
Kaplan testifies he witnessed 3 instances of violence while working for Combs
George Kaplan testified that he witnessed at least three alleged instances of violence during the time he served as a personal assistant to Sean Combs.
Kaplan testified that in one alleged instance, he recalled glass shattering on a private plane traveling to Las Vegas and seeing Combs holding a whiskey glass over his head and Cassie Ventura on the floor of the plane, holding her hands in front of her face.
In a second alleged incident, Kaplan testified that he was summoned to Combs' bedroom where, he told the court, he saw Ventura "crying on the bed with her head in her hands." Kaplan testified that she was "clearly upset" and "it was clear there was bruising" on her face.
Kaplan testified Combs sent him to a pharmacy to buy lotion and witch hazel, which he told the court he understood were to be mixed "to act as an anti-swelling agent."
In what Kaplan testified was "the last straw for me," he told the court that in the fall of 2015 he saw a "very angry" Combs "throwing these green apples that lived in a decorative vessel" in the entryway of his Miami home. The apples were allegedly aimed "at another girlfriend" of Combs' who, Kaplan told the court, was "trying to shield herself with her arms."
Kaplan testified that he never attempted to intervene in these alleged instances because it was not his place to do so. He described himself as "a young kid really trying to make it in the entertainment industry; this was my first professional endeavor," telling the court "I thought for a second this might be normal."
The same night as the alleged apple-throwing incident, Kaplan testified that Combs summoned him to bring him what Kaplan described as Combs' medicine bag.
"There was definitely some tension" in the room, Kaplan testified, telling the court that the woman at whom Combs allegedly threw the apples "was standing in the corner on the other side very far away." Later, Kaplan testified he heard the woman's voice and "a lot of commotion" near the front gate involving men that he told the court he assumed to be Combs' security guards.
Kaplan testified that he left the company a short time later.
"I was not comfortable being aligned with the physical behavior I had seen pieces of during the course of the months," Kaplan told the court. "Being a party to that kind of stuff."
On cross-examination, Kaplan testified that he kept in touch with Combs after leaving his employ because he liked him.