By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Rapper Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi took the stand on Thursday to testify as a prosecution witness at hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial.
Mescudi, 41, is expected to tell a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates in Manhattan federal court about his brief romantic involvement with rhythm and blues singer Casandra Ventura, who testified last week that Combs coerced her to take part in drug-fueled sex parties known as “Freak Offs” over the course of their 11-year on-and-off relationship.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs’ lawyers have acknowledged he has a history of drug abuse and domestic violence, but argue that the women who took part in “Freak Offs” did so consensually.
Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, testified on May 14 that Combs in 2011 kicked her in the back after discovering she was seeing Mescudi. She said he also threatened to release sex tapes of her and have someone hurt both her and Mescudi, known for hit songs like “Day ‘N’ Nite” and “Memories.”
Jurors saw photographs of bruises on Ventura’s body that her mother took shortly after the incident.
Ventura, 38, said she broke off her relationship with Mescudi shortly thereafter and got back together with Combs. She said Combs later told her that Mescudi’s car would be blown up.
In a civil sex trafficking lawsuit that “Me & U” singer Ventura filed against Combs in November 2023, she alleged that Combs blew up Mescudi’s car. Combs denied wrongdoing, and he paid her $20 million to settle the lawsuit shortly after it was filed.
Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars. He elevated hip-hop in American culture in the 1990s and early 2000s, becoming a billionaire in the process.
Combs has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)
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