When singer Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit last year accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of attacking and raping her, the music legend's lawyers were quick to deny the charges.
His lawsuit, a lawyer for Combs said, was “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, intended to tarnish Mr. Combs' reputation and seek a payday.” He added that Combs “vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
But after shocking video surfaced Friday showing Combs attacking Ventura in 2016, Combs posted a video Sunday admitting to the violence and apologizing.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I am disgusted. So I was upset when I did it. “I’m disgusted now,” she said.
Combs said he sought rehabilitation and counseling after the attack, adding, “My behavior in that video is inexcusable.”
Combs, who has faced several allegations of abusive behavior toward women and is now the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation, did not explain why his legal team had previously denied allegations of abuse by Ventura. It is also unclear exactly when the video, which first aired on CNN, appeared.
But a Ventura attorney, who acts under the name Cassie, was quick to point out the inconsistencies in criticizing Combs' apology.
“When Cassie and other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested his victims were looking for a payday,” Meredith Firetog said in a statement. “The fact that he was only forced to 'apologise' once his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation, and no one will be swayed by his false words.”
Some legal experts also say the contradictions are troubling.
“Any apology needed to be detailed enough so that the public could understand why he behaved so violently in the first place and why, after attending therapy and engaging in years of self-reflection, he continued to deny assaulting Cassie,” he said. said Meghan Blanco, an Orange County defense attorney who has experience in federal sex crime cases. “This was way below that.”
The recording of the attack, dated March 5, 2016, shows Ventura wearing a hoodie and a duffel bag, walking down a hotel hallway toward an elevator. Combs can be seen running down the same hallway, shirtless and holding a towel around his waist.
The lawsuit says the violence occurred at the InterContinental hotel in Century City. After Combs fell asleep, Ventura tried to leave the room, according to the lawsuit, but he woke up and “began yelling at him.”
“He followed her into the hotel hallway while yelling at her,” the complaint states. “He grabbed her and then picked up glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her, causing glass to shatter around her as she ran toward the elevator to escape.”
Security video captured from another angle shows Combs grabbing Ventura's head and throwing it to the ground, where he kicks her several times. He can also be seen picking up her suitcases and attempting to drag her back to the first hallway.
The footage also shows Ventura using a hotel phone next to the elevators, as well as Combs returning to his hotel room and then, separately, apparently shoving Ventura into a corner.
Ventura also accused Combs in her lawsuit of raping her, forcing her to engage in sexual acts with male sex workers and introducing her to “a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse” that required her to “obtain illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions.” ”. “
Three other women have filed civil lawsuits against Combs, who has denied wrongdoing in the cases. The lawsuits were filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a law that went into effect in November 2022 in New York that gives people who believe they have been sexually assaulted a one-year period during which they can sue their abusers, even if the statute of limitations for prosecuting the alleged underlying crimes had expired.
Law enforcement sources who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that Combs is the subject of a wide-ranging investigation into sex trafficking allegations that resulted in a federal raid in March on his properties in Los Angeles and Miami. Combs has not been charged with any crime and has denied any wrongdoing.
