Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former personal assistant has told jurors that the music mogul saw Cassie Ventura as “young” and “moldable” when he first met her.
David James, who had worked for the Bad Boy Records founder from 2007 to 2009, testified he was with Combs in Miami when he first met the “Me & U” singer nearly two decades ago.
Speaking at a hearing at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Lower Manhattan in the rapper’s high-profile federal sex trafficking trial, James recalled how Combs would describe Ventura.
“‘I’ve got [Ventura] right where I want her, she’s young,’” Combs allegedly told him.
“He said she was very moldable,” James recalled.
Elsewhere, James testified that he was in the car with Combs and an associate when the rapper began talking about girlfriend Kim Porter, the mother of four of his seven children.
James, who is the third prosecution witness to testify during the second week of the trial, told jurors that the “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper had a roster of women he was dating at the time.
“Ms. Porter was his main girlfriend,” he said in court, adding that Combs had dated at least three other women at the time, including “Sarah,” “Tara” and “Cassie.”
Porter died of pneumonia in 2018. She was 47.
James also recalled another incident in 2007, when he smoked cigarettes with Ventura and her pal Kerry Morgan during a trip to Combs’ exclusive Star Island.
“Man, this lifestyle is crazy?” Ventura said to him, he told jurors.
He then asked her “why” she didn’t leave the rapper, to which she responded, “I can’t get out. Mr. Combs oversees so much of my life.”
In addition to having total control of her music career, Combs oversaw Ventura’s finances, James said in court.
“He paid for her apartment,” he testified, adding that the “Finna Get Loose” rapper also gave her an allowance.
The trial wrapped just after 3 p.m. Monday and James is expected to continue testifying Tuesday morning.
Combs, 55, faces a minimum of 15 years in prison after being charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and fraud. He had been locked up without bail while awaiting trial.
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