Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial updates: Court is adjourned until Tuesday

On cross-examination, Scott Mescudi testified that Cassie Ventura told him about alleged physical abuse she said she suffered at the hands of Sean Combs but that she did not mention sexual abuse.

Defense attorney Brian Steel said both Mescudi and Combs were “played” by the same woman.

“The person who played you, the person who played Sean was Ms. Ventura. True?” Steel asked.

“Yeah,” Mescudi replied.

At the conclusion of cross-examination, Steel thanked Mescudi, who responded, “Yeah, no problem.”

On re-direct examination, Mescudi testified that Ventura told him that Combs “would hit her, sometimes kick her.”

Mescudi told the court that he and Ventura broke up because “things were getting out of hand” and that he felt concerned for his safety and her safety.

“I knew Sean Combs was violent,” Mescudi testified, prompting an objection and a sidebar.

During the SoHo House social club meeting in 2012, when, according to Mescudi's earlier testimony, Combs claimed not to know what Mescudi was talking about regarding the firebombing of his car, Mescudi told the jury that he thought Combs “was lying.”

Kid Cudi’s testimony has concluded. The court is in lunch break.

A couple of days after his Porsche was firebombed, Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi, testified that he called Sean Combs.

“I reached out to Sean Combs after my car had caught fire and finally told him we needed to meet up and talk,” Mescudi told the court. “He had been wanting to talk to me. After the fire I said, 'this is getting out of hand.'”

When prosecutor Emily Johnson asked why Mescudi called Combs regarding the firebombing of his car, he replied, “I knew he had something to do with it.” The defense objected and the judge instructed the jury to disregard the response.

Mescudi testified that he and Combs arranged to meet at the SoHo House social club in Los Angeles, where Mescudi testified that he saw Sean Combs “standing there staring out the window with his hands behind his back, like a Marvel supervillain.” The remark earned a chuckle in the courtroom.

“We discussed the whole story about how me and Cassie first started to date to what it was to how it ended. His whole point was, you know, we were homies. She was my girl. I let him know that she told me they were broken up,” Mescudi testified.

Mescudi told the court that Combs’ demeanor during their meeting was “very calm,” which Mescudi found “off-putting”: “It was weird that he was so calm,” Mescudi testified.

Mescudi testified that when the meeting ended, “We stood up, shook hands and as I was shaking his hand I said, ‘What are we going to do about my car?’”

“He looked right back at me, very cold stare, and said ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’’ Mescudi told the court.

Mescudi testified that he withdrew his hand, whereupon Combs asked, “I thought we were cool. Do we have a problem?” Mescudi testified that he confirmed that Combs was giving his word that he didn’t burn his car.

Mescudi told the court that a couple of years later, he saw Combs again at the SoHo House in Los Angeles.

“He was with his daughter and he pulled me to the side and basically apologized for everything. He said ‘Man I just want to apologize for everything, all that b-------,’” Mescudi testified.

“After I got the apology I found peace with it. That was the last thing I was suspecting to get from him,” Mescudi testified.

“Hi,” Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi, greeted prosecutor Emily Johnson at the onset of his testimony. “I’m an actor and a musician," he told the court.

Mescudi testified about an alleged break-in at his home in December 2011, when he was in a romantic relationship with Cassie Ventura while she was still in a relationship with Combs.

“I got a call from Cassie around 5:30-6 a.m. She told me that Sean Combs had found out about us. I was confused but she asked me to pick her up. She sounded really stressed on the phone, scared, nervous. So I went to go pick her up,” Mescudi testified.

Mescudi told the court that he took Ventura to the Sunset Marquis hotel where, he testified, Combs’ assistant called, informing him that “Sean Combs was in my house” and she “was forced to go along,” referring to the assistant.

Mescudi testified that he drove in his Porsche 911 Cabriolet to the house in which he was living at the time and called Sean Combs while on the way.

“I said, ‘m-----------, you in my house?’ And he said, ‘What’s up?’" Cudi told the court. He testified that he asked Combs again, "‘Are you in my house? I just want to talk to you. I’m on my way over right now."

When he arrived at home, Mescudi testified that he saw “some gifts I had bought for my family were opened” and that his “dog was locked up in my bathroom.” He told the court that the incident left his dog “jittery” and “kind of on edge all the time.”

Mescudi said he again called Combs. “I was asking him where he was and he said, ‘I’m on my way.’”

Mescudi testified that he thought, “I don’t know who he has with him, what his intentions are” so he opted to call the police, who came to the house and took a report about the break-in.

Mescudi also told the court that in 2012, he received an early-morning phone call that “my car was on fire.” Asked for his reaction, Kid Cudi responded: “What the f---.”

The jury saw photos of Mescudi's damaged Porsche, including the blackened interior door and the charred, melted driver’s seat.

“The top of my Porsche was cut open. That’s where they inserted the Molotov cocktail,” Mescudi testified, adding that he saw the bottle from the Molotov cocktail: “It was kind of burnt up.”

Arson is among the predicate acts in the racketeering conspiracy count Combs faces. Cassie Ventura previously testified that Combs allegedly threatened to have Kid Cudi’s car blown up when Combs learned of her relationship with Cudi.

“He pushed me to depths I didn’t know I had,” George Kaplan, Sean Combs' former employee, said of Combs on cross-examination.

Recalling his time as Combs’ personal assistant for a 15-month period between 2013 and 2015, Kaplan said “I’m a young man. This is a god among men.”

When defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked if he still remembered Combs’ birthday, Kaplan immediately responded, “November 4”.

Kaplan said it had occurred to him that had he still been employed by Combs Enterprises he would not have had to work yesterday because it was “Biggie’s birthday,” referring to the influential late rapper The Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls, who was the first artist to sign with Combs' Bad Boy Records label.

At Combs Enterprises, Smalls' May 21 birthday is a paid company holiday.

When Kaplan left Combs' employ due to what he testified was the violence he kept witnessing and “fixing” for Combs, he told the jury, “My friends told me this was my Harvard and I was blowing it.”

Asked about the alleged incident of violence against Cassie Ventura, about which Kaplan testified earlier in the morning, Kaplan told the court under cross-examination that he did not recall seeing physical injuries on Cassie Ventura but that he heard a glass breaking and saw that Combs “was holding one.”

Kaplan also testified on cross-examination that he did not trust hotel housekeeping staff to clean up after Combs because he feared they were looking for a “payday.”

The defense showed the court a note they said that Kaplan sent to Combs after his wife Kim Porter’s death, which Kaplan testified he sent “because I was heartbroken for him.” Kaplan also testified that he has respect for Combs but the violence he witnessed “shook me tremendously.”

On re-direct, Kaplan testified that even though he saw no physical injuries to Cassie Ventura during the alleged plane incident, “In my heart of hearts I knew what was happening and I felt an element of guilt that I didn’t do anything to stop it.”

Kaplan’s testimony has concluded. Scott Mescudi, aka rapper Kid Cudi, is now on the witness stand, clad in a black-leather jacket, white shirt and jeans.