The rap mogul’s personal assistant David James testified about life with his former high-flying boss at his federal sex trafficking trial
NEED TO KNOW
- Week two of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ racketeering and sex trafficking trial began Monday, May 19 with Danity Kane member Dawn Richard, model Kerry Morgan and Combs’ former assistant David James on the witness stand
- The mogul’s ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, testified for four days last week about how he allegedly physically abused her and forced her to perform sex acts with male escorts
- Combs pleaded not guilty and denies all of the allegations
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former personal assistant told jurors in the rap mogul’s high-profile federal sex trafficking trial how he really viewed his girlfriend of 11 years, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.
Privy to much of the Bad Boy Records founder’s life, James testified that he was driving with Combs and an associate in an Escalade in Manhattan when his former boss began talking about Kim Porter, the mother of four of his children, and Ventura, who he began dating in 2006 when she was 19 and became his protégé.
Asked about Porter, Combs replied, “Kim is doing good, that’s my queen,” James testified.
Calling Ventura “moldable,” James testified that Combs allegedly said, “Got her right where I wanted her — she’s young.”
Porter died of pneumonia at age 47 in 2018.
James also testified that another time in 2007, he, Ventura and her best friend at the time, model Kerry Morgan, were outside smoking cigarettes during a trip with Combs to his mansion on Miami’s exclusive Star Island when she said, “Man, this lifestyle is crazy?”
Having witnessed Combs’ alleged abuse of the R&B singer, James testified that he asked her why, considering how “crazy” her life with Combs was, that she didn’t leave.
“I can’t get out,” she replied, James said. “Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life.”
Not only did Combs control Ventura’s music career, James testified, he was in charge of her finances, too. “He paid for her apartment,” James testified, adding that he also gave her an allowance.
James is the third prosecution witness to testify during the second week of Combs’ trial.
Earlier on Monday, May 19, jurors heard from former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard, who testified about how she saw Combs hit Ventura in the head with a skillet full of eggs — and threaten both women.
Arrested in September 2024, the Bad Boy Entertainment founder is charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Combs is accused of using his influence as a mover and shaker in the music industry to lure women, including Ventura, 38, into his orbit with the promise of romance and fame, only to drug them and force them to have sex, sometimes with other men, which he filmed. He allegedly used videotapes of them participating in orchestrated sex sessions to blackmail the women into staying silent.
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Combs could face life in prison if he is convicted on all counts. Since his 2024 arrest, he has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
