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Kerry Morgan, the former best friend of Cassie Ventura, has told the Diddy trial how the music mogul choked her and beat her with a hanger in 2018 - and then offered her $30,000 in exchange for her silence.
The 39-year-old model was friends with Ventura from 2001 until 2018, and testified on Monday that Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, attacked her from behind and hit her with the wooden coat hanger.
Morgan said she had been hanging out at Ventura’s house in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, listening to Ventura’s music, when Diddy barged in.
Ventura was in the bathroom and Morgan was in the living room when Diddy came up behind Morgan from behind, choked her and smacked her behind her right ear with a coat hanger, she testified. She said he left “fingermarks” on her neck. Diddy was concerned about who Ventura was cheating on him with; Morgan said she didn’t know.
She suffered a concussion as a result of the attack, she said.
The incident was part of an explosive day of testimony that included:
- Morgan testifying that on a 2013 trip to Jamaica, she saw Diddy dragging Ventura 50 yards down a hallway by her hair, before pushing her to the ground, where she hit her head. She said the violence took place after Diddy complained Ventura had spent too long in the bathroom.
- Morgan recalled Ventura saying Diddy controlled her life and “was in charge of her career.”
- David James, Diddy’s assistant at Bad Boy Entertainment for two years, described working 20-hour days for his boss. He testified about arriving at Diddy’s apartment before the mogul woke up to ensure “he had a successful day.”
- “This is Mr. Combs’ kingdom. We’re all here to serve in it,” James recalled an HR executive telling him while pointing at a photo of Diddy as he interviewed for his job.
One month after being hit with a hanger, Morgan and Ventura met up at a pizza parlor in West Hollywood. Ventura insisted her best friend was “milking it” and was “over-exaggerating” about the incident, Morgan told the court.
That’s when the singer offered her friend $30,000 on behalf of Diddy along with a non-disclosure agreement. Morgan barely read it, she said, but signed the agreement and took the money. That moment marked the end of the women’s 17-year friendship.
Marc Agnifilo, Diddy’s defense attorney, pressed Morgan as to why she no longer spoke to her friend of nearly two decades. Ventura was “not supportive of me after that incident,” Morgan told the court. “I draw my line at physical abuse.”
Neither woman has reached out to the other since, she told the court.
Although she hired a lawyer, she didn’t consult with the attorney before signing the NDA. Morgan also clarified: “I didn’t demand money from anyone. She offered,” referring to Ventura.
The blonde model told jurors she took the stand because she was subpoenaed. “I’ve moved on with my life and all these people and their problems,” she said Monday.
Last week, Ventura mentioned the 2018 hanger incident while on the stand, but she believed that Diddy was upset because he saw that Morgan and Ventura were about to do drugs, which he had been trying to get the singer to stop taking. Morgan told the court Monday that she didn’t remember taking any drugs that day and didn’t recall any drugs on the living room table.
Morgan took the stand for two hours on Monday in the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial. Federal prosecutors have charged Diddy with five counts of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
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