Cassie testimony against Sean 'Diddy' Combs ends after she spent days describing abuse

NEW YORK (AP) — R&B singer Cassie finished testifying in the Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial Friday after four emotional days on the witness stand during which she was questioned about the deepest, most disturbing secrets of her sex life and described being beaten and raped by a man she once loved.

When Judge Arun Subramanian told her she could leave, saying, “You’ve been here a long time,” Cassie glanced once toward the jury but never looked in Combs’ direction as she walked out of the courtroom for the final time.

After departing, Cassie, who dated Combs for a decade, released a statement through her lawyer saying she hoped her testimony helps others “heal from the abuse and fear.”

“For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember,” she said. “And the more I can remember, the more I will never forget.”

Combs, 55, is on trial in New York on charges that he exploited his status as an entertainment executive to force women, including Cassie, into drug-fueled “freak-offs” with male sex workers and engaged in other abusive acts against people who relied on him for their careers.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. His lawyers say that, although he could be violent, nothing he did amounted to a criminal enterprise. And Combs insists all the sex at the freak-offs was consensual.

Shortly after Cassie finished testifying, prosecutors called another witness who was once close to Combs: Dawn Richard, a singer who appeared on his reality show “Making the Band,” which launched her group act Danity Kane.

Richard testified that she witnessed Combs physically attack Cassie on multiple occasions. During a visit to Combs' home recording studio in 2009, Richard said she and another woman saw Combs hit Cassie “on the head and beat her on the ground."

Combs brought them back the next day, she said, giving Richard flowers and putting a spin on what happened.

“He said that what we saw was passion and what lovers in relationships do,” she testified.

But he also locked them in his recording studio and threatened them to stay silent or else, she said.

Richard sued Combs last year, accusing him of physical abuse, groping and psychological abuse during the years they worked together. Her testimony is to resume Monday.

Throughout Friday’s testimony, Combs kept lowering his head to write a steady stream of messages on small sheets of paper that he passed to his defense attorneys.

Over her hours of testimony during the week, Cassie said she was ashamed and loathed taking part in “hundreds” of the freak-offs, which could go on for days. But she said she felt compelled because Combs threatened her with violence, and was physically abusive “a lot” during the encounters. He also threatened to publicly release sex videos of her if she made him angry, she said.

Combs' lawyers, however, have sought to portray her as an eager participant.

On Thursday and Friday, they had Cassie read texts and emails in which she expressed willingness to engage in the encounters.

In a 2012 exchange, Combs told Cassie he wanted to “FO one last time tonight,” using initials for freak-off. Cassie replied, “What?” Combs said, “You can’t read?” Then Cassie replied, “I don’t want to freak off for the last time. I want it to be the first time for the rest of our lives."

Combs' lawer, Anna Estevao, ended her questioning there, but prosecutor Emily Johnson had Cassie read more messages for context.

“I want to see you, but I’m emotional right now,” Cassie wrote. “I don’t want to do one last time. I’d rather not do it at all.”

Cassie testified she was initially open to the encounters because she wanted to make Combs happy and spend time with him, but grew weary as the years went on.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has.

Cassie filed a lawsuit in 2023 accusing Combs of physical and sexual abuse, but they settled within hours for $20 million — an amount she disclosed publicly for the first time during the trial. Dozens of other people have since made similar legal claims.

Cassie’s testimony ended with another disclosure: She said she recently reached an estimated $10 million settlement with the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where a security camera in 2016 recorded Combs hitting her, kicking her, and dragging her down in a hallway.

After that incident, Cassie texted Combs saying, “I’m not a rag doll. I’m somebody’s child.”

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, also told Combs in a text that he was out of control from drugs and alcohol that day.

Yet, days later, according to texts read at the trial, she and Combs were expressing love for each other. “We need a different vibe from Friday,” she wrote.

After hotel security video of the assault was released last year, Combs apologized and said he was “disgusted” by his actions.

Estevao also questioned Cassie on Friday about her testimony that Combs raped her in 2018 after she ended their nearly 11-year relationship, noting that she gave differing descriptions of his demeanor and the timing of the alleged assault in interviews with investigators and in her trial testimony.

Cassie contends the rape happened at her Los Angeles home after she and Combs had dinner in Malibu, California, to discuss their breakup, either in August or September 2018.

While Cassie testified this week that Combs was “really nice” and “playful” at the dinner, Estevao pointed out that Cassie told investigators in 2023 that Combs had been “acting very strangely” that night. Cassie clarified, “Nice, but strangely."

Cassie also testified this week that Combs, during the dinner, was trying to get her to go to the Burning Man festival in Nevada, but previously told investigators that the dinner and rape happened after Combs returned from Burning Man.

Cassie acknowledged she stayed in touch with Combs and had consensual sex with him a few weeks after she says he raped her. She also exchanged warm messages with Combs after they broke up, even after she married Alex Fine in 2019.

The trial is expected to last well into June.

Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

Alex Fine, husband of Cassie Ventura, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Dawn Richard arrives at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, and Cassie Ventura attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition, May 7, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP File)

Cassie Ventura wipes tears from her eye while testifying in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

FILE - Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean "Diddy" Combs appear at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating "China: Through the Looking Glass" in New York on May 4, 2015. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean "Diddy" Combs, arrive at the Los Angeles premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" at the Writers Guild Theater, June 21, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP File)

Sean Diddy'Combs, far left, and attorney Marc Agnifilo, right, sit at the defense table during witness testimony in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Cassie Ventura takes an oath before testifying in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Health officials want you to think twice before buying one of those brightly colored little bottles often sold at gas stations, convenience stores and smoke shops.

Sometimes called “gas station heroin,” the products are usually marketed as energy shots or cognitive supplements but actually contain tianeptine, an unapproved drug that can be addictive and carries risks of serious side effects.

U.S. poison control centers have reported a steady rise in calls linked to the drug for more than a decade. And last month the Food and Drug Administration sent a warning to health professionals about “the magnitude of the underlying danger or these products.”

Here’s what to know about gas station heroin.

Tianeptine is approved in a number foreign countries as an antidepressant, usually as a low-dose pill taken three times a day. But it has never been approved by the FDA for any medical condition in the U.S.

Additionally, the drug cannot legally be added to foods and beverages or sold as a dietary supplement — something the FDA has repeatedly warned U.S. companies about.

Still, under-the-radar firms sell tianeptine in various formulas, often with brand names like Zaza, Tianaa, Pegasus and TD Red. Although that is technically illegal, the FDA does not preapprove ingredients added to supplements and beverages.

“It’s kind of this grey area of consumer products, or supplements, where the contents are not regulated or tested the way they would be with a medication,” said Dr. Diane Calello of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System.

Last year, Calello and her colleagues published a study documenting a cluster of emergency calls in New Jersey tied to a flavored elixir called Neptune’s Fix. People experienced distress, rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure and seizures after drinking it. More than a dozen of the 20 patients had to be admitted for intensive care.

Many tianeptine products claim— without evidence or FDA approval— to help users treat medical conditions, including addiction, pain and depression.

In 2018, the FDA issued a warning letter to the maker of a product called Tianna, which claimed to provide “an unparalleled solution to cravings for opiates.”

While tianeptine is not an opioid, the drug binds to some of the same receptors in the brain, which can temporarily produce effects akin to oxycodone and other opioids. Tianeptine also carries some of the same physiological risks of opioids, including the potential to dangerously depress breathing.

“That’s what tends to get people into trouble,” said Dr. Hannah Hays of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “They use it for opioid-like effects or to self-treat opioid withdrawal and that can lead to slow breathing and problems like that."

People dealing with opioid addiction, pain, depression, anxiety and other conditions should see a health professional to get a prescription for FDA-approved treatments, Hays said.

Experts aren’t sure but national figures show a big rise in emergency calls involving the drug.

Calls to poison control centers increased 525% between 2018 and 2023, according to a data analysis published earlier this year. In about 40% of cases, the person had to seek medical care, with more than half of them needing critical care.

One explanation for the rise in calls is simply that more Americans are using the products.

But experts also say that the products are triggering more emergencies as they become more potent and dangerous. And the researchers in New Jersey who analyzed Neptune’s Fix found that the liquid also contained synthetic cannabis and other drugs.

“You never quite know what’s in that bottle," Calello said. “It’s important for people to know that even if they have used a product before, they could get a bottle that contains something very different from what they’re looking for.”

Tianeptine is not included in the federal Controlled Substances Act, which bans or restricts drugs that have no medical use or have a high potential for abuse, such as heroin, LSD and PCP. But about a dozen states have passed laws prohibiting or restricting tianeptine, including Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee.

In some cases, those laws have led to more cases of withdrawal among users of tianeptine, which can be chemically addictive. But state data also shows some success in reducing harm tied to the drug.

Until recently, Alabama had the highest rate of tianeptine-related calls in the southern U.S., which increased more than 1,400% between 2018 to 2021. But after the state restricted tianeptine in 2021 calls began modestly decreasing while calls across other southern states continued to climb.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This photo provided by the FDA in January 2024 shows a bottle of TD Red Extra Strength, a product labeled to contain tianeptine. (FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch via AP)

This photo provided by the FDA in January 2024 shows capsules of White Magic, a product labeled to contain tianeptine. (FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch via AP)

This photo provided by the FDA in January 2024 shows capsules of Purple Magic, a product labeled to contain tianeptine. (FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch via AP)

This photo provided by the FDA in January 2024 shows a the ingredient list of TA TA, a product labeled to contain tianeptine. (FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch via AP)

This photo provided by the FDA in January 2024 shows bottles of Neptunes Fix Elixir, a product labeled to contain tianeptine. (FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs, Health Fraud Branch via AP)