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The 2nd week of Sean “Diddy” Combs’s racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking trial started on Monday morning with the singer Dawn Richard returning to the witness stand.
Combs, 55, is going through fees of sex-trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He used to be arrested in September 2024 and has pleaded now not in charge to all the fees.
Richard, a former member of the pop staff Danity Kane, started attesting on Friday afternoon and persevered into Monday morning.
She advised the courtroom she witnessed Combs bodily abuse his former female friend, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.
Richard recounted a 2009 incident at Combs’s Los Angeles house the place she alleged she noticed Combs try to hit Ventura with a skillet, earlier than kicking and beating her.
Richard testified that tomorrow, Combs threatened her and any other witness to stay silent in regards to the incident, caution them that the place he comes from “people go missing if they say things like that, if they talk”.
On Monday, Richard testified that she “frequently” noticed Combs be violent towards Ventura and that she noticed her with visual accidents.
“Frequently, he would punch her, choke her, slap her in the mouth,” Richard mentioned on Monday. “I saw him kick her, punch her in the stomach.
“It could be because Cassie was speaking up for herself, it could be random.”
Richard additionally claimed that individuals of Combs’s team of workers, together with his bodyguards, additionally witnessed him being violent with Ventura, however advised the courtroom that “they wouldn’t react” or “do anything”.
Defense legal professionals for Combs attempted to problem Richard’s credibility right through cross-examination, noting inconsistencies in her account of the 2009 incident.
Richard completed attesting round 11.45am ET on Monday and advised the courtroom that she has a pending civil lawsuit in opposition to Combs.
After Richard concluded her testimony, Kerry Morgan, a former longtime pal of Ventura, used to be known as to the stand.
The federal trial started remaining week in Manhattan. Prosecutors allege that Combs ran a prison undertaking that facilitated his drug-fueled intercourse classes, known as “freak-offs”, involving paid intercourse employees.
The govt alleges that Combs used threats, violence and medicine to coerce ladies into taking part within the “freak-offs”, together with Ventura.
During opening statements, Combs’s legal professionals argued that the sexual encounters have been consensual and a part of a “swingers lifestyle”. They said Combs’s historical past of home violence and drug use, however argued that this doesn’t imply he’s in charge of sex-trafficking or racketeering, and denied any prison undertaking.
Last week, maximum of the focal point used to be at the testimony from Ventura, Combs’s former female friend and the prosecution’s superstar witness.
Ventura spent 4 days at the witness stand, alleging years of bodily and emotional abuse from Combs right through their dating. She testified that Combs coerced and blackmailed her into taking part within the drug-fueled intercourse events with male intercourse employees he known as “freak-offs”, and in addition alleged that Combs raped her in 2018 after their breakup.
Over the week, prosecutors portrayed Combs as controlling and abusive, and as anyone who exerted energy over just about each and every side of Ventura’s lifestyles and choices.
Attorneys for Combs attempted to undermine Ventura’s credibility and sought to depict her as a prepared and consenting – and from time to time enthusiastic – player within the “freak-offs”.
The trial is anticipated to remaining round seven extra weeks. If convicted, he may spend the remainder of his lifestyles in jail.
