NOTE: The following article contains disturbing details and video footage. Please read at your own discretion.
Celebrity stylist Deonte Nash testified Wednesday at Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ sex trafficking and racketeering trial and said he heard the rapper threaten to release sex tapes of his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, to her parents’ workplaces and the internet.
The testimony from Nash came on the 11th day of the trial and followed the testimony of Capricorn Clark, a former top aide to Combs, as prosecutors try to prove Combs led a racketeering conspiracy spanning two decades that relied on beefy security employees and others to ensure he got what he wanted.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of an indictment accusing him of a pattern of abuse toward his longtime girlfriend Ventura and others.
Day 11
Deonte Nash, a stylist who worked with Combs and Ventura, testified that Combs threatened not to release Ventura’s music when he was upset with her.
Nash told the court that he spent time with the couple and he witnessed Combs tell Ventura he wouldn’t release her music anytime she said something Combs did not like. Ventura was under contract with Combs’ Bad Boy Records in a 10-album deal, but only released one full studio album in 2006.
He said that he heard Combs tell Ventura that if he heard from her “smart-ass mouth” then “her little mixtape won’t come out.”
Ventura previously testified that Nash was her friend and that he was present when Combs allegedly attacked her, resulting in a cut to her eyebrow. She said that Nash jumped on Combs’ back in her defence.
Nash spoke about the incident that took place as they prepared for a music festival. He told the court that Combs was enraged and he grabbed Ventura by the hair and began to “hit and kick her.”
He said that he and Mia, also known as Victim-4, each tried to jump on Combs’ back but were thrown off. Nash alleged that Combs continued to hit Ventura until “her head hit the edge of the bed frame” and began bleeding.
“When he noticed the blood, he just panicked,” Nash said, adding that Combs then told them, “Look what y’all made me do.”
Nash also recalled Combs threatening to release sex tapes of Ventura to her parents’ workplaces and on the internet.
He said that he was at Ventura’s apartment when Combs came over and grabbed her by the hair, ordering Nash to get out. He said that Ventura eventually got in his car and they left, but Combs called them and ordered them to pull over.
Nash said Combs approached the window and told Ventura that he would release sex tapes to the internet, but first, he would release them to her parents’ workplaces to get them fired.
He said that Ventura cried as they drove away from Combs, and he tried to reassure her by telling her that Combs was also on the tapes. That’s when Ventura told him that Combs wouldn’t be on the tapes because he was filming her with other men, Nash said.
Nash said he didn’t report the violence to police because he was afraid that Combs would retaliate against him. He said that he did speak to Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, about the issue.
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Khorram told him that she would speak to Combs, according to Nash, who added that the violence did not stop after that.
Nash also told the court that he has kept in contact with Combs and doesn’t have any ill will against him.
“I don’t hate him,” Nash said. “It’s just not in me.”
Defence lawyer Xavier Donaldson asked Nash about his relationship with “Ms. Ventura.”
“Mrs. Fine,” Nash corrected Donaldson, making reference to the fact that the singer married Alex Fine in 2019.
Earlier Wednesday, it was announced that Ventura and Fine welcomed their third child together. Nash confirmed the news when he was asked about the last time he spoke to Ventura, and he said it was on May 27 when he congratulated her on the birth of her baby.
Donaldson went on to suggest that Combs helped Nash get his start as a celebrity stylist after first being hired as an intern for Bad Boy Entertainment.
“Go ahead,” Nash responded, before confirming that he helped Ventura select her wedding dress.
Judge rejects mistrial request after questions about DNA
Arson investigator Lance Jimenez, who has worked for the Los Angeles Fire Department since 2003, took the stand as an expert in fire cause and origin determination.
He testified that he responded to Scott Mescudi’s (Kid Cudi) home on Jan. 9, 2012, to investigate a fire that was set to the rapper’s Porsche.
Last week, Mescudi testified that his dog watcher called him from his house to let him know that his car was on fire in January 2012. His friend sent him photos of his damaged car in his driveway and those photos were shown to the jury.
Mescudi described the photo as “the damage of the Molotov cocktail in my Porsche.”
“It looks like the top of my Porsche was cut open, and that’s where the Molotov cocktail was put in,” he added.
Jimenez said that Mescudi’s Porsche was parked close to the garage. He observed a cut in the canvas roof of the car and burn patterns throughout the seats, interior roofing, carpet and centre console.
“There was a bottle on the front seat and there was like a cloth, a handkerchief, on the centre console that was burned,” he said, adding that he noticed a disposable lighter outside of the car.
Jimenez said that the Molotov cocktail was fashioned out of a 40-ounce Old English 800 malt liquor bottle and a designer handkerchief. He said the Molotov cocktail in Mescudi’s Porsche didn’t cause as much damage as it could have due to a cloth that fell out of the bottle, causing a smoldering fire.
He said that if the fire bomb had exploded, the car parked a few feet from the house would have likely spread to the home.
Jimenez testified that he believes the fire inside Mescudi’s car was a “targeted” crime.
Judge Arun Subramanian then immediately rejected a defence request for a mistrial after Combs’ lawyers said prosecutors tried to imply to a jury that the music mogul interfered with the investigation into Mescudi’s firebombed Porsche in 2012.
Although such mistrial requests are common during lengthy federal trials involving hundreds of pieces of evidence and dozens of witnesses, this was the first request at Combs’ trial, which is in its third week of testimony in Manhattan. Combs has been active in his defence, regularly writing notes to his lawyers, and they have consulted with him as they questioned witnesses.
Subramanian instructed the jury to disregard testimony about the destruction of fingerprint cards that occurred months after Mescudi’s car was set ablaze. Weeks before that firebombing, Combs became enraged when he learned that Mescudi was dating Ventura. (Combs has denied any knowledge or involvement in the car vandalism or fire.)
The defence’s mistrial request came after Jimenez testified that fingerprints taken from Mescudi’s burned-up Porsche 911 were destroyed in August 2012, about eight months after the fire. Jimenez said someone in the Los Angeles Police Department who was not involved in the investigation ordered the fingerprint cards destroyed. He said that was not normal protocol.
Defence lawyer Alexandra Shapiro asked for the mistrial. She told Subramanian that “prosecutorial misconduct” had occurred and said “there’s no way to un-ring this bell.”
She said prosecutors were on notice during jury selection that some prospective jurors had to be eliminated from consideration for the jury because they believed Combs could buy his way out of the racketeering conspiracy he’s charged with.
“These questions were designed to play right into that,” she said.
Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the prosecution’s conduct “outrageous.”
Combs’ lawyers argued that the prosecution’s questions and Jimenez’s resulting testimony was highly prejudicial because prosecutors were suggesting that Combs had something to do with the destruction of the records.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said “a mistrial is absolutely unwarranted here.” She said the subject of fingerprints was raised to counter defense suggestions through questions posed to other witnesses that the car firebombing was poorly investigated and that the area was not canvassed for fingerprints.
LAPD officer describes scene at Kid Cudi’s home
Los Angeles police officer Chris Ignacio, who has been with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for about 16 years, said he responded to Mescudi’s home in December 2011, the morning Combs allegedly broke in.
He said that he was on patrol in the Hollywood division at that time. He and his partner responded to a radio call for a possible burglary at 8:20 a.m.
Ignacio told the court that he noticed a black Escalade parked outside Mescudi’s home when he arrived, but the SUV took off up the hill as soon as the police vehicle pulled up behind it.
He testified that he took note of the licence plate but couldn’t see any passengers through the tinted glass. He added that the car was registered to one of Combs’ companies.
When Ignacio entered the home, he noticed that Christmas gifts were on a table, with some unwrapped.
Combs’ lawyer Brian Steele cross-examined Ignacio and got him to testify that the incident at Mescudi’s home was not reported as a burglary.
When asked whether there was any evidence or reports of stolen items, Ignacio said no. He also said that there were no reports made to him at the time that there was a threat to murder anyone.
What Combs is on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing women with help from a network of associates who helped silence victims through blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that includes descriptions of freak-offs, which are defined in the court doc as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Numerous witnesses have come forward to accuse Combs of terrorizing people into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, according to prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled someone from a balcony.
Although dozens of men and women have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will highlight the claims of four women.
Combs is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has denied all the charges against him and has rejected a plea deal, choosing to go to trial instead.
If found guilty in the New York court, he could face life in prison.
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Day 10 testimony
Day 9 testimony
Day 8 testimony
Day 7 testimony
Day 6 testimony
Day 5 testimony
Day 4 testimony
Day 3 testimony
Day 2 testimony
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Global News will be covering the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please check back for updates.
— With files from The Associated Press
