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Topics: Diddy, Cassie Ventura, US News
Joe Yates
Topics: Diddy, Cassie Ventura, US News
A former personal assistant to Diddy has taken to the stand to give evidence against the disgraced rapper, mentioning an alleged incident involving Suge Knight as the moment he knew he had to leave his post.
As the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs continues, his former PA David James - who worked closely with him between 2007 and 2009 - has spoken of the moment he feared for his life.
Combs has been charged with racketeering and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion - charges he's continued to deny.
That moment that James claims happens occured when he and D-Roc, one of Combs' security guards, allegedly encountered rival record producer Suge Knight in Mel's Diner in Hollywood, in which the pair had just visited to pick up food.
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Knight, who is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence for voluntary manslaughter in a fatal 2015 hit-and-run case, co-founded Death Row Records - which was in a bitter rivalry with Combs' Bad Boy Records.
The East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry has been heavily linked to the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls - both of who died within six months of each other.
Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, Combs' ex partner, brought up the incident in court last week while testifying, mentioning how she remembered crying and screaming to Combs to 'please don't do anything stupid' as he rushed out during one of his 'freak offs'.
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Speaking in court today, prosecutor Christy Slavik asked James, per Inner City Press: "Was there an incident at Mel's Diner with Suge Knight?"
James replied: "Yes. I drove the silver Navigator to get cheeseburgers there. D-Roc said, 'That's motherf*cking Suge Knight'. He went over and said, 'What's up?' Suge didn't recognize him. D-Roc said, 'I'm Biggie's boy'."
He was then asked to clarify what happened next, to which James went on: "We noticed four black SUVs to different sides of the parking lot. I saw someone hand Suge Knight a gun. D-Roc said, We gotta get out of here. We drove back to the house."
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Prosecutor Slavik asked: "What did you find there?"
James then alleged: "Cassie was crying. Mr. Combs got in the vehicle. I saw three guns on his lap. I felt calm because we'd been in a silver vehicle, now a black one - they wouldn't see us coming."
He claimed to the jury that when they arrived back at the diner, they noticed that Knight and his entourage had gone, but claimed Combs ordered for them to continue driving around the block to look for him.
Prosecutor Slavik asked: "What did you decide?"
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"To leave the company. They offered me other positions. But I just wanted to leave - my life was at risk," James explained.
The indictment accuses Combs and others in his enterprise of 'wield[ing] the power and prestige of Combs' role at the Combs Business to intimidate, threaten and lure female victims into Combs' orbit, often under the pretence of a romantic relationship'.
With the 'assistance of members and associates', the document claims Combs 'transported commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally' and 'then used force, threats of force, and coercion, to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers that Combs referred to as, among other things, 'freak offs'.'
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If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org