Casandra “Cassie” Ventura has broken her silence nearly a week after 2016 hotel surveillance video surfaced of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting her.
“The outpouring of love has created a place where my younger self can settle and feel safe now, but this is just the beginning,” she wrote on Instagram on May 23. “Domestic violence is THE problem. It destroyed me for someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work I am better today, but I will always recover from my past.”
The singer called on people who are now expressing their support to ‘open your hearts to religious victims for the first time’.
Kelly Rowland, Taraji P. Henson, Chloe Bailey and Jeannie Mai were among the many stars who showed their support for Ventura in the comments. Her husband, Alex Fine, wrote: “I love you so much, the perfect example for our daughters.”
Ventura accused Combs of physical abuse, rape and sex trafficking in a November lawsuit that was quickly settled. The rap mogul, who denied the allegations, did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. After the video was published by CNN on May 17, Combs — who kicked, punched and dragged Ventura after she left their hotel room at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Century City, California — posted an apology and took “full responsibility.” for the attack and called his behavior “inexcusable.”
Her legal team rejected his apology. “When Cassie and several other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested his victims were looking for a payday,” said Meredith Firetog, one of her attorneys. “That he only had to ‘apologize’ when his repeated denials were proven to be false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his disingenuous words.”
Over the past week, Combs — who had two of his mansions raided by the FBI in March during a sex trafficking investigation — has seen his legal troubles escalate. Former model Crystal McKinney alleged in a new lawsuit that he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2003.
Since Ventura’s lawsuit last year, four others have filed civil lawsuits against him, alleging sexual assault, sex trafficking and other claims. His lawyer has vowed to “continue to fight every day to clear his name.”
Pending lawsuits against Combs
It’s been nearly two months since Combs had two of his homes raided during a federal sex trafficking investigation. While there are no updates on that case, it is far from his only legal crisis.
After Ventura — who dated Combs for 10 years before splitting in 2018 — filed and settled her explosive lawsuit against him, two other women filed civil lawsuits against him that month, also under the New York Adult Survivors Act. The ASA gave people who said they had experienced sexual abuse a year to take legal action, even though the statute of limitations had expired.
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In a lawsuit filed on November 23, 2023, plaintiff Joi Dickerson-Neal accused Combs of drugging and raping her in New York City in 1991, while she was still in college. She also accused him of engaging in revenge porn, filming the attack and sharing it with people in the music industry. In April, Combs filed a motion to dismiss the sex trafficking charge in the case.
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On the same day that Dickerson-Neal’s case was filed, Liza Gardner also sued Combs, alleging that he and R&B singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her and a friend after they met at a 1990 event at the MCA Records office in New York. Gardner was 16 years old at the time. The lawsuit was amended in March, with Gardner claiming she was “physically forced to have sex with Combs against her will.”
In December, a fourth lawsuit was filed under New York’s Gender-motivated Violence Victims Protection Act, which gave survivors of alleged gender-motivated violence, including sexual abuse, until March 1, 2025 to file claims.
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The accuser, identified as Jane Doe, filed charges against Combs in 2003, when she was 17, for sex trafficking and gang rape. In the Dec. 6 filing, she alleged that Combs and two other men plied her with “large quantities of drugs.” and alcohol,” then raped her in a bathroom at Combs’ studio.
Combs completely denied the allegations, saying he “felt how people tried to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” but “enough is enough.” A fifth lawsuit followed in early 2024.
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On February 26, Combs was sued by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a producer of his 2023 album, for sexual harassment and assault. Jones claimed he was drugged and woke up naked and disoriented in bed with Combs and two sex workers. He also claimed to have witnessed Combs and others “engaged in serious illegal activities,” including sex trafficking and drugging of underage sex workers. Jones amended his lawsuit in March by removing some defendants and banning Cuba Gooding Jr. to add. Combs called Jones’ lawsuit “pure fiction.”
After the video of Combs attacking Ventura was published, a fifth woman sued him.
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On May 21, McKinney filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York under the state’s law protecting victims of gender-motivated violence, alleging that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2003 at his New York City studio. year-old model at the time, also claims that Combs “blackballed” her into the modeling industry.
What happened to Diddy since the raids?
Almost exactly a month after Jones’ trial, Combs’ homes were raided. Here’s everything that’s happened since then.
March 25: Diddy’s homes in LA and on Star Island in Miami Beach, Florida, are raided in connection with a sex trafficking investigation. The only arrest involves Diddy’s assistant, Brendan Paul, for possession of cocaine and marijuana. Jones’ lawsuit alleged that Paul was Combs’ “mule” who acquires and distributes his drugs and weapons.
March 26: Diddy’s attorney denounces Homeland Security’s “gross overuse of military-level force.” Calling it an “unprecedented ambush” and “witch hunt,” he says it “leads to premature hasty judgment” and that “no criminal or civil liability has been identified for these allegations.”
April 2: Misa Hylton — the mother of Combs’ son Justin, who was at his father’s California home when it was raided — shares footage of the raids and rips the government’s “openly militarized force.”
April 3rd: Ventura is reported to be cooperating with the FBI.
April 5th: Diddy shares a clip from his old music video for ‘Victory’ in which he evades the police.
May 12th: Diddy’s son Christian, also a defendant in Jones’ civil lawsuit, releases a “diss” song titled “Pick a Side,” which references the raids.
15 May: Combs posts on Instagram: “Time tells the truth.”
May 16: Combs’ alleged drug mule Paul takes a plea deal to avoid jail time.
May 17: CNN releases hotel surveillance video from 2016 showing Combs punching and kicking Cassie. The Los Angeles district attorney says Combs cannot be prosecuted.
May 19: Combs apologizes two days after the attack video was made public.
Updated May 23, 2024 10:15am ET: This story has been updated to include Ventura speaking out.
