By James Fanelli

Sean "Diddy" Combs's defense team played a chilling recording at his sex-trafficking trial Friday in which his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura repeatedly threatened to kill a man she thought had a video of her at one of the hip-hop mogul's sex parties.

"I will kill you if you don't show me right now," Ventura said on the recording, demanding the man come clean if he had a copy of the video. "I will cut you up and put you in the f -- ing dirt right now."

The recording was played during the second day of cross-examination of Ventura in a New York federal court, with lawyers for Combs seeking to show both he and she were concerned about the intimate videos becoming public.

Ventura, the star witness for the government, testified that she recorded the man, who was working with her at events she was hosting in Atlantic City, N.J., in 2013. The man, whose first name is Sugin, had been intoxicated and said he had seen a video of her having intercourse at a sex party, which Combs referred to as a "freak off."

Ventura had previously told jurors that she had frantically texted with Combs after learning Sugin had seen a video. At the time, Combs had urged Ventura to press the man for the truth and not let him out of her sight, the text messages showed.

"I will kill you because you are f -- ing with me and my life right now, " Ventura told the man, according to the recording.

Federal prosecutors say Combs ran a criminal enterprise relying on an inner circle of security guards and personal assistants to threaten and coerce Ventura and other former girlfriends into participating in the freak offs. Combs would watch and film his victims having sex with male escorts, then use the videos as leverage over them, according to prosecutors. He is charged with five criminal counts, including a racketeering conspiracy, sex-trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Combs has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers have said that the women consented to the sex. While Combs mistreated his girlfriend, he wasn't a sex-trafficker, they said.

Anna Estevao, a lawyer for Combs, sought to show Friday that he was also concerned about videos of the sex parties becoming public, even paying to prevent one from leaking.

"Mr. Combs supported you in preventing the videos from coming out, right?" Estevao said.

"I would say for the most part," Ventura said.

Write to James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2025 11:56 ET (15:56 GMT)

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