Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs ‘kidnapped aide at gunpoint’ to confront rival rapper Kid Cudi, court hears
Sean “Diddy” Combs kidnapped a former aide at gunpoint to join him as he attempted to confront love rival rapper Kid Cudi, his sex-trafficking trial has been told.
Capricorn Clark, who worked for the Bad Boy Records co-founder in different roles on and off for several years, told the court he banged on her door and told her: “Get dressed, we’re going to kill Mescudi.”
Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, last week testified himself about the alleged incident in December 2011.
Ms Clark became tearful a few times as she gave evidence – which marked the start of the third week of the high-profile trial. She told the court her situation working for the hip-hop mogul was “complicated”.
Combs, 55, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, is accused of subjecting his former long-term partner Cassie and others to years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: Day 10 – as it happened
Ms Clark became tearful a few times as she gave evidence. Pic: Jane Rosenberg via Reuters
While giving her own evidence in the first week of the trial, Cassie told jurors she dated Cudi briefly during a difficult period in her on-off relationship with Combs.
On Tuesday, Ms Clark said she warned Cassie about seeing Cudi, saying she took her to buy a burner phone as she thought it could be dangerous given how Combs might react. “The way she was moving, she was going to get us all killed,” Ms Clark said.
Combs arrived at her home with a gun in his hand on the morning of the attempted confrontation with Cudi, she told the court, and looked “furious”.
She says she told him she did not want to go with him, to which he allegedly replied: “I don’t give a f**k what you want to do.”
Rapper Kid Cudi gave evidence last week. Pic: AP/ Richard Drew
Ms Clark said she had never seen “anything like this before”, but got dressed and left with Combs in a black Cadillac to head to the property in the Hollywood Hills.
She said she waited in the car as Combs went into the residence, and called Cassie to warn her. The rapper had her “with a gun and brought me to Cudi’s house to kill him”, she said she told her.
Cudi could be heard in the background of the call, she said, asking: “He’s in my house?”
After the incident, Ms Clark alleged Combs warned her and Cassie not to speak to police and threatened to “kill all you” if they did not convince Cudi not to either.
In the aftermath of this incident, Ms Clark alleged Combs “came at” Cassie with “100% full force”, repeatedly kicking her while she crouched “more and more” into a foetal position and cried “silently”.
The rapper told Ms Clark that if she tried to intervene, “he was going to f**k me up too”, she said.
Diddy’s mother Janice Combs was in court to support him again. Pic: Reuters
Earlier in her testimony, she told the court about the start of her employment with Combs and his label Bad Boy Records in 2004.
She said after he discovered she had previously worked for Marion “Suge” Knight’s Death Row Records – the West Coast rival to East Coast Bad Boy – he told her “if anything happened, he would have to kill me”.
Ms Clark said she perceived this as a “very serious” threat. She also told the court about another alleged incident just a few weeks into the job, when some diamond jewellery on loan to Combs went missing.
She told the court she was taken to a building in Manhattan and forced to repeatedly take lie detector tests over five days.
Combs with his legal team before court began for the day. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
The man who carried out the test told her that if she failed, “they’re going to throw you in the East River”, she said.
Combs was not present for the tests and never spoke to her about them, she said, when questioned by defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo.
During her testimony, Ms Clark mentioned an incident involving fellow rapper 50 Cent’s manager, after both 50 Cent and Combs had done interviews for MTV.
Combs mentioned to the manager that they had some issues and told him, “I like guns”, she said, which she perceived as a vague threat.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the Sean Combs trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
Ms Clark also described attempting to leave Combs’s home in Miami on one occasion in 2006, when she was allegedly told to “get the f**k back here” by the rapper.
According to Ms Clark, he told her: “Your problem is you want a life, and you can’t have that here.”
The trial continues tomorrow, with evidence expected from LA police and fire officers.
If convicted, Combs could face between 15 years and life in prison.
US
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s ex Cassie gives birth two weeks after testifying against him – as his bid for mistrial is dismissed
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s ex-partner has given birth two weeks after testifying against him – as his legal team failed in a bid to declare a mistrial.
Cassie Ventura gave birth to her third child with partner Alex Fine after going into labour on Tuesday, a close source told Sky’s US partner network NBC News on Wednesday.
The news was later confirmed by her friend and former stylist Deonte Nash, who told Diddy‘s trial that he last spoke to her “after she had the baby yesterday [Tuesday]”.
Diddy trial day eleven – as it happened
Combs, 55, is accused of two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and one of conspiring to racketeer. He denies all the charges.
Cassie had given evidence while she was more than eight months pregnant. The 38-year-old told the trial that Diddy subjected her to physical, sexual and mental abuse for much of their 11-year relationship.
She alleged he forced her into “hundreds” of drug-fuelled sex sessions with male escorts while he watched, which he referred to as “freak offs”.
News of the birth came on the same day Combs’s legal team tried in vain to get the judge to declare a mistrial.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs depicted in a court sketch on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Diddy and Cassie at an event in 2016. Pic: zz/JMA/STAR MAX/IPx/AP
Alexandra Shapiro, one of Diddy’s attorneys, moved for the mistrial just before the court broke for lunch, during evidence by Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) arson investigator Lance Jiminez.
According to Ms Shapiro, Mr Jiminez’s claim that police destroyed fingerprint evidence collected at the scene of an alleged 2012 Molotov cocktail attack on rapper Kid Cudi’s car would lead the jury to believe Combs had something to do with it.
She accused the prosecution of “misconduct” and claimed their questioning of Mr Jiminez was “designed to play into that” narrative.
Another of Diddy’s defence lawyers Marc Agnifilo described the prosecution’s conduct as “outrageous”.
However, prosecution attorney Christy Slavik hit back by saying a mistrial was “completely unwarranted”.
She insisted questions about the destruction of evidence were asked to highlight the poor quality of the police investigation.
Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed the motion and instead told jurors to disregard any reference to the fingerprints.
Earlier on Wednesday, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer Chris Ignacio detailed the alleged break-in at Kid Cudi’s home in December 2011.
LAPD officer Chris Igancio is questioned by Diddy’s attorney on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
He was called to the scene and noticed a Cadillac Escalade parked in front of the property, the number plate for which later transpired to be registered to Bad Boy Productions, Diddy’s record label.
During his evidence, Cudi alleged it was Diddy who was behind the break-in.
Rapper Kid Cudi outside court last week. Pic: AP
Mr Jiminez then testified about an alleged Molotov cocktail attack on Cudi’s car the following month.
Having investigated the incident, he concluded it was “not a random act” and that the makeshift firebomb had been placed there deliberately, in line with Cudi’s claims.
LA arson investigator Lance Jiminez is questioned in court. Pic: Reuters
When Diddy and Cassie’s former stylist Mr Nash took to the stand, he detailed several incidents of alleged violence inflicted on the singer by her then partner.
On one occasion, Diddy turned up at her LA flat, “grabbed her by the hair”, “kicked her” and “hit her pretty hard”, he claimed.
A court sketch of Deonte Nash, a former stylist to Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura. Pic: Reuters
When she hit her head on a bed frame, she suffered a gash to her forehead and eyebrow, he said.
Both he and Mia, a second alleged witness, jumped on the rapper’s back to get him to stop, he told the court.
Following another incident when Diddy demanded to see Cassie, she threatened to “go over the balcony”, Mr Nash told the jury.
Diddy was violent towards him too, he said, once choking him against a car and threatening him not to go out with Cassie and without him.
Despite all this, Mr Nash said he “doesn’t hate” Diddy – and that he had been compelled to give evidence as part of a subpoena.
Mia, which is a pseudonym used to protect her identity, was due to start her evidence on Wednesday but Mr Nash’s testimony overran.
He will resume giving evidence on Thursday, with Mia’s evidence due to last until the court breaks for the weekend.
The trial continues.
US
US trade court blocks Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs – claiming he ‘exceeded his authority’
The Trump administration has stopped the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the US while it prepares to expand social media vetting of applicants.
A US official said on Tuesday the suspension is intended to be temporary and does not apply to applicants who already have visa interviews scheduled.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration document.
A downturn in enrolment of international students could hurt university budgets in the US.
To make up for cuts in federal research funding, some colleges previously shifted to enrolling more international students, who often pay full tuition.
Now, an internal cable signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and seen by the Associated Press news agency shows how new student visa interviews are being halted as the US State Department plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting.
The cable says that “in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consulate sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity” until the guidance is issued.
It also says the halting of new visa interviews is “effective immediately”.
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Asked about the suspension at a briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the US uses every available resource to vet people applying for visas.
“We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that’s coming here, whether they are students or otherwise,” Ms Bruce said.
The move, first reported by Politico, is the latest in the White House’s crackdown on international students.
Last week, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, removing the college from the programme that allows schools to sponsor foreign students for visas.
That effort was quickly challenged in court and for now is blocked by a federal judge.
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Harvard foreign student ban blocked
This spring the Trump administration also revoked the legal status of thousands of international students already in the country, leading some to leave the US out of fear of deportation.
After many students filed successful legal challenges, the administration said it was restoring the students’ legal status.
But the government also expanded the grounds for terminating international students’ legal status going forward.
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US President Donald Trump’s previous administration stepped up scrutiny of all visa applicants, introducing reviews of their social media accounts.
The policy remained during President Joe Biden’s administration.
An extended pause in scheduling student visas could lead to delays that may disrupt college, boarding school or exchange students’ plans to enrol in summer and autumn terms.
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