I think when people hear Cassie's mother is going to be testifying, everyone was thinking, "Oh my goodness. " But she was only on the stand for about 30 minutes. And the big takeaway is this story that she tells regarding the email she got from her daughter in December of 2011.
This is where uh Cassie Ventur writes her mother and another person explaining or expressing that Shawn Puffy Comb, she said, threatened her, threatened to put out explicit videos of her. Again, this is around the holiday time and also saying that he would do something to the person that she was dating at the time. In the email, it's Scott Mscotti aka Kid Cuddy.
Um, so this is when the mother is talking to the jurors, talking to the court, and saying that this was the first time the mom says she realized that her daughter had any issues with possible physical abuse. And in this case, um, her daughter saying that Shawn Combmes was going to put these explicit videos out. So her mother said that Shawn Combmes said that he wanted $20,000 because of money that he spent on Ventura.
So the mother and her husband took out a $20,000 home equity loan, transferred that money into a checking account, and then sent it to Combmes. What's so interesting about this story is that even though they sent that 20,000 and she said she was in fear of her daughter, she was concerned for her safety, that money came back to the Ventura family. They didn't get into detail about that other than to say that she within 4 to 5 days that money came back to their account.
Interesting. And did they explain what would have happened or what they believed would have happened had they not wired Shawn that money? The prosecution, I believe, was trying to show that level of control that they talked about at the very beginning of this case.
Um, and then to see that her family talks about being intimidated and fearing for Cassie's safety and that's why they sent the money. They said, um, because they were really concerned. We also learned that the mother's the one who said, "You know what?
I want to take pictures of this abuse. " Again, the mom said she did not know about that or that that was happening until 2011. So Cassandra Ventur comes home for a holiday break, her mom sees these bruises and says in court today, "I felt like I needed to memorialize it.
" When it came to the explicit videos, uh the prosecution asked her, "What was your reaction to hearing that your daughter said she was concerned about those explicit videos? " When it came to this idea that Cassie was saying, you know, "Mom, Shawn Combmes is threatening to put out explicit videos of me. " She said her reaction to that was she was physically sick and that she said quote the sex tapes threw me.
The other witness today, Shereé Hayes, what did he say about his participation in the freakoffs? So Shereé Hayes says that he met the couple in 2012. He talks about meeting them first at the Trump Tower in Central Park and that they would often meet at the Essex House here in New York as well.
They said um he said that they met about 8 to 12 times and really believed according to him that he was the only one that they were doing this with. He said today that he didn't have an idea that this was something that they were doing regularly with other um escorts. The first time that they met, he talked about getting $800 and then I believe an additional $1,200.
Uh there was one moment he discussed where Shawn Combmes, according to him, threw money on the bed and condoms and said, "Get to it. " I think so much of what came out of that civil lawsuit and these freakoffs and this idea that again Cassie Ventur saying she was forced into these situations and that she really didn't want to partake in them. Even uh in her closing statement uh Friday saying I would give the $20 million back if it meant I never had to take part in a freakoff.
This is how she ended her testimony. So uh it is a big part of the case in reference to this notion that she was forced into it. And remember, the criminal enterprise and the racketeering, according to that indictment, is about him using force and threats and arson and all of these things they said for his sexual desires.
So that's why I think a lot of what we're hearing are these details from escorts, from people who uh not were not just people that were taking part in that, but also we've now learned from people who talk about seeing this the physical abuse, not just uh this idea that Cassie Ventur was there and was having sex with these male escorts, but the physical abuse as well as something that we've heard some of these escorts testify to. a former personal assistant of Shawn Combmes from 2007 to 2009 wrapped up his testimony today and part of what he described is seeing pills that Shawn Combmes had of the former President Barack Obama on them. That his face was on the pill.
According to this former assistant, we have not heard former President Barack Obama's name brought up in any other context than just him saying that it was a pill with his face somehow, you know, on it. Um, but I think that the personal assistant also described some uh interesting details. Again, not exactly sure how they fit into the big picture of the racketeering, but he did talk about um the things that he was supposed to do to advance the hotel rooms.
Because of these freakoffs, uh the personal assistant sometimes he said he had to get supplies for the hotel. He said often the hotel would be under Shaun Combmes's alias Frank Black and that he had to provide underwear, uh, clothing, applesauce, jell-o, Fiji water. These were things that were expected to be in the room that Combmes was used to having that his personal assistant said he would provide.
Also interesting to note, he said early on he would expense some of those things, the Jell-O and the Fiji water and things on the bad boy account, but he said when it came to the Astrolide, the condoms and things of that nature, he would get reimbursed in cash. Interesting. Almost as if there was no record of those types of things.
And more specifically, I think what's going to be difficult in some ways for the jurors is to keep all of this information from all of these different dates and times in order. Um, for the first time, I think the prosecution may have been trying to make an argument for the kidnapping because in 2009, Cassie Ventur testified that she was in a a fight with Combmes, that he stomped her face, and it was so bad that she had to stay at the London Hotel in California for a little more than a week. This personal assistant talks about having to deliver Rosco's chicken, Perk Holmes, to Cassandra Ventur.
But what he said was interesting is that when he went to the hotel room, it wasn't Cassie Ventur. It wasn't Cassandra Ventur that answered the door. It was an executive from Comb's team.
So, this is again this idea that Cassie said she could not leave the hotel. This is the first time I think I'm hearing someone sort of corroborate this story that could be related to the kidnapping, which is part of the bigger criminal enterprise racketeering charge that Combmes is facing. Even the judge has made mention of not wanting this to be a case sort of built on gossip, but really making sure that these jurors are hearing the meat and potatoes of what we're here for.
And that's the criminal enterprise, racketeering, um, sex trafficking, and making sure that we're hearing information that somehow lead to all of those things. Now, I would imagine that at the end in the closing statements, they're going to sort of tie all of this up, but uh jurors are being inundated with a lot of information about personal matters, but also some of those more specific issues of kidnapping, forced labor, obstruction of justice. The personal assistant today testified that there was a 21-day stretch that he worked with no break.
Could that be forced labor? He also talked about an employee. He said he remembers being hospitalized because of dehydration for working 24 hours straight.
Could that be forced labor? Um he talks about how Combmes instructed him to file a false police report. Could that be obstruction of justice?
So all of these things were sort of waiting to see what happens. But when it came to Regina Ventur's testimony, when it was time for the defense to question her, they said, "We have no questions. " could be strategic, but I think when you look at the amount of time that she was up there with the prosecution, she really didn't have that much more to offer.
And I don't think the defense um gained anything necessarily by questioning her or uh trying to question her credibility, I guess. Yeah. I mean, that's but that was the that was the first time.
Again, it may have happened before because we're now at nine or 10 witnesses. Um, but again, the defense when it was their turn to question Regina Ventura said they had no questions for her. Do we know if Cassie has had her child yet?
According to Doug Wigdor, I saw her attorney this morning in the cafeteria and I asked her, "We all want to know. Did she have the child yet? Did she have the baby boy?
" And he said, "We're getting close, but no, she is still pregnant. " Now, things could change by the time 7:30 rolls around, but as of now, we're hearing that uh she is still very much expecting any day now.
