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A witness testified on Monday that he saw Sean “Diddy” Combs physically attack his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura but never reported it to the police.
Daniel Phillip, the prosecution’s second witness, mentioned that he was a male stripper hired to have sexual relations with Ventura at a New York hotel while Combs observed and masturbated. This alleged arrangement continued for about one or two years — and Phillip testified that Ventura seemed to “be on drugs” during at least one encounter, as reported by The New York Times.
Phillip claimed he witnessed Combs throw a liquor bottle at Ventura when she didn’t approach him quickly enough. Phillip then took her to another room and possibly struck her. He recounted another occasion when he overheard Combs hitting Ventura as she apologized saying, “I’m sorry.” Phillip noted that after Combs left the hotel, Ventura ran to him and sat on his lap.
“I asked her, ‘Why is she doing this, why is she staying with this guy?’ ” Phillip testified, according to The New York Times. “I tried to explain to her that she was in real danger if she stayed with him.”
Upon being asked why he never called the cops, Phillips stated that he feared what would happen if he reported Combs — who he believed had “unlimited power.”
“And chances are even if I did go to the police, that I might still end up losing my life,” he also said.
The New York Times reported that Ventura, a key witness in the case against Combs, will not take the stand today as Phillip’s cross-examination will take up the rest of the day.
Combs was arrested on September 16, 2024, outside a Manhattan hotel on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has been denied bail three times, as Judge Andrew L. Carter determined there was a “serious risk” of witness tampering in this case.
Combs’ legal team sought home detention with GPS monitoring. In exchange, they offered to post $50 million bail and to use Combs’ home as collateral.
“The government has proven the defendant is a danger. The bail package is insufficient even on risk of flight,” Carter said while denying Combs’ bail.
Federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills, California, and Miami in March 2024. Reports indicated that the raids were connected to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation that resulted in his arrest months later.
The reported raids also occurred four months after Ventura accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
However, in May, the video surfaced showing Combs assaulting Ventura. After the video was released, Combs put out a video expressing remorse for his behavior.
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
In that case, Gardner claimed Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall drugged and raped her and a friend following an Uptown Records event in 1990. Gardner said she was 16 at the time of the incident. She also accused Combs of choking her a day after the assault
Days after footage of the Ventura assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a New York Fashion Institute of Technology student who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs of sexually assaulting her on four occasions between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Lampros claimed Combs promised to mentor her and connect her with executives in the fashion industry. Instead, Combs allegedly forced her to drink before raping her in a hotel room. Lampros recalled another instance in which Combs forced her to perform oral sex in a parking garage while a parking attendant watched.
Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in at least 30 other lawsuits — including one, filed in October, which alleges he and Jay-Z raped a 13-year-old girl in New York in 2000. The accuser in that case had her lawsuit dismissed in February.
Combs turned down a plea deal days before jury selection began last week. His trial is expected to last two months.
[Feature Photo: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP]