Clark also took a swipe at Ventura – who is at the centre of the case – saying the singer wasn’t very “talented”.
More famous names also came up at the Manhattan trial today, including Rhianna.
Combs, also known as “Puff”, is on trial in New York on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Combs has denied all the charges.
Clark had previously worked for music producer Suge Knight at Death Row Records, a rival to Combs’ Bad Boy Records.
In 2004, Clark began working for Combs in New York as an executive assistant, a role that involved working 20-hour days, seven days a week.
With breaks, she would work in some form for Combs until 2018. She alleged that the threats from the mogul began on day one of her employment.
“On the first day he took me to Central Park. It was dark, after 9pm,” Clark told the court.
She said that Combs was with a member of his security Paul Offord, known as “Uncle Paulie” who was “quiet and menacing”.
“Puff said he didn’t know I’d had anything to do with Suge Knight and if anything happened he would kill me.”
‘Throw you in the East River’
Clark was later accused of stealing after some jewellery she was holding for Combs went missing.
Initially, she said, Offord questioned her for “hours” at Bad Boy’s Manhattan headquarters but she had no idea where the jewels were.
She said she was then subjected to five straight days of menacing lie detector tests in a dilapidated and deserted building by a “heavy set, chain-smoking gentleman” who she had never met before.
Clark began sobbing in the witness box as she claimed the man told her: “If you fail the lie detector test we’re going to throw you in the East River”.
“I wanted to prove my innocence, I was just trying to survive,” she said.
The assistant said she returned to work for Combs fearful that if she left “I would be written off as if I’d been stealing”.
Clark also alleged that Combs assaulted her in his Miami home after she said she “hated it here” because she had been verbally abused by the star.
“He ran towards me with his hands up and pushed me back about 25-30 yards.”
“He said ‘If you hate it here get the f*** out of my house’,” Clark claimed.
She said she then left Combs’ employment. However she returned in 2011 to work as the global brand director for Sean Combs’ overall business.
Clark said she agreed to that role as it “wasn’t in proximity to Combs’ personal orbit. I didn’t want to be trapped inside his home.”
Clark later took on a role as the creative director for Ventura, which was also within Combs’ empire.
“I think she had talent and was a very beautiful girl,” Clark said of the R&B singer.
Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo then suggested that Ventura, in fact, “wasn’t very talented?”
“True,” Clark responded.
She added Ventura needed her voice “equalised” and “engineered” and she wasn’t up to the calibre of, say, Mariah Carey.
Clark said Ventura’s work also suffered later due to her “addiction”.
Kidnap at gunpoint claim
In 2011, Clark said Ventura told her she was in a relationship with Scott Mescudi – aka rapper Kid Cudi.
“I was very concerned with Sean Combs finding out about Kid Cudi. The way Cassie was moving she was going to get us all killed.”
At the time, the phones, car and rent for Clark and Ventura were paid for by Combs’ companies. So she said she took Ventura to a store to buy a burner phone that Combs would not have access to.
Early in the morning of December 22, 2011, Clark said she woke to Combs banging on her door and with a gun in his hand.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she alleged Combs said.
Clark said she initially tried to minimise Mescudi’s relationship with Ventura, but Combs was furious.
“Get dressed, we’re going to kill this [n-word],” he allegedly said.
Clark said she tried to refuse but Combs replied: “I don’t give an f*** what you wanna do”. She said she was then kidnapped.
‘I’ll kill you mother f***ers’
Clark said they drove to Mescudi’s house – who wasn’t home. When Combs was in the property she called Ventura on her burner phone. Combs saw, she said, and was “livid”.
Mescudi called the police. Clark then alleged that Combs said it was up to her and Ventura to persuade the rapper not to tell the cops about Combs’ connection to the break in.
“If you guys don’t convince him, I’ll kill all you mother f***ers.”
Clark said she then saw Combs repeatedly kick Ventura on a road as Combs’ security looked on. She said she called everyone from other staff to Ventura’s mum.
“He’s beating the s*** out of your daughter,” she said she told Regina Ventura. “I’m in over my head.”
Asked by a defence lawyer why she didn’t call the police, Clark said: “The mission of the day was not get Cudi to call the police, so for me to call them would have been counter intuitive”.
Several months later, in 2012, Clark said, she told various senior people in Combs’ company of their boss’ behaviour.
Shortly afterwards, she went on holiday with the singer Rhianna.
While she was in Europe she was called back to New York where she was sacked. Given how much Combs funded her life she lost her healthcare, car, and house.
She said it was at this point Combs told her she would never work again and “he would make me kill myself”.
Sure enough, Clark said she could not find a fulltime job in the entertainment industry. And, she claimed, several major industry people told her to leave Combs alone.
However, Combs’ lawyers brought up several emails and messages to Combs after her sacking asking for forgiveness and at one point telling him how much of a crush she had on him prior to her employment. She had also suggested a role she could do in the Combs organisation.
Like several other former staff members of Combs, Clark said working for him would open up doors in a cut-throat industry.
“I had lost my parents. I wasn’t able to get work,” she said of the suggestion she begin work once gain for Combs.
