Sean “Combs” ex-girlfriend Cassie will be one of the first witnesses at his bombshell sex-trafficking federal trial — and could take the stand as soon as Monday, prosecutors say.
The R&B singer, whose full name is Cassandra Ventura, will be the feds’ third witness after testimony kicks off in the case where the embattled hip-hop mogul is charged with orchestrating a decades-long reign of sexual terror, prosecutor Maurene Comey said.
The first two witnesses will include an escort, and another minor witness who needs to testify Monday for logistical reasons, the feds said.
Friday’s reveal comes as the final stage of the jury selection process was delayed until Monday morning, Judge Arun Subramanian granting Combs’ lawyers’ bid to push the jury selection process back over the prosecution team’s objections.
Combs’ lawyers had expressed concerns that more jurors would ask to leave the case after one of the prospective panelists asked to be dismissed in a letter to the court on Thursday, citing “security concerns.”
The 12 jurors and six alternates who make the cut will be sworn in Monday morning and hear each side’s opening statement in the hotly anticipated case, the judge said.
Among the most crucial evidence jurors will see at the trial is footage of Combs punching and kicking Ventura in a disturbing caught-on-camera attack at a hotel in 2016.
Prosecutors have asked Subramanian to allow Ventura, who is pregnant, to pause her testimony for a break every 90 minutes.
Combs is being held without bail in a Brooklyn lockup after the feds argued that he was a “danger to society,” and that he’d tried to contact witnesses in the case.
The feds say Combs forced women into “Freak-Offs” — drug-fueled, days-long “sexual performances” in which the rapper and producer’s ex-girlfriends would have sex with male escorts while he watched.
The überwealthy Sean John founder sometimes filmed the sexual escapades to use as leverage to keep the women compliant with his demands, according to his indictment.
The Harlem native is also accused of several assaults, including dangling one of his alleged victims over an apartment balcony.
The “I’ll Be Missing You” rapper has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His lawyers plan to argue during a two-month-long trial that the Freak-Offs were a “consensual” part of Combs’ admittedly kinky, but not criminal, sex life.
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