Woman who alleges Combs dangled her from balcony testifies

Bongolan testified under cross-examination that she reconnected with Ventura and worked for her in late 2023, around the time Ventura filed her lawsuit against Combs.

Defense attorneys probed Bongolan about her conversations with Ventura at the time, asking if they discussed filing legal action as they worked. Bongolan said she did speak to Ventura before and after Ventura filed her lawsuit, but the two didn’t discuss it while working.

The pair did discuss the balcony incident in relation to the location and date it happened, Bongolan told the court.

She also testified that Ventura asked if she could use Bongolan’s name in her lawsuit when discussing the incident, but Bongolan said no.

Bongolan testified both she and Ventura had once been very regular drug users when they were in Combs’ social world.

Under cross-examination, Bongolan confirmed she did ketamine, marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and Vicodin in this time of her life. Bongolan said one of her favorite drugs was a blunt with sprinkles of cocaine.

“We had a problem,” she said.

Combs’ attorney Nicole Westmoreland began cross-examination of Bongolan by asking her again about the immunity order she was provided for her testimony.

Westmoreland clarified that the protection against prosecution only works if Bongolan is truthful. She then followed up by asking Bongolan who she understands has the power to decide whether or not she is lying.

The prosecutors, Bongolan answered.

The witness said she sued Comb for $10 million, in order to “seek justice for what happened to me on the balcony.”

When Bongolan was asked by the prosecution if she could give away $10 million for the balcony incident to have never happened, she unequivocally said yes.

After Combs allegedly dangled Bongolan over the balcony, she said she was left with a lasting psychological impact.

Bongolan testified that she had nightmares and used to scream in her sleep. She added that she dealt with feelings of paranoia, sometimes peeking her head out at her own home just to make sure the area was clear.

A day or two after the balcony incident, Bongolan said, she received a FaceTime call from either Combs or someone on his team.

She told the court that she repeatedly stated that she didn’t want to have problems with Combs, but Combs didn’t say much. Bongolan testified that Combs put his hand over his head while looking into the camera.

Ventura was in a nearby room and didn’t witness Combs allegedly dangling Bongolan over the balcony — but she was nonetheless shocked by the incident, the witness said.

“He threw me on the balcony furniture, it definitely hurt, wasn’t sure if she was injured,” Bongolan told the jurors.

“Cassie was in her bedroom but she came out. I heard her voice, her tone was in disbelief.”

Bongolan testified that she was dangled over the 17th story balcony for maybe 10 to 15 seconds while Combs yelled, “you know what the f— you did.”

She said she had no idea what he was talking about and told Combs as much, Bongolan said. Combs allegedly came up behind her and lifted her above his chest to hold her up against the balcony, she told the court.

Bongolan described herself as 5-foot-1 at the time and weighing roughly 100 to 115 pounds. She told the court she was trying not to slip while pushing back on Combs because she was scared she was going to fall.

The courtroom has returned to court after the lunch break and Bongolan is back on the witness stand.

Judge Arun Subramanian declared a recess for lunch, telling jurors to return to court before 1:05 p.m. ET.

When jurors return, they’ll hear more from Ventura’s friend Bongolan and her description of alleged threats made by Combs.

One interaction Bongolan recalled while on the witness stand was a moment in which Combs allegedly told her something along the lines of, “I am the devil and I can kill you.”

She told the court that she was terrified. Bongolan also testified that he had taken cocaine at the time of the incident.

Bongolan testified she witnessed Combs throw a knife at Ventura during a violent outburst at her apartment.

Bongolan didn’t recall the exact year when this incident unfolded, but said it happened in the middle of night at Ventura’s place in Los Angeles.

Ventura picked up the knife and hurled it back at Combs, the witness said. Both their throws missed.  

Bongolan testified that Combs held her over a 17th-story balcony in 2016 before throwing her onto the balcony’s furniture.

The mental affects of the assault left her with night terrors, she told the court. She added that there were times where she would scream in her sleep.

Ventura mentioned the balcony incident, without naming Bongolan, in her 2023 lawsuit against Combs. Ventura also testified about the incident while on the witness stand last month.

The government called Ventura’s friend Bryana Bongolan to the witness stand.

Earlier today, Bongolan cited her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and prosecutors have said she won’t be prosecuted as long as she testifies truthfully.

Piazza’s testimony might be coming across as highly technical and tedious as lawyers go moment by moment through security footage of Combs and Ventura.

The rather dry testimony, though, has led to a cumulative impact of jurors having to sit through an extended look at Combs’ brutal beating of his then-girlfriend March 5, 2016, in Los Angeles.

While Combs’ defense, in opening statements, conceded he’s prone to out-of-control temper tantrums, this kind of reminder might not be helpful to his cause. 

The prosecution filed into evidence, under seal, 10 sex videos involving Ventura.

The footage was dated between 2012 and 2014 and came from a user file marked “Frank Black,” an alias Combs allegedly used while traveling.

The witness, Piazza, is walking jurors through video footage of Combs’ 2016 videotaped beating of Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel.

He’s confirming the video’s authenticity and walking the court through a version he’s stitched together, showing events as they happened in chronological order.

The primary task of this video expert appears to be authenticating that footage of Combs beating Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel has not been altered.

Piazza said there are “no anomalies” in the disturbing footage shown of Combs assaulting his then-girlfriend Ventura at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles in 2016.

Court is in session and the government has called its first witness: a forensic video expert named Frank Piazza.

Piazza was sworn in and took the stand wearing a dark suit.

Bryana Bongolan, a friend of Combs’ former girlfriend and key government witness Cassie Ventura, invoked her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

The witness has been told she won’t be prosecuted as long as she tells the truth on the stand, prosecutors said.

It wasn’t immediately clear what Bongolan could say that’d put her into any legal jeopardy. Bongolan has alleged that Diddy dangled her over an apartment balcony during a previous altercation.

Earlier this week, hotel security guard Eddy Garcia also invoked his rights against self-incrimination. It turned out that he testified about helping Combs team secure video of the mogul’s beating of Ventura.

Court is now in session for Day 16 of Combs’ racketeering and sex trafficking trial.

Derek Ferguson, the former chief financial officer of Bad Boy Entertainment, testified yesterday and detailed the structure of Combs’ businesses.

His testimony confirmed that Combs had signatory power over the funds, and prosecutors will likely use this to argue that Combs may have run a criminal enterprise. 

Ferguson stated he never witnessed Combs commit violence or a sexual assault. But he did confirm that a $20,000 payment was made from Ventura’s family to Combs in December 2011.

Ventura’s mother, Regina Ventura, previously testified that Combs demanded the family pay $20,000 to keep him from releasing sexually explicit videos of Ventura after he learned she was seeing rapper Scott Mescudi, also known as Kid Cudi. She also told the court she received the money back days later.

A woman disrupted court yesterday morning, shouting in Combs’ defense — “It’s not right what they’re doing to him!” and “Diddy’s innocent.”

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ordered court marshals to escort her out. The uproar unfolded before the jury was seated. 

Eddy Garcia, a former security supervisor at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, testified yesterday that Combs and his team desperately wanted to get the sole copy of the security video that showed the music mogul attacking Ventura in March 2016.

In exchange for $100,000 divided among the hotel’s security team members, Garcia testified that he signed a nondisclosure agreement that called for his silence and the destruction of evidence.

Garcia admitted on the stand that he was so “nervous” about the NDA that he didn’t read it all before he signed it. He said the Combs presented stacks of cash in a brown paper bag and that he used his share of the money to buy a used car.

Frank Piazza, a forensic video expert, and Bryana Bongolan, who alleges that Combs dangled her over an apartment balcony, may testify today.

Yesterday, prosecutors said they were concerned about Victim-2’s identity, who is referred to with the pseudonym “Jane.” Jane is expected to take the stand tomorrow.