A FIlipina Survivor Took the Stand Against One of Hip Hop’s Most Powerful Men — 11 Explosive Revelations From Cassie Ventura’s Testimony in Diddy Trial
May 20, 2025
Content Warning:
This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse, violence, and coercive behavior that may be disturbing or triggering to some readers. Please proceed with care. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, resources are listed at the end of this story.
Long before she became a headline in one of the biggest celebrity trials in recent history, Cassie Ventura (Casandra Elizabeth Ventura), a Black and Filipina American singer, dancer, and model, was a rising star under the wing of one of the music industry's most powerful men. But what we would come to find out decades later that behind the glitz, the red carpets, and the Bad Boy Records image was a woman living in tortured silence, enduring a nightmare few knew about.
Now, in a Manhattan courtroom, her voice in every harrowing detail is finally being heard. Her testimony against Sean “Diddy” Combs has peeled back the curtain on years of alleged abuse, control, and cover-ups. For too long, women of color have been forced to stay silent while men in power are protected and uplifted. Cassie’s decision to speak out, knowing the risks and knowing the power dynamics at play, is not just brave. It is catalytic. Her story appears to be the spark that set into motion the public unraveling of Diddy’s once untouchable image.
What Cassie revealed was painful and deeply personal. What she risked was everything. And what she has started is bigger than one trial or one man.
Here are the 11 most disturbing revelations from her testimony that has every one picking their jars off the floor.
1. Diddy began a relationship with Cassie when she was barely 19 and under his label, initiated control early in her career.
Cassie testified that the relationship began soon after she was signed to Bad Boy Records at just 19, while Diddy was 37. One of his earliest power plays came on her 21st birthday, when he surprised her by flying in Britney Spears to her Las Vegas party, then kissed her for the first time in front of a crowd. It seemed romantic to outsiders, but it marked the beginning of a long cycle of manipulation, control, and abuse.
2. Cassie was coerced into weekly “freak-offs” with male escorts, where she was drugged, filmed, and urinated on.
According to Cassie’s testimony, Diddy regularly orchestrated multi-day sex sessions involving male escorts, drugs, and cameras. Her attorney described it plainly: “Freak-offs that were happening as often as once a week for days at a time. Meaning that for almost half of every week, Cassie was in a dark hotel room, high and awake for days, performing sex acts that she did not want to do on male escorts.” Cassie also testified that Diddy and the escorts would urinate on her during these sessions, which were filmed against her will. “It was disgusting. It was too much. It was overwhelming. I choked,” she told the court.
3. To escape the trauma, Cassie developed an opiate addiction while using ecstasy during the freak-offs.
On the second day of her testimony, Cassie opened up about the emotional toll of the abuse and how it led to substance dependency. She said she used opiates to come down from ecstasy, a drug Diddy often gave her before freak-offs. “Opiates made me feel numb, which is why I relied on them so heavily,” she said. “I didn’t want to feel what was actually going on in my mind, in my life, in real time. It was just an escape for me.”
4. Diddy recorded sex acts without consent and used the tapes to blackmail and control Cassie.
Cassie revealed that many of the freak-offs were secretly recorded by Diddy and that he used those tapes as a form of control. She lived in constant fear that if she ever left him or spoke out, the footage would be released and used to shame and ruin her.
5. A male escort testified that he witnessed Diddy drag Cassie by her hair and assault her in her own apartment.
Male stripper Daniel Phillip confirmed in court that Diddy paid him to have sex with Cassie while he watched, beginning in 2012. He also testified that during one encounter, he saw a liquor bottle fly across the room and hit the wall. Diddy then grabbed Cassie by the hair and dragged her into a bedroom. “It sounded like him slapping her,” Phillip said. His testimony was one of the strongest confirmations of Cassie’s accounts of physical violence.
6. Cassie alleged that Diddy raped her in 2018 after inviting her to dinner under the guise of closure.
After ending their relationship in 2018, Cassie agreed to meet Diddy for dinner, hoping for a peaceful goodbye. That night, she alleges, he raped her in her apartment. She testified that she froze in fear and was unable to fight back, a moment she said was the culmination of years of psychological and emotional abuse that she had endured with him.
7. Diddy allegedly threatened to blow up Kid Cudi’s car after learning Cassie briefly dated him, and the car later exploded.
During a breakup in 2011, Cassie began seeing rapper Kid Cudi. When Diddy found out, she testified that he said, “I’m going to blow up his car. I want it to happen while he and his friends are inside it.” In 2012, Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway. A representative for Cudi later confirmed, “This is all true.” Cassie also testified that Diddy reacted violently when she had a brief romance with actor Michael B. Jordan.
8. In 2023, Cassie attempted suicide due to PTSD from years of abuse, but her husband stopped her.
Cassie shared that in 2023, while experiencing a flashback, she attempted to walk into traffic. Her husband, Alex Fine, physically stopped her. “I didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she said. The abuse, she explained, had left her with lasting trauma that continued to resurface even after she escaped the relationship.
9. Cassie named several of Diddy’s associates who allegedly witnessed abuse but remained silent.
Cassie testified that people in Diddy’s inner circle, including assistants, bodyguards, and longtime music manager James Cruz, witnessed abuse and even helped coordinate freak-offs, yet said nothing. Their silence, she said, helped protect Diddy and enabled the cycle of abuse to continue for years.
10. Cassie’s 2023 civil lawsuit against Diddy was settled for $20 million, triggering a federal investigation.
In November 2023, Cassie filed a civil lawsuit accusing Diddy of rape, abuse, and trafficking. The lawsuit was settled in just 24 hours for a reported $20 million. While the payout was massive, it also marked a turning point. Federal investigators began their own inquiry, leading to the current criminal case where Cassie’s testimony is playing a central role.
11. Cassie received a $10 million settlement from InterContinental LA for its role in the 2016 assault cover-up.
In recent testimony, Cassie revealed she is receiving a $10 million settlement from the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. The payout stems from the now-infamous 2016 hallway footage, where Diddy was seen attacking her. She testified that Diddy paid $100,000 to retrieve and suppress the footage from hotel security. In court, she said, “I would give it all back just to never have had to do the freak-offs. Just to have myself again.”
Cassie Ventura did not just share her story. She put everything on the line to hold someone powerful accountable. In an industry where women of color are often told to stay quiet, her courage broke that cycle and opened the door for others to follow.
As a Filipina, a survivor, and a woman who was repeatedly silenced, Cassie showed us what it means to speak even when your voice shakes. Her bravery is not just personal. It is a public act of resistance. One that could empower so many silenced voices out there that are still yet to be able to express their truths.
At Kollective Hustle, we believe survivors. We stand with Cassie. And we will keep showing up for every woman who decides to speak her truth, even when the world makes it the hardest choice she could ever make.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, help is available:
📞 National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
📞 National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673