A friend of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura testified in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, alleging she was held over the edge of a Los Angeles high-rise by an unhinged Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
Bryana Bongolan, 33, a creative and marketing director, said the disturbing incident occurred in September 2016. She said she and a girlfriend were staying at Ventura’s place smoking marijuana and taking other drugs, when the rap mogul turned up and began banging on the door. Bongolan said she sent her girlfriend to hide in the bathroom, where Ventura was, and then went out to the balcony.
Bongolan, who said she weighed between 100 and 115 pounds at the time, described Combs approaching her from behind, putting his hands around her chest and under her armpits, and holding her over the balcony’s edge with her feet dangling by the rail.
“What were you thinking when Mr. Combs was holding you up on that 17th-floor balcony?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Smyser asked.
“For a split second, I was thinking about how I was going to fall, but for the most part, he was yelling at me, so I was trying to answer him,” Bongolan said, quoting Combs as repeatedly chastising her, “You know what the f–k you did.”
“I [had] no idea,” she said. “I still [have] no idea.”
The witness, wearing a plaid jacket over a brown dress, estimated that 10 to 15 seconds later, Combs hurled her into balcony furniture. When an incredulous Ventura came upon the scene, she asked Combs if he’d held her up on the balcony, Bongolan said, adding that Combs swiftly left.
Jurors saw a photo of the balcony with sweeping views of Los Angeles and a photo Bongolan took of her injuries, showing severe bruising and a puncture wound on the back of her leg. She said she also suffered neck pain in addition to night terrors, paranoia, and sometimes screaming in her sleep.
Bongolan said she sought care from a chiropractor and didn’t report the incident to law enforcement because she feared Combs. “I’m the devil, and I could kill you,” he once told her, and she recalled another time when he threw a knife at Ventura.
She said Combs called her a day or two after the balcony incident on FaceTime, and she told him she didn’t want any problems with him. Bongolan is currently suing Combs for $10 million.
When Ventura brought a bombshell suit against Combs in late 2023, she included details of the balcony incident, though the court document mistakenly said it happened at a hotel, Bongolan said Wednesday. Combs settled that suit in 24 hours for $20 million, jurors heard from Ventura earlier in the trial.
Ventura testified about the balcony incident during the four days on the stand at the start of the trial, where she related being horrifically beaten by Combs throughout their 11-year relationship and coerced into hundreds of dayslong, demeaning sexual performances with strangers for Combs’ sexual gratification.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to five counts, including sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transporting individuals for prostitution. He could spend the rest of his life in prison if found guilty.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office alleges Combs operated a criminal enterprise that saw him and his inner circle resort to criminality to facilitate his desires for some two decades. They allege those crimes included obstruction of justice, sex trafficking, kidnapping, and habitual violence.
They have alleged Combs and his crew members resorted to arson and kidnapping surrounding a disturbing series of events in 2011 and 2012 that saw rapper Kid Cudi’s home broken into and his Porsche blown up.
