Cassie Ventura has submitted a harrowing victim impact statement ahead of Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ sentencing, scheduled for Friday.
As per Rolling Stone, the three-page letter urges the judge to impose a sentence reflecting “the truths at hand that the jury failed to see.”
Ventura’s statement accompanies prosecutors’ request for at least 11 years and three months in prison for Combs, following his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. The disgraced music mogul was acquitted of more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges during his eight-week trial.
The 39-year-old singer testified for four days while nine months pregnant with her son, describing over a decade of alleged abuse beginning when she was 19. “Sean Combs used violence, threats, substances, and control over my career to trap me in over a decade of abuse,” Ventura wrote in her statement.
Ventura detailed the disturbing “freak-offs” that allegedly occurred nearly weekly, where she was forced to perform sex acts with hired male sex workers. “I was forced into lingerie and heels, told exactly how to look, and plied with drugs and alcohol so he could control me like a puppet,” she alleged. “These events were degrading and disgusting, leaving me with infections, illnesses, and days of physical and emotional exhaustion.”
The singer described feeling powerless to refuse Combs’ demands. “Refusing meant punishment — losing my car, my phone, or worse. He controlled every part of my livelihood and threatened to destroy my reputation by leaking sex tapes,” she wrote. Ventura also claimed Combs threatened her family and friends when she displeased him.
Beyond psychological control, Ventura alleged brutal physical violence throughout their relationship. “Sean Combs would hit me, punch me, stomp on my face, pull my hair, and throw my body to the ground and against the wall,” she stated. The courtroom viewed footage of a 2016 assault showing Combs kicking and beating Ventura as she attempted to escape.
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Ventura revealed she became addicted to drugs to numb the physical and emotional pain, experiencing thoughts of suicide before family intervention. She continues requiring psychological care and suffers from nightmares and flashbacks. Despite relocating from New York, she maintains a low profile, fearing retaliation from Combs or his associates.
The singer dismissed claims by Combs’ defence team that he has changed and now wishes to counsel others on domestic abuse. “This disgusts me. He is not being truthful,” she wrote. “I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human.”
Ventura noted that Combs only publicly apologised after CNN leaked the 2016 assault footage, having previously denied all abuse allegations when she first sued him in November 2023. “While the jury did not seem to understand or believe that I engaged in freak-offs because of the force and coercion the defendant used against me, I know that is the truth,” she stated.
Combs’ defence team has requested a maximum sentence of 14 months. The judge previously denied Combs bail after his defence admitted during trial that domestic violence occurred.
