In naming additional defendants, the court papers allege that others who worked with Mr. Combs helped him control Ms. Ventura by at times threatening her with retaliation – such as suppressing her music if she listened to his by not following orders – or by helping her hide his behavior. The lawsuit, which names Mr. Combs and a number of his affiliates as defendants, seeks unspecified damages.
“After years of silence and darkness,” said Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, “I am finally ready to tell my story.” Photo credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage, via Getty Images
According to Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit, she was drawn into Mr. Combs’ jet-setting lifestyle shortly after she met him and signed with Bad Boy, which released her debut album in 2006.
But, the lawsuit says, he soon began to exert an extraordinary degree of control over her life. Not only did he control her career, but he also paid for her car, her apartment, her clothing, and even had access to her personal medical records. According to the lawsuit, the results of an MRI scan she had done – for memory loss, possibly caused by drug use or from a beating she allegedly suffered at the hands of Mr. Combs – went directly to Mr. Combs.
Mr. Combs also provided Ms. Ventura with “large quantities of drugs,” including ecstasy and ketamine, and pressured her to use them, the lawsuit says. He often became violent and beat her “several times a year”. The lawsuit says Ms. Ventura never went to the police because she feared it would “just give Mr. Combs another excuse to hurt her.”
In one incident in Los Angeles in 2009, the lawsuit says, Mr. Combs became angry when he saw Ms. Ventura talking to another talent agent, then pushed her into a car and repeatedly kicked her in the face , causing her to bleed. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Combs then had his employees take her to a hotel room to recover for a week. She asked to go home to her parents, but Mr. Combs refused, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit states that “Ms. Ventura felt that saying “no” to Mr. Combs would cost her something – her family, her friends, her career or even her life.” And although she tried to leave Mr. Combs, according to the complaint that he had sent his employees to lure her back.