After Diddy’s Defense Rested In Sex-Trafficking Trial, An Expert Weighed In On Why The Case ‘Rises And Falls’ With Cassie’s Testimony

The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs hit a significant benchmark this week, because the protection introduced its case on Tuesday and rested it in beneath half-hour and with the usage of any witnesses. As an entire, that method enormously differs from the strategies utilized by the prosecution, which known as upon a bevy of people to the stand. One of the vital notable folks to have offered testimony is Cassie Ventura, who dated Combs on and off between 2007 and 2018. Now, an skilled is discussing why her statements could possibly be very important to the jury’s verdict.
38-year-old singer Cassie Ventura, whose stage identify is Cassie, took the stand weeks in the past whereas she was pregnant along with her third baby with husband Alex Wonderful. Whereas testifying, she shared graphic particulars about her romance with Combs in addition to claims that she was pressured to take part within the rapper’s Freak Offs. As a result of on the racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking fees Combs is going through, Mark Chutkow (a former federal prosecutor) believes Cassie’s account could possibly be pivotal:
It was savvy to deliver this as a racketeering case in some methods as a result of it allowed them to herald much more proof of his dangerous acts that they would not have in any other case been in a position to do if this was a really narrowly tailor-made case. And so in that respect, I imply, the case actually rises and falls with the testimony of Cassie Ventura. If the jury believes it, in the event that they imagine that she actually could not get away from him, and she or he needed to do the issues that he had requested, then the prosecution has gone a good distance towards a conviction on this case.
Among the many extra particular fees that 55-year-old Diddy is going through along with racketeering are intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion in addition to transportation to have interaction in prostitution. What Mark Chutkow theorizes to Fox News is that ought to jurors imagine Cassie’s claims of being with Diddy towards her will, it’ll have a significant influence. That apart, Chutkow additionally lauded prosecutors for making a case that aligned with the costs specified by the unique indictment that was unsealed in September 2024:
While you have a look at the indictment, it is very lengthy. It is a talking indictment, they usually have ticked off the entire varied info that that they had introduced to the jury in that indictment. They introduced in proof of violence. They introduced in proof of weapons, of medication, of intercourse acts. And in order that they actually got here by means of with what they stated that they had been going to do on this case.
In regard to those that testified, Cassie wasn’t the one particular person to degree important claims towards the “Gotta Transfer On” rapper. Bryana Bongolan, a buddy of Ventura’s, claimed that she was dangled from a seventeenth flooring balcony by Diddy after he confronted her in Cassie’s house. One other rapper, Child Cudi, took the stand as effectively, and he testified that Diddy allegedly oversaw a house invasion and tried arson plot towards him.
Cassie’s in-court claims had been additionally backed up by a former male escort, who attested to the assertion that Sean Combs pressured the songstress to have interaction in sexual acts with different males. This all comes over a 12 months and a half after the “Is It You” performer filed swimsuit towards Combs for alleged sex-trafficking, home violence and extra. Whereas Combs denied wrongdoing, the swimsuit was settled lower than 24 hours after it was filed. Cassie’s swimsuit would finally be adopted by a wave of different lawsuits from women and men, which featured related claims.
For the reason that case started, Cassie Ventura has responded to the declare that she “ruined” her ex’s profession attributable to her swimsuit. Ventura reportedly responded by saying, “I may perceive that, yeah.” On the subject of the feedback Cassie shared in court docket, the magnitude of their results on the jury stay to be seen. Proper now, what is understood is that closing arguments within the case start this Thursday.