Sean Combs trial updates: Court adjourned until Tuesday after Kid Cudi testimony

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Last updated: Thursday, May 22, 2025 11:36PM GMT
Diddy trial recap: 2nd week of testimony concludes with Kid Cudi's shocking testimony
Diddy trial recap: 2nd week of testimony concludes with Kid Cudi's shocking testimonyEyewitness News team, and ABC News legal contributor Bernarda Villalona breaks down the second week of testimony in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial.

NEW YORK -- The second week of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs began on Monday.

Combs has been accused of sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy as part of a blockbuster federal indictment originally filed in September 2024. He later faced two additional superseding indictments. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

This story may contain accounts and descriptions of actual or alleged events that some readers may find disturbing.

"Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy," a new podcast from "20/20" and ABC Audio, traces how the whispers of abuse came to light and led to the downfall of Sean "Diddy" Combs, who was once among the most influential entertainers and entrepreneurs in hip hop. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more.

(ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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May 22, 2025, 6:14 PM GMT

Makeup artist testifies she allegedly found Cassie Ventura with 'swollen eye,' 'busted lip'

Makeup artist Mylah Morales testified that it was Grammy weekend 2010 when she returned to the Beverly Hills Hotel after a night out with Cassie Ventura.

According to her testimony, Morales fell asleep on the couch but "woke up to a little bit of commotion." Morales told the court that Ventura walked in and headed into the bedroom and Sean Combs entered a moment later.

"Where the f--- is she?" Morales testified an angry Combs asked.

Morales told the court that Combs walked into the bedroom and shut the door. Morales testified that she then heard "yelling and screaming" before Combs allegedly opened the bedroom door and stormed out of the suite.

"I was just frantic and I didn't know what to do," Morales testified. "She had a swollen eye and busted lip and knots on her head," referring to Ventura.

Morales, who testified that she first met Ventura when she was 16 years old, told the court that she took Ventura to her house, where she stayed a few days to recover.

"My friend, who's a doctor, a medical doctor, I asked him to come the next day to make sure she didn't have a concussion," Morales testified. Morales told the court that the doctor suggested Ventura be taken to the emergency room but "it was her wishes not to go to the ER."

Asked why Morales did not insist that Ventura go, Morales replied, "We were very afraid." She testified they were "afraid of Sean."

"I feared for my life," Morales told the court.

Morales and Ventura never again spoke about the alleged incident at the Beverly Hills Hotel, according to Morales' testimony

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May 22, 2025, 11:37 PM GMT

'I knew Sean Combs was violent': Kid Cudi concludes testimony

On cross-examination, Scott Mescudi testified that Cassie Ventura told him about alleged physical abuse she said she suffered at the hands of Sean Combs but that she did not mention sexual abuse.

Defense attorney Brian Steel said both Mescudi and Combs were "played" by the same woman.

"The person who played you, the person who played Sean was Ms. Ventura. True?" Steel asked.

"Yeah," Mescudi replied.

At the conclusion of cross-examination, Steel thanked Mescudi, who responded, "Yeah, no problem."

On re-direct examination, Mescudi testified that Ventura told him that Combs "would hit her, sometimes kick her."

Mescudi told the court that he and Ventura broke up because "things were getting out of hand" and that he felt concerned for his safety and her safety.

"I knew Sean Combs was violent," Mescudi testified, prompting an objection and a sidebar.

During the SoHo House social club meeting in 2012, when, according to Mescudi's earlier testimony, Combs claimed not to know what Mescudi was talking about regarding the firebombing of his car, Mescudi told the jury that he thought Combs "was lying."

Kid Cudi's testimony has concluded. The court is in lunch break.

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May 22, 2025, 4:57 PM GMT

Kid Cudi testified Combs looked 'like a Marvel supervillain' in meeting after car fire

A couple of days after his Porsche was firebombed, Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi, testified that he called Sean Combs.

"I reached out to Sean Combs after my car had caught fire and finally told him we needed to meet up and talk," Mescudi told the court. "He had been wanting to talk to me. After the fire I said, 'this is getting out of hand.'"

When prosecutor Emily Johnson asked why Mescudi called Combs regarding the firebombing of his car, he replied, "I knew he had something to do with it." The defense objected and the judge instructed the jury to disregard the response.

Kid Cudi testifies on the witness stand during Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court May 22, 2025.
Kid Cudi testifies on the witness stand during Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court May 22, 2025.

Mescudi testified that he and Combs arranged to meet at the SoHo House social club in Los Angeles, where Mescudi testified that he saw Sean Combs "standing there staring out the window with his hands behind his back, like a Marvel supervillain." The remark earned a chuckle in the courtroom.

"We discussed the whole story about how me and Cassie first started to date to what it was to how it ended. His whole point was, you know, we were homies. She was my girl. I let him know that she told me they were broken up," Mescudi testified.

Mescudi told the court that Combs' demeanor during their meeting was "very calm," which Mescudi found "off-putting": "It was weird that he was so calm," Mescudi testified.

Mescudi testified that when the meeting ended, "We stood up, shook hands and as I was shaking his hand I said, 'What are we going to do about my car?'"

"He looked right back at me, very cold stare, and said 'I don't know what you're talking about,'' Mescudi told the court.

Mescudi testified that he withdrew his hand, whereupon Combs asked, "I thought we were cool. Do we have a problem?" Mescudi testified that he confirmed that Combs was giving his word that he didn't burn his car.

Mescudi told the court that a couple of years later, he saw Combs again at the SoHo House in Los Angeles.

"He was with his daughter and he pulled me to the side and basically apologized for everything. He said 'Man I just want to apologize for everything, all that b-------,'" Mescudi testified.

"After I got the apology I found peace with it. That was the last thing I was suspecting to get from him," Mescudi testified.

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May 22, 2025, 4:06 PM GMT

Kid Cudi testifies about car being set on fire during his relationship with Cassie Ventura

"Hi," Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi, greeted prosecutor Emily Johnson at the onset of his testimony. "I'm an actor and a musician," he told the court.

Mescudi testified about an alleged break-in at his home in December 2011, when he was in a romantic relationship with Cassie Ventura while she was still in a relationship with Combs.

"I got a call from Cassie around 5:30-6 a.m. She told me that Sean Combs had found out about us. I was confused but she asked me to pick her up. She sounded really stressed on the phone, scared, nervous. So I went to go pick her up," Mescudi testified.

Rapper Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi arrives for the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial at Manhattan Federal Court on May 22, 2025 in New York City.
Rapper Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi arrives for the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial at Manhattan Federal Court on May 22, 2025 in New York City.

Mescudi told the court that he took Ventura to the Sunset Marquis hotel where, he testified, Combs' assistant called, informing him that "Sean Combs was in my house" and she "was forced to go along," referring to the assistant.

Mescudi testified that he drove in his Porsche 911 Cabriolet to the house in which he was living at the time and called Sean Combs while on the way.

"I said, 'm-----------, you in my house?' And he said, 'What's up?'" Cudi told the court. He testified that he asked Combs again, "'Are you in my house? I just want to talk to you. I'm on my way over right now."

When he arrived at home, Mescudi testified that he saw "some gifts I had bought for my family were opened" and that his "dog was locked up in my bathroom." He told the court that the incident left his dog "jittery" and "kind of on edge all the time."

Mescudi said he again called Combs. "I was asking him where he was and he said, 'I'm on my way.'"

Mescudi testified that he thought, "I don't know who he has with him, what his intentions are" so he opted to call the police, who came to the house and took a report about the break-in.

Mescudi also told the court that in 2012, he received an early-morning phone call that "my car was on fire." Asked for his reaction, Kid Cudi responded: "What the f---."

The jury saw photos of Mescudi's damaged Porsche, including the blackened interior door and the charred, melted driver's seat.

"The top of my Porsche was cut open. That's where they inserted the Molotov cocktail," Mescudi testified, adding that he saw the bottle from the Molotov cocktail: "It was kind of burnt up."

Arson is among the predicate acts in the racketeering conspiracy count Combs faces. Cassie Ventura previously testified that Combs allegedly threatened to have Kid Cudi's car blown up when Combs learned of her relationship with Cudi.