On the 10th day of Sean “Diddy” Combs’s federal racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, a former assistant shared explosive testimony from someone who was in Combs’s inner circle for over a decade.
Capricorn Clark, who has worked with the Bad Boy Combs rapper on and off from 2004 and 2018, said she was eventually named head of marketing for his Sean John clothing line. The only witness on the stand for the day, after days of Cassie’s headline-grabbing testimony, Clark painted a picture of Combs as a man who always got what he wanted and was not opposed to using threats of violence to make it happen.
Here are five surprising things we learned from Clark’s testimony.
Diddy Threatened Her On Her First Day of Work
As NPR reported, Clark testified that it didn’t take long for her to see Combs’s violent side, alleging that he threatened her on her first day working for him back in 2004. Diddy wanted to ensure Clark severed all ties with her former boss and his arch nemesis, Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight. Clark said Combs told her that if she had any further dealings with Knight, “he would have to kill [her].”
She Was Locked Inside The Bad Boy Headquarters
According to Clark’s testimony, Combs’s threats continued throughout her tenure as his employee. According to ABC News, she told the court about a time in 2004 when she was brought to the sixth floor of 1710 Broadway in New York City, where the Bad Boy headquarters was under construction.
Clark alleges a bodyguard nicknamed Uncle Paulie brought her to the “dilapidated” space for five straight days to take a lie detector test about “three pieces of very high-end jewelry” that had gone missing. Clark described the bodyguard as a “heavy-set gentleman who was chain-smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee.” She said he told her that if she didn’t pass the test they would throw her in the East River.
When asked if she had stolen the jewelry, Clark responded “I did not,” according to ABC News.
Diddy Threatened to Kill Kid Cudi
During Clark’s tearful testimony, she alleged that an angry Diddy appeared on her doorstep sometime before 6 a.m. on December 22, 2011, after learning that Clark was aware of Cassie’s relationship with Kid Cudi. Clark said an armed Diddy directed her to go with him to Cudi’s home, saying, “Get dressed we’re going to go kill [Kid Cudi],” according to ABC News.
She went on to say that she was forced inside a Cadillac Escalade to accompany Diddy, and one of his bodyguards to Kid Cudi’s home. Once there, she sat in the car while Combs and the bodyguard went inside.
Combs Blacklisted Her in the Industry
Clark’s testimony painted a picture of Diddy as someone who held all the cards in her career. According to CNN, she alleged that the settlement she received after she was fired in 2012 required mutual non-disparagement. Clark added that she was told Combs would give her a letter of recommendation that she never received.
Clark said she started consulting after she was unable to find work in the entertainment industry for years because she had been “blacklisted.”
She added, “At this level of business, he holds all the power as it related to me.”
She Threw Some Not-So-Subtle Shade at Cassie
While being questioned by Diddy’s defense team, Clark testified that her relationship with Cassie changed around 2008 as things got more serious in her relationship with the music mogul. Clark claimed that Cassie, a once sweet girl, became a lot more braggadocious as time passed. When asked if she thought Cassie was talented, Clark quipped that Cassie “had talent and was very beautiful, but was not talented,” according to TMZ.
Clark described Cassie as a musician who sounded a lot better in the studio than on the stage, saying she considered Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey to be talented signers.
According to ABC News, Clark testified that Diddy put more of Bad Boy’s resources behind Cassie than other artists signed to the label at the time, including the best producers, choreographers and musicians.
“She got a considerable amount of support. That was the early days,” she said. “The lion’s share of Bad Boy was on Cassie at that time.”