Cassandra Ventura testifies, tells jury freak offs became a job

WARNING: This article contains graphic detail that may distress some readers.

New York: Cassandra Ventura says her life became dominated by the drug-fuelled sexual encounters organised at the behest of her then boyfriend and record label boss Sean “Diddy” Combs, telling a jury the longest of these sessions, called “freak offs”, lasted four days.

Ventura, also known mononymously as Cassie, took the stand for the first time on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST) in Combs’ bombshell sex-trafficking and racketeering trial, in which he is accused of coercing women into sexually abusive and violent encounters with the help of his staff.

Heavily pregnant and wearing a tan dress, Ventura, 38, told the jury that after following Combs from New York to Los Angeles as his girlfriend and an artist signed to his label, much of her time was spent recovering from the days-long sex and drug binges that took place in hotels, rather than making music.

In these sessions, which Combs had called “freak offs” or “wild king nights”, Ventura would typically have sex with a male escort while Combs masturbated and sometimes recorded video, the court heard. Drugs and alcohol were also consumed.

“The freak offs became a job where there was no space to do anything else but try to recover,” Ventura told the jury. While they would typically last between 36 and 72 hours, “the longest one ever was four days”, she said. “Recovering from partying – that took a big chunk out of my life.”

The prosecution alleges Combs used his business and staff as a criminal enterprise to enable and cover up the transportation and coercion of women for sex, and blackmailed them into remaining silent. The defence, which also delivered its opening statement on Monday, acknowledged Combs had been violent to women and engaged in sexual fantasies, but said they were consensual participants in adult relationships.

In the morning session, the court heard Ventura met Combs in New York City in 2005 when she was a 19-year-old model, and had started recording a few songs. Combs was 17 years her senior and the owner of Bad Boy Records. In early 2006, he signed her on a 10-album deal, only one of which was ever produced.