Diddy On Trial
Cassie’s ex-stylist: We hid 'too many times to count' to stop Diddy 'attack'
Wed, 28 May 2025
Cassie Ventura’s former stylist has testified that he witnessed Sean 'Diddy' Combs being violent towards his ex-girlfriend.Deonte Nash told the court that he and Cassie hid 'too many times to count', because they didn’t want Combs to “attack” them.Plus, the judge presiding over Diddy’s federal trial rejected his defence team's bid for a mistrial.A warning that this episode contains descriptions of violence.Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty speaks to Madeline Halpert, the BBC’s New York digital reporter about the day in court.Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is on trial in New York, facing federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. He denies all the charges.The Diddy on Trial podcast is here to investigate the rumours, confront the theories, and give you the answers that you need.We also want YOU to be part of the conversation. Have you any questions about the case? Heard a theory that doesn’t sit right with you? Get in touch now via WhatsApp: 0330 123 555 1.Details of organisations in the UK offering information and support with some of the issues raised are available at bbc.co.uk/actionlinePresenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Mark Burrows Senior Digital Producer: Matthew Pintus Executive Producer: Alys Harte Production Coordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Clare Fordham Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Assistant Commissioner: Will Drysdale Commissioning Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Assistant Producer: Rechmial Miller
Chapter 1: What recent events occurred at the Diddy trial?
BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts Hello and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me Anushka Matanda-Doughty. Just a warning, this episode contains descriptions of violence. This morning I'm back at the Southern District of New York Courthouse, which is where we are every day. It's pretty busy here. I'm hearing there's been some altercations this morning between
Some protesters and people vlogging outside and the police had to come and break it up. It was a very dramatic day on Tuesday with Capricorn Clark taking the stand to give evidence for the prosecution. She was very emotional and told the court that Diddy kidnapped her at gunpoint, then broke into rapper Kid Cudi's house in a plot to kill him.
Now, a reminder, Sean Diddy Combs is on trial for charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. These are charges he's always denied. Now today, we're expecting four witnesses from the prosecution, so I'm heading into court now. I'm going to turn my phone off and be uncontactable for about six hours. See you later on. So it's 4.30.
We've just ducked out of the court because it's absolutely chucking it down. We've made it down to our favorite cafe who very kindly shelter us from the rain. I'm here with Madeline Halpert, the BBC's New York digital reporter.
Yeah, so at the beginning of the day, we heard more about the sort of interaction between... Combs and the rep for Kid Cudi. So we heard from a Los Angeles Police Department officer as well as an arson investigator with the Los Angeles Fire Department. And the arson investigator told us more about this alleged bombing of Kid Cudi's Porsche.
So we saw pictures of the car and the bottle that was supposed to be a Molotov cocktail that set fire to the car. And we also heard about whether any DNA was able to be recovered from the scene. So they were able to take some prints from the scene, one that was a partial match to a woman, but they didn't get more information than that.
And then probably the most dramatic part of the morning was they said there were other fingerprints that were taken from the scene. But the arson investigator said that the LAPD actually destroyed the evidence that same year and that usually he would be involved in any decision like that. So that kind of started this big argument from Combs attorneys who did not want that evidence to be included.
They were angry. They said basically that. The questioning from prosecutors about this was making it seem like, quote, somebody in the room was responsible for the destruction of this evidence.
But is it true that they asked for a mistrial, so the whole trial to be stopped? Because didn't you say something like that bell can't be unrung?
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Chapter 2: What incidents of violence were described in court?
The dates are a little bit vague because he was saying, you know, he's like, I'm giving an estimate because it was a long time ago. But this was one where we got his side of the story about how Cassie felt about the freak-offs.
Chapter 3: What was Deontay Nash's testimony about Diddy?
Chapter 4: How did the judge respond to the mistrial request?
Chapter 5: What are the main charges against Sean 'Diddy' Combs?
We've just ducked out of the court because it's absolutely chucking it down. We've made it down to our favorite cafe who very kindly shelter us from the rain. I'm here with Madeline Halpert, the BBC's New York digital reporter.
Yeah, so at the beginning of the day, we heard more about the sort of interaction between... Combs and the rep for Kid Cudi. So we heard from a Los Angeles Police Department officer as well as an arson investigator with the Los Angeles Fire Department. And the arson investigator told us more about this alleged bombing of Kid Cudi's Porsche.
So we saw pictures of the car and the bottle that was supposed to be a Molotov cocktail that set fire to the car. And we also heard about whether any DNA was able to be recovered from the scene. So they were able to take some prints from the scene, one that was a partial match to a woman, but they didn't get more information than that.
And then probably the most dramatic part of the morning was they said there were other fingerprints that were taken from the scene. But the arson investigator said that the LAPD actually destroyed the evidence that same year and that usually he would be involved in any decision like that. So that kind of started this big argument from Combs attorneys who did not want that evidence to be included.
They were angry. They said basically that. The questioning from prosecutors about this was making it seem like, quote, somebody in the room was responsible for the destruction of this evidence.
But is it true that they asked for a mistrial, so the whole trial to be stopped? Because didn't you say something like that bell can't be unrung?
Yes. Combs lawyer Mark Agnifilo called it outrageous, prosecutor's line of questioning, and he moved for a mistrial. It's not the first time they've done it, and it probably won't be the last time. So, yeah, they were just arguing that it was outrageous that they brought up this line of questioning and that jurors would not be able to go back. Of course, prosecutors did not agree with that.
So the judge, he decided a middle ground and that he said, we're going to just give an instruction to the jury to disregard it. But he rejected their motion for a mistrial.
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Chapter 6: What evidence was disputed in the trial?
By the time I came in, they were arguing over the fact that they'd found a black leather glove in the back of the car and that hadn't been collected as evidence. And they were saying the L.A. Fire Department officer was saying that it belonged to Kid Cudi. That's why they didn't take it in.
Yeah, it was one of several lines from Clemson attorneys that kind of brought up and then we lost. But he was pressing him about why they didn't include it in the report. And the fire department official was basically just like Kid Cudi told me that was his glove. So it was not relevant to the investigation. And we moved on.
And the rest of the day, we were all kind of waiting for this person called Mia to take the stand. We've heard a lot about her. We've heard just now that her testimony's probably gonna last about two days. And we knew that someone called Deontay Nash was coming on next, but we didn't know exactly what his testimony was gonna be like. I mean, he had people laughing within the first five seconds.
Yeah, he was the most colorful witness we've seen so far, I would say. I mean, they asked him if he was subpoenaed there and if he wanted to be there, and his response was absolutely not. So a lot of snark and a lot of laughs from even the attorneys questioning him as well as other people in the audience. But he had other answers that were very funny.
At one point, one of Combs' attorneys asked him how he was doing, and he said, blessed. which is not something we typically hear when somebody's on the stand.
So Deontay Nash is a stylist who worked with Diddy and Cassie from 2008. So they put up a picture of him, like they often do the prosecution, and they say, is this a fair and accurate representation of you? And it was obviously a headshot, quite a glamorous headshot.
Yeah, they said, that's kind of a glamorous shot of you. And he said, yes, I look amazing. He had those kind of more colorful, lighthearted responses throughout his testimony, which was about quite a dark subject.
I was going to say the juxtaposition is quite stark, but when they start speaking to him, it's clear that they're drawing out lots of different facts about lots of different elements of Cassie's original testimony, particularly pertaining to the violence and coercive control that they alleged she experienced. He did walk us through some what he described as notable moments of violence.
What did he tell us about?
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Chapter 7: How did Diddy’s actions affect those around him?
And then we broke for lunch and we kind of have a little bit of time. It's a long day today. I just want to talk about lunchtime really quickly because me and you went to go and get a sandwich. We've been talking about the ecosystem of influencers and podcasters and broadcasters around this trial.
And I just thought it was interesting that now some influencers have started hiring their own bodyguards to bring to the courthouse. I've never seen anything like this before.
I never have either, and I've covered several trials, including the Trump trial. I've never seen this amount of civilian journalists. I mean, we've heard from people who told us they do like a health and fitness podcast, but now they're pivoting to the Diddy trial because it's just such a massive amount of views.
So it makes for a really odd scene around and even inside the courtroom with all these people from very different backgrounds in one place.
But then we came back in for cross-examination. Now, cross-examination wasn't exactly the smoothest process this afternoon. Judge Arun Subramaniam, he makes decisions very quickly, particularly around objections and whether there should be mistrials, etc. But Donaldson began cross-examination and it was...
He was going over a lot of the details that we've already heard. He kept asking him to kind of specify exactly how he ended up working as a stylist. At one point, he asked him what a stylist does, which we'd already been over.
Tiontse was rolling his eyes at some point, but he also was quite firm when the cross-examination began, and they said, oh, so we're going to ask you about Miss Ventura, and he said, Miss is fine. I thought that was interesting, but it was consistent with the kind of vibe he'd brought to the stand the entire day.
And if anyone's asking why we're saying Mrs. Fine, it's because Cassie is now married to a man called Alex Fine. And so, do you want to say Nash was making a point of clarifying that on the stand that she is now in a new relationship?
Yeah, absolutely. He made that a real point. Mrs. Fine, he said. And Donaldson kept repeating it back to him and putting a lot of emphasis on that Mrs. Fine. And I think you kind of get in that sense that he's still friends with Cassie. He just told us that he just congratulated Cassie yesterday for having her third baby.
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