Danity Kane singer testifies Diddy issued deadly warning to hide domestic violence

MANHATTAN (CN) ­— Dawn Richard, the R&B singer from two groups assembled by Sean “Diddy” Combs, faced an hour of antagonistic cross-examination on Monday morning from Combs’ defense team, who focused in on inconsistencies between her trial testimony and what the Danity Kane singer previously told federal prosecutors.

Richard, a New Orleans native who was featured on Combs’ “Making The Band” reality television series and later joined his Diddy Dirty Money trio, testified that the entertainment mogul threatened to kill her if she did not keep quiet about witnessing him beat his longtime girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura.

Richard said Combs told her and Diddy Dirty Money bandmate Kaleena Harper to keep hush after they saw him violently hurl a frying pan at Cassie in the kitchen of his Los Angeles mansion, then drag her on the floor up a flight of stairs, where glass breaking could be heard in the ensuing commotion.

She said Combs later threatened “we could go missing” if she or Harper talked about what they had seen.

Pressed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mitzi Steiner on what she interpreted “we could go missing” to mean, Richard responded “that we could go die.”

Richard said she did not react to Combs’ warning. “I was shocked but also scared,” she said, noting that this occurred while her group with Combs was starting to record their debut album. “I couldn’t believe that this would be the beginning of the journey.”

She testified she witnessed Combs hit Cassie on several other occasions, both in New York City and later in Los Angeles, but did not intervene for fear of blowback from her label boss.

“If you didn’t stay in line, there were consequences,” she said of how Combs handled Bad Boy Records’ operations.

Shortly before Combs was arrested in September 2024, Richard filed a civil lawsuit against him and his companies on counts of sex trafficking, battery and violations of the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act.

In her 55-page complaint, Richard described a myriad of ways Combs abused her while she was part of both his Danity Kane group and Diddy Dirty Money trio. She claimed that Combs fostered a work environment that saw her frequently stripped down to her underwear while Combs touched her inappropriately.

She recalled the skillet incident in her complaint, claiming Combs came down the stairs “looking high on drugs” and started screaming at Ventura.

She said he pushed Ventura against the wall, started choking her and threw the hot pan of eggs at her before dragging her up the stairs and issuing the threat: “People end up missing.”

“This is normal — this was just a lover’s argument where no one was hurt," Richard said Combs told her and Harper. “This is what love is. I’m giving you an opportunity: If you want to make it, you’ll shut your mouth.”

On Friday, the same day Richard began her trial testimony, Combs and Bad Boy’s civil counsel filed a motion in the Southern District of New York to dismiss Richard’s pending complaint as barred by statutes of limitation and for failure to state a claim.

During cross-examination on Monday morning, Combs’ defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland attacked Richard’s recollection that Combs had threatened “people go missing” after witnessing a fight between him and Ventura.

Westmoreland directed Richard to transcripts of interviews she did with prosecutors in October and March, where she also recounted the same incident with a skillet.

Westmoreland noted Richard said in a pretrial interview that Combs said “this was a love thing,” with no mention of “people going missing” in her interview.

“That’s not true,” Richard responded. “I don’t recall not saying that.”

“You didn’t tell prosecutors that Sean Combs said, ‘People go missing,’” Westmoreland said.

“I didn’t remember it,” Richard told the court, later stating that she remembers “everything I am telling you now.”

“A death threat that you didn’t recall on seven different occasions,” Westmoreland replied.

Westmoreland, who represented one of Young Thug’s co-defendants in the YSL RICO trial in Atlanta, similarly hammered Richard about the appearance of inconsistencies in her statements to investigators compared to trial testimony about having seen Combs purchase drugs and possess guns.

“You’d agree with that at this point your testimony has changed on a few things,” she prodded Richard.

Westmoreland questioned Richard about getting in touch with Combs years after she left Diddy Dirty Money to propose reuniting the trio, she was so “fearful” of the perceived death threats.

“You would agree with me that if you reformed Dirty Money as a music group with Mr. Combs, if that actually happened you’d be around him pretty often,” the lawyer continued. “As a rule, you’d go to the studio together, write together, brainstorm together, perform together, radio appearances together, TV appearances together, tours together, travel together, hotels together.”

On redirect, Richard explained she had only initiated conversation about reforming the group as a favor for her Diddy Dirty Money bandmate, Kaleena Harper.

“It wasn’t good and I didn’t want it, but I was trying to help out a friend,” she testified.

Westmoreland also grilled Richard about her motivations for filing a civil suit against Combs: “You are hoping to be nicely compensated for that?”

“I want justice and to be made whole,” Richard replied.

“Which means money?” Combs’ lawyer asked, to which Richard answered, “Yes.”

Combs, 55, is standing trial on a five-count federal indictment charging him with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. If he is convicted on all counts, he could face life in prison.

Cassie testified across four days last week, recalling graphic details of physical and emotional abuse that she says trapped her into participating in drug-dazed marathon sexual episodes with male escorts at Combs’ direction for years.

The trial is expected to run up to eight weeks into early July.

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