The Trial: Prosecutors Go for the Big Fish
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What key moments occurred in court this week?
We heard from two special agents from Homeland Security Investigations, two former assistants who worked for Sean Combs, a makeup artist, and perhaps the most anticipated witness this week, Scott Muscadie, better known as rapper Kid Cudi, who once dated Cassie Ventura.
Who took the stand during the trial?
In her civil lawsuit, Cassie alleged that Combs threatened to blow up Kid Cudi's car after finding out that she and Kid Cudi were dating. Well, Thursday, we finally heard Kid Cudi's version of that story. Kid Cudi walked towards the witness stand, wearing a black leather jacket opened with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and crisp white sneakers.
What were Kid Cudi's allegations against Sean Combs?
A cross earring dangling from his right ear. He testified about a break-in at his home in December of 2011. While he was with Cassie, he says he got a call from an assistant to Sean Combs, who allegedly told him Combs was in his house. Kid Cudi told the jury he returned home to find his gifts that he had bought for his family had been opened and its dog locked in the bathroom. After the New Year, he testified he got a call that his Porsche was on fire in his driveway. Jurors saw photos of the blackened interior and the charred, melted driver's seat. Kid Cudi said a Molotov cocktail was dropped into the car through a hole cut in the roof. Arson is one of the underlying acts included in the racketeering conspiracy count Combs is facing.
And Cassie Ventura previously testified that Combs had threatened to have Kid Cudi's car blown up. Kid Cudi testified that he reached out to Sean Combs to kind of squash the beef. He met Combs at the Soho House of Los Angeles, where he walked into a room with just Combs standing there, staring out of a window with his arms behind his back, looking like, as Kid Cudi testified, some kind of a Marvel supervillain. That line got a laugh from the jury. Although Cassie testified she started seeing Kid Cudi when she and Combs' relationship was in a rough patch, Kid Cudi testified that Cassie told him they had been split up. On cross-examination, the defense said both Kid Cudi and Combs were played by the same woman. The person who played you, the person who played Sean, was Miss Ventura, true? One of the lawyers asked. Yeah, Kid Cudi replied.
And this week, the jury saw other photos too, including pictures of baby oil, lingerie, platform heels, and sex toys. You'll recall Diddy's Los Angeles and Miami homes were raided by federal agents back in 2024. Special Agent Gerard Gannon testified that the feds recovered the parts of two AR-15 assault-style rifles with defaced serial numbers only feet from where Combs allegedly stored supplies for freak-offs. Prosecutors have argued that the threat of violence allowed Combs to coerce his alleged victims to participate in freak-offs. Jurors also saw baggies of colorful pills and other drugs allegedly found in Combs' home, including marijuana, powders, and other drugs that prosecutors have alleged were used to make participants compliant during freak-offs and would allow them to perform well past the point of exhaustion.
Thursday afternoon, a makeup artist who worked with Diddy and Cassie testified that she saw Cassie with a swollen eye and busted lip and knots on her head after the Grammys in 2010. Altogether, this week, it felt like the prosecution was really beginning to build support for its racketeering conspiracy charges. This is Bad Rap, the case against Diddy. I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor and practicing attorney. This episode, prosecutors go for the big fish. As we wrap up the second week of USA v. Sean Combs, I wanted to sit down with someone who could take listeners inside what goes into prosecuting a high-profile case like this one. a federal criminal case that combines RICO charges along with sex trafficking.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What key moments occurred in court this week?
0:38–0:56
2
Who took the stand during the trial?
0:56–1:21
3
What were Kid Cudi's allegations against Sean Combs?
1:21–18:56
4
How does the prosecution plan to prove sex trafficking?
18:56–24:54
5
What is the significance of RICO charges in this case?
24:54–29:54
6
How is the defense strategy shaping up?
29:54–36:42