{"id":5864,"date":"2025-05-17T05:48:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T05:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/cassie-cross-exam-ends-dawn-richard-testifies\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T05:48:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T05:48:22","slug":"cassie-cross-exam-ends-dawn-richard-testifies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/cassie-cross-exam-ends-dawn-richard-testifies\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassie Cross-Exam Ends, Dawn Richard Testifies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tSean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019 ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, faced probing questions about her financial motivations on her last day of testimony in the rapper\u2019s sex-trafficking trial on Friday (May 16), while Danity Kane alum Dawn Richard also took the stand and said she witnessed Combs abusing Ventura.<\/p>\n

\n\tRichard\u2019s testimony closed out the first week of Combs\u2019 much-awaited criminal trial, in which the music mogul is accused of coercing Ventura and other women into participating in drug-fueled sex shows known as \u201cfreak-offs.\u201d R&B singer Ventura, the prosecution\u2019s star witness, spent four days on the stand detailing how Combs allegedly controlled and physically abused her during their 11-year relationship.<\/p>\n

\n\tVentura faced her second and final day of cross-examination on Friday from Combs\u2019 attorney Anna Estevao,<\/strong> according to the Associated Press<\/a><\/em> and the New York Times<\/a>. <\/em>Defense lawyers had previously suggested they may want to keep questioning Ventura next week, but backed off the request after prosecutors flagged concerns that the very pregnant Ventura might go into labor over the weekend. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tContinuing a strategy from the first day of cross-examination, Estevao confronted Ventura with more seemingly loving text messages between her and Combs. Some appeared to support the defense\u2019s theory that the pair\u2019s sex life, while unconventional, was consensual.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t want to freak off for the last time,\u201d Ventura wrote in one such text to Combs. \u201cI want it to be the first time for the rest of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEstevao also tried to imply that Ventura is motivated by money to lie about her experience with Combs, getting the witness to reveal for the first time that she\u2019s getting a $10 million settlement from the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where Combs was seen beating Ventura in infamous video footage from 2016.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe newly-revealed $10 million settlement is on top of a $20 million civil payout Ventura got from Combs himself after she sued the rapper in 2023. Estevao noted Friday that Ventura canceled an upcoming concert tour soon after inking that settlement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs soon as you saw that you were going to get the $20 million, you canceled the tour because you didn\u2019t need it anymore, right?\u201d Estevao asked Ventura.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat wasn\u2019t the reason why,\u201d Ventura replied.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen prosecutors got another chance to question Ventura on re-direct examination later on Friday, she explained that she would give the money back if she could reverse Combs\u2019 abuse. \u201cIf I never had to have freak-offs I would have agency and autonomy,\u201d Ventura said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter Ventura completed her testimony, her attorney, Douglas Wigdor<\/strong>, shared a statement from the singer: \u201cThis week has been extremely challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing for me,\u201d Ventura wrote. \u201cI hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors, and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from abuse and fear.\u00a0 For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember, and the more I can remember, the more I will never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother figure in the music world took the witness stand after Ventura departed Friday: Dawn Richard, whose girl group Danity Kane was launched by Combs\u2019 MTV reality show Making the Band.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tRichard has a pending civil lawsuit against Combs, in which she alleges he harassed and assaulted her during \u201cyears of inhumane working conditions.\u201d But those claims aren\u2019t part of the criminal trial; instead, Richard served as a corroborating witness for Ventura.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring her brief testimony, Richard told the jury she witnessed Combs physically assault Ventura on multiple occasions. In one 2009 encounter, Richard said she saw Combs punch, kick, drag and even try to hit Ventura on the head with a cooking skillet.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe trial is expected to pick up Monday (May 19) with testimony from Ventura\u2019s longtime friend Kerry Morgan, followed by other alleged victims of Combs\u2019 freak-offs. The jury could hear evidence for up to two months total.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs\u2019 ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, faced probing questions about her financial motivations on her last day of testimony in the rapper\u2019s sex-trafficking trial on Friday (May 16), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3780,5957,3624,2133,2350,2901],"class_list":["post-5864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-cassie","tag-crossexam","tag-dawn","tag-ends","tag-richard","tag-testifies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}