Diddy On Trial
Diddy’s defence question ‘inconsistencies’ in Dawn Richard’s testimony
Tue, 20 May 2025
Three witnesses are called by the prosecution, as week two of Diddy’s trial begins.A warning that this episode contains descriptions of violence.Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard finished her testimony and was questioned by Diddy’s defence lawyers. During a cross-examination, Richard admitted to giving different versions of events.Cassie Ventura's former best friend, Kerry Morgan, claimed she saw Diddy physically abuse Ventura several times. David James, a personal assistant who worked for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs between 2007 and 2009 told the court that staff at Diddy’s Bad Boy Records viewed him as a ‘king’.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/actionline Presenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Mark Burrows Senior Journalist: Chrystal Genesis Executive Producer: Louise Clarke 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 are the charges Diddy is facing?
He's fighting for his freedom on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering with conspiracy and transportation for prostitution. Charges he's always denied. Last week, his former partner, Cassie Ventura, gave some graphic testimony as part of the prosecution's evidence against Diddy and was also questioned by his defence team.
Now, we expected that the press would have kind of packed up and moved on after the first week, but there's still people here and it's also blowing a gale, but at least it's not raining like it was last week. That was a nightmare. Now, inside the courtroom, there's a different feeling. Me and my producer went in a bit earlier and people are acting like we're watching the TV.
They're calling out their opinions. There's laughing. There's clapping. One person whistled. We're going to head back in now to find out what's going on today. And we'll hear from Neda later to give us all the details on what went down in court. OK, so we're stood outside the court. It's 3.15. The judge did promise we were going to be finishing at three from now on.
I'm here with Neda Tawfiq, the BBC's New York correspondent. Neda, the day started with Dawn Rashad. We heard from her before a little bit. She went over some of the allegations she had about Diddy. Is that where we picked up?
Chapter 2: What key testimony did Dawn Richard provide?
That's right. So we started off with the government picking up with the instances where she said she saw Diddy hitting Cassie. She talked about how she told Cassie that she should leave, but she wouldn't listen. She could see the fear from Cassie. And she said eventually she made the decision for herself not to interfere.
After the government kind of went through asking a few more questions, then we got to the cross-examination from the defense. And I thought this was actually some of the perhaps strongest and toughest cross-examination we've seen so far.
So for our listeners who don't know, cross-examination is where the defense can basically pick up on anything that the witness has said in their direct testimony. And Dawn had spoken in detail about a situation or an incident she said she observed where Cassie was making eggs in the kitchen and then Diddy tries to throw the skillet at her and she drops to the floor in a fetal position.
Is that where the defense picked up with their cross-examination?
What they were trying to suggest was that Dawn had changed her story about the egg incident and changed it numerous times. And she said no, you know, she tried to insist that no, she hadn't changed her story. So this was kind of a painful part of, you know, cross-examination that went on for quite a long time. And it really ended
with Nicole Westmoreland, Diddy's lawyer, saying, would you agree with me that you have changed your story numerous times and that in all your different interviews with prosecutors, that story has slightly changed and there's a big difference in every which way you've told it. And again, Dawn Richard trying to insist she told it the same way that she remembers it.
And even, you know, saying I didn't write these notes that the government has.
Afterwards, she says that Diddy took her and her bandmate, who also witnessed it, into a studio, locked the door, and made what she perceived to be a threat, saying, you know, this was an instance of passion between lovers, I wouldn't talk about it if I were you, you know, where I'm from, people who talk, they disappear. What did they have to say about that?
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Chapter 3: How did the defense challenge Dawn Richard's credibility?
That was another really tense moment in the cross-examination because you had Diddy's lawyer saying, if you felt that your life was really at risk, you would have thought that you would have said that to the government, that you would have recalled that incident. And so, again, she was trying to suggest Diddy's lawyer that Don Rashard was changing her story.
And this is all, again, about trying to hit at her credibility and show the jury she's not a reliable witness. And they say that that really hits back at her suggestion that in the past he was the one that would reach out when she was doing well with her career and that she would respond politely because she didn't know any other way to do that.
And again, in cross-examination, they say, well, when you were working together with Diddy Dirty Money, you were having to spend a lot of time together in the studio. You were spending a lot of time brainstorming together, a lot of time writing together, a lot of time traveling to several countries.
And if you felt your life was really in danger, why would you reach out to him to try to put yourself back in that same situation?
And then you have something called redirect, which is where the prosecution can pick up on what the defense have just done in cross-examination and kind of try and re-clarify points or go over something that could potentially restore the credibility of the person who's just spoken. Where did they pick up with Dawn?
Dawn was really soft-spoken throughout, and you could tell that the government wanted to come in and clarify a few points. And They spoke about first her civil lawsuit and just explaining why she decided to file that. And she said, you know, the environment was not conducive for an employee. That's why she filed her civil lawsuit.
And she talks about how that was a bad time for her and that the memories didn't come back immediately. She said, you know, as I've been working with prosecutors more, speaking to others who were around at that time, that that's when memories have come and that she's always answered questions to the best of her memory and recollection.
Kerry Morgan is somebody that was referenced a lot in Cassie's direct testimony and in the cross-examination. She was Cassie's best friend for 17 years, met in 2001, a fellow model. And we heard from Cassie that they haven't spoken to each other since there was an incident in 2018. And I thought when Kerry took the stand and they asked her, why are you here?
It was very clear that she didn't really want to be here.
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Chapter 4: What did Kerry Morgan witness regarding Diddy and Cassie's relationship?
she's pretty sure did he hit her but because they were behind the bed she couldn't exactly tell but she said cassie did nothing in response and carrie says she was so upset and she doesn't remember exactly what she said but she said something to the effect of telling the security guard you know do something and essentially he kind of shrugged like there's nothing he can do about it at that point she said cassie left
And they hid in some neighbor's steps, laying face down on the concrete stairs for about 20 to 30 minutes. She said they were whispering because, you know, they could hear Diddy and his security guard looking for them. But she said they just wanted to stay still until the situation got calm again and that eventually Cassie did go back to the house and she went back to her hotel.
She also described an incident of violence that she alleges she witnessed in Jamaica. And that involved Cassie falling to the floor and hitting her head on a brick.
Yeah, so this was in Jamaica in 2013. Carrie was on vacation with Cassie and a bunch of other friends. And Diddy apparently joined the vacation halfway through. And she describes the three of them being in the bar area. And Cassie just went to the bathroom. And she said all of a sudden she heard a guttural, terrifying scream. And so she ran to the hallway.
And she said this happened after Diddy basically was saying, where's Cassie? She's taking too long. So she sees Diddy.
taking her by her hair dragging her by her hair out of the bathroom and down the hallway and carrie's first instinct was to run and to grab her bag right because she's in a foreign country you know in her mind she's like i need my credit card i need our stuff if we're gonna have to run and then when she gets back they're outside and she said that the front doors were open
Diddy had pushed Cassie to the ground. Cassie had hit her head on a brick and she wasn't moving. She was just kind of on her side in the fetal position with her eyes closed, not saying anything. She said she was pretty much knocked out, that she didn't move for 30 seconds. And she said she was arguing with Diddy at the time.
She didn't know exactly what she was saying, but she knows they were arguing. And then at that point, Cassie just bolted and ran into a wooded area barefoot. And at that point, both Carrie and Diddy jumped into golf carts that were in the driveway and ran after Cassie. And Carrie was calling out Cassie's name. Cassie eventually got in the golf cart with her and she said they hid in a ditch.
She said it felt like hours and went back to the house eventually. But Cassie had a really big bump on her forehead. She recalled Cassie didn't get any medical attention. And she pointed out that, you know, those weren't the only times that she witnessed Diddy assaulting Cassie. But she said the other times weren't as big of a deal. They were a push, a slap.
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Chapter 5: What incidents of alleged violence did Kerry Morgan testify about?
Chapter 6: What was the atmosphere like in the courtroom during the trial?
I'm here with Neda Tawfiq, the BBC's New York correspondent. Neda, the day started with Dawn Rashad. We heard from her before a little bit. She went over some of the allegations she had about Diddy. Is that where we picked up?
That's right. So we started off with the government picking up with the instances where she said she saw Diddy hitting Cassie. She talked about how she told Cassie that she should leave, but she wouldn't listen. She could see the fear from Cassie. And she said eventually she made the decision for herself not to interfere.
After the government kind of went through asking a few more questions, then we got to the cross-examination from the defense. And I thought this was actually some of the perhaps strongest and toughest cross-examination we've seen so far.
So for our listeners who don't know, cross-examination is where the defense can basically pick up on anything that the witness has said in their direct testimony. And Dawn had spoken in detail about a situation or an incident she said she observed where Cassie was making eggs in the kitchen and then Diddy tries to throw the skillet at her and she drops to the floor in a fetal position.
Is that where the defense picked up with their cross-examination?
What they were trying to suggest was that Dawn had changed her story about the egg incident and changed it numerous times. And she said no, you know, she tried to insist that no, she hadn't changed her story. So this was kind of a painful part of, you know, cross-examination that went on for quite a long time. And it really ended
with Nicole Westmoreland, Diddy's lawyer, saying, would you agree with me that you have changed your story numerous times and that in all your different interviews with prosecutors, that story has slightly changed and there's a big difference in every which way you've told it. And again, Dawn Richard trying to insist she told it the same way that she remembers it.
And even, you know, saying I didn't write these notes that the government has.
Afterwards, she says that Diddy took her and her bandmate, who also witnessed it, into a studio, locked the door, and made what she perceived to be a threat, saying, you know, this was an instance of passion between lovers, I wouldn't talk about it if I were you, you know, where I'm from, people who talk, they disappear. What did they have to say about that?
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Chapter 7: How did Dawn Richard describe her relationship with Diddy?
And she talks about how that was a bad time for her and that the memories didn't come back immediately. She said, you know, as I've been working with prosecutors more, speaking to others who were around at that time, that that's when memories have come and that she's always answered questions to the best of her memory and recollection.
Kerry Morgan is somebody that was referenced a lot in Cassie's direct testimony and in the cross-examination. She was Cassie's best friend for 17 years, met in 2001, a fellow model. And we heard from Cassie that they haven't spoken to each other since there was an incident in 2018. And I thought when Kerry took the stand and they asked her, why are you here?
It was very clear that she didn't really want to be here.
Yeah, and they asked her, do you want to be here? And she said no. And they said you were sent a subpoena essentially to be here. And she said, yeah. She said, I had moved on with my life and away from these people and these problems. And so it was very clear that Carrie was doing this out of obligation and not wanting to revisit this period of her life.
And the prosecution began with Kerry with a lot of world building about what her and Cassie's relationship was like when they first met and their life together.
Yeah, there was a bit of heartbreak in a way that what started as a really young, fun relationship has ended up this way. You know, Kerry talked about how they met in high school. They were doing modeling and catalog modeling and eventually decided to live together for a year, moving to New York together. And she said Cassie worked hard. She was successful as a model.
She was confident that when they went out, she didn't drink much. And she said she didn't do drugs, that she really focused on making her music. And she talked about how in 2006, her song Me and You just exploded. And she said that the first she really learned about Cassie and Diddy dating was in 2007. And she said she spent time often with the two of them together.
They would just hang out, travel, go to dinner. They went to Ibiza, Italy, Los Angeles, Vegas, Miami. And she said, yeah, there was some drugs involved when we would go out and party. It wasn't too frequent, but that they had fun together. She really described it as, in the beginning, a very fun environment for her.
They also asked her to clarify how she perceived Cassie changing during the relationship. And she was pretty forthcoming about that.
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Chapter 8: What was the impact of Diddy's behavior on Cassie's confidence?
Yeah, and look, right before that we had Carrie actually saying that all of Cassie's friends were employed by Diddy except for her and that Cassie would say she couldn't leave Diddy because she would lose her livelihood, her career, her car, everything. And then we get to the incident in 2018 where she says they were at Cassie's house
They were just listening to music and in came Diddy while Cassie was in the bathroom asking, you know, who is Cassie cheating on with? And she said Diddy choked her so hard that finger marks were imprinted on her neck afterward. And she says when she was able to get away, he then grabbed a wooden hanger and
And Boomerang threw it at her and it hit her in the back behind her ears and gave her a concussion. And she said she just grabbed her stuff and left and told one of Diddy's old assistants, he's going crazy, he's lost it. But then again, the assistant didn't do anything. She said she had injuries. She had a concussion. She was dizzy. She vomited a few times, went to urgent care.
And so she hired a lawyer to file a lawsuit. But then Cassie asked to meet her. She said they were in West Hollywood about a month after that incident, and they were just at a pizza place. And Cassie essentially told her, you're milking this, you're over-exaggerating what happened.
And she said Cassie offered to give her $30,000, which she understood was being paid for by Diddy, and had her sign an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement, so that she couldn't speak about it anymore. And she describes how, you know, she felt Cassie wasn't taking her side, how she was really disappointed. And that's why they haven't spoken ever since.
So in the cross-examination, we heard the defense kind of pursue a line of thought that they have before, particularly in the opening statements. They asked...
kerry about cassie's jealousy and they specifically asked her about one of diddy's romantic affiliations we've heard the same a few times gina what did kerry have to say about gina yeah this was probably the most forthcoming we've seen kerry so she clearly remembers this once um she was asked about coming to learn about gina um
Diddy was having a relationship with her, Kerry says, yeah, she was a big problem. She says he was having a full-on relationship with this little girl, which then the defense quickly had to have her clarify that Gina was in fact an adult woman, but that she was viewed that way because she was quite younger than Cassie.
We got another witness right at the end. Wasn't on for very long, but came after Kerry, and it's the first assistant, executive assistant of Diddy's we've heard from, and his name is David James.
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