
Former Cassie Ventura stylist testifies about helping her hide from Combs after alleged fight
Cassie Ventura once thought about climbing over a balcony to escape Sean Combs, her friend and former stylist Deonte Nash testified on Wednesday.
Nash testified that the Ventura escape attempt occurred after he allegedly saw Combs get violent with Ventura and threaten to release videos of her having sex during a "freak-off." Nash told the court he had pushed Ventura to catch a cab so that she could hide from Combs in a hotel.
Nash testified that Combs showed up at his house with a bodyguard and another employee "and he was like, 'Where the f--- is she?' He started looking all around my house. He looked in the closets. He looked in the oven. I have no idea why he looked in the oven."
Nash testified that when Combs learned Ventura was staying in a hotel, which Nash told the court was the Le Montrose in Beverly Hills, Combs allegedly took Nash to the hotel with him and told Nash to get Ventura to come down. Nash told the court Ventura "was frightened" after he told her "that Puff was downstairs looking for her."
Nash told the jury Ventura said "Oh no" and then "went to the balcony and said she was going to go over the balcony."
Instead, Nash testified that he sneaked her out of a side door.
On cross-examination, the defense asserted that Combs having the final say over Cassie Ventura's physical looks was a business decision and not an element of coercion, as prosecutors have alleged.
"It's important for the person who ran the label that the person look good, fair to say?" defense attorney Xavier Donaldson asked Nash.
"Sometimes, yeah," Nash told the court in response.