Who Is Cassie — and Why Is She Expected to Be a Star Witness at Diddy’s Trial Today?

• Sean Diddy Combs is on trial on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution
• Opening arguments in the high-profile trial began on Monday, May 12, at a federal court in Manhattan
• Federal prosecutors allege that Combs is the mastermind behind a criminal enterprise that forced women — including his ex-girlfriend — to perform sex acts he filmed

Sean “Diddy” Combs will come face to face in court with his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, who is expected to be the star witness at his high-profile federal sex crimes trial with her testimony to begin Tuesday.

The “Me & You” singer, who is married to personal trainer Alex Fine and eight months pregnant with their child, is expected to testify about how her powerful ex-boyfriend of 11 years allegedly forced her to perform sex acts and abused her physically and emotionally.

Arrested in September 2024, Combs pleaded not guilty to five counts of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

On the first day of the trial on Monday, Mon. 12, in Manhattan federal court, jurors saw surveillance video of the hip-hop mogul beating and kicking Ventura in the elevator bank of a hotel lobby in 2016.

In her opening statements, U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told jurors how Combs allegedly used his influence in the music business to drug women and force them to take part in orchestrated sex acts with him and sometimes male prostitutes at so-called “Freak Offs.”

One of the women he allegedly forced to take part in these Freak Offs was Ventura, who filed a bombshell lawsuit against Combs in 2023 accusing him of a host of sex crimes, including forcing her to engage in sex acts with male escorts, coercing her into taking illicit drugs, and raping and beating her.

Combs denied the allegations in the lawsuit. The next day, the two reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount. But civil lawsuits from dozens of other alleged victims have followed, with women and men accusing Combs of sexual violence.

The federal charges followed.

Who Is Cassie Ventura?

In 2006, the Connecticut native released her first album, which drew Combs’ interest, CNN reports.

In 2007, he made her the face of his Sean John fashion line, according to CNN.

By 2012, the two were spotted out together at parties, premieres and other Hollywood events.

The glamorous existence they led publicly belied an allegedly painful life for her, filled with beatings, abuse and sexual humiliation, according to prosecutors.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

In her opening statement, Combs’ defense attorney, Teny Geragos, told jurors that while some of her client’s actions might make them uncomfortable, they “are not here to judge him for his sexual preferences,” she said.

Despite Ventura’s allegations against Combs, she stayed with him for more than a decade, Geragos said.

“She made a choice, every single day for years — a choice to stay with him, a choice to fight for him, because for 11 years, that was the better choice,” she told jurors. When she made the choice to leave, Geragos said, “she communicated it to him, and ran into the arms of another man — a physical trainer Combs had hired to train her,” Geragos said.

Combs could face up to life in prison if he is convicted on all counts. Since his 2024 arrest, he has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Complex in Brooklyn.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.