This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. Sean "Diddy" Combs'former assistant,Capricorn Clark, alleged through tears that the former hip-hop mogulkidnapped herand threatened to kill her multiple times while she was regularly forced to work 20 hours straight for him. Clark testified in Combs' federal sex-crimes trial that she was onceheld against her willfor five days afterjewelry went missingfrom one of his homes, saying she was "petrified" as she was forced to take polygraph tests over and over again. But her most emotional testimony came as she described Combs rushing toKid Cudi'sLos Angeles home with a gun after he learned the fellow rapper,born Scott Mescudi, was dating Combs' ex-girlfriendCassie Ventura Fine. "I'd never seen anything like this before," Clark told jurors, choking up as she described Combs allegedly breaking into Mescudi's home in a rage and not letting her leave the scene until shepassed threats to Ventura Fine. Clark's violent testimony comes after a slew of witnesses, includingVentura Fine'smotherRegina Ventura,Danity KanealumDawn RichardandMescudi, appeared in court last week to share harrowing accounts of Combs' alleged abuse. While taking the stand on May 22, Mescudi also claimed Combs broke into his home and locked his dog in a bathroom — and that his vehicleblew up in another incident— after Combs found out he was seeing Cassie. The accusations are just some of the violent acts prosecutors say Combs undertook during a 20-year scheme to coerce women, including Ventura Fine, to take part in drug-fueled sex partiesknown as "freak offs"and prevent them from leaving his orbit. Combs, 55, wasarrested in September 2024and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty. Asked by Combs' lawyers whether her relationship with the rapper was always platonic,Clark responded"1000%" and said she did not recall telling her former boss that she had a crush on him. Jurors were then shown messages from June 2021 in which Clark wrote, "Did you ever know that I had the biggest crush on you before I started working for you?" "Sometimes I wonder, did we misuse all that dope chemistry?" Clark also texted. On the stand, she told defense lawyers she did not remember sending the text and insisted she "liked him as a friend." Sherespected Combs as a businessman, she said, calling him tenacious and describing his "fervor to be successful." She then turned emotional, tearing up and saying: "I think I was a really good employee for him." Diddy on trial newsletter:Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges. Clark said she was once accused ofstealing three pieces of jewelrywhile working as Combs' assistant. Combs' bodyguard Paul Offord, known as Uncle Paulie, searched Clark's house, but didn't find anything. The next day, he took her to a building in New York that would soon become the corporate offices forBad Boy Worldwide, Combs' corporation, but at the time Clark said it was "dilapidated," unfinished and a "gutted building." Clark told the court she was brought to the sixth floor where she was met by a "very wide, very heavy" man, whom she described as "five of me across." She said the man was smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee, and Clark was told she was brought there totake a lie detector test. "If you fail this test, they're gonna throw you in the East River," the man said. On the stand, Clark said, "I was petrified. I was afraid what would happen if I didn't pass this test." Clark's voice cracked during her testimony, and she cried while recalling the incident. Clark said she spent the whole day intermittently taking the test, but the results were inconclusive. "You're gonna be in the East River if I can't get a good reading on this," Clark recalled the man saying. The former assistant said she couldn't calm down, and the door to the roomwas locked from the outside.For five days, she was tested about the incident. At the end of each day, the security took her home before bringing her back to the building in the morning. She was told she couldn't leave "until we get to the bottom of this," Clark recalled. "I wanted to prove my innocence. I didn't like the threats," Clark told the court. "I was just trying to survive it." Clark told the court that Diddy once allegedly showed up at her apartment unannounced with a gun and said"we're going to go kill" Kid Cudi. Clark said this occurred in December 2011, when Ventura Fine wasromantically involved with Mescudi, the "Day 'n' Nite" rapper. Clark testified that around 5:30 a.m., she heard a loud banging on the door of her Los Angeles apartment and looked through the peephole to see Combs pacing outside. "He was furious," Clark said. "That was evident." He allegedly entered Clark's apartment, shouting, "Why didn't you tell me? Who is Scott?" after finding outMescudi and Ventura Fine were dating. He then allegedly told Clark to get dressed because "we're going to go kill this (man)." "I'd never seen anything like this before," Clark said, explaining that Combs had never shown up at her apartment unannounced, and she had never seen him carrying a gun. Clark said they got into an Escalade SUV, with Combs' security guard known as Ruben driving, and Combs sat in the backseat with Clark with a gun in his lap. Theyarrived at Mescudi's house, and Combs and Ruben went inside while Clark stayed in the car. Clark said she called Ventura Fine's burner phone and told her that Combs had "brought me to Cudi's house to kill him." Cassietestified earlier this monththat she purchased the phone in an effort to hide her relationship from Diddy. Combs got back in the car and asked Clark who she was on the phone with. "He was livid, more so than already," Clark testified. Mescudi then pulled up next to the Escalade, before driving away. Clark said they chased his car for about a minute but lost him. They also passed police who were on the way to Cudi's house. After the alleged incident with Mescudi, Clark said Combs calmed down andtold her to call Cassie. The assistant recalled telling Ventura Fine that "he's not gonna let me go until I come get you." According to Clark, Combs said she could only leave once she made Ventura Fine promise thatMescudi would not call law enforcement. "If you guys don't convince him of that, I'll kill all (of) you," Clark recalled Combs saying. "If you tell on him, he's gonna hurt us all," she added. Clark told the jury thatMescudi was "mindblown"over the alleged incident, but she and Cassie still returned to Combs' house about four hours later, around 10:50 a.m. Clark said she went with Ventura Fine and a bodyguard to Combs' rental home in Los Angeles after the confrontation at Mescudi's house, whereDiddy allegedly attacked Cassie. "Puff was standing therein a robe in his underwear and began kicking Cassie. He kept kicking her," she said. "He never used his hands." Clark tearfully testified that Combs pushed Ventura Fine into the street, noting she was down ina full fetal positionas he kept kicking her. "With each kick she moved back," Clark testified. "She was crying silently, he was kicking her in the back." Clark said the bodyguard, Ruben, didn't do anything to help Ventura Fine and neither did she, because Combs warned her to stay away. She said she frantically tried to call several of Combs' security guards, but she eventuallycalled Cassie's mother, Regina Ventura. Clark told her Combs was beating her daughter. "I'm in over my head. I can't call the police but you can," she recalled telling Ventura. Clark said she was traumatized by the ordeal. "He was very upset. He said 'I should kill you. I should cut her face,'" in reference to Ventura Fine, Clark testified. Prosecutors also asked Clark about how Combs' alleged abuse seeped into her job as his aide. Clark told jurors she generally worked from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. as a personal assistant for Combs, not givenbreaks to sleep or eat. She said shedeveloped alopecia, a health condition that causes hair loss, due to the stress of her role. At one point, Clark complained abouther working conditionsto human resources at the rapper's company, and employees calculated that she was owed $80,000 in overtime. When Combs was told about the pay, he ripped up the paper with the calculations, Clark testified. The former assistant noted part of her job was booking hotels for Ventura Fine andKim Porter, Combs' late partner with whom heshared four children. She alleged that "100% of the time," Combs brought a camera and a Louis Vuitton toiletry bagcontaining illegal drugs,as well as small bottles of baby oil and lube. She recalled seeingbaby oil handprintson suede walls after he checked out of various hotel rooms. The former assistant said she went to Bad Boy Records President Harve Pierre in March 2012. "I told him that Puff kidnapped me with a gun and was going to kill Cudi," Clark said, but she accused the executive of dismissing her concerns. A few months after she went to the label president, a human resources employee named Love Whelchel terminated her role because she didn't properly submit a request for vacation time. She said Combs told her after she was fired that she would never work again and that "he'd make me kill myself." Clark, who worked for Combs between 2004 and 2012, told jurors she has a personal connection to one of Diddy's major rap rivals,Suge Knight.The former record executive is the father of her best friend's children. On her first day of work as Combs' assistant, Clark alleged that he took her to Central Park after 9 p.m. and told her "he didn't know I hadanything to do with Suge Knight" when she was hired and "if anything happened, he would have to kill me." Clark took this as "a very serious" threat, she said, arguing there was nothing she could do to convince him she was "a trustworthy person." She also recalled an instance early on in working for Combs when she accompanied him to an MTV office to speak to reporters. She overheard him tell his security guard that he didn't like "nonsense" in his work, but he did"like guns."Clark also told jurors that50 Cent was at the MTVoffices that day and "he had an issue with 50 Cent." Diddy and the "Get Rich or Die Tryin" rapper have another legendary hip-hop rivalry, dating back nearly 20 years. 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, isproducing a docuseriesto premiere on Netflix about the allegations against Combs. Clark recalled an instance in summer 2006 when she wasworking in Miamiwith the rapper. While she was off the clock, Combs called her and demanded to know where she was: "Your problem is you want a life and you can't have that here." The next morning, after Combs' chef told her there was no more turkey bacon in his home, Clark said she grumbled, "I hate it here." She alleged Combs overheard and "ran toward mewith his hands open and he pushed me," with Combs telling her if she hated it, she could get out of his house. Clark said hepushed her 20 to 30 yardsbefore one of Combs' security guards intervened. After that, Clark left her position. "That was crossing my boundary," Clark said, getting choked up on the stand. But later, Combs asked her to work for Combs'Sean Johnwomen's clothing line, so she wouldn't be working directly under him. "I didn't want to be trapped in his house no more," Clark said. Capricorn Clark, who worked as Combs' assistant around 2011, has already been named in testimony from Ventura Fine and Mescudi.Ventura Fine testifiedClark was aware Combs had allegedlythreatened to release explicit footageof her.Mescudi said Clarkwas the one who told him Combs had allegedly broken into his Los Angeles home after learning of his relationship with Ventura Fine. Mescudi testifiedon May 22 that Combs broke into his home after learning of his relationship with Ventura Fine. The "Pursuit of Happiness" rapper said the incident started after he received a call in December 2011 from Ventura Fine, whosounded "scared" and told him Combs had discovered their relationship. The musician said he received a call fromCombs' former assistant Capricorn Clarklater in the day, saying the rapper was inside Mescudi's Los Angeles house. Mescudi said no one was ultimately inside, but his dog was locked up in the bathroom, whereas he normally lets his dog roam around the house freely. Some gifts he received from the luxury brand Chanel had also been opened. The rapper added that hecalled the policeand made a report. During his May 22 testimony, Mescudi said he got a call from his dogsitter in January 2012 saying that his car was on fire.Mescudi told the courtthat by the time he returned home, law enforcement officers were on the scene, and hesaw a Molotov cocktailand the major damage to his vehicle. Jurors were then shownphotos of the destroyed Porsche. There was a large hole in the roof of the car and smoke damage on the doors and interior. The incident came weeks after Mescudi said hewent to Connecticut with Ventura Fineto visit her family for Christmas. During that time, Combs texted him several times, wanting to speak and "get to the bottom of it." Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry. He wasarrested in September 2024and has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He haspleaded not guiltyto all five counts. Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity. Using RICO law, which is typically aimed attargeting multi-person criminal organizations,prosecutors allegethat Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors claim they have video of. The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings. USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Contributing: USA TODAY staff If you are a survivor of sexual assault,RAINNoffers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) andHotline.RAINN.organd en EspañolRAINN.org/es. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Diddy trial updates: Clark says Diddy threatened her, beat Cassie
