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Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi, testified in the federal racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking trial of music executive Sean “Diddy” Combs. Mescudi had a brief romantic involvement with singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in 2011, and his testimony has shed light on events surrounding that period.
Kid Cudi Testifies in Sean “Diddy” Combs Trial
Sean “Diddy” Combs, 55, is facing accusations including sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation for prostitution. He was apprehended in September and has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges.
Mescudi’s Testimony: Key Points
On Thursday morning, prior to 11 a.m. ET, Mescudi took the stand to provide his account.
- Mescudi stated he encountered Ventura in 2008 and had a short relationship with her in 2011.
- He understood Ventura and Combs were experiencing “some problems” and were no longer together at that time.
Mescudi recounted a phone call from Ventura in December 2011, where she sounded “really stressed” and “scared”, relaying that Combs had discovered their relationship.
The rapper stated he then picked her up, and they went to a hotel. He and Ventura subsequently spoke with an employee of Combs via telephone, who also sounded “very scared” and asserted that Combs and an associate were inside Mescudi’s residence, with the employee waiting nearby.
Mescudi testified that he telephoned Combs while en route home, inquiring whether he was present. Combs purportedly responded, “I just want to talk to you.”
Mescudi told Combs, “I’m on my way, I’ll be right down,” to which Combs replied, “I’m over here waiting for you.”
Upon Mescudi’s arrival, Combs was absent, but Mescudi noticed items inside his residence were displaced, and his canine companion found confined within a bathroom.
He contacted law enforcement and filed a police report regarding the suspected break-in.
The Porsche Incident
Continuing his testimony, Mescudi recounted an incident in January 2012 when his dog sitter informed him that his vehicle had been set ablaze in the driveway.
Mescudi lived approximately 45 minutes away and received images from a friend depicting the charred automobile. He informed the court that the “top of my Porsche was cut open, and that’s where the Molotov cocktail was put in.”
These photographs were presented before the jury.
Legal Wrangling Over Testimony
Earlier on Thursday, legal representatives for Combs and the prosecution engaged in discourse concerning the scope of Mescudi’s permissible testimony, encompassing his dog’s demeanor following the 2011 break-in.
The judge jested about whether Mescudi would offer insights into his dog’s “thoughts,” leading the prosecutor to clarify that Mescudi would testify that the dog exhibited heightened fearfulness post-burglary.
Combs’s legal counsel contended that undue emphasis on the dog’s purported trauma could unduly prejudice the jury.
The judge sanctioned testimony pertaining to the dog’s conduct within the immediate aftermath of the break-in.
George Kaplan’s Testimony
Before Mescudi’s appearance, George Kaplan, a former aide to Combs, resumed his testimony from the previous day.
Kaplan recounted a 2015 event where he witnessed Combs behaving violently towards Ventura. He noted that Combs’s security personnel were present but did not intervene and he recounted a separate instance when Ventura bore visible injuries at Combs’s home.
Kaplan departed Combs’s organization in December 2015, articulating his discomfort with the ongoing physical behavior. He conveyed his desire to disassociate himself from “fixing those types of things.”
In addition to Combs’s alleged violence aimed at Ventura, Kaplan asserted that he once observed Combs “throw a number of decorative or real green apples at another girlfriend,” also in 2015 at Combs’s Miami Beach residence.
“She was trying to shield herself with her arms,” Kaplan said, recounting the woman’s reaction to Combs.
Cassie Ventura’s Previous Testimony
Last week, Ventura provided four days of testimony concerning the emotional and physical abuse she allegedly endured from Combs during their on-again, off-again relationship that lasted 11 years.
Ventura referenced her brief entanglement with Mescudi in December 2011, specifying that it occurred during a hiatus in her relationship with Combs.
She revealed that she utilized a burner phone to communicate with Mescudi, fearing discovery by Combs.
“I thought it would be way too dangerous to tell him about that,” she said.
Ventura stated that Combs uncovered the brief relationship near the close of 2011 during what she described as a ‘freak-off’. Combs noticed an email on her phone between her and Mescudi’s assistant about delivering a toiletry bag to Mescudi’s house.
Ventura testified that Combs became enraged, lunged at her brandishing a wine bottle opener, and subsequently threatened to disseminate explicit videos of her in addition to harming her and Mescudi, and forewarned that Mescudi’s vehicle would be “blown up.”
Ventura testified that she brought her relationship with Mescudi to an end shortly thereafter, citing concerns for her safety.
“Too much danger, too much uncertainty of what could happen if we continued to see each other,” she said.
According to Ventura, the subsequent encounter with Mescudi took place at a meeting at Soho House, where she, Combs, and Mescudi convened to address the relationship.
During the meeting, Mescudi purportedly inquired of Combs, “What about my vehicle?”, to which Ventura claimed Combs responded, “What vehicle?”
“And that was the end of the meeting,” Ventura said.
Civil Lawsuit Details Alleged Threat
The purported threat of detonating Mescudi’s car was initially detailed in Ventura’s 2023 civil lawsuit against Combs, which was resolved swiftly in a single day.
The lawsuit stated that Combs threatened to “blow up” Mescudi’s car after learning about the relationship, and that around that time, Mescudi’s car “exploded in his driveway.”
The lawsuit implied that Combs instigated the explosion of Mescudi’s vehicle, stipulating that the incident instilled “terrified” feelings in Ventura as she came “to fully comprehend what Mr Combs was both willing and able to do to those he believed had slighted him.”
Mescudi, via a spokesperson, corroborated Ventura’s recounting of events in the lawsuit, affirming that his car had indeed exploded in a brief statement to the New York Times in 2023.
Arson Investigation
A report issued by the Los Angeles Fire Department substantiated that Mescudi’s Porsche was ignited by an “incendiary device” on January 9, 2012, as previously reported by Rolling Stone. The identified cause of the fire was “intentional.”
In 2024, a memo from federal prosecutors investigating Combs alleged that Combs’s “co-conspirators” set fire to an unnamed individual’s convertible in 2012 by “slicing open the car’s convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside.”
Prosecutors noted that law enforcement and fire investigators determined the car fire was deliberately set. Witnesses have since claimed that Combs later boasted about his involvement in setting the fire.
Combs, through his attorneys, has denied any responsibility in setting the fire.
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