Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial: ‘Trusted assistant’ and Cassie Ventura’s mother take the stand

On Monday, James said Diddy once told him Cassie Ventura — Diddy’s ex-girlfriend and the prosecution’s star witness — was “young” and “mouldable.“

Ventura’s mother, Regina Ventura, is also testifying today.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

He faces life in prison if convicted.

On Tuesday, James was cross-examined by Combs’ defense lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, during which he mentioned two other celebrities.

He said when his boss was in Miami he recorded in the same studio that Pharrell Williams and Will Smith used.

“He would go where Pharrell was working. Will Smith had a studio,” James said.

The former assistant testified that Combs would regularly stay up until 3am or 4am in the morning recording music and when Combs was in New York City he recorded at a studio in Midtown Manhattan.

He also testified that there was camaraderie among the mogul’s staff and that they described his record label, Bad Boy Records, as being like a family.

“Mama Combs called me her son at one point,” James said.

He also claimed he’d felt a sense of mission in his role working for Combs, explaining that it was “to make sure that he was happy and prepared for the day”.

On Monday, James had said he resigned after the Bad Boy Records founder brought him to try to confront rival Suge Knight – all while packing three guns.

“I was really shook up by it,” James told the jury. “It was the first time being Mr. Combs’s assistant where I realised my life was in danger.”

James earlier that evening encountered Suge Knight while picking up food with Combs’ security guard D-Roc at Mel’s drive-in diner in mid-November 2008.

“’That’s mothers**king Suge Knight,’” James recalled D-Roc telling him.

D-Roc told Suge Knight – the head of rival music production company Death Row Records whose real name is Marion Knight Jr. – he was “Diddy’s boy” before Knight responded, “’What are you doing in my city?” James testified.

“S**t man, just out here getting money,” James said D-Roc responded.

Then four SUVs pulled into the parking lot and someone handed Knight a gun, James told the jurors.

D-Roc and James went back to Combs’ place got in his Escalade armed with three guns and headed back to the diner, driving in eerie silence, James said.

“Mr Combs had three handguns on his lap,” James said.

But when they arrived Knight and his crew were no longer there.

James said the incident prompted him to give his six-months notice, to allow for someone else to get trained. He left the company by 2009.

Combs also made his former assistant take two lie detector tests during his employment, including one when his pricey Jacob & Co. watch went missing, according to testimony.

David James recalled having to take lie detector tests when Combs’ items went missing when he worked as the personal assistant for the music mogul between 2007 to 2009.

“It was extremely intimidating,” James testified about having to take the test after one of Combs’ watches vanished.

James said his first lie detector test came after Combs had cash stolen, and recounted to the jury about having to visit an “almost government building” in a skyscraper when he met an alleged “former FBI lie detector.”

“I met with a gentleman who told me he was a former FBI lie detector and that he was the most specialist lie detector in America,” James said, before describing the process of having his monitors track his movements during the test.

On both occasions, James passed the lie detector tests, he testified.

Capricorn Clark, another former assistant of Combs, was also forced to take a lie-detector test to prove she didn’t play a role in the theft of Combs’ briefcase of jewellery that she was charged with carrying, James told the jury.

Regina Ventura, mum of Cassie Ventura — Diddy’s former girlfriend of 11 years who testified for days last week that he raped, beat and forced her into drug-fuelled “freak-off” sex sessions with escorts — arrived at court on Tuesday morning.

Regina is set to take the stand later today.

An email Cassie sent to her mum warning that Sean “Diddy” Combs was threatening to release X-rated videos of her was part of a slew of trial evidence released by the feds Monday.

In the December 23, 2011 email — also sent to Combs’ former assistant, Capricorn Clark — the R & B singer writes “The threats that [Sean Combs] has made of me are that he will release 2 sexually explicit videos: one on Xmas day [and one other].”