Cassie may be called to testify at Diddy trial despite signing NDA, lawyer says

Sean 'Diddy' Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie may be called to testify as a star witness at his upcoming trial despite reportedly agreeing to an NDA, a top lawyer has predicted. 

The artist, real name Cassie Ventura, has been praised for her bravery in recent months as she was seen as the trigger for criminal action to be brought against Diddy based on a November 2023 lawsuit. 

Although Cassie settled her suit soon after announcing it, it led to a wave of further allegations against Diddy that resulted in his indictment in New York last month on charges including racketeering and sex trafficking. 

Attorney Lou Shapiro joined the Daily Mail's hit podcast The Trial of Diddy this week to dissect the legal ramifications of Diddy's fall from grace. 

Shapiro explained that although Cassie may have signed an NDA not to speak on her settlement with Diddy, this has no bearing on the actions brought against him by the Southern District of New York. 

'So interestingly, people are unable to settle or sign off on their ability to testify as a witness in a criminal case,' he told host Marjorie Hernandez, Daily Mail’s West Coast News Editor.

'In NDAs, you're agreeing to say if I am subpoenaed in a civil matter, then I will not testify against. If the district attorney's office or the US attorney's office subpoenas this person, then that overrides an NDA. 

'The NDA is saying, I promise that I won't come out against you in another case. But that doesn't prevent the government from doing what they're gonna do. And if the government force something, I have no choice.' 

In her lawsuit, Cassie claimed that Diddy brutally beat and sexually abused her for over a decade throughout their tumultuous relationship. 

According to the truly shocking complaint, Diddy allegedly forced her to use various drugs and beat her repeatedly. She also claimed he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he watched and recorded. 

She claimed all aspects of her life were 'controlled by either Mr. Combs or his management companies' in her complaint, including having access to all her medical records. 

In the year since Cassie's lawsuit, Diddy has seen his media empire crumble as he now faces decades behind bars. 

Also joining Hernandez on the episode was Greg Kading, a former LAPD detective who investigated Diddy's alleged ties to the murder of Tupac Shakur in 1996, and who recently said the rapper's 'true nature' was coming out for the world to see. 

Kading explained why a change to New York law several years ago has led alleged victims to revive decades-old sexual assault claims against Diddy after Cassie Ventura went public with her claims. 

'One of the things that contributed to this was New York a year and a half or about a year, a year and a half ago had done a kind of like a moratorium on the statute of limitations for domestic violence and domestic abuse,' he said. 

'And it allowed people who otherwise would have been out of statute to come forward and make criminal claims to have something looked at previously would not have been considered just because the statute of limitations had expired. 

'So they opened up this one year window for people to be able to come in and say, 'Hey, even though the statutes out of date, this happened to me five years ago.''

'And once that first person stepped through the door and made her allegations against Puffy, it empowered all of these other people to start coming forward. 

'And that's often what we see and especially in criminal investigations is that people are reluctant to be the first one to go through a door. But when the door's already been opened by someone else, it's much more comfortable or they're much more willing to go through an open door than they are a closed one. 

'So now it's created this kind of like snowball effect. And everybody's just kind of you know, throwing themselves on that, on that, on that, on that train.' 

Months after Cassie's lawsuit sent shockwaves through the industry, CNN released footage from a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 showing Diddy repeatedly assaulting Cassie in a hall. 

With prosecutors likely to draw upon the video in their case, Shapiro said Cassie's potential testimony could be damning for the rapper. 

'It's a very disturbing video. When you watch it, you can't believe that somebody would do that to another human being,' he said. 

'This old story, don't hit someone when they're down - she's down already on the ground, and it seems like he's not showing any remorse or any compassion for another human being. 

'It's really difficult to watch. And if it's difficult for me as a lawyer, where I see a lot of these videos in my profession, sadly, I can't imagine what, you know, jurors would think of such a video. Shocking to the core.' 

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