Prosecutors are asking Judge Arun Subramanian to limit Cassie’s time on the stand as her testimony hits day four in the trial of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs.
In a letter dated Friday, May 16, U.S. attorneys pointed out that Cassie’s cross-examination will have lasted two full days, “several hours” longer than her direct examination. Allowing her cross-examination to extend into next week could result in a mistrial if Cassie, who is eight and a half months pregnant, goes into labor. (Cassie, 38, and husband Alex Fine married in 2019 and are expecting their third baby).
“The inefficiency of cross-examination yesterday raises the inference that the defendant hopes to accomplish precisely that outcome,” read the letter reviewed by Us Weekly. “Given the ample time the defense has had to prepare for this cross-examination, the inefficiency of today’s proceedings appears to have been a filibuster.”
The prosecution added that limiting Cassie’s cross-examination would also protect her.
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“The requested limitation is proper here to protect Ms. Ventura from undue harassment (especially given her pregnancy) and embarrassment (for example, when defense counsel insists on displaying and reading cumulative sexually explicit messages while the witness is on the stand).”
Throughout Cassie’s time on the stand, the singer has gone into vivid detail about the alleged nature of her relationship with Diddy, which lasted off and on from 2007 to 2018. That includes Cassie claiming she developed an opioid addiction during the relationship and suffered from frequent UTIs as a result of Diddy’s alleged “freak offs.”
“The Court should give significant weight to the Government’s repeatedly articulated concerns regarding Ms. Ventura’s health and safety, which were forecast and discussed extensively months in advance of this trial,” the letter argued.
Cassie’s testimony comes after Diddy’s September 2024 arrest on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied all of the allegations against him.
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“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a statement at the time. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Since his arrest, Diddy has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Judge Subramanian has denied each of his four requests for bail.
Roughly one year before his arrest, Cassie filed a lawsuit against Diddy, accusing him of sexual and physical abuse throughout their relationship. Diddy denied her claims in a statement shared by his attorney.
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“Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations,” Diddy’s lawyer Ben Brafman said in November 2023.
One day after the suit was filed, Diddy and Cassie settled out of court. She revealed earlier this week that the settlement agreement was for $20 million.
In May 2024, CNN published a hotel surveillance video of Diddy kicking and grabbing Cassie in 2016. He later apologized for his actions in a video shared via Instagram. The unedited video was shown to the jury this week, and the hotel security guard who responded to the incident testified on Monday, May 12.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
