Diddy's ex-assistant says she was threatened, kidnapped in effort to help kill Cudi

NEW YORK CITY - Sean "Diddy" Combs, one of the most influential figures in music and business over the last three decades, is standing trial on sweeping federal charges. 

Prosecutors allege Combs physically and sexually abused individuals for over a decade as the acting leader of a sordid empire. Prosecutors also allege Combs used force and coercion to get victims to engage in what he called "Freak Offs," which were often recorded and could last days.

What's happening on Tuesday?

Diddy's former assistant, Capricorn Clark, took the stand, becoming the third former assistant to testify as a government witness against him. Clark was also a member of Combs' marketing team.

In her testimony, Clark claims she was threatened her with death on her first day on the job and later kidnapped her at gunpoint to join him in an effort to kill rapper Kid Cudi.

Capricorn was the only witness to take the stand Tuesday.

Her testimony comes after Rapper Kid Cudi testified Thursday that Diddy broke into his Hollywood Hills home in 2011 after finding out he was dating Combs' ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, and said he was sure Combs was behind the firebombing of his car weeks later.

Speaking at Combs' trial, Cudi said while he and Cassie were briefly dating, he took her to a West Hollywood hotel in order to get her away from the seething Combs. While there, he said, he got a call from Clark. She told him Combs and an affiliate were in Cudi's house, and she had been forced to go with them.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said they also expect to call witnesses from the Los Angeles police and fire departments.

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4 p.m.

Assistant might have been on three-way call with Lauren London, Cassie

Capricorn previously testified that Diddy forced her to accompany him to Kid Cudi’s home in 2011 after allegedly threatening to kill the rapper.

On cross-examination, Diddy’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, asked if she recalled telling investigators she was on a three-way call when she phoned Cassie outside the house. Capricorn said that was incorrect.

Through tears, she testified that Lauren London was not on the line with Cassie. Instead, Capricorn said she had called London first because "she was the only one who was sort of in our orbit… and I wanted someone to know where I was in case this all went really bad… I needed someone to be aware."

She told the court she considered running but was too afraid of mountain lions in the area.

11:49 a.m. 

Diddy's former assistant Capricorn Clark says she was kidnapped to help kill Kid Cudi

Clark says she was threatened with death her first day on the job and was later kidnapped at gunpoint in an effort to help kill Kid Cudi. 

She says Diddy came to her house with a gun in his hand and demanded that she get dressed and leave with him. 

She claims they rode in a black Cadillac to Cudi's LA home where Diddy and a security aide entered Cudi's home while she sat in the car and called Cassie. 

Clark said while she waited in the Escalade outside Cudi’s home, she called Cassie on her burner phone and told her that Combs "got me with a gun and brought me to Cudi’s house to kill him."

Clark said she heard Cudi in the background of the call asking, "He’s in my house?" She told Cassie, "Stop him, he’s going to get himself killed."

When Diddy and his bodyguard returned to the car, Diddy grabbed the phone from her and asked her who she was talking to. 

They then heard Cudi's car coming up the road and chased him, before giving up when they passed police cars that were heading for Cudi’s house.

After the break-in, Clark said, Combs told the people with him that they had to convince Cudi "it wasn’t me."

"If you don’t convince him of that, I’ll kill all you," he said, punctuating his threat with an expletive, according to Clark.

She said she was only weeks into the job when she was tasked with some diamond jewelry that went missing.

As a result, she said, she was taken to a largely empty building in Manhattan where, over a five-day stretch, she was repeatedly given a lie detector test by a man who seemed five times larger than her own size.

"He said: ‘If you fail this test they’re going to throw you in the East River,’" she recalled.

What happened last week?

• Jurors heard from a dozen witnesses, as prosecutors sought to prove sex trafficking and racketeering.
• Rapper and actor Kid Cudi was on the witness stand. So was singer Dawn Richard, formerly of the group Danity Kane.

• In addition, there was more testimony from witnesses who said they saw Combs beating his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie.
• Jurors also heard testimony about guns, extortion and a car being set on fire.

What is Diddy charged with?

Federal prosecutors have charged Combs with a series of crimes including:

• Count 1: Racketeering Conspiracy. Count One charges that, from at least in or about 2004 through in or about 2024, the defendant participated in a racketeering conspiracy during which he agreed with other employees and associates of his businesses to commit kidnapping, arson, bribery of a witness, obstruction of justice, drug distribution, forced labor, sex trafficking, and transportation for purposes of engaging in prostitution.
• Count 2: Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud, or Coercion. Count Two charges the defendant with sex trafficking an adult female victim through force, fraud, and coercion between ~2009 and ~2018.
• Count 3: Transportation to Engage in Prostitution. Count Three charges the defendant with transporting that female victim and male commercial sex workers to engage in prostitution between ~2009 and ~2018.
• Count 4: Sex trafficking. Count Four charges the defendant with sex trafficking a second adult female victim through force, fraud, and coercion between ~2021 and ~2024.
• Count 5: Transportation to Engage in Prostitution. Count Five charges the defendant with transporting that second female victim and male commercial sex workers to engage in prostitution between ~2021 and ~2024.

He also faces more than 60 lawsuits from alleged victims.

Cassie says in a lawsuit that Combs subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, signed to Combs' label in 2005, and the two were on-again-off-again romantic partners for more than a decade starting in 2007. The lawsuit filed in federal court says Combs was "prone to uncontrollable rage" and subjected her to "savage" beatings. It says he plied her with drugs, forced her to have sex with other men, and raped her in her home as she was trying to end the relationship in 2018. Combs, through his attorney, "vehemently denies" the accusations.

If convicted, the 55-year-old Diddy could face 15 years to life in prison.

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