Sean 'Diddy' Combs demanded $20,000 (£14,962) from the mother of Cassandra 'Cassie' Ventura and threatened to release explicit sex tapes of his long-term girlfriend when he became angry over her new relationship, her mother has told the hip-hop mogul's sex trafficking trial.
Regina Ventura said she felt “physical pain” when she received an email from Cassie in late 2011 saying Combs planned to release two explicit videos of her and send someone to harm her and her boyfriend, rapper Kid Cudi.
“I didn't understand it all. The sex tape was confusing to me,” Ms. Ventura said in Manhattan federal court.
Ms. Ventura, of Connecticut, said she then received a demand from Combs to pay her $20,000 “as compensation for money he spent on her because he was unhappy with her relationship with Kid Cudi.”
“He was angry that he spent money on her and she left him for someone else,” she said.
Ms. Ventura said she used a home equity loan to make the payment because “I was afraid for my daughter’s safety.” A few days later, she said, the money was returned, and Cassie soon began dating Combs again.
Ms. Ventura was on the witness stand for less than half an hour, in part because defense attorney Mark Agnifilo declined to cross-examine her.
During testimony, jurors were shown photographs of bruises on Cassie's body, which Ms Ventura said appeared when her daughter returned home for Christmas in 2011.
Before the jury arrived on Tuesday, Mr. Agnifilo tried to persuade Judge Arun Subramanian to discount the evidence, arguing it was “uniquely prejudicial” because it highlighted the vast difference in financial status between the Ventura and Combs families.
However, the judge allowed it, saying the threats to release the intimate recordings and harm Cassie amounted to a case of “potential extortion.”
The testimony came in the second week of a trial that is expected to last up to two months. If convicted of the charges, which include racketeering, the Bad Boy Records founder could face a minimum of 15 years in prison.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he used threats and his powerful position in the hip-hop world to abuse women and others and forced Cassie to engage in drugged sexual acts with other men, leaving her too exhausted to continue her singing career, she said.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
