choke her, drag her, slap her in the mouth. I saw him kick her, punch her in the stomach.”

Beatings got here when Ventura spoke up for herself, “if she had an opinion about something,” mentioned Richard, who additionally carried out within the workforce Danity Kane.

She mentioned Combs’ group of workers, together with his bodyguards, additionally witnessed violence however they “wouldn’t react. They wouldn’t do anything.”

Richard supported Ventura’s testimony that Combs had stifled Ventura’s fledgling making a song occupation, announcing she heard Combs inform Ventura that he “owned her” and that any luck she had can be on his phrases.

Richard mentioned Combs would get mad — on occasion violent — when she and different artists presented to assist Ventura write songs.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Prosecutors liberate 2016 resort attack video

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Defence attorney Nicole Westmoreland recommended Richard was once attesting as a result of she was once indignant at Combs for finishing Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money, and since she has a pending lawsuit in opposition to him.

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“You felt that Mr. Combs ruined your career not once, but twice?” Westmoreland requested.

“Yes,” Richard spoke back.

She contended, despite the fact that, that she was once unhappy, now not indignant, over the tip of the teams, and is suing Combs as a result of he mistreated her and withheld her profits.

Bad Boy signed Ventura to a 10-album deal in 2006, however simplest launched one — the self-titled Cassie, which got here out the similar yr. Ventura and Combs began relationship in 2007 and broke up for just right in 2018.

Ventura’s former supreme buddy recollects violent outbursts

Before day’s finish, Ventura’s supreme buddy of 17 years and a former private assistant to Combs testified that she felt trapped as prosecutors attempted to discover evidence that Combs was once working a legal racketeering group that depended on workers to assist him keep an eye on Ventura and different ladies in his lifestyles.

Testimony about Combs’ beatings of Ventura got here with infrequently a point out of the drug-fuelled “freak-offs” that ruled testimony closing week, when Ventura defined over 4 days how her want for a loving courting with Combs led as an alternative to her weekly sexual performances with male intercourse employees that left her too exhausted to pursue her musical occupation.

After Richard got here testimony from Kerry Morgan. She mentioned she was once Ventura’s longtime supreme buddy till that they had a falling out after Morgan suffered a concussion when Combs’ choked Morgan and slung a picket hanger at her in 2018 when he got here to Ventura’s Los Angeles house enraged that Cassie was once relationship any person else.

Morgan mentioned she was once going to sue Combs, however Ventura met her at a pizza parlour and had her signal a nondisclosure settlement in go back for US$30,000 from Combs whilst accusing her of “milking” and “overexaggerating” the assault. Morgan and Ventura each testified that they haven’t spoken since.

Morgan, a reluctant witness who said that she simplest testified according to a central authority subpoena, mentioned she noticed Combs beat Ventura no less than two times, together with as soon as so critically on a commute to Jamaica, when Combs was indignant that Ventura was once taking too lengthy in the toilet, that she idea her buddy were “knocked out.”

She mentioned she inspired Ventura to get a divorce with him after knowing that the very assured girl she had met in 2001 right through modeling gigs and who roomed together with her for a time had “lost her spark” and had assumed a slumped posture as she catered to Combs’ wishes. But she mentioned Ventura was once reluctant to depart Combs.

“He controlled everything. She would’ve lost all of her livelihood,” Morgan mentioned, noting that Combs paid for Ventura’s automotive and rental, and had her beneath contract with Bad Boy.

Ventura testified closing week that even though she persisted to visit the recording studio and paintings on songs, Combs refused to liberate them.

“He was in charge of her career,” Morgan testified, including that Ventura on occasion expressed frustration that her tune wasn’t being launched.

Ex-employee says Combs known as Ventura ‘very moldable’

David James, who served as Combs’ private assistant from 2007 to 2009, began crying as he testified that, when he interviewed for the process, one of the most hip-hop heavyweight’s lieutenants pointed to a photograph of Combs at the wall and informed him: “This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve him.”

James’ employment coincided with the early days of Combs and Ventura’s courting. He recalled her being astonished — and possibly crushed — by means of Combs’ high-flying, globetrotting techniques.

“Man, this lifestyle is crazy,” he recalled Ventura announcing as they smoked cigarettes on a dock together with her then-best buddy Morgan.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: What we’ve discovered to this point

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James, who will go back to the stand Tuesday, mentioned he recommended Ventura go away Combs if she was once uncomfortable, to which he mentioned she answered: “I can’t. I can’t get out. You know, Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life.”

James recalled speaking to Combs on every other instance in regards to the ladies in his lifestyles. Combs, he mentioned, described his longtime female friend Kim Porter, the mum of a few of his kids, as “my queen.”

When the topic became to Ventura, James testified that Combs informed him: “She’s good. I got her right where I want her. She’s young.”

James recalled Combs describing Ventura as “very moldable.”

What Combs is on trial for

U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, in the back of the scenes, Combs was once coercing and abusing ladies with assist from a community of co-workers who helped silence sufferers via blackmail and violence.

Combs faces an indictment that incorporates descriptions of freak-offs, which can be outlined within the courtroom document as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”

Numerous witnesses have come ahead to accuse Combs of terrorizing other folks into silence by means of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in keeping with prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled any person from a balcony.

Although dozens of women and men have alleged in proceedings that Combs abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 ladies.

Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He has denied the entire fees in opposition to him and has rejected a plea deal, opting for to visit trial as an alternative.

If discovered accountable within the New York courtroom, he may face lifestyles in jail.

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Day 5 testimony

Day 4 testimony

Day 3 testimony

Day 2 testimony

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Global News will likely be overlaying the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please test again for updates. 

— With information from The Associated Press