Sean Combs threatened to send explicit videos of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura to her parents, Ventura’s friend, celebrity stylist Deonte Nash, testified at Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial Wednesday.
Nash spent about 10 years working for Combs, starting in 2008 as an intern in the fashion department at Bad Boy Entertainment and eventually becoming a stylist for both Combs and Ventura (he stopped working for them in 2018). During that time, Nash testified, he was “around every day” and grew particularly close with Ventura.
Nash testified that he often heard Combs verbally abuse Ventura, threaten to “beat her ass,” and call her names. He said Combs referred to Ventura as “baby girl, CC, bitch, slut, hoe,” and when asked how frequently Combs called Ventura “bitch,” Nash replied, “Often. That was his fave.”
When Combs threatened to beat her, Nash continued, Ventura would get “super emotional,” adding, “She would cry, sometimes she would just stay in the house for days and go in a cocoon.”
Nash notably testified under subpoena. He arrived in court wearing all white, with Combs giving him an up-and-down as he walked towards the stand. The first question prosecutors asked was whether he wanted to be there, to which Nash bluntly replied, “Absolutely not.”
Nash also testified to the alleged control Combs wielded over every aspect of Ventura’s life, with a particular focus on how Combs allegedly stymied her music career. While signed to Bad Boy, Ventura released just one solo album (2006’s Cassie) and a 2013 mixtape (RockaByeBaby). Nash said he often saw Ventura making and recording new music, but that Combs frequently threatened not to release any of it if Ventura did something Combs didn’t like. Nash said he was “being generous” when he estimated that just “10 percent” of the music Ventura made ever saw the light of day.
Beyond music, Nash testified that on at least two occasions, Combs forbid Ventura from going out with Nash. He recalled one night where he and Ventura were supposed to go to a gay club, only for Combs to call Ventura and demand she come meet him. On a separate phone call, Nash said he spoke to Combs, claiming the mogul told him, “Every time you go out, that bitch wants to go out, too.”
Nash took that to mean he also wasn’t allowed to go out, adding that Ventura then packed her stuff and went over to Combs’ house.
According to Nash, Combs also wielded heavy control over how Ventura was dressed and styled. Nash said that Combs even confronted him once, at a Vanity Fair party in 2014, over how Ventura’s hair was done. Nash testified that Combs had wanted Ventura’s hair up, but her hair was down. While Nash said he thought Ventura looked “bomb,” Combs got mad, reprimanded Nash, and allegedly grabbed Nash by his jacket and lifted him up in the air.
After rushing to find hair pins, Nash said Combs, Ventura, and another style, Derek Roche, went into a bathroom to pin-up Ventura’s hair. When they came out, Nash said, Combs admitted that Ventura’s hair looked better down.
This story is developing
