It’s a disturbing one Video that the American TV channel CNN published on Friday. You can see a young woman in a hoodie in a hotel hallway; she is obviously on the way to the elevator with her suitcase and bag. Shortly afterwards, a man can be seen, wearing only a towel, sprinting after the young woman. In front of the elevator he hits her in the neck from behind and throws her to the ground. Then: a kick to the back. The attacker picks up his suitcase and bag – then: another kick, this time to the thigh. He then drags the woman by her sweater back into the hotel hallway.
The man in the video, recorded in 2016, according to CNN, is entertainment mogul Sean Combs – known by the stage name P. Diddy. The woman is his then-partner Cassie Ventura.
She filed a lawsuit in November 2023: She became part of the rapper’s inner circle in 2005 after Combs signed the then 19-year-old as a musician. In the statement of claim, which is available to the SZ, she describes the music mogul’s dissolute and criminal lifestyle: how she was controlled by Combs and raped by him in 2018. What she also describes: an incident in March 2016 in a hotel near Los Angeles, and the really scary thing: how much what is in this lawsuit describes what can be seen in the video that has now been published.
“Ms. Ventura tried to leave the hotel room,” it says, for example: “As she was leaving, Mister Combs woke up, called out to her and followed her into the hotel hallway.” This encounter then took place in front of the elevator, the punches and the kicks. The indictment continues: “He grabbed her and threw her; then he took glass vases that had been standing in the hotel hallway and threw them at her (…) while she tried to escape to the elevator.”
It’s all in this video: Ventura appears to be trying to get help over the hotel phone; However, Combs, who had left Ventura on the floor and marched toward the hotel room with the luggage, returns and does exactly what the indictment says: He hurls a vase toward Ventura.
“Evidence of Mister Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior”
Combs and Ventura settled out of court on the charges, and Combs’ attorney, Aaron Dyer, emphasized several times at the time that this settlement was in no way meant to be viewed as an admission of guilt by his client – but rather as an attempt to avoid washing dirty laundry. But now there is this video, about which Ventura’s attorney Douglas Wigdor told CNN: “This stomach-churning video is further evidence of Mister Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior.”
Combs had denied the allegations against him, and in December he published a statement on Instagram that said: “Enough is enough. (…) There are a few disgusting allegations being made against me by people hoping for a quick payday. Let me make one thing clear: I did not do any of the terrible things that I am accused of.”
Several lawsuits against P. Diddy
Ventura’s lawsuit wasn’t the only one against Combs: music producer Rodney “Lil’ Rod” Jones accused him of killing him during the production of the record “The Love Album: Off the Grid” (released in September), according to a lawsuit filed in February ) was forced to consume drugs and have sexual acts with prostitutes. In the indictment he describes him as “the leader of a dangerous and, above all, far-reaching human trafficking ring.”
That lawsuit led to others: A woman accuses Combs of being raped by him when he was 17; another that Combs flew her to New York in a private jet, filled her with alcohol and drugs and raped her with two companions. Her age at the time: 17 years.
The detail about the private jet and New York was particularly interesting: legally, this can be considered human trafficking. If someone transports a minor from one US state to another with the purpose of performing sexual acts on her, federal authorities take action. That led to raids on Combs’ homes in Miami, New York and Los Angeles in April. The other allegations: drug smuggling, prostitution, human trafficking, sexual assault, weapons possession and gun violence. 25-year-old Brendan Paul was arrested at Miami airport with cocaine and marijuana in his bag. It is said to have been Combs’ drug and weapons pack mule.
As of now, Combs is a free man; So far, neither he nor his lawyer Dryer have responded to inquiries about the video.