The federal sex-trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs resumed on Tuesday morning, with a former employee of his taking the stand.

The 55-year-old music mogul and businessman is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs was arrested in September 2024 and has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

On Tuesday morning, the prosecution called Capricorn Clark, a former employee of Combs, to the witness stand.

Clark, who started working for Combs as a personal assistant in 2004, testified that she was made to take lie-detector tests after three pieces of jewelry went missing shortly after the beginning of her employment. She recounted to the court that the man administering the test told her that if she failed, “they’re going to throw you in the East River”.

During Clark’s testimony on Tuesday morning, prosecutors asked her about Combs’s discovery in December 2011 that his on-again, off-again girlfriend – the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura – was dating the rapper Scott Mescudi, better known as Kid Cudi.

Clark testified that Combs showed up at her house, “furious” with a gun in his hand, and asked her why she hadn’t told him about the relationship between Ventura and Mescudi.

Clark said that Combs, while holding the gun, then ordered her to come with him to Mescudi’s home, allegedly telling her: “Get dressed, we’re going to go kill” Mescudi.

She said that she was made to get into a car with Combs. One of his security guards was driving, and there was a gun in Combs’s lap, Clark said.

Clark testified that they drove to Mescudi’s house, where Combs and the security guard entered while she stayed in the car and called Ventura on a disposable cellphone to tell her what was happening.

When Combs returned, Clark says that he directed her to call Ventura and to tell her he would not release Clark until Ventura came.

Ventura was picked up, and they returned to Combs’s home, where Combs allegedly told them not to speak to the police. He also allegedly said that they needed to get Mescudi to not tell the police he was involved.

Clark also testified that she witnessed Combs kick and beat Ventura when she arrived at his home that day.

Clark told the court that she was fired in 2012. And she said that, after she was terminated, Combs allegedly told her that she would “never work again”. He also told her that “all these people weren’t my friends and he would make me kill myself”, Clark recalled.

Later in 2012, Clark said she received a settlement from Combs’s attorneys over wrongful termination allegations.

In 2016, Clark said she returned to work for Combs as Ventura’s creative director, explaining that she had struggled to find other employment.

Clark’s testimony came after Mescudi took the stand and alleged that Combs broke into his home in 2011 after learning about his brief relationship with Ventura.

Mescudi told the court how, a few weeks after the apparent break-in, his car was set on fire with a molotov cocktail, and that he believed Combs was responsible. Combs and his lawyers have denied the allegation.

To date, more than 15 witnesses have testified so far in this trial. In addition to Mescudi, witnesses have included singer Dawn Richard, two of Combs’s former assistants, Ventura’s former best friend, Ventura’s mother, an exotic dancer, a male revue manager, a hotel security officer, a special agent from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a forensic psychologist, a makeup artist who worked with Combs and Ventura, the general manager of a Beverly Hills hotel, and a computer forensics agent from HSI.

Ventura, the prosecution’s key witness, spent four days on the stand detailing years of physical and emotional abuse she says she endured by Combs during their 11-year on-again, off-again relationship.

She testified that Combs orchestrated and directed drug-fueled sex performances with male sex workers – encounters that he referred to as “freak-offs”. She also testified that he coerced and blackmailed her into participating.

Attorneys for Combs have tried to undermine Ventura’s credibility and have sought to portray her as a willing and consenting participant in the freak-offs.

The trial is expected to continue for about six more weeks. If convicted, Combs could spend the rest of his life in prison.