NEW YORK (TNND) — Rapper and actor Kid Cudi is expected to take the witness stand on Wednesday or Thursday in the sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, and Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, had a brief relationship 14 years ago when the couple briefly broke up in 2011. Cassie testified last week that Combs left a large bruise on her back where he kicked her as she left his Los Angeles home for the last time that year.
Regina Ventura, Cassie’s mother, testified on Tuesday that photos of the bruises seen on her daughter were taken when her daughter came home for Christmas in 2011. Regina said she took the photos to keep as evidence, saying, “She was bruised, and I wanted to make sure that we memorialized it,” CNN reported.
Prosecutors have contended in court filings that Combs was so upset about the relationship that he arranged to have Cudi’s convertible firebombed.
Cassie told the jury last week that Combs arranged for her to meet Cudi several times in 2011 to work on music, and the relationship with Cudi began later that year. She added that she got a burner phone so the two could communicate without Combs learning about it.
Cassie said she and Combs had broken up at the time, although they still engaged in so-called “freak-offs” that involved sexual performances with male escorts that Combs watched and sometimes participated in. It was during one of those “freak-offs” that Combs picked up her regular phone and noticed communications that revealed Cassie was seeing Cudi, Cassie said.
Her mother testified that she received an email in December 2011 from Cassie saying that Combs was so angry about the relationship with Cudi that he planned to release sexually explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt them.
Regina said she then received a demand from Combs for $20,000 “to recoup money he had spent on [Ventura] because he was unhappy she was in a relationship with Kid Cudi,” according to CNN.
“He was angry that he had spent money on her and she went with another person,” she told the jury.
Regina said she used a home equity loan to make the payment because “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.” Days later, she said, the money was wired back to her, and before long, her daughter was dating Combs again. CNN reports that the government had bank records that showed both transactions.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Mescudi will be the third witness after Special Agent Gerard Gannon, of Homeland Security, finishes testifying about what investigators found when they raided Combs’ Miami Beach home in March 2024. last year.
Gannon testified that agents executing a search warrant for the property used an armored vehicle to bust through Combs’ security gate and had teams on boats nearby, according to CNN. In addition to weapons, he said they found platform high heels and items that prosecutors say Combs frequently used during his freak-off sex marathons, including lingerie, sex toys, baby oil, lubricant and condoms.
Jurors also saw parts of two AR-15 rifles that federal agents found in Combs’ mansion on Star Island, a celebrity enclave off Miami. Agents found two loaded magazines as well as the serial numbers scratched off the rifles that were found.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September 2024, about roughly six months after federal authorities raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami. He has been jailed in Brooklyn since his arrest.
He has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment and faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on all charges. He is facing charges of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, transportation for purposes of prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy.
If you or someone you know is struggling with abuse, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help.
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Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.
