Who is James Cruz? Cassie name drops Bad Boy Records employee while testifying about how Diddy tried to control her life

Sean "Diddy" Combs' former girlfriend Cassie Ventura took the stand for the second time on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 in a long grey dress and a black trench coat. During her testimony, she had name dropped James Cruz, a Bad Boy Records employee. Ventura first went about accusing Diddy of controlling all aspects of her life including her singing career.

According to the singer, the music mogul had eventually assigned James to oversee her career. In her testimony, Ventura further added that James Cruz was managing her "with one hand tied behind his back."

"He couldn't work as a normal manager. He had to make decisions through other parties. It was just a different way of doing things," she said.

For the unversed, James Cruz currently is the CEO of a cultural influence agency called Think123. Before establishing this agency, Cruz was the President of Bad Boy Management and also served as the head of Strategic Partnerships for Sean Combs Enterprises (SCE). Since 2009, he had also worked as Diddy's exclusive manager.

50 Cent had previously mentioned James Cruz. According to a September 2022 article by HotNewHipHop, Cent had accused Cruz of consuming cocaine occasionally.

Further explaining how Diddy apparently controlled Ventura's life, she testified that he was the one paying the rent of her homes in Los Angeles. According to her, he possessed his own set of keys to the house and would also drop by unannounced.

According to reports by Business Insider, the criminal trial could continue for about eight weeks. If convicted of all the charges filed against him currently, Diddy might face a sentence, duration of which can go up to life imprisonment.

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Cassie Ventura gave harrowing details about the alleged 2016 assault incident at the LA hotel

During her testimony, Cassie Ventura testified about the course of events that apparently transpired after the alleged assault happened in 2016 at the hotel. According to her, her friend got really concerned seeing Cassie with a swollen eye when she returned to her apartment.

The friend had then called the police, as testified by Ventura, according to reports by BBC. The singer further claimed that when police came and questioned her, she didn't reveal Diddy's name as she didn't want to "hurt" him.

"In that moment, I didn't want to hurt him... I wasn't ready," she said.

BBC reported that text messages that she apparently sent to Diddy at the time were displayed. In the messages, she was asking the music mogul to give her space and even condemned his behavior. In the message, Cassie reportedly wrote:

"You are sick for thinking it's okay to do what you've done. Please stay away from me."

She further testified that Diddy had later appeared at her apartment and began banging on the door. According to her testimony, she, however, did not let him enter. On Monday, Israel Florez, a security guard at the LA hotel testified in the trial. According to Florez, while he didn't call the police, he filed an incident report.

Somewhere during the testimony, Cassie claimed that Diddy had threatened to release videos of her being intoxicated and participating in "freak-offs," if she upset him. She suggested being worried about the impact on her family as well as her career.

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Apart from the criminal trial, several lawsuits have piled up against Diddy. Many accusers have claimed that he had r*ped and/or drugged them. However, the mogul has denied all the accusations.