When federal authorities filed criminal charges against Sean Diddy’s comb last year, they said the case far exceeded what the big man claimed to be illegal.
Their case will reveal how music legends transformed into entrepreneurs can use their power and money to get rid of shocking crimes, often with the help of consultants and assistant cadres.
This week, at his federal trial, stories about people in the inner circle of Combs’s racquets and sex trafficking allegations. They tell the story of his threats to murder, coercion, kidnapping and the assault he posed to his ex-girlfriend.
Prosecutors summoned a series of witnesses to strengthen their argument that the hip-hop man tycoon was more than just a domestic abuser and used his entire bad boy empire to coerce, threaten and abuse his victims, most specifically, his lover, Cassie Ventura.
One witness described himself as a groomer who threw away bottles and narcotics after a wild party. Another witness said he once fought the rap tycoon Knight in an armed comb.
The most dramatic testimony comes from Capririward Clark, a bad boy entertainment company for former global brand combs, who describes the threat and violence of the tycoon for years.
The federal indictment says comb and his colleagues usually seduce female victims with the pretense of romantic relationships. It claims that he then uses force, threats of force, coercion and controlled substances to allow women to have sex with male prostitutes, while he occasionally watches parties where the comb is called “freak discount.” Combs gave women ketamine, ecstasy and GHB (a dating rape drug) to “make them obedient and compliant” in the show.
The COMUTORS judicial person said members of his business engaged in sexual trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation, engaged in prostitution, coercion and temptation to engage in prostitution, botulinum abuse, kidnapping, kidnapping, condonation, condonation, bribery, bribery and obstruction of judicial judges. Prosecutors said Combs was assisted by cadres from company employees, security personnel and assistants, the so-called RICO allegations.
Clark said on the morning of December 22, 2011, she heard an explosion on the door of her apartment in Los Angeles. She opened it and found the comb holding the gun. She testified, “Why didn't you tell me? Who is Scott?”
According to an Associated Press report inside the court, Clark told the Manhattan jury that she knew Coms refers to Kid Cudi, whose name is Scott Mescudi. Clark knows Cudy and Ventura are in a relationship, but she tells the hip-hop tycoon she doesn't know who Scott is.
But Combs knew he was a competitor musician and announced that Clark said: “We're going to kill this n.”
About 15 minutes later, they arrived outside Cudi's home. The comb waving the gun entered the room with the bodyguard, but Kudy was not there.
Clark testified that she called Ventura on the burner phone and said, “Cassy, stop [Cudi]he is about to be killed. Clark testified, Ventura said that Cudy was on his way to the house.
Clark said the comb returned to the car and realized she called Ventura’s burner phone. Shortly afterwards, Cudi pulled Combs' Escalade on the comb outside his home and accelerated. She said Combs' vehicle was unsuccessful.
She testified that they ended up going to a nightclub, and Combs told her to call Ventura and told her: “He has me, he won't let me leave until I come to her.”
Clark testified that the comb said she and Ventura needed to convince Kid Cudi not to tell police that the comb was involved in the break-in at Cudi's home. Clark quoted the comb as saying, “If you don't convince him, I'll kill you all,” CNN said.
Clark said Ventura then went to Coms' house in Los Angeles with her and he started playing the singer. Clark said she and a security guard stood and watched the comb repeatedly kicked Ventura with “100% power” as the singer curls to protect herself, according to the Associated Press. Clark said the comb threatened to hurt her if she tried to intervene. The security guard ordered her to leave. She then calls Ventura's mother to warn her.
During the four days of testimony in the first week of the trial, Ventura described being raped, beaten at least six times, the worst in 2009, recalling his “stepped” on his face after he dated his kids.
Cudy testified several incidents involving the comb, and prosecutors argued that he was so frustrated with the rapper that he arranged for Cardi’s Porsche 911 convertible bomb bomb. The Associated Press reported that Cudy told jurors that his car was found burning in the Hollywood Hills home's driveway in 2012.
Kudy said his dog observer called him to say his Porsche was on fire. He told the juror it appeared that the top of his Porsche had been cut open, “put in the Molotov cocktail.”
Clark admitted she hung up the call to her arson investigator.
She testified that in her last year of work, the comb threatened her 50 times.
Clark said Coms once accused her of stealing his diamond jewelry from a jeweler. She said the comb assistant performed a polygraph test on her. He warned her that if she failed the exam, or he couldn't read clearly: “They will throw you into the East River.” She said she was released after five days of testing and being held.
Combs' defense attorneys tried to differentiate between the violence described in the testimony and the allegations faced by the tycoon, saying “domestic violence is not sexual trafficking.”
Combs pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer said he never kidnapped Clark. Under cross-examination by Combs' attorney Mark Agnifilo, Clark admitted that Combs gave up the gun when he arrived at her apartment, but he never pointed it at her. The defense attorney asked her to admit that she had left work and returned to work again and again.
George Kaplan, the comb’s personal assistant from 2013 to 2015, told jurors that he was a cleanup man who threw away bottles and narcotics and searched the site for Freak Frest’s items. Kaplan, who was granted immunity by prosecutors, testified that he never reported abuse to authorities. He testified that he heard Ventura screaming in the bedroom of the comb jet. “Didn't anyone see this?” he recalled her crying, accompanied by the sound of collapsed glassware.
David James, another personal assistant in 2007 and 2008, testified that the comb let him stock his hotel room with Viagra, condoms and baby oil. He said he used to drive a comb with three pistols on his leg and went to a Los Angeles dinner in search of the rap tycoon Knight.
James talked with Ventura at Miami Pier one night while smoking at Miami Pier. He asked her why she didn't leave. “I can't get out,” James testified, Ventura told him.
“Mr. Coms oversees most of my life,” James recalls. “He controlled my music career, he paid for my apartment and gave me a stipend.”
James told the jury that he believed her: “I just don't think she could leave easily.”
