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A former high aide to Sean “Diddy” Combs testified Tuesday at his intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial that the music mogul threatened her with demise on her first day on the job and later kidnapped her at gunpoint to hitch him in an effort to kill rapper Child Cudi.
The testimony from Capricorn Clark, the previous world model director for Unhealthy Boy Leisure, launched the third week of testimony within the trial on a violent be aware, as prosecutors attempt to show Combs led a racketeering conspiracy spanning 20 years that relied on beefy safety staff and others to make sure he received what he wished.
Combs has pleaded not responsible to a number of counts of an indictment accusing him of a sample of abuse towards his longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura and others.
Clark’s testimony got here days after Child Cudi, whose authorized title is Scott Mescudi, testified that Clark known as him from a automotive outdoors his dwelling in December 2011 and advised him that Combs, angered that Mescudi was courting Ventura, had kidnapped her and compelled her to trip him with him to Mescudi’s dwelling.
Rapper Child Cudi (L) leaves federal court docket after showing on the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs intercourse trafficking trial in New York Metropolis on Could 22, 2025.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Day 10
Clark, the seventeenth witness known as by the prosecution, testified that Combs got here to her home that morning with a gun in his hand and demanded she dress and include him, allegedly telling her, “We’re going to kill Cudi.”
She testified that Combs was “furious, livid, mad at me” after she advised him she didn’t need to go along with him.
“I don’t give a f–okay what you need to do, go dress,” she recalled Combs saying.
She mentioned that she rode in a black Cadillac to Mescudi’s home in Los Angeles, the place Combs and a safety aide entered the residence whereas Clark sat within the automotive.
Clark advised the court docket that whereas she waited within the Escalade outdoors of Mescudi’s dwelling, she known as Ventura on a burner cellphone and advised her that Combs “received me with a gun and introduced me to Cudi’s home to kill him.”
Clark mentioned she heard Mescudi within the background asking, “He’s in my home?” She mentioned she advised Ventura, “Cease him, he’s going to get himself killed.”
Ventura advised Clark that she couldn’t cease Mescudi, in keeping with Clark.
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Combs returned to the automobile and requested Clark who she was speaking to on the cellphone, Clark mentioned, including that Combs grabbed her cellphone and known as Ventura again.
That’s after they heard Mescudi’s automobile arising the highway, Clark mentioned. Combs and his bodyguard received again within the automobile and chased after Mescudi, however gave up as soon as they handed police automobiles that have been heading in the direction of Mescudi’s dwelling.
After the alleged break-in, Clark mentioned Combs advised the folks with him that they needed to persuade Mescudi “it wasn’t me.”
“When you don’t persuade him of that I’ll kill all you,” Combs mentioned, in keeping with Clark.
Clark mentioned that after Combs allegedly broke into Mescudi’s dwelling, she approached Ventura and advised her, “When you inform on him, he’s going to harm us all.”
She mentioned that Ventura went together with her to Combs’ Los Angeles rental dwelling. She mentioned Combs was sporting a gown and underwear and “instantly started kicking Cassie.”
Clark mentioned she and a safety guard stood by as Combs repeatedly kicked Ventura. She mentioned that Combs threatened to harm her too if she tried to cease him.
Assistant U.S. Legal professional Mitzi Steiner questioned Clark about her off-and-on employment with Combs between 2004 and 2018, starting with the primary day on the job when she mentioned Combs and a safety workers member took her to Central Park after 9 p.m. and mentioned he wasn’t conscious of her historical past of working with different rappers.
Clark testified that Combs advised her that if her previous work for rap rivals grew to become a problem, he’d need to kill her. (Clark beforehand labored for Demise Row Data, which Suge Knight then managed.)
“He advised me that he didn’t know that I had something to do with Suge Knight and if something occurred, he must kill me,” Clark mentioned.
She mentioned she was solely weeks into the job when she was blamed for some diamond jewellery that went lacking.
Because of this, she mentioned, she was taken to a largely empty constructing in Manhattan the place, over 5 days, she was repeatedly given a lie detector check by a person who appeared 5 occasions bigger than her.
“He mentioned: ‘When you fail this check they’re going to throw you within the East River,’” Clark recalled.
Clark mentioned they finally let her return to work. In 2007, she was the director of selling for Sean John Ladies’s, Combs’ clothes line. In 2008, she grew to become a world model director earlier than being terminated in 2012, after she mentioned she was accused of improperly taking a trip. She went on to work as Ventura’s artistic director from 2016 to 2018.
She mentioned after she was terminated, Combs advised her “that I might by no means work once more, that he would present me that every one these folks weren’t my mates, that he would make me kill myself.”
Clark mentioned she obtained a settlement via Combs’ attorneys over wrongful termination allegations within the fall of 2012, however didn’t disclose the quantity.
What Combs is on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing girls with assist from a community of associates who helped silence victims via blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that features descriptions of freak-offs, that are outlined within the court docket doc as “elaborate and produced intercourse performances that Combs organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and infrequently electronically recorded.”
Quite a few witnesses have come ahead to accuse Combs of terrorizing folks into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in keeping with prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled somebody from a balcony.
Though dozens of women and men have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 girls.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He has denied all the fees towards him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as a substitute.
If discovered responsible within the New York court docket, he may face life in jail.
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International Information will likely be masking the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please verify again for updates.
— With information from The Related Press