Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs assistant testifies he felt his ‘life was in danger’

The federal trial in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs persisted on Tuesday, together with his former private assistant David James returning to the witness stand.

Combs, 55, is dealing with fees of sex-trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to interact in prostitution. He used to be arrested in September 2024 and has pleaded no longer to blame.

James, who labored for Combs from 2007 and 2009, persisted his testimony on Tuesday morning after first taking the stand on Monday afternoon.

James detailed his tasks, which integrated putting in lodge rooms for Combs, laying out Combs’s garments, toiletries and purchasing “personal items” like child oil, lubricant, condoms and snacks. He additionally described Combs’s medication bag, which allegedly contained dozens of tablet bottles together with ecstasy and Percocet.

In one a part of his testimony, James spoke of a New Year’s Eve celebration the place he took an ecstasy tablet. After the development, James stated Combs had a video of him dancing on the celebration and allegedly advised him: “I want to keep this footage in case I ever need it.”

James additionally recounted an incident from 2008 the place he, in conjunction with a member of Combs’s safety, noticed rival report government Suge Knight at a diner in Los Angeles. He stated Combs ordered them to go back with him to the diner, noting that en direction he noticed 3 weapons on Combs’s individual however that once they arrived, Knight used to be long past. James advised the jury he used to be “shook up” through the incident.

“This was the first time as his assistant that I realized my life was in danger.” James stated, including that once the incident, he gave his six-month understand.

On cross-examination, Combs’s protection lawyers identified inconsistencies in James’s account of the Knight incident, referencing prior statements James had made to the federal government.

They puzzled James a few bodily altercation with Combs’s chef, which he admitted to, pronouncing that he “squeezed her wrists” and advised her to “stay in her lane”. James testified that once the incident, Combs advised him, “you can’t be putting your hands on a woman.”

After James’s testimony concluded, the prosecution referred to as Regina Ventura, the mum of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Combs’s former female friend and key witness within the case, who testified ultimate week.

Regina Ventura testified that during December 2011, her daughter emailed her and Combs’s assistant whilst flying house for Christmas. She advised them that Combs used to be threatening to unencumber specific movies of Ventura after studying she used to be courting rapper Kid Cudi. Ventura additionally stated within the electronic mail that Combs advised her that he would “be having someone hurt” her and Cudi.

Regina Ventura stated that Combs demanded $20,000 to reclaim what he stated he spent on Cassie. She and her husband took out a house fairness mortgage to get the cash for Combs as a result of she used to be “scared about my daughter’s safety”. Regina Ventura allegedly won directions from Combs’s bookkeeper about the best way to twine the cash and despatched it to him. However, the cash used to be returned a number of days later.

When Cassie Ventura returned house for Christmas, her mom stated that she then realized of Combs’s alleged violence. The elder Ventura took pictures of the bruises on her daughter’s frame to file them.

Last week, the jury heard from Cassie Ventura over 4 days as she detailed years of alleged bodily and emotional abuse from Combs all over their 11-year dating.

Ventura advised the courtroom that Combs coerced and blackmailed her into taking part in drug-fueled intercourse events with male intercourse staff that he referred to as “freak-offs”. She additionally alleged that Combs raped her in 2018 after their breakup.

Attorneys for Combs attempted to undermine Ventura’s credibility and depict her as a keen and consenting player within the “freak-offs”.

Earlier this week, the jury heard from singer Dawn Richard and Kerry Morgan, a former shut buddy of Ventura’s all over her dating with Combs. Both ladies testified that that they had witnessed Combs assaulting Ventura.

Morgan additionally recounted a separate incident from 2018 the place she stated she used to be individually attacked through Combs, telling the courtroom that Combs struck her within the head with a picket hanger and choked her whilst Ventura used to be in the toilet.

Morgan claimed that once the assault, Combs despatched her cash and she or he signed a non-disclosure settlement. She additionally testified that all over Ventura’s dating with Combs, Ventura would inform her that she couldn’t go away him as a result of he “controlled everything” in her existence.

The trial is predicted to ultimate seven extra weeks. If convicted, Combs may spend the remainder of his existence in jail.