Former Sean Combs worker Capricorn Clark says he kidnapped her : NPR

Advisory: This report consists of descriptions of bodily violence.

On Tuesday, federal legal professionals prosecuting Sean Combs continued widening their case towards the hip-hop mogul. The sole witness on the stand for the day was a girl named Capricorn Clark, who rose from being Combs’ private assistant to heading advertising for his Sean John trend firm. Clark testified that in the course of the years she labored for him — on and off between 2004 and 2018 — he repeatedly threatened her, and kidnapped her in December 2011.

Much of Clark’s testimony, together with numerous claims of bodily threats and intimidation allegedly made by Combs and a few of his associates, was aimed to bolster the racketeering prices towards Combs. But a few of her most vivid statements have been associated to Combs’ admittedly tumultuous and violent relationship along with his then-girlfriend, the singer and mannequin Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. Combs has pleaded not responsible to all the fees, which additionally embody intercourse trafficking and transportation to commit prostitution.

When testifying in regards to the alleged 2011 kidnapping, Clark described occasions that the jury had heard about final week, this time from her perspective. She stated that it befell after Combs discovered that Ventura, with whom he had an on-and-off once more relationship, had begun courting rapper Scott Mescudi, often known as Kid Cudi.

Clark, who wept repeatedly on the stand, testified that Combs got here to her Los Angeles house door early on that December morning in a state of rage and armed with a gun. According to Clark, Combs ordered her to dress and accompany him to Mescudi’s dwelling within the Hollywood Hills, saying: “We’re going to go kill” the musician. (Combs had discovered that Clark was conscious that Ventura was courting Mescudi, however had not knowledgeable him of Ventura’s new relationship.) She stated she was made to attend in Combs’ automotive as he and one in every of his safety staff went inside looking for Mescudi

After a chaotic automotive chase, Clark testified, Combs threatened to kill her if she went to the authorities, and that he would “kill all” three of them — Mescudi, Ventura and Clark — if Mescudi notified the police that Combs had been in his dwelling. Later that afternoon, she stated, she witnessed Combs battering Ventura, kicking her repeatedly within the legs, again and bottom as Ventura crouched “in a fetal position.”

Last Thursday, Mescudi testified to the jury in regards to the break-in and his automotive being set on fireplace weeks after this alleged incident involving Clark. Combs’ legal professionals have denied that the tycoon had something to do with the arson. While on the stand earlier this month, Ventura testified at size about bodily and sexual abuse.

Combs’ first menace towards her, Clark alleged, got here on her very first day of labor in 2004. Combs, who knew that Clark had beforehand labored as an intern for a rival producer and file label govt, Suge Knight, allegedly knowledgeable Clark that if she had something additional to do with Knight, “He would have to kill me.”

Clark additionally testified about an earlier occasion during which she was allegedly held towards her will. Later that first yr, Clark testified, associates of Combs locked her right into a dilapidated and locked constructing in Midtown Manhattan for 5 days, to be able to topic her to many lie detector exams. The alleged incident occurred after the disappearance of three items of high-end diamond jewellery that had been loaned to Combs and which Clark had been entrusted to take care of. The man testing her, Clark alleged, repeatedly instructed her she could be “thrown into the East River” if she failed. Clark stated she endured the testing to show her innocence. “I was petrified,” she stated. One of Combs’ safety staff allegedly took her dwelling every night time, and likewise searched her house for the lacking jewels.

The exams have been repeatedly inconclusive, and he or she was fired for “three to four weeks,” after which she was rehired to work on Combs’ thirty fifth birthday celebration. She stated Combs by no means talked about the lacking diamonds to her once more, nor did he query her about the place she had been throughout these 5 days she was absent from the workplace in the course of the time she was allegedly held for the lie detector exams.

Clark stated she left Combs’ make use of in 2006, after Combs allegedly pushed her repeatedly, to take a job at one other file group, Jive/Zomba, however that she ultimately returned. She was fired in early 2012, after reporting the alleged 2011 kidnapping to executives at Bad Boy Records, the recording label co-founded by Combs. She was instructed it was as a consequence of an improperly taken trip, and he or she testified that Combs instructed her she would “never work again.” She later obtained a settlement from Combs over accusations of wrongful termination. Combs’ protection crew repeatedly objected to prosecutorial questions over the quantity of that settlement, which have been sustained.

During cross-examination, Combs’ legal professional Marc Agnifilo repeatedly focused inconsistencies in Clark’s accounts, together with a earlier declare to prosecutors that Combs had allegedly pointed the gun at her in 2011. From the stand, Clark stated that as a substitute Combs had been “waving it around.”

Agnifilo additionally requested Clark why she had returned to work for Combs repeatedly, given her allegations. She stated that it was as a result of she had been unable to get employed for another job within the music trade. Her final place in Combs’ make use of, she stated, was as Ventura’s “creative director” in 2016. She stated that each choice associated to Ventura — from her hair and clothes to her schedule — needed to be personally authorised by Combs.