Scott Mescudi, known as the rapper Kid Cudi, testified on Thursday in the federal racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging that Combs broke into his home in 2011 after discovering that he was dating Combs’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, and told the court how a molotov cocktail was thrown at his car a few weeks later.
Combs, 55, faces charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He was arrested in September, and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On Thursday morning, Mescudi took the stand and testified that he met Ventura in 2008. He said they briefly dated in 2011 and understood at the time that Ventura and Combs were no longer dating.
Mescudi recalled receiving a “really stressed” and “scared” call in December 2011 from Ventura saying that Combs had found out about their relationship.
The rapper said that he picked her up, and they went to a hotel. He and Ventura then spoke by phone with one of Combs’s employees, who also seemed “very scared”, and claimed that Combs and an associate were inside Mescudi’s home. The employee was waiting outside for them.
Mescudi said that he called Combs while driving home and asked if he was there. Combs allegedly replied: “I just want to talk to you.”
Mescudi said he told Combs: “I’m on my way, I’ll be right down,” which Combs responded with: “I’m over here waiting for you.”
When Mescudi arrived, Combs was not there, but Mescudi said that some items inside the house were out of place, and that his dog was locked in a bathroom.
He said he called the police and filed a police report about the apparent break-in.
A month later, in January 2012, Mescudi said his dog watcher called to tell him that his car was on fire in the driveway. Mescudi received photos from a friend of his damaged car and said it looked like the “top of my Porsche was cut open, and that’s where the molotov cocktail was put in”.
The photos were shown to the jury.
After his car was damaged, Mescudi and Combs arranged a meeting at a Los Angeles hotel. (Ventura also testified about this meeting last week.)
Mescudi said, upon arrival, that Combs “was standing there with his hands behind his back like a Marvel supervillain”. During the meeting, Mescudi said that they talked about Mescudi’s relationship with Ventura and that Combs remained calm throughout the discussion.
At the end of the meeting, Mescudi and Combs shook hands before Mescudi asked Combs about his car. Combs allegedly responded: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Later in his testimony, Mescudi said that he came away from the meeting thinking that Combs “was lying”.
Several years later, in 2015, Mescudi ran into Combs again. Combs pulled him aside and apologized, allegedly telling Mescudi: “I just want to apologize for everything and all that bullshit.”
Mescudi testified that he “kind of found peace” with the whole situation.
Mescudi also told the court that during their relationship, Ventura confided in him about physical abuse in her relationship with Combs – that Combs would hit and kick her. Mescudi said that Combs’s treatment of Ventura bothered him.
Under cross-examination, Mescudi said there was no damage to his Los Angeles home after the apparent break-in in 2011 and acknowledged that he had left the front door unlocked.
He also said that Combs never interrupted the time he spent with Ventura, and Mescudi agreed with a statement made by Combs’s lawyer that both he and Combs had been “played” by Ventura.
Mescudi said that he and Ventura broke up in December 2011, telling the court that the “drama was too out of hand”.
Mescudi concluded his testimony just before 12.30pm ET and the court took a break for lunch.
Last week, Ventura testified over the course of four days about the years of physical and emotional abuse she endured by Combs during their 11-year on-again, off-again relationship.
Ventura mentioned her short-lived relationship with Mescudi in December 2011, which she said occurred during a break in her relationship with Combs.
Ventura said Combs found out about the brief relationship near the end of 2011 during a so-called “freak-off”. Combs saw an email on her phone between her and Mescudi’s assistant about bringing a toiletry bag to Mescudi’s house.
Ventura said that Combs became enraged, lunged at her with a wine bottle opener and later threatened to release explicit videos of her and harm both her and Mescudi, and told her that Mescudi’s car would be “blown up”.
Ventura said that she ended her relationship with Mescudi soon after, citing safety concerns, and told the court that the next time she saw Mescudi was at a meeting at Soho House, where she, Combs and Mescudi met to discuss the relationship.
At the meeting, Mescudi allegedly asked Combs: “What about my vehicle?” to which Ventura said Combs replied: “What vehicle?”
“And that was the end of the meeting,” Ventura said.
The alleged threat of blowing up Mescudi’s car was first detailed in Ventura’s 2023 civil lawsuit against Combs, which alleged that Combs threatened to “blow up” Mescudi’s car after learning about the relationship, and that around that time, Mescudi’s car “exploded in his driveway”.
The lawsuit suggests that Combs was responsible for blowing up Mescudi’s car, and stated that the incident left Ventura feeling “terrified” as she “began to fully comprehend what Mr Combs was both willing and able to do to those he believed had slighted him”.
Mescudi, through a spokesperson, confirmed Ventura’s account in the lawsuit, and said that his car did explode in a brief statement to the New York Times in 2023.
A Los Angeles fire department report confirmed that Mescudi’s Porsche was set on fire by an “incendiary device” on 9 January 2012, Rolling Stone previously reported. The cause of the fire was listed as “intentional”.
A 2024 memo from federal prosecutors investigating Combs alleges that Combs’s “co-conspirators” set fire to an unnamed individual’s convertible in 2012 by “slicing open the car’s convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside”.
Prosecutors said that police and fire officials concluded that the car fire was intentionally set. Witnesses claimed that Combs later bragged about his role in the incident.
Combs, through his lawyers, has denied any involvement in the car fire.
Before Mescudi took the stand, George Kaplan, a former assistant to Combs, resumed his testimony that began on Wednesday afternoon.
Kaplan testified about a 2015 incident during which he witnessed Combs being violent with Ventura.
Kaplan left Combs’s company in December 2015 as he was “not comfortable or aligned with the physical behavior that had been going on”. He added that he didn’t want to be part of “fixing those types of things”.
Besides Combs’s alleged violent behavior toward Ventura, Kaplan also testified that he once saw Combs “throw a number of decorative or real green apples at another girlfriend”, also in 2015, at Combs’s Miami Beach home.
After Mescudi concluded his testimony, prosecutors called on Mylah Morales, a former makeup artist for Combs and Ventura.
Morales testified about an incident that she said occurred in 2010 during Grammys weekend. She was napping on a couch when Combs entered the hotel suite, looking for Ventura. Combs then entered the bedroom where Ventura was and Morales heard “yelling and screaming”.
After Combs left, Morales said Ventura was “distraught” and had a “swollen eye, and a busted lip and knots on her head”.
Morales took Ventura to her home, where she stayed for a few days and a doctor friend looked at Ventura’s injuries. He recommended that Ventura go to the emergency room, but Ventura refused.
The government then called Frederic Zemmour, an employee at the L’Ermitage hotel in Beverly Hills, to the stand.
Zemmour testified that Combs regularly stayed at the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, noting that his guest profile stated that Combs would “always” spill candle wax “on everything” and use “excessive amounts of oil”.
Zemmour testified that Combs’s guest profile also instructed staff at the hotel to “place the room out of order upon departure for deep cleaning” and to “authorize an extra $1000” when Combs stays “to cover any room damages”.
A computer forensics agent from homeland security investigations was then called to the stand and testified that he extracted data from three of Ventura’s laptops.
The agent said that one had been set to factory default, another showed a log-in screen with a user profile for “Frank Black” (Ventura and Kaplan have both testified that Combs’s hotel rooms were usually booked under this name) and the third, which the agent said appeared to be damaged, would not power on.
The trial will resume on Tuesday due to the Memorial Day holiday.
• Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
