Sakshi Venkatraman
Appearances
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yes, the day started with a cross-examination of Daniel Phillip, who is the male escort who would rendezvous with Cassie and Diddy for these freak-offs in New York City on the Upper West Side often. So what we heard today from the defense was kind of just like a poking of holes in his story that there was coercion and abuse involved in Diddy's defense.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
freak offs with Cassie and that she was uncomfortable or she was being beaten and forced to continue. There was a lot of the defense implying that he was in love with Cassie or he was jealous when Cassie went off into the other room with Diddy, which he contested by saying that it was absolutely not true.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
The defense also tried to poke holes in an incident he described when he was at a freak off and Cassie was being beaten in the other room. He could hear sounds of slapping and her crying. And then she came out and Diddy forced her to continue is what he said.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
The defense brought up an earlier report that he gave to prosecutors where he said something different, where he said that she was beaten and came out and then Diddy did not force her to continue and told him to get out. He said he didn't recall saying that to police. So we're kind of hearing two different versions of this story that he's telling.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And I'm sure that Cassie will be asked about this incident with her testimony as it continues.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
So there was actually debate between the defense and the prosecution about whether or not Cassie should walk through the courtroom or whether she should be seated already before the jury came in.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
The reason that they gave the judge in his private quarters the day before is that if Cassie walks in with her huge pregnant belly, you know, obviously there's naturally going to be sympathy for her and the defense didn't want that. The judge totally overruled that and said, yes, she can walk in.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And she did walk in heavily pregnant, like you said, in her tight brown outfit that showed off her stomach, and she took the stand. The testimony began with really her setting the scene of what her relationship with Diddy looked like from the time that
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
She was 19 and coming out of modeling and trying to make it in the music industry, meeting Diddy and then kind of having this whirlwind relationship with him. Their early trips to Miami that kind of solidified them as a couple, but still in secret.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And how within the first year of their relationship, that really kind of spiraled into something that she didn't have planned for herself, like freak offs and things like that.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yeah, I mean, so she says that physical assault from Didi was something that was always on the back of her mind. If she was thinking about saying no to something, like saying no to a freak off or upsetting him in any way, she was afraid that he would hurt her. One quote that she said that really stuck out in my mind was, if I made the wrong face, I would end up getting hit in the face.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
So even small things that she did wrong would be met by anger and violence from Didi. And I mean, if we remember yesterday in their opening statements, the defense already kind of led with admitting that Diddy is a violent person. He did get drunk and get high and get violent towards his girlfriends. The defense is also asserting that that's not what this case is about.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
It's about racketeering and sex trafficking, which they still hold strong that he didn't do, even though they are admitting that if this was a domestic violence trial, like it would be a different story.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yeah, so she says that Diddy, within the first year of their relationship, approached her with this idea called voyeurism, which was that he wanted her to have sex with somebody else while he watched. And he just said that that's what he was into and that that's what would please him. And she was disgusted, internally confused. She said that her stomach dropped to her butt.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
She had never heard of something like that and she didn't want to do it. But ultimately, she acquiesced because she felt like that's what she needed to do to make him happy. And at that point, She loved him and wanted to make him happy, so she did it and participated in the first freak-off.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
yeah she said that eventually these freak-offs became a full-time job she said that they would last anywhere from 36 hours to four days and they would happen every single week so you can only imagine how much of her time these freak-offs must have been taking she had a budding music career at the time she was releasing a lot of hits
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And she said that her career was stifled because of how much she was doing the freak offs. And then after them kind of recovering from them, obviously, if she was on, you know, several different drugs, she would have to come down from the drugs and take a few days to feel normal again and rehydrate is what she said. So, yeah, she said that it really impeded the activities in her life.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And it was just part of Diddy's way of controlling hers, how she painted it.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yeah, I mean, I think she gave a few reasons. So the first of which, like we mentioned, was fear of physical aggression. She thought if she said no, she could potentially be beaten. Another reason that she gave was love. She loved him. She was in a relationship with him for ended up being over a decade. And there was a part of her that did want to please him.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And when she was asked, you know, why do you do these freak offs and is there anything that you liked about the freak offs? The answer that she gave was, I liked the time spent with him.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
I liked when the freak-offs were done and we just got to go into the room and be together, which is something she says they never really got to do because both of them had such public lives, especially Diddy was surrounded by a huge team. She felt she never really got to be alone with him and this was the only time. He had a massive influence over her career.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
You'll remember she was signed to Bad Boy Records, which was Diddy's record label. So not only did he have control over her life, but he had control over her career and the direction that it went. There was also the blackmail that she mentioned. After a few of the freak-offs happened, Diddy started recording them.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
She expressed in court today that she didn't want them to be recorded, but he recorded them anyway. She said she asked him to delete them several times, but he didn't delete them. And he did threaten to release them and show them to people if she declined to participate in the freak off. So that was another concern for her that she mentioned.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yeah, I think the first thing is drugs. She said that she consumed several kinds of drugs including ecstasy, MDMA, cocaine, marijuana, ketamine, mushrooms, GHB, alone or in combination with one another. She said those drugs would often make her sick and she would even throw up before the freak-offs. And despite her throwing up and Diddy seeing her throw up and being aware that she was sick,
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
still made her continue. The very fact that she was having sex with strangers, she didn't want to do that from the beginning. Sometimes Diddy would make her have multiple partners who were having sex with her at the same time. Sometimes Diddy would have sex with her at the same time as an escort. She said all of that made her extremely uncomfortable and she didn't want to do any of that.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
She said, you know, she was also forced to perform freak-offs when she wasn't feeling her best, when she was on her period, for example. And she described, you know, covering furniture with linens to try to avoid soiling them as much as possible. And at the end of a freak-off, they would be covered in all number of bodily fluids. She also said that Diddy and another escort would urinate on her.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
She said Diddy directed this. She even said at one point, very graphically, that she would choke often because a lot of it got in her mouth. She said she put her hands up. She was on the floor. She didn't want this to happen. So some very graphic stuff. And she got visibly upset several times today in court. She was tearing up from the beginning.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And when she got into the really gritty stuff, she did begin to... to cry. She even asked for a 10 minute break at some point just to go and take a breather. So you could tell that this stuff was not easy for her to talk about.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
she also talked about an element which we heard in the federal indictment and we've heard before about how highly produced and orchestrated these freak-offs were and she spoke about diddy's role in all of that yeah so diddy controlled everything about these freak-offs according to cassie she says that he decided who the escorts would be he would approve the escorts before she contacted them he would pick the locations he would set the lighting um even
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
placing candles and moving them around during the course of the freak-offs. And he would determine what sexual acts she did with the escort. He would tell her what to do and then telling him, you know, where to ejaculate. Very, you know, graphic testimony from Cassie. And I think being in the overflow room when she was talking about it, there were gasps when she said that.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yeah. So I think the importance of the baby oil, and today it's something that the prosecution was asking her over and over about how many bottles of baby oil did you use, which shockingly she said that they would go through sometimes over 10 bottles of baby oil during one freak off. They would have to have more baby oil brought in.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
And I think the element that the prosecution is getting at here is the racketeering element. The baby oil is being used to portray this whole operation that Diddy had around him.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
You know, assistants and chiefs of staff and things like that bringing in stuff to the freak-offs, whether it was drugs that assistants would bring in or, you know, lubricant or baby oil, which is something that was very heavily talked about. Cassie also said that she was just doused in baby oil. She would be forced to have it rubbed all over her, rubbed all over the escort.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
She said by the end of the freak-offs, the rooms were... often covered in baby oil, the linens were completely soiled, the furniture was messed up and that Didi would get these really high bills from the hotel about replacing the furniture and things like that because just about how much of a mess they made.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Yeah, so it looks like Cassie is going to be on the schedule all day tomorrow and then probably the majority of the day on Thursday. Prosecutors did say that their questioning of Cassie is going to take at least until midday tomorrow. The defense responded by saying in that case their cross-questioning is going to take until probably well into Thursday. So we'll see how long that goes.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Another big question that I had at the beginning of the day that was kind of just answered as we were leaving court is will the public get to see the videos and images of the freak-offs which is something that has been discussed since the trial started yesterday. It's looking like the answer is no.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
Originally, you know, these documents were submitted as evidence and they were going to be shown to everyone. But the judge ruled because of the potential for this content, which both the defense and the prosecution called pornographic in nature, very explicit content, just showing sex, basically. The judge said... Those videos and photos will provisionally not be shown.
Diddy On Trial
Singer Cassie testifies in Diddy’s trial
It still remains to be seen once the judge reviews the evidence if that changes, but it's looking like we're not going to see the freak-offs in court.