Rapper Kid Cudi testifies Sean 'Diddy' Combs broke into his house

New York: Rapper Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi testified on Thursday at Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial that the hip-hop mogul broke into his home in 2011 after discovering Mescudi was dating his on-and-off girlfriend Casandra Ventura.

The incident is one of a number of violent and threatening acts that prosecutors say Combs undertook during a 20-year scheme to coerce women, including Ventura, to take part in drug-fueled sex parties known as "Freak Offs" and prevent them from leaving his orbit. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Combs' lawyers have acknowledged he has a history of drug abuse and domestic violence, but argue that the women who took part in Freak Offs did so consensually. Testifying as a prosecution witness , Mescudi told the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates in Manhattan federal court that Ventura called him early one morning in December 2011 and told him Combs had found out about their relationship and asked Mescudi to pick her up.

Mescudi, wearing a leather jacket over a white shirt and blue jeans in court, said Ventura sounded nervous and scared, and warned him that she had given Combs his Hollywood Hills address.

Mescudi, known for hit songs "Day 'N' Nite" and "Memories," said one of Ventura's associates then told him that Combs was in his home. After dropping off Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel, Mescudi said he drove toward his home and called Combs.

On the way Mescudi testified he called Combs. "I said, motherfucker, you in my house?" Mescudi testified he told Combs. Mescudi said Combs sounded calm and told him he wanted to talk.

When he arrived at his house, Mescudi said no one else was there. He said gifts that he bought for his family were opened and his dog was locked in a bathroom. He said he reported a break-in to the police.

Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, testified on May 14 that Combs in 2011 kicked her in the back after discovering she was seeing Mescudi - one of many violent instances she said took place during her 11-year on-and-off relationship with Combs.

She said he also threatened to release sex tapes of her and have someone hurt both her and Mescudi. Jurors earlier saw photographs of bruises on Ventura's body that her mother took shortly after the incident.

Mescudi testified that he and Ventura ended their relationship shortly after the break-in. He told jurors that he learned in January 2012 from his dog's babysitter that his car had caught fire in his driveway.

In a civil sex trafficking lawsuit that "Me & U" singer Ventura filed against Combs in November 2023, she alleged that Combs blew up Mescudi's car. Combs denied wrongdoing, and he paid her $20 million to settle the lawsuit shortly after it was filed. Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars. He elevated hip-hop in American culture in the 1990s and early 2000s, becoming a billionaire in the process.

Combs has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.