A former employee has testified that Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs threatened to 'go kill' Kid Cudi after finding out about the rapper’s relationship with Cassie Ventura. Capricorn Clark, who was an assistant to both Diddy and Cassie, also said she had her life repeatedly threatened by Sean Combs. In testimony last week, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi alleged that Clark called him to say that her boss had broken into Mescudi’s home. Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty speaks to the BBC’s New York correspondent, Nada Tawfik. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is on trial in New York, facing federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. He denies all the charges. The Diddy on Trial podcast is here to investigate the rumours, confront the theories, and give you the answers that you need. We also want YOU to be part of the conversation. Have you any questions about the case? Heard a theory that doesn’t sit right with you? Get in touch now via WhatsApp: 0330 123 555 1. Details of organisations in the UK offering information and support with some of the issues raised are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline Presenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Mark Burrows Senior Digital Producer: Matthew Pintus Executive Producer: Alys Harte Production Coordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Clare Fordham Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Assistant Commissioner: Will Drysdale Commissioning Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Assistant Producer: Rechmial Miller
Chapter 1: What is the current status of Diddy's trial?
BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts Hello, you're listening to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matanda-Doughty. Just a warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence. Now, it's 2pm and I'm back outside the Southern District Court in Lower Manhattan, New York. It's week three in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs.
He's on trial for charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. These are charges he's always denied. Now, you might be thinking, start of the week, it's Tuesday. Well, we've had an American public holiday here, Memorial Day, over the weekend. So court has been paused since the end of Thursday.
But there are no signs that interest in the case is waning. Just like in the first two weeks, there are loads of people here trying to get a glimpse of the action, including some who have civil lawsuits against Diddy, who've been making their presence known outside court.
Now, ahead of today's proceedings, the jury had heard testimony from a total of 16 witnesses, including from former partners, former assistants, FBI agents and former artists under Diddy's record label. Today, one more person has been added to that list. I'm here with the BBC's New York correspondent, Neda Tawfiq. Neda, today we heard from Capricorn Club, a former employee of Bad Boy.
Chapter 2: Who is Capricorn Clark and what is her testimony?
Yeah, well, she is somebody who worked with Diddy on... on and off between 2004 and 2018 so in 2004 she started off as his personal assistant and then kind of through the years ultimately became his global brand director but she started off talking about how even on her first day on the job diddy threatened her life she had come to him after working at def jam and death row records
And basically, you know, Combs and Uncle Pauly, a security officer who worked with him, who we've heard a lot about as well, took her to Central Park at night after 9 p.m. And apparently he had a very cool demeanor, did he? And apparently he threatened to kill her over her past work with his rival, Suge Knight. And he was furious that she didn't disclose it.
And she said she continued working with him despite that very scary incident because she felt she could have been more transparent with him. But then just a few months later, she describes another incident in 2004. She said she was handed some diamond jewelry from Diddy before he took off to a flight to Miami. And soon afterward, the jewelry went missing.
And eventually, after a security guard searched her home, she was taken to an unfamiliar building. Think of a building that's, you know, not finished, very empty. Now, eventually the building would become the headquarters for Bad Boy, but she describes it as completely desolate with this six-foot-long folding table. And a man seated there, she kind of gestured, who was five times her size.
And she said he was chain smoking, drinking coffee. And over a five-day stretch, she was subjected to a lie detector test to see if she had taken the jewelry. And the man told her, apparently, that if she failed the test, they were going to throw her in the East River. So she's going through incident after incident where she describes kind of feeling threatened.
Another one in the summer of 2006, she says she was with Diddy at his Miami home in Star Island. Again, a home we've heard a lot about. And apparently he was mad at her for taking too long on an errand. And then the following day, she complained, saying she hated it there to one of his chefs. And the chef actually went and told Diddy what she said.
And apparently he came charging at her, running, pushing her with full force and telling her that if she hated it there to get the F out of his house. And that was the first time she actually left working for him. She said that that had kind of crossed one of her boundaries. But eventually she did return and start working with Diddy again.
One of the main things that we were expecting from Capricorn was some commentary around what Kid Cudi has alleged happened with the arson of his vehicle. What did she have to say about what went down?
She talks about how Diddy was just furious when he found out that Cassie had been seeing Cudi. And even though in their entire time working together he had never been to her apartment, he came banging on her door and demanded that she get dressed and come with him because he said, we're going to kill Cudi. had a gun in his hand.
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Chapter 3: What threats did Diddy allegedly make against Kid Cudi?
And what Capricorn does here is she gives more of that kind of circumstantial evidence to the jury to try to help them believe that this really did occur. And prosecutors are hoping, you know, common sense will show them that this was Diddy who was involved in this. He was the one who directed it all. So that's really key to the kind of Rico side of things. And also the email, right?
This idea of coercion being part of this, the threats Cassie was under, fearing for her life. the email as well, about the blackmail in it. There's so much that Capricorn kind of ties in. So she's just another important witness in that sense for prosecutors to try to prove their case.
I'm going to go and try and catch the rest of the cross-examination. Thank you so much, Nedda. My pleasure. Okay, so it's 3.58. We're back outside the courtroom. We just had a cross-examination and redirect of Capricorn Clark. And I'm with a familiar face, Cheyenne Roundtree from Rolling Stone. She's Rolling Stone's senior investigative reporter. She's going to break down what happened for us.
Hi again, Cheyenne. Hi. So I caught the beginning of Cross a little bit earlier. And then when I came out, they were talking about Cassie. And they spoke about the kind of business situations that Diddy was setting up for her and other talent she was working with.
Yeah, I think prosecutors have said that a lot of Cassie's career was controlled by Combs and also restricted. And Capricorn spoke about what she observed as what was available to her at that time when she was at Bad Boys. They said that she had all the access and all of Bad Boys' weight was put behind her at one point.
Just kind of speaking to this idea that there was a lot of resources on the table for her.
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Chapter 4: How did Diddy react to Cassie's relationship with Cudi?
Chapter 5: What incidents illustrate Diddy's intimidation tactics?
And apparently he came charging at her, running, pushing her with full force and telling her that if she hated it there to get the F out of his house. And that was the first time she actually left working for him. She said that that had kind of crossed one of her boundaries. But eventually she did return and start working with Diddy again.
One of the main things that we were expecting from Capricorn was some commentary around what Kid Cudi has alleged happened with the arson of his vehicle. What did she have to say about what went down?
She talks about how Diddy was just furious when he found out that Cassie had been seeing Cudi. And even though in their entire time working together he had never been to her apartment, he came banging on her door and demanded that she get dressed and come with him because he said, we're going to kill Cudi. had a gun in his hand.
She said that she didn't want to go, but he said, I don't care what you want, you're going to come. And she describes how they rode in a black Cadillac to Cuddy's home in Los Angeles, where Diddy and his security guard entered Cuddy's residence while she sat in the car. And she said she had a burner phone and she called Cassie on it.
And she said to Cassie, Diddy has me with a gun and he's breaking into Cuddy's house to kill him. And Clark said she could hear Cuddy in the background saying, he's in my house. And she told Cassie, you know, don't let him come. He's going to get himself killed.
So she later describes how Combs returned to the vehicle and asked her who she was talking to and that he was furious to find out she had been talking to Cassie. And so he kind of called Cassie back on that phone. And she talks about how also Cuddy, she remembers his vehicle coming up the road.
and how Combs and his bodyguard were chasing after him in the black Cadillac, but finally gave up when they saw police cars. And she says that's when Diddy caught himself and kind of composed himself.
But afterwards, she says that Diddy basically told her and Cassie that they have to convince Cuddy not to mention it was him, not to kind of convince him he had nothing to do with it, threatening them if they didn't successfully do that.
And she spoke about an assault that Cassie, she says that he assaulted her afterwards as well.
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Chapter 6: What evidence is being presented regarding the arson case?
Chapter 7: How did Capricorn describe Cassie's situation?
Yeah. She said that she was ultimately hired back in 2016 and 2018 because she said, quote, Combs did what Cassie wanted and Cassie wanted me back. And it hurt her feelings that she had a relationship with Combs even before all of this.
And the only way that she was coming back to work after she couldn't work was because Cassie said, OK, she can come back now or I want her to work for me or work with me.
She also said that she felt like she was Diddy's kind of protect her at one point?
I think she kind of explained it that she did a really good job and she was working towards a common goal that Holmes had and everyone at Bad Boy had was to make him successful to be part of a successful thriving business.
And when they were saying to her, why did you keep combing back? She also clarified what her personal situation was.
Yeah, she said that she has a son who has autism and she says that she needed to provide for herself and for her son. And she couldn't find work, she says, anywhere but for combs.
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Chapter 8: What are the implications of the charges against Diddy?
But she also gave some specific examples of particular incidents where she said that Diddy had made his presence known when she was looking for other places to work.
Yeah, she said that she showed up at CAA, which is a talent agency, and she said that Combs and Andre Harrell, his mentor, followed her around. She said that she had a meeting at Interscope, which she thought was for job opportunities, and she said no job came of it, but it was more of a warning.
So she felt that she was literally blacklisted from these institutions where she previously had relationships with.
And then we had redirect, so the prosecution come back on, clarify some of the points that were made by the defense or pick back up on them. They just wanted to reestablish the working relationship between Diddy and Cassie.
I mean, prosecutors, again, established that Cassie had to get approval for her look, her song release, her career, what photo shoots she was doing, all through Combs. And if they were fighting, photo shoots would be taken away, music videos would be taken away, and ultimately given back when they were on better terms.
Shen, thank you so much. Thank you. See you tomorrow. Well, that's it from this episode of Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds. Make sure you turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing. And if you've been affected by any of the issues in this programme and would like support, go to bbc.co.uk forward slash action line.
Hi guys, this is Rylan, and I'm here to tell you about how to be in love from BBC Sounds. Now, as a single divorcee, I feel ready to find love again, but I want to see if there's a better way of going about it. In this series, I'm going to sit down with 12 incredible guests who are really going to help me rediscover what love truly means and how I can find it again.
People like Stephen Fry, Louis Theroux, Matt and Emma Willis and many more. So join me on this journey as I explore how to be in love. Listen on BBC Sounds.
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