The mother of Casandra Ventura, the ex-girlfriend at the center of the racketeering and sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday she took out a home-equity loan to pay off the rapper after he threatened to release sex tapes of her daughter.
Regina Ventura took the witness stand in the prosecution’s case against Combs in Manhattan federal court to detail the troubled relationship between the Bad Boy Records founder and her daughter, a pop singer who performed under the stage name “Cassie.”
Prosecutors charge that Combs used his vast fashion, liquor and music empire to exploit multiple girlfriends, orchestrating elaborate sex parties with male escorts, called freak-offs, and then controlling the women through extortion or violence.
Combs, who faces up to life behind bars if convicted, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers said during opening arguments that the international business owner may be a domestic abuser, but he’s not guilty of federal crimes.
Last week, Casandra Ventura took the stand for three days to talk about feeling like a “sex worker” for Combs and how frequently he hit her out of frustration or jealousy.
Regina Ventura testified Tuesday that over the 2011 Christmas holiday, she received an email from her daughter with the subject line “Threats.”
“The threats that have been made toward me by Sean “Puffy” Combs are that he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me,” the daughter wrote, she told jurors. “One on Christmas Day, maybe before or right after and another sometime soon after that. He has also said that he will be having someone hurt me and Scott Muscudi physically (he made a point that it wouldn’t be by his hands, he actually said he’d be out of the country when it happened.)”
Scott Muscudi is the given name of rapper “Kid Cudi” who was romantically linked with Cassie. He’s expected to take the stand this week.
The mother said that she was shocked by the message. She told the court that she had asked her daughter about problems in her relationship with Combs before, but she never expected this.
“I was physically sick. I didn’t understand a lot of it,” Regina Ventura said. “The sex tapes threw me. I knew that he was going to hurt my daughter.”
Previously, she had seen a 2009 blind item on an online gossip website that she thought referred to a fight between her daughter and Combs, but Casandra Ventura had denied it.
During the 2011 winter holiday in the family’s Connecticut home, the mother had her daughter pose for photos of the bruises that she said Combs’ had caused to her body.
The mom testified that at the same time Combs had demanded $20,000 to recoup money he spent on her daughter after he found out about her dalliance with Kid Cudi.
“He was angry that he spent money on her and she had been with another person,” she told the court.
Regina Ventura said that she and her husband took out a home-equity loan on their New London, Connecticut home to raise the money and then wired it to the Bad Boy bank account that a company accountant had provided.
“He demanded it,” the mother told the court. “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.”
However, after they wired the money to the record company, it was sent back. She did not say why the $20,000 was returned.
The mother said that later in 2016, she called the Los Angeles police on Combs after he took her daughter’s phone during a fight.
Regina Ventura recalled for the jury how she confronted the music producer.
“We had a bitter argument outside her apartment building,” she said, adding that Combs’ bodyguard had to separate them.
“We were arguing about the phone. I wanted the phone back, and he was holding it,” she said. “I was yelling and screaming and trying to hit him.”
She said Combs eventually handed back the phone, then left, taking her daughter’s Jaguar.
The defense attorneys had no questions for Regina Ventura.
Earlier in the day, Combs’ former executive assistant, David James, testified about nearly sparking a flare-up in the famed East Coast/West Coast rap music feud that allegedly resulted in the separate shooting deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.
He described being sent out to get cheeseburgers at a late-night diner and running into Combs’ West Coast rival Suge Knight.
“What are you doing in my city?” Knight asked Combs’ bodyguard who had driven James to a diner.
The assistant and the bodyguard sped back to the music mogul’s Hollywood Hills home to alert him his enemy was near. They got three handguns out of the safe and drove back to the diner, James said. Nothing became of it because by the time they returned, Knight had left.
The mother of Casandra Ventura, the ex-girlfriend at the center of the racketeering and sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday she took out a home-equity loan to pay off the rapper after he threatened to release sex tapes of her daughter.
Regina Ventura took the witness stand in the prosecution’s case against Combs in Manhattan federal court to detail the troubled relationship between the Bad Boy Records founder and her daughter, a pop singer who performed under the stage name “Cassie.”
Prosecutors charge that Combs used his vast fashion, liquor and music empire to exploit multiple girlfriends, orchestrating elaborate sex parties with male escorts, called freak-offs, and then controlling the women through extortion or violence.
Combs, who faces up to life behind bars if convicted, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers said during opening arguments that the international business owner may be a domestic abuser, but he’s not guilty of federal crimes.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The mother of Casandra Ventura, the ex-girlfriend at the center of the racketeering and sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, told a Manhattan federal jury Tuesday that she took out a home-equity loan to pay off the rapper after he threatened to release sex tapes of her daughter.
- Regina Ventura took the witness stand in the prosecution’s case against Combs in Manhattan federal court to detail the troubled relationship between the Bad Boy Records founder and her daughter, a pop singer who performed under the stage name “Cassie.”
- The mother testified Tuesday that over the 2011 Christmas holiday, she received an email from her daughter with the subject line “Threats.”
Last week, Casandra Ventura took the stand for three days to talk about feeling like a “sex worker” for Combs and how frequently he hit her out of frustration or jealousy.
Regina Ventura testified Tuesday that over the 2011 Christmas holiday, she received an email from her daughter with the subject line “Threats.”
“The threats that have been made toward me by Sean “Puffy” Combs are that he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me,” the daughter wrote, she told jurors. “One on Christmas Day, maybe before or right after and another sometime soon after that. He has also said that he will be having someone hurt me and Scott Muscudi physically (he made a point that it wouldn’t be by his hands, he actually said he’d be out of the country when it happened.)”
Scott Muscudi is the given name of rapper “Kid Cudi” who was romantically linked with Cassie. He’s expected to take the stand this week.
The mother said that she was shocked by the message. She told the court that she had asked her daughter about problems in her relationship with Combs before, but she never expected this.
“I was physically sick. I didn’t understand a lot of it,” Regina Ventura said. “The sex tapes threw me. I knew that he was going to hurt my daughter.”
Previously, she had seen a 2009 blind item on an online gossip website that she thought referred to a fight between her daughter and Combs, but Casandra Ventura had denied it.
During the 2011 winter holiday in the family’s Connecticut home, the mother had her daughter pose for photos of the bruises that she said Combs’ had caused to her body.
The mom testified that at the same time Combs had demanded $20,000 to recoup money he spent on her daughter after he found out about her dalliance with Kid Cudi.
“He was angry that he spent money on her and she had been with another person,” she told the court.
Regina Ventura said that she and her husband took out a home-equity loan on their New London, Connecticut home to raise the money and then wired it to the Bad Boy bank account that a company accountant had provided.
“He demanded it,” the mother told the court. “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.”
However, after they wired the money to the record company, it was sent back. She did not say why the $20,000 was returned.
The mother said that later in 2016, she called the Los Angeles police on Combs after he took her daughter’s phone during a fight.
Regina Ventura recalled for the jury how she confronted the music producer.
“We had a bitter argument outside her apartment building,” she said, adding that Combs’ bodyguard had to separate them.
“We were arguing about the phone. I wanted the phone back, and he was holding it,” she said. “I was yelling and screaming and trying to hit him.”
She said Combs eventually handed back the phone, then left, taking her daughter’s Jaguar.
The defense attorneys had no questions for Regina Ventura.
Earlier in the day, Combs’ former executive assistant, David James, testified about nearly sparking a flare-up in the famed East Coast/West Coast rap music feud that allegedly resulted in the separate shooting deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.
He described being sent out to get cheeseburgers at a late-night diner and running into Combs’ West Coast rival Suge Knight.
“What are you doing in my city?” Knight asked Combs’ bodyguard who had driven James to a diner.
The assistant and the bodyguard sped back to the music mogul’s Hollywood Hills home to alert him his enemy was near. They got three handguns out of the safe and drove back to the diner, James said. Nothing became of it because by the time they returned, Knight had left.
