Just one day after R&B singer Cassie Ventura filed a disturbing rape and sex trafficking lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the two have settled the case.
“I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,” Ventura said in a statement Friday evening to NBC News. “I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.”
“I wish Cassie and her family all the best,” Combs added in a separate statement.
Cassie, who was born Casandra Ventura, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan’s Federal District Court on Thursday, Nov. 16.
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Ventura, 37, said in the lawsuit she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was almost two decades older. The Bad Boy Records founder signed her to his label — and the two dated on-and-off for about a decade.
The model and singer said she endured “over a decade” of the rapper and actor’s alleged “violent behavior and disturbed demands.”
Some of the allegations were so distressing that there was a “trigger warning” on the first page of the lawsuit, noting that it contained “highly graphic” details.
Among the claims in the suit were that Combs allegedly:
•Raped Ms. Ventura in her own home after she tried to leave him
• Often punched, beat, kicked and stomped on Ms. Ventura, resulting in bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding
• Blew up a man’s car after he learned that he was romantically interested in Ms. Ventura (The lawsuit said on subsequent pages the man was rapper Kid Cudi)
• Forced Ms. Ventura to engage in sex acts with male sex workers while masturbating and filming the encounters
• Ran out of his apartment with a firearm in pursuit of a rival industry
executive whom he learned was nearby
• Demanded that Ms. Ventura carry his firearm in her purse just to make her uncomfortable and demonstrate how dangerous he is
• Introduced Ms. Ventura to a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse and required her to procure illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions.
The complaint added that Ventura tried and failed multiple times to escape Combs’ control, and said she never went to police because she feared it “would merely give Mr. Combs another excuse to hurt her.”
Combs denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
His attorney, Ben Brafman, said Thursday that Combs had been “subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million,” in exchange for her silence.
Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, countered that Combs offered the “Me & U” singer “eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit.”
In addition to Combs, the lawsuit listed Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records, Epic Records, and Combs Enterprises as defendants.
The complaint said Ventura needed intense psychological counseling after leaving Combs. The singer is now married with two young children.
