Ex-assistant testifies Combs wanted to kill Kid Cudi over Cassie relationship

Clark implied that Ventura “had talent,” but not quite to Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey levels.

When the defense pushed Clark to evaluate Ventura’s singing ability, the witness said she wasn’t a Whitney- or Mariah-level talent, but more of a studio artist.

Clark said she’d seen Ventura live a handful of times and Combs’ then-girlfriend might have underperformed due to nerves. She also said that around 2016 she thought that drug use was taking a toll on Ventura’s career.

Earlier in her direct testimony, Clark offered new details on Combs’ attempt to confront Kid Cudi in December 2011 and why Combs left.

She told the court that after she called Cassie Ventura to let her know Combs broke into Kid Cudi’s home, Combs got into the car and left the residence. They were driving away from the home when Combs spotted Kid Cudi traveling in the other direction, Clark said.

Combs chased Kid Cudi in the vehicle until he heard sirens headed in the direction of Kid Cudi’s home, when Clark told the court Combs pulled himself together and drove to a stop at a club on Sunset Boulevard.

The government’s lead prosecutor, Maurene Comey, asked Subramanian if lunches could go longer than the currently allotted half-hour.

The judge asked if that would slow the jury getting all the evidence by his goal of July 4, but Comey said testimony has been moving ahead of schedule.

Comey predicted the government would rest after five weeks rather than six as earlier planned.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed jurors until 1 p.m. ET, when they’ll return for more cross-examination of Capricorn Clark.

The former assistant has given detailed testimony about Combs and his relationships with Ventura and employees of the rapper’s vast business interests.

Clark began to cry under cross-examination after she was asked about working hard for Combs and whether she believed in the work she was doing.

Combs’ former employee told the court that she learned a lot from Combs, especially as someone who didn’t finish her college education. She said she considered it another form of business school.

Clark said that Combs was tenacious and broke glass ceilings.

Clark told the court that she was locked up in an office for around 40 hours while being subjected to lie detector tests about missing jewelry.

She testified under cross-examination that she was hooked up to the polygraph at about 10 a.m. and wouldn’t be finished until about 5 or 6 p.m. Clark said she would take the test, it would be taken for review, and she would keep taking the test until Combs cleared her five days later.

Asked by defense attorney Marc Agnifilo whether she reported to human resources that she was locked in a building while she took lie detector tests over the course of five days, Clark said she did not.

Combs and Cassie Ventura would have both benefited from splitting up long before they did, the witness said.

“Yes, they were toxic as a couple,” Clark said during the cross-examination by defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo.

The defense has sought to downplay violence inflicted on Ventura by Combs, by implying that troubling acts within the relationship were consensual or motivated by jealously.

Combs fired Clark, she said, for her allegedly failing to inform him about Cassie Ventura dating Kid Cudi.

“I lost everything,” Clark said, ticking off a list of employment benefits such as health insurance and a 401(k).

Clark said Combs gave her a 30-day notice in 2012: “He said I would never work again and all these people weren’t my friends and he would make me kill myself.”

Clark came back to Combs’ world in 2016, working as Ventura’s creative director.

Combs questioned Clark about how much she knew regarding Cassie Ventura’s relationship with Kid Cudi, Clark told the court.

He was angry and upset, wanting to know when Clark knew about the pair and why she didn’t tell him about it, Clark testified.

Combs told her, “I should kill you b—-es,” Clark said.

In the aftermath of the Kid Cudi incident, Combs brutally beat and kicked Cassie Ventura, prompting Clark to make a desperate call to Ventura’s mother, the witness said.

When no one in Combs’ inner circle would step in to stop the beating, Clark said she had no other option but to call Regina Ventura.

Clark recalled telling the elder Ventura: “He’s beating the s— out of your daughter. I’m in over my head. Please help her. I can’t call the police, but you can.”

Combs repeatedly kicked and beat Cassie Ventura, as he wore only a robe and underwear, after she arrived at his home following the Kid Cudi break-in, Clark tearfully testified.

Clark told the court that Combs came at Cassie “100% full force,” repeatedly kicking his former girlfriend while she crouched more and more into a fetal position. Cassie was crying quietly as Combs kicked her in the back over and over again, Clark said.

Combs’ former employee struggled to speak while recounting the incident to the court, testifying that Cassie was only a few feet away from her at the time.

Clark said Combs told her if she intervened, he would attack her next. She added that no one on Combs’ security team intervened to stop the attack.

Clark told the court that she was sitting in a car at Kid Cudi’s home when Combs accessed the main door of the rapper’s property.

She called Cassie Ventura from the car and told her that Combs came to Cudi’s home to kill the rapper, Clark testified. She said that Combs came back to the car and asked to see her phone, calling the last number on the call history.

Clark said Combs ordered her to call Cassie to let her know Combs had her and that he wasn’t going to let Clark go until Cassie came. Cassie calmly agreed, Clark testified, and Clark went to pick her up.

They returned together to Combs’ home where Combs allegedly told them not to speak to the police and urged them to convince Cudi to not tell the police he was involved.

Clark recalled the morning of Dec. 22, 2011, when Combs banged on her apartment door, as her enraged boss said they were going to confront rapper Kid Cudi, real name Scott Mescudi.

Clark said Combs was visibly furious, his pants split at the crotch, as he paced back and forth with a firearm.

“He just said, ‘Get dressed, we’re going to go kill Mescudi,'” Clark testified. “The gun was in his hand.”

The witnesses’ testimony could be crucial to the government’s racketeering case, if prosecutors can show Combs marshaling his company’s resources for use in a criminal action.

Kid Cudi had earlier testified to Combs’ rage when he learned that Ventura was seeing him.

The burner phone that Cassie Ventura used to contact Scott Mescudi, also known as Kid Cudi, was purchased at Clark’s urging, she told the court.

She said that she picked up Cassie one day and Cassie asked Kid Cudi to join them, which Clark thought was a bad idea. Clark testified that she was concerned that Cassie was texting her on a phone paid for by Combs and that it wasn’t a good idea.

Clark took Cassie to Best Buy to buy a new phone because she feared that Cassie was “going to get us all killed,” Clark testified.

Clark recalled a 2006 incident at Combs’ Miami home when he forcefully shoved her, the witness said.

Capricorn Clark used her hands in a shoving motion when describing how an enraged Combs allegedly pushed her around while saying, “If you hate it here, get the f— out of my house.”

“That was crossing my boundary,” a tearful Clark told jurors of the incident.

There were times when Combs asked Clark to obtain drugs on his behalf, including illicit substances as well as prescription medication, she testified.

Clark told the court that while Combs usually obtained drugs on his own, she was sometimes asked to get substances for him. She said Combs once asked her to get him cocaine while they were in the south of France in 2006.

He also asked her to get prescription drugs in her name and that he would pay for it, Clark said.

Combs once forced Cassie Ventura to obediently move at his command in front of other women, Clark said.

She recalled a 2010 interaction with Combs at his Los Angeles home when he questioned why she didn’t have a boyfriend.

That’s when Combs summoned girlfriend Cassie Ventura into the room and had her sit down, stand up and turn around on command, Clark said. Combs then allegedly added that: “You b—-es don’t want to do that and that’s why you don’t have a man.”

Part of Clark’s job was to set up hotel rooms for Combs, which she told the court required drugs and an intravenous drip.

She said she would unpack his clothing and make sure his personal belongings were in place, which included baby oil and a small camera. Part of the setup required a toiletry bag with drugs such as ecstasy, Clark said.

Combs also required IV drips for himself and Cassie, which he said contained something similar to serotonin supplements and would help them recover from the drug use.

Clark lost hair and barely slept due to the 24-hour stress of her job working for Combs, the former assistant said.

For a $55,000 salary, Clark said she regularly worked from 7 a.m. to 4 a.m. doing everything from research to fetching dry cleaning and food.

The witness said she even suffered from stress-related alopecia, the clinical term for hair loss, due to her boss’s nonstop demands.

After three pieces of jewelry went missing, Clark told the court she was told she wasn’t free to leave until she passed a lie detector test.

The first test was inconclusive and she was threatened again with being thrown into the East River by the man administering the polygraph, Clark said. She was brought home and forced back the next day, saying she was told by Combs’ security she was not free to leave until she was cleared of any wrongdoing.

It took five days of taking the test, she said. She did not want to take the tests, but she wanted to get through the ordeal and prove her innocence.

Clark told the court that Combs once accused her of stealing three pieces of high-end jewelry that he had been given on loan and subjected her to a lie detector test when it went missing.

She testified that Combs had tasked her with bringing the jewelry to Teterboro Airport, but she didn’t realize the items were gone until they were at the airport. Clark told the court that she was brought to an office she didn’t recognize in New York City after being questioned for hours on the matter.

A heavy-set man on the sixth floor of the building told her she was there to take a lie detector test and that if she failed, he would throw her into the East River, she said.

George Kaplan, another former assistant who worked for Combs, testified last week that he was also ordered to take a lie detector test on two different occasions during his employment.

The defendant once made a vague threat regarding 50 Cent, according to Clark.

After Combs and 50 Cent finished doing press for MTV, the defendant told his manager that he was having an issue with the rapper, real name Curtis Jackson, Clark said.

Combs punctuated the chat with, “I like guns,” the witness said.

Combs’ former employee described how she was once in fear for her life after he threatened to kill her while discussing Suge Knight.

Clark, Combs and Combs’ head of security Uncle Paulie were walking through Central Park in New York City when Combs brought up Knight. Clark described Combs’ calm demeanor in expressing his anger over learning that she had once worked for the Death Row Records kingpin.

When the prosecution asked Clark if she took this threat as serious, she said, “Very serious.”

Capricorn Clark, Combs’ former employee, has been called to testify by the government.

Clark said she started at Bad Boy Records in 2004 and worked for Combs until 2020. She also served as Cassie Ventura’s creative director until 2018, she told the court.

Court is now in session, marking the 10th day of Combs’ trial.

Sean Combs has arrived at court, hugging one of his defense attorneys, Teny Geragos, as we prepare to begin week three.

While Sean Combs’ federal trial has been rife with drama, cringe and explosive comments, lawyers not involved in the case say prosecutors have yet to prove that the music mogul is guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

About a dozen people have taken the stand so far in the trial, which will enter its third week today.

“I’m not seeing the development of a racketeering enterprise,” veteran criminal defense attorney Tama Beth Kudman said. “I’m not seeing the thread that creates an enterprise with a unified purpose.”

Read the full story here.

On Thursday, when the trial was last in session, rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, testified about his relationship with Cassie Ventura and the abusive nature of her relationship with Sean Combs. 

Cudi also testified that his car was torched with a Molotov cocktail after his relationship with Ventura ended, and he suspected Combs was involved. 

He said he and Ventura stopped seeing each other, noting, “The drama was too out of hand, and to give her some space.”

Combs’ former assistant, George Kaplan, also returned to the stand Thursday. He described his duties, which included cleaning up liquor bottles and baby oil from hotel rooms. 

Today will mark the 10th day of testimony, and lawyers and the judge are cautiously optimistic about meeting their goal of turning this case over to jurors by the Fourth of July.

“As long as defense stays to a week, I think that’s (July 4) fair,” lead prosecutor Maurene Comey told the judge just before adjournment last week.

The case got off to a slow start with the extended questioning of the defendant’s former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, but the pace has been picking up.

Capricorn Clark, a former assistant of defendant Sean Combs, and personnel from the Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments are set to take the witness stand today, prosecutors have said.

Clark might be called to testify about what she saw or knows about an alleged break-in by Combs at Kid Cudi’s home in late 2011.