A friend of Casandra “Cassie” Ventura testified in Manhattan Federal Court on 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 had held her over the balcony’s edge, Bongolan said, adding that the rap mogul 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,” she said he once told her at a photo shoot, and she recalled another time when he threw a knife at Ventura.
She said Combs called her on FaceTime a day or two after the balcony incident, and she told him she didn’t want any problems with him.
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 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.
In a $10 million lawsuit, Bongolan is currently suing Combs in California for sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and other claims. The suit includes an allegation that Combs skinned a rival’s dog.
On cross-examination, Combs’ attorney Nicole Westmoreland highlighted portions of Bongolan’s demand letter in her civil suit that described Combs as groping her breasts on the balcony, causing bruising, which she did not describe under questioning by the prosecution. She pulled up a description in the civil case of Combs saying he would kill her when he hanged her over the balcony, a detail the witness said was added by a since-fired lawyer.
Westmoreland also sought to highlight discrepancies in Bongolan’s testimony and her first meetings with prosecutors, like initially saying Combs was at a party when he said he could kill her and later saying it was at a photo shoot. Bongolan answered “I don’t remember” in response to several questions on cross-examination about the incident.
Of Bongolan and Ventura’s drug use, which Bongolan testified was intense and involved substances like ketamine, cocaine, and other drugs, the defense attorney had Bongolon admit the women spent the majority of their time together getting high and each had had a drug problem.
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.
Originally Published: June 4, 2025 at 3:00 PM EDT
