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Sean Combs threatened to release explicit videos of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura online, and use them to get her parents fired from their jobs, according to Ventura’s friend, the celebrity stylist Deonte Nash.
Testifying at Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial Wednesday, May 28, Nash — who spent 10 years working for Combs — claimed that Combs made this threat after confronting Ventura at her apartment sometime in 2013 or 2014. Nash said that Combs came to the apartment, took her into the bedroom to speak with her, and when they came out, Combs “grabbed her by the hair and the back of her shirt” and demanded she leave the house.
Nash said Combs demanded he leave the house, too, and got physical with him. “He was more so popping me in the back of the head cause I don’t have hair, and grabbing me by the shirt,” he said.
Combs continued to “berate” Nash and Ventura outside before finally letting Ventura and Nash drive away, Nash said. But not long after, Nash said, Combs called and demanded they pull over. Combs allegedly walked to the window of the car and started telling Ventura he would release explicit videos of her “on schedule,” starting with sending them to her parents’ jobs. Nash claimed that Combs told Ventura that he was “the only one that protected her.
Nash said that Ventura was crying when the finally drove away, adding that he tried to encourage her by daring Combs to release the tapes because he’d be on them to. Nash said that Ventura then told him Combs wasn’t “on the videos” because “it was him taping her with other guys.”
Nash then claimed that Ventura told him she didn’t want to have sex with these other men, but did so “because Puff wanted her to.”
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Originally hired as an intern in the fashion department at Bad Boy Entertainment in 2008, Nash spent a decade working for Combs, eventually becoming a stylist for the mogul and Ventura (he stopped working for them in 2018). During that time, Nash testified, he was “around every day” and grew particularly close with Ventura.
Combs gave Nash an up-and-down as the stylist arrived in court Wednesday, dressed in all white. Notably, Nash was testifying under subpoena, and the first question he was asked by prosecutors was whether he wanted to be there. Nash bluntly replied, “Absolutely not.”
In between the more severe and serious moments of his testimony, too, Nash kept things light and occasionally answered questions with a quippy retort. Early on, the prosecution showed Nash an old photo of himself, asking if it was an accurate picture. Nash replied, “No,” and when asked if it was a glamor shot, said, “Yes, I look amazing.”
Later, during his cross-examination, Nash admitted to smoking weed before a meeting with prosecutors (it was cut short, after he fessed up). And when Combs’ defense attorney, Xavier Donaldson, asked Nash about his relationship with “Mrs. Ventura,” which prompted Nash to correct him: “Mrs. Fine.” (Ventura married Alex Fine in 2019, with the couple just welcoming their third child.)
At one point, Nash even returned from a break wearing a new jacket and remarking, “It is freezing in here, how do y’all do this all day?”
While on the stand, Nash said he heard Combs verbally abuse Ventura, threaten to “beat her ass,” and call her names. He said Combs referred to Ventura as “baby girl, CC, bitch, slut, hoe,” and when asked how frequently Combs called Ventura “bitch,” Nash replied, “Often. That was his fave.”
When Combs threatened to beat her, Nash continued, Ventura would get “super emotional,” adding, “She would cry, sometimes she would just stay in the house for days and go in a cocoon.”
On top of the verbal threats, Nash said he saw Combs attack Ventura “in a rage” in 2013 when he was helping Ventura pack for a trip. (Ventura also mentioned this alleged incident during her own testimony.) Nash said, that Combs arrived at Ventura’s apartment, grabbed her hair, and began to kick and hit her. Nash said that he and another former employee, Mia (also known as Victim-4 in the indictment), were both present and tried to jump on Combs’ back, but he threw them both off.
Nash claimed that Combs finally stopped when he saw blood. “He just panicked,” Nash said. Nash added that Combs then told them, “Look what y’all made me do.”
Another alleged attack occurred in 2015, with Nash claiming he saw Combs slap Ventura across the face outside a music studio, then tell her, “Get this bitch out of her.” Nash said Ventura was crying as he took her away.
Over the course of their friendship, Nash testified that he saw bruises on Ventura’s legs, arms, and neck “quite often.” In 2016, while FaceTiming Ventura as she got ready to attend the premiere of her film, The Perfect Match, Nash said he noticed that she had a black eye. At the event itself, Nash continued, he “could see then lack eye under the makeup.”
Later, Nash testified that he often saw Ventura packing travel bags filled with sex toys ahead of freak offs. According to Nash, Ventura expressed her reluctance to him about participating in the highly-choreographed encounters, but told Nash she did so because Combs wanted her to.
One alleged instance Nash recalled occured on Ventura’s 29th birthday. Nash testified that Combs and Ventura were arguing at dinner, with Combs allegedly telling Ventura he did everything for her, but she couldn’t do “this one thing.” Nash later said Ventura told him Combs was angry “because I don’t want to go to the hotel and ‘freak off’ with him.”
(Ventura also testified to leaving her party with Combs, instead of going to sing karaoke with her friends. And in 2023, songwriter Tiffany Red wrote about the night for Rolling Stone, claiming Combs and his security guards allegedly “cornered” Ventura and “forced” her to leave.)
Nash also testified to the alleged control Combs wielded over every aspect of Ventura’s life, with a particular focus on how Combs allegedly stymied her music career. While signed to Bad Boy, Ventura released just one solo album (2006’s Cassie) and a 2013 mixtape (RockaByeBaby).
Nash said he often saw Ventura making and recording new music, but that Combs also frequently threatened not to release any of it. Once, Nash claimed he heard Combs tell Ventura that if he heard from her “smart ass mouth,” then “her little mixtape won’t come out.” Nash also he was “being generous” when he estimated that just “10 percent” of the music Ventura made ever saw the light of day.
Beyond music, Nash testified that on at least two occasions, Combs forbid Ventura from going out with Nash. He recalled one night where he and Ventura were supposed to go to a gay club, only for Combs to call Ventura and demand she come meet him. On a separate phone call, Nash said he spoke to Combs, claiming the mogul told him, “Every time you go out, that bitch wants to go out, too.”
Nash took that to mean he also wasn’t allowed to go out, adding that Ventura then packed her stuff and went over to Combs’ house.
According to Nash, Combs also wielded heavy control over how Ventura was dressed and styled. Nash said that Combs even confronted him once, at a Vanity Fair party in 2014, over how Ventura’s hair was done. Nash testified that Combs had wanted Ventura’s hair up, but her hair was down. While Nash said he thought Ventura looked “bomb,” Combs got mad, reprimanded Nash, and allegedly grabbed Nash by his jacket and lifted him up in the air.
After rushing to find hair pins, Nash said Combs, Ventura, and another style, Derek Roche, went into a bathroom to pin-up Ventura’s hair. When they came out, Nash said, Combs admitted that Ventura’s hair looked better down.
During his cross-examination, Nash added that Combs was not as involved with other Bad Boy artists, who “kinda did their own thing.” Asked if there was anyone approving the looks of other artists, Nash quipped, “Not that I know of because some of them looked terrible.”
Despite everything he testified to witnessing, Nash was frank about his feelings towards Combs as his direct examination ended. “I don’t hate him,” Nash said. “I mean, I don’t, it’s just not in me.” And while Nash has remained close with Ventura, he also said he sometimes spoke with Combs over text or phone, describing their changes as “loving.”
While Nash’s testimony took up most of the day, in the morning the jury heard from police and fire officials, brought in to corroborate the claims that Combs broke into Kid Cudi’s home and firebombed his car because he was jealous of Cudi’s relationship with Ventura. This led to one of the trial’s more remarkable moments, when Los Angeles Fire Department investigator Lance Jimenez testified that fingerprint evidence taken from Cudi’s home after the alleged break-in had been destroyed, meaning it could not be compared with prints taken after the alleged firebombing.
Combs’ lawyers quickly objected, and during a break, with the jury out of the room, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo called the prosecution’s line of questioning “outrageous” and demanded a mistrial. Judge Arun Subramanian rebuffed the request, calling it “absolutely unwarranted.” But when the jury returned, Judge Subramanian did tell them to disregard the question and answers related to the destruction of the finger prints, calling them “irrelevant to this case and this defendant.”
This story is developing
From Rolling Stone US
