Sean Diddy Combs Kidnapping Allegations: What We Know About the Kid Cudi Plot

Sean "Diddy" Combs looks on as defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland cross examines Dawn Richard during Combs' sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court, Monday, May 19, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

By  NEWS BLEND 360

Updated 4:44 PM EDT, May 27, 2025

NEW YORK (NB360) — A former top aide to Sean “Diddy” Combs testified on Tuesday that the hip-hop mogul threatened her life on her first day at work and later brandished a gun while kidnapping her in a furious attempt to find and kill rapper Kid Cudi.

Capricorn Clark’s testimony about Combs’ aggressive and violent behavior marked the beginning of the third week in his Manhattan federal sex trafficking trial.

Prosecutors called Clark, who was the global brand director for Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment, to corroborate a charge that he orchestrated a two-decade racketeering conspiracy using intimidating bodyguards, death threats, and the silence of terrified staff to achieve his goals.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges in an indictment accusing him of abusing his longtime girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, among others. If found guilty, he could face a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life.

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)

Clark’s emotional testimony came a few days after Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, testified that Clark had phoned him from a car outside his home in December 2011, stating that Combs had forced her to accompany him to Cudi’s residence.

Clark explained that Combs was upset because Cudi was dating Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura.

Referring to Combs as “Puff,” Clark stated that he arrived at her house with a gun and ordered her to get dressed, saying, “we’re going to kill Cudi.”

With a trembling voice, Clark described their journey in a black Cadillac Escalade to Cudi’s Los Angeles home. Combs and his bodyguard entered the house while Clark remained in the SUV and called Cassie.

Clark testified that she told Cassie, “Combs has me at gunpoint and brought me to Cudi’s house to kill him.”

Clark recalled hearing Cudi in the background asking, “He’s in my house?” She said she told Cassie, “Stop him, he’s going to get himself killed.” Cassie responded that she couldn’t stop Cudi.

Clark said Combs returned to the Escalade, asked who she was talking to, then took the phone and called Cassie back.

Defense attorney Brian Steel, center, cross examines Kid Cudi, far right, as Sean “Diddy” Combs, far left, looks on during Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court,Thursday, May 22, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Clark recounted that they soon heard Cudi driving up the road. Combs and his bodyguard got back into the SUV and pursued Cudi, eventually abandoning the chase when they encountered police cars heading to Cudi’s residence.

Following the break-in, Clark mentioned that Combs instructed her to persuade Cudi “it wasn’t me.”

“If you don’t convince him of that, I’ll kill all of you,” he threatened, adding an expletive, according to Clark.

Clark testified that she and Cassie then visited Cudi’s home, telling the jury: “We needed to speak with him. We needed to ensure he wouldn’t file a police report about Puff.”

Rapper Kid Cudi, right, arrives at Federal Court for the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, in New York, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Following that, she recounted, she was stunned as she witnessed Combs brutally attacking Cassie due to her involvement with Cudi.

Combs kicked Cassie with “100% full force” on her legs and back as she lay curled up outside his home in a fetal position, silently crying, according to Clark.

Clark expressed that her “heart was breaking from seeing her get hit like that” and mentioned that neither she nor Combs’ bodyguard stepped in.

This statement led to an objection from Combs’ attorneys, prompting Judge Arun Subramanian to instruct the jurors to disregard it.

Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, challenged Clark’s memory, causing her to reconsider some details. She acknowledged some uncertainty about events that occurred “such a long time ago.”

On Thursday, Cudi stated that he briefly dated Cassie in December 2011, under the impression she had ended things with Combs, but they mutually decided to part ways over the holidays.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitzi Steiner questioned Clark about her intermittent employment with Combs from 2004 to 2018, starting from her first day when she mentioned Combs and a bodyguard took her to Central Park after 9 p.m., noting he was unaware of her previous work with other rappers.

Special agent Gerard Gannon shows the jury a hand gun recovered from Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Star Island residence during Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial in Manhattan federal court, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Clark testified that Combs told her he would have to kill her if that work became problematic.

Clark stated that just weeks into her job, Combs assigned her to transport diamond jewelry, which then went missing. Consequently, she underwent multiple lie detector tests over five days by a man who seemed five times her size.

"He said, 'If you fail this test, they'll throw you in the East River,'" she recalled, noting that they eventually allowed her to return to work.

Even the alleged kidnapping didn't deter Clark, Agnifilo pointed out.

Last year, after federal agents raided Combs' homes, she proposed returning to work for him as his chief of staff. Combs declined the offer, Agnifilo said.