NOTE: The following article contains disturbing details and video footage. Please read at your own discretion.
Surveillance video obtained by CNN and shared Friday shows rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs launch a brutal physical assault on his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in 2016.
The footage, dated March 5, 2016, shows Combs, clad in a towel around the waist, chase after Ventura in the hallway of a hotel. The video shows him grab her by the back of the neck and throw her to the floor, before kicking her twice while she is lying on the ground outside a bank of elevators. He is then seen dragging her by her hooded sweatshirt.
Combs walks off as Ventura gathers some items from the floor, but he returns a short time later, shoving her before sitting down in a nearby chair. He then grabs an unidentifiable object from a side table and throws it in her direction before walking away.
According to CNN, the video, caught from multiple angles by surveillance cameras, was captured at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles.
Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, issued a statement shortly after the video was shared by CNN, confirming that the woman in the video is his client.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behaviour of Mr. Combs,” Wigdor said, referencing allegations in a now-settled lawsuit his client brought against the rapper.
“Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light,” Wigdor added.
In November of 2023, Ventura filed a lawsuit against Combs, alleging that he controlled and abused her for more than a decade, including forcing her to have sex with multiple male sex workers while he videotaped the encounters.
Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, met Combs in 2005 when she was just 19, the lawsuit said. The pair started dating and allegedly it wasn’t long before the rap mogul began a pattern of control and abuse.
In 2018, the suit said, Combs forced his way into her home and raped her. It was then that she left the relationship.
The suit also claimed that Combs blew up another rapper’s car who expressed interest in Ventura, forced her to find male prostitutes to have sex with while Combs watched, and repeatedly “punched, beat, kicked and stomped on” her.
“Throughout their relationship Mr. Combs was prone to uncontrollable rage, and frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely,” the suit alleged.
In the filing, Ventura alleged that Combs paid the InterContinental US$50,000 for the security tapes from a physical altercation in March 2016, CNN noted.
During that incident, Ventura’s complaint claimed, Combs became “extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye.”
When he eventually fell asleep, Ventura tried to leave the hotel room — but Combs woke up and allegedly “followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her.”
“He grabbed at her, and then took glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her, causing glass to crash around them as she ran to the elevator to escape,” the lawsuit read.
“Upon realizing that her running away would cause Mr. Combs to be even angrier with her, and completely stuck in his vicious cycle of abuse, Ms. Ventura returned to the hotel with the intention of apologizing for running away from her abuser,” it stated.
“When she returned, hotel security staff urged her to get back into a cab and go to her apartment, suggesting that they had seen the security footage showing Mr. Combs beating Ms. Ventura and throwing glass at her in the hotel hallway.”
The lawsuit was resolved just one day after it was filed, with Ventura agreeing to an undisclosed settlement.
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However, at least five other lawsuits have been filed in the time since, with others accusing Combs of sexual misconduct, rape and other illegal activity.
Combs previously denied Ventura’s allegations and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in the other suits filed against him, which remain active.
On March 25, Combs’ luxury homes were raided by Homeland Security agents on, and numerous sources came forward to media outlets saying the rap mogul is under federal investigation for sex trafficking.
Two properties owned by Combs in Los Angeles and Miami were searched. Footage taken by an ABC7 news helicopter showed agents in bulletproof vests entering the Los Angeles mansion and staying on the property for hours seizing evidence.
Footage obtained by Global News at the time showed police dogs and agents in Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) jackets searching Combs’ Miami Beach mansion. Huge boxes of evidence were seen being loaded into vans.
Federal agents also stopped him at a Miami-area airport and seized his electronic devices.
Aaron Dyer, an attorney for Combs, issued a statement at the time, calling the searches a “gross overuse of military-level force.”
— With files from Global News’ Kathryn Mannie
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If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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