Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is currently facing sex-trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court. These charges have brought to light disturbing allegations revolving around his relationship with singer Cassie.

The music icon’s downfall began when Cassie, also known as Cassandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in 2023. This lawsuit contained shocking accusations of sexual abuse and violence.

The lawsuit was quickly settled for an undisclosed sum, but the damage to Diddy’s reputation was already done. Subsequently, he faced a wave of lawsuits, many of which echoed similar allegations.

Diddy was then charged last year with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution in New York. He has pleaded not guilty.

2005 -DIDDY SIGNS CASSIE 

The rapper and Cassie dated from 2007 until 2018, after meeting in 2005 when she was just 19 and he was already an established 39-year-old music superstar.

A year after they met, Cassie released her self-titled debut album on Diddy’s record label, Bad Boy Records.

Cassie alleged in court that Diddy brought her into his ‘ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle’ not long after she met him and signed to his label. 

Cassie and Diddy first met in 2005, when she was 19 and he was a 39-year-old superstar. Her allegations of abuse against the rapper are at the center of his sex trafficking trial. They are pictured in New York in 2006

While rumors of their romance started in 2007, the duo did not confirm their romance publicly until 2012 when they sat together at Kanye West ’s Paris Fashion Week show

As Sean ‘ Diddy ‘ Combs faces charges of sex-trafficking in Manhattan federal court, his relationship with the singer Cassie is at the center of the horrific allegations

2007 – ROMANCE RUMORS BEGIN

But the couple kept their romance under wraps for some time but rumors about their relationship began swirling in 2007 as they were often seen together in red carpets.

At the time, Diddy was still publicly linked with the mother of several of his children, the late Kim Porter. 

It’s unclear exactly when Diddy and Cassie went from a working relationship to a romantic one. 

2012- GOING PUBLIC 

The duo did not confirm their romance publicly until 2012 when they sat together at Kanye West’s Paris Fashion Week show.

Cassie said in her lawsuit that around this time the couple were on a break and he became enraged by her growing romance with the rapper Kid Cudi. Diddy allegedly threatened to blow up Cudi’s car before his car exploded in his driveway  – claims that could come up in the trial.

In 2014, Diddy posted a photo of a diamond ring on Instagram that suggested he had asked Cassie to marry him. He captioned it , ‘“Baby do you like it? I just want to get you wat you Like! I just wanna Mk you smile #takeDat!’

Cassie was later seen wearing the ring but the engagement was never confirmed. 

They are seen together in Los Angeles on June 21, 2017

They were last photographed together during the Met gala in May, 2018

2018 – FINAL BREAK UP

In 2018, after Diddy was seen out with model Jocelyn Chew, Cassie’s rep confirmed the pair were no longer together in October.

They were last photographed together during the Met gala earlier that year. 

Cassie said in the settled lawsuit that as she was trying to end the relationship in 2018, Combs forced her into her Los Angeles home and raped her. 

The singer said in the settled lawsuit that Diddy began the pattern of abuse began as soon as their relationship did.

2019- CASSIE MARRIES HER PERSONAL TRAINER

Just a year before she was last seen with Diddy, Cassie married Alex Fine, who was originally Diddy’s personal trainer. 

Cassie became pregnant soon after she started dating Fine. 

The couple is currently expecting their third child. 

2023 – CASSIE FILES LAWSUIT

Her lawsuit, filed in 2023,  claimed that, ‘prone to uncontrollable rage,’ he subjected her to ‘savage’ beatings in which he punched, kicked and stomped her.

It alleged he plied her with drugs, and forced her to have sex with other men while he masturbated and filmed them. 

Cassie’s lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami. 

More accusers came forward in December 2023. 

MARCH 25, 2024: DIDDY’S HOMES RAIDED

Diddy’s properties in Miami and Los Angeles were raided amid growing speculation that he was due to face charges. 

MAY 17, 2024 – ASSAULT VIDEO RELEASED 

In May, 2024, CNN aired a video that shows the rapper attacking Cassie in a hotel hallway in Los Angeles in 2016.

The video closely mirrors an assault described in her lawsuit, which said Combs had already punched her that night, and she was trying to leave the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles when he woke and came after her.

In the footage, Diddy, wearing only a towel, punches Ventura, kicks her, and throws her on to the floor.

Cassie addressed the chilling video in a statement, which read: ‘Thank you for all of the love and support from my family, friends, strangers and those I have yet to meet.

‘The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning.

‘Domestic Violence is the issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past.’

Days after the video was released, Diddy posted a video apologizing. 

‘My behavior on that video is inexcusable,’ Combs says, adding that he had hit ‘rock bottom’.

‘I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.

‘I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry.’  

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024 : DIDDY IS CHARGED 

Diddy was formally charged in September 2024. 

The charges include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution in incidents dating back to 2008.  

Cassie is among the victims in the indictment, and is due to testify against him this week. 

The rapper’s lawyers said they would depict her as a violent person who could not have been coerced by Diddy into anything she did not want to do.

The defense claimed the former couple engaged in mutual domestic violence but Diddy is innocent of sex-trafficking and racketeering. Diddy faces life in prison if convicted. 

The rapper’s lawyers said they would depict her as a violent person who could not have been coerced by Diddy into anything she did not want to do. She will testify against him next week

The singer, who is expecting her third child with husband Alex Fine, was spotted in New York this week as she awaits to testify against Diddy