The Latest: It’s Rapper Kid Cudi’s turn in the witness stand at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ trial

NEW YORK AP Rapper Kid Cudi is set to testify Thursday at the New York sex trafficking trial of Sean Diddy Combs He follows a former aide to the music mogul George Kaplan who narrated the jury about the threatening world he declared Combs created for his inner circle Prosecutors allege that Combs a three-time Grammy winner used his fame and fortune to create a deviant empire of exploitation coercing women into abusive sex parties while silencing casualties through blackmail and violence including kidnapping arson and beatings Combs lawyers argue that all the sexual acts were consensual and although he could be violent he never veered into sex trafficking and racketeering Kid Cudi is expected to testify about his brief relationship years ago with Combs ex-girlfriend the R B singer Cassie She spent four emotional days on the witness stand responding to questions about the most of disturbing secrets of her sex life and describing being beaten and raped by a man she once loved The Latest A very reluctant witness wraps his testimony Kaplan reported jurors that he desperately did not want to come here nowadays but that he was forced to testify because federal prosecutors had subpoenaed him The authorities granted him immunity after he initially announced he would refuse to answer questions and invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Agnifilo urged if Kaplan was reluctant to take the witness stand because you have nothing against Sean Combs Yes Kaplan replied Questioned if he didn t want to testify Kaplan noted A hundred percent Kaplan describes his before-and-after work in hotels Among Kaplan s duties were setting up Combs hotel rooms laying out his toiletries and other belongings and then cleaning them up afterward He testified Wednesday that he d throw out empty booze bottles baby oil and drugs Kaplan explained he was meticulous in his work in part because he was wary of hotel staff whom he feared would try to cash in on anything that might embarrass his boss I think that s the way the world works Kaplan mentioned explaining his distrust Now Combs former personal assistant is cross-examined Combs lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested that the hip-hop mogul s violent tendencies were bad for business in part because Kaplan a valuable and trusted employee was driven to leave after seeing him abuse Cassie Mr Combs temper from what you saw did not help his business Agnifilo prompted him No it did not Kaplan replied It hurt his business Yes it did Among other things it prompted a hardworking dedicated person meaning yourself to leave the company Correct A paid holiday honoring the late Biggie Smalls Kaplan revealed that May the birthday of Combs late protege Biggie Smalls is a paid holiday at Combs Enterprises Smalls who was also known as The Notorious B I G signed to Combs Bad Boy Records label in The rapper whose real name was Christopher Wallace was fatally shot in Los Angeles in Read more on the rap rivalry that led to the killings of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur Sean Diddy Combs was like a God among men Kaplan advised jurors that his tenure with Combs has proven to be one of the the majority complicated pieces of my life I m a young man and this is a God among men talking to me stated Kaplan who served as an assistant for Combs and his Combs Enterprises company from to He not only pushed me to my depth he pushed me to depths I didn t even know I had Kaplan reported explaining he never worked harder in my life Despite leaving the job after seeing Combs abusing Cassie he revealed he still thinks fondly of multiple aspects of their work together and wishes the hip-hop mogul well on his birthday blurting Nov unprompted Kaplan describes Combs business empire The former assistant offered insights into Combs varied interests in music TV liquor and fashion Among the highlights of Kaplan s tenure he stated was the launch of Revolt Combs cable TV configuration focused on hip-hop Through a partnership with liquor giant Diageo Combs served as the population face of vodka brand Ciroc One of his companies Blue Flame provided marketing services for the brand Combs also ran Sean John a fashion label and Bad Boy Records a recording label Combs was intimately involved in the businesses launching Revolt in with a broadcast from the stoop of his prot g Biggie Smalls home And he was keenly aware of who he wished to reach and employ Everything Mr Combs did diversity was a big part of it specifically for African American people Kaplan declared Another girlfriend another act of violence Kaplan testified that he witnessed Combs being violent with another girlfriend Gina throwing green apples at her when they were together at Combs Florida home He was very angry Kaplan disclosed She was trying to shield herself with her arms Kaplan stated he tried to rationalize this behavior wondering if witnessing such things might just be part of the industry I thought it might be normal and this is what I might expect if I required to have a career in this industry he reported I was working all of that out as a young man Kaplan is testifying in response to a authorities subpoena and only after the judge gave him immunity from any prospective criminal liability he might face as a effect of his testimony Kaplan says the attacks on Cassie prompted him to quit Kaplan testified that he decided to quit the job he d held for about two years after Combs attack on Cassie on the private jet and that he gave three months notice when he later saw Cassie sitting in a bedroom with a black eye and Combs sent him to pick up anti-inflammatory medicine at a convenience store to treat the injury He explained he communicated Combs that he desired to quit because his father had been diagnosed with prostate cancer Even so he disclosed he still credits Combs for teaching him a work ethic that has helped him be prosperous in jobs since then I had been a fan of his since I was a child he disclosed I keep lessons from him to this day To various extent the feeling might be mutual when Kaplan first entered the courtroom on Wednesday Combs smiled A witness is sought why he didn t intervene Kaplan testified that he was years old when he witnessed Combs be violent with Cassie and he didn t respond to Cassie s call for help because he was in his dream job and didn t want to wreck it and couldn t believe my good fortune to be working for such an icon He announced that after he heard more glass crashing and chaos where Combs stood over Cassie in the back of the jet Combs seemed even keeled as he came forward and sat down telling Cassie to stay in back Appealed if anyone on the plane went to check on Cassie he declared no Kaplan says Cassie pleaded for help and didn t get it on a trip to Vegas George Kaplan testified that he witnessed Combs be violent with Cassie only once on a trip to Las Vegas aboard the rap promoter s private jet in the second half of when he heard glass emerging behind him He revealed he looked over his shoulder and saw Combs standing with a whiskey glass in his hand There was tremendous commotion and a scuffle and then after the glass crashed Cassie screamed Isn t anybody seeing this Kaplan testified that neither he nor any of the prevention workers or Bad Boy management staff on the plane did anything to respond to Cassie s call for help Former assistant describes carrying thousands of dollars in cash Kaplan noted he once was given a bag of cash by the rapper s safety staff to carry onboard Combs private jet and that he was narrated it held Several other times he explained he was requested to pick up a limited thousand dollars at a Western Union office The jury doesn t get the jokes about the fate of a dog The loudest laughs of the trial so far came with the jury out of the room on Thursday when lawyers discussed the behavior of a dog at Kid Cudi s residence after a break-in occurred there At one point Judge Arun Subramanian appealed about anticipated testimony by the rapper saying He s not going to testify about what the dog thought Loud laughs echoed through the courtroom each time lawyers or the judge mentioned the dog afterward including when the judge revealed I agree it s a serious issue and when Assistant U S Attorney Emily Johnson noted that unfortunately the dog is no longer with us The serious legal point that inspired the discussion was whether proposes that the dog wasn t the same after the break-in are prejudicial and should be excluded from testimony Cassie s mother says Combs demanded K because her daughter was seeing someone else Regina Ventura explained she felt physically sick when her daughter sent her an email in late to say Combs threatened to release two explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt her and the man she was seeing the rapper Kid Cudi I did not understand a lot of it The sex tapes threw me Ventura informed the Manhattan federal court Ventura of New London Connecticut announced she then received a demand from Combs for He was angry that he had spent money on her and she went with another person she declared Ventura commented she tapped a home equity loan to pay Combs because she was scared for my daughter s safety Days later she announced the money was returned and Cassie was soon dating Combs again Read more about Cassie s mom s testimony Ex-assistant described cleaning up booze drugs and baby oil after sex marathons Combs one-time personal assistant testified Wednesday that he was in charge of cleaning up hotel rooms after the hip-hop mogul s sex marathons tossing out empty alcohol bottles baby oil and drugs tidying pillows and making it look as if nothing had happened Kaplan who worked for Combs from to disclosed the Bad Boy Records founder would sometimes summon him to a hotel room to deliver a medicine kit a bag full of prescription pills and over-the-counter pain medications He explained Combs dispatched him to buy drugs including MDMA also known as ecstasy Kaplan was granted immunity to testify after initially telling the Manhattan court that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination Prosecutors contend Combs leaned on employees and used his music and fashion empire to facilitate and cover up his behavior sometimes making threats to keep them in line and his misconduct hush-hush Read more about Kaplan s Wednesday testimony Manhattan courthouses are familiar territory for specific rappers Rapper and actor Kid Cudi will be following in the footsteps of plenty of other rappers who have had reason to visit the two Manhattan federal courthouses over the past two decades They ve appeared as eyewitnesses participants in civil lawsuits and in several cases criminal defendants Among those who came to these courts before him was Tekashi ix ine Ricky Slick Rick Walters DMX the Beastie Boys N O R E or Noreaga and Lil Kim What is Kid Cudi s involvement with Combs and Cassie Last week Cassie testified that Combs arranged for her to meet Cudi in to work on music The two began dating soon after and she stated she got a burner phone to communicate with Cudi in secret Cassie stated she and Combs had broken up at the time although they still engaged in sex parties that Combs orchestrated It was during one of these that Combs looked at her phone and learned of the Cudi relationship Cassie testified In response she announced he lunged at her with a corkscrew and kicked her in the back When Cassie and Combs were out of the country in Combs narrated her that Cudi s car would be blown up and Combs needed Cudi s friends there to see it Cassie testified On Tuesday Cassie s mother Regina Ventura testified that Cassie reported her Combs was so angry about her relationship with Cudi that he planned to release sexually explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt Cassie and Cudi Who is Kid Cudi The Cleveland born-and-raised skinny-jean wearing Grammy Award-winning rapper has long been celebrated for his alternative hip-hop emotional music that effortlessly weaves genres together in surprising means Cudi began as something of a prot g of Kanye West when the then-uncontroversial rapper signed Cudi to his G O O D Music label in Cudi left in He is featured on Jay-Z s The Blueprint and West s landmark s Heartbreak Cudi has perpetually had an eye and ear toward innovation In his album Entergalactic was circulated alongside a Netflix adult-animated romantic comedy of the same name which he stated The Associated Press allowed him to explore the abstract Kid Cudi expected to take the stand Cudi s turn on the witness stand will come instantly after George Kaplan a former personal assistant to Combs finishes his testimony A prosecutor announced testimony by Cudi whose legal name is Scott Mescudi was not expected to be lengthy Cassie testified last week that Combs threatened to blow up Cudi s car and hurt him after he learned she was dating the rapper and actor Cudi is to follow Kaplan to the witness stand after the personal assistant to Combs from to finishes telling about what he experienced during - to -hour work weeks Read more about Cudi s upcoming testimony Source