Diddy trial: Executive producer of R. Kelly documentary laments Cassie's plight after jury finds rapper guilty on two charges

Dream Hampton, the executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly, spoke about Cassie's plight after the jury announced its verdict in Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial. The rapper was arrested in September 2024 on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

After about seven weeks, the jury deliberated its verdict on July 2, and Diddy was declared guilty of two charges out of five. They were linked to the transportation to engage in prostitution with his former girlfriends, Cassie Ventura, "Jane," and other sex workers. The rapper now faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

According to a report by CNN, Dream Hampton spoke about Ventura's plight after the jury cleared Diddy of the more serious racketeering charges. In an interview with correspondent Laura Coates outside the court, she said:

“My heart, in this moment, is going out to Cassie. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling, you know. This was a woman who could have had a career. You know, and some of the testimony that she gave near the end about being 10 years into this relationship with Puff and still wanting to go to the studio but feeling like her job was to do the sex work."

Speaking about the broader repercussions of the verdict, Hampton added:

"I’m afraid that with, you know, Puff walking from the more serious charges that he’s, not only him, the whole entire discourse, I just wonder what we’re going to learn from this. I wonder when it will end. I wonder when we’ll cease to look at women as disposable and as property. I wonder when these men will cease to tell themselves these stories."

Ventura was in an on-and-off relationship with Diddy from 2007 to 2018. In November 2023, she filed a lawsuit against Combs, suing the rapper under the New York Adult Survivors Act. The 38-year-old R&B songstress accused Diddy of rape, sexual assault, physical abuse and forced participation in sexual acts.

However, the lawsuit was settled within 24 hours of filing. In her Diddy trial testimony, Ventura revealed that "Sean and his companies" paid her $20 million in settlement.

In her discourse with Laura Coates, Dream Hampton also critiqued the closing statement of Diddy's defense. Attorney Marc Agnifilo referred to their relationship as a "great modern love story."

"The closing arguments by his attorney were absurd, that this was like a Bonnie and Clyde love affair. No, it wasn’t. You’re talking about someone who endured a decade of abuse,” Hampton added.

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Cassie's attorney breaks silence after jury deliberates Diddy trial verdict

Premiere Of Lionsgate's "The Perfect Match" - Arrivals - Source: Getty

Cassie's attorney, Doug Wigdor, waxed lyrical about the R&B songstress after Diddy's verdict was deliberated. According to the lawyer, Cassie's contributions have left an "indelible mark." He also asserted that the Combs saga began after Ventura sued the rapper in November 2023.

“This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023. Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution,” Wigdor remarked.

Talking about the verdict, Widgor added that it wasn't "the exact outcome" that he wanted, but Cassie and he were grateful that Combs was a "convicted felon." Like Dream Hampton, Doug Wigdor slammed Marc Agnifilo's take on Combs and Cassie's relationship in his closing argument. He dismissed them as "gratuitous comments" that allegedly weren't based on "real facts."

“Calling those sorts of behaviors as a modern-day relationship, you know, saying that she enjoyed sex, you know, saying she was a gangster, things like that — I don’t think that even with the jury verdict that they would have given that any credit,” he opined.

Widgor went on to critique the fact that Marc Agnifilo called her a "winner" in his closing arguments.

“She endured 10 years of abuse where she had to engage in days long sexual acts with UTIs, she alleged that she was she was raped. And so to call her a winner, even though she did get $30 million part from, as she testified, part from Sean Combs, part from the hotel, no amount of money is going to ever undo what she had to endure and what she had to go through,” he added.

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In other news, Ventura recently gave birth to her third child with husband Alex Fine. At present, she is a mother of three.