This page reflects the news from Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial on Tuesday, May 27. For the latest updates from Diddy's trial, read USA TODAY's live coverage for Wednesday, May 28.

This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.

Sean "Diddy" Combs' former assistant, Capricorn Clark, alleged through tears that the hip-hop mogul kidnapped her and threatened to kill her multiple times while she worked for him.

Clark testified in Combs' federal sex-crimes trial that she was once held against her will for five days after several pieces of jewelry went missing at the rapper's home. She said she was "petrified" and forced to take polygraph tests over and over again.

Her most emotional testimony came as she described Combs rushing to Kid Cudi's Los Angeles home with a gun after he learned the fellow rapper, born Scott Mescudi, was dating Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura Fine.

"I'd never seen anything like this before," Clark told jurors, choking up as she described Combs allegedly breaking into Mescudi's home in a rage and not letting her leave the scene until she passed threats to Ventura Fine.

Who else has testified in Diddy's trial?

Clark's violent testimony comes after a slew of witnesses, including Ventura Fine's mother Regina Ventura, Danity Kane alum Dawn Richard and Mescudi, appeared in court last week to share harrowing accounts of Combs' alleged abuse.

While taking the stand on May 22, Mescudi also claimed Combs broke into his home and locked his dog in a bathroom — and that his vehicle blew up in another incident — after Combs found out he was seeing Cassie.

The accusations are just some of the violent acts prosecutors say Combs undertook during a 20-year scheme to coerce women, including Ventura Fine, to take part in drug-fueled sex parties known as "freak offs" and prevent them from leaving his orbit.

Combs, 55, was arrested in September 2024 and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.

Capricorn Clark denies having a crush on Diddy

Asked by Combs' lawyers whether her relationship with the rapper was always platonic, Clark responded "1000%" and said she did not recall telling her former boss she had a crush on him.

Jurors were then shown messages from June 2021 in which Clark wrote, "Did you ever know that I had the biggest crush on you before I started working for you?"

"Sometimes I wonder, did we misuse all that dope chemistry?" Clark also texted. On the stand, she told defense lawyers she did not remember sending the text and insisted she "liked him as a friend."

She respected Combs as a businessman, she said, calling him tenacious and describing his "fervor to be successful." She then turned emotional, tearing up and saying, "I think I was a really good employee for him."

Capricorn Clark was once held for five days over stolen jewelry accusation

Clark, who worked for Combs between 2004 and 2012, said she was once accused of stealing three pieces of jewelry while working as his assistant. Combs' bodyguard, Paul Offord, known as Uncle Paulie, searched Clark's house, but didn't find anything.

The next day, he took her to a building in New York that would soon become the corporate offices for Bad Boy Worldwide, Combs' corporation, but at the time, Clark said it was a "dilapidated," unfinished and "gutted building."

Clark told the court she was met by a "very wide, very heavy" man, whom she described as "five of me across." She said the man was smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee, and Clark was told she was brought there to take a lie detector test.

"If you fail this test, they're gonna throw you in the East River," the man said. On the stand, Clark said, "I was petrified. I was afraid what would happen if I didn't pass this test."

Clark's voice cracked during her testimony, and she cried while recalling the incident. Clark said she spent the whole day intermittently taking the test, but the results were inconclusive. "You're gonna be in the East River if I can't get a good reading on this," Clark recalled the man saying.

The former assistant said she couldn't calm down, and the door to the room was locked from the outside. For five days, she was tested about the incident. At the end of each day, the security guard took her home before bringing her back to the building in the morning. She was told she couldn't leave "until we get to the bottom of this," Clark said.

"I was just trying to survive it," Clark told the court.

Capricorn Clark testifies Combs went to Kid Cudi's house with a gun

Clark alleged Diddy once showed up at her apartment unannounced with a gun and said, "We're going to go kill" Kid Cudi.

Clark said this occurred in December 2011, when Ventura Fine was romantically involved with Mescudi. Clark testified that around 5:30 a.m., she heard a loud banging on the door of her Los Angeles apartment and looked through the peephole to see Combs pacing outside. "He was furious," Clark said. "That was evident."

He allegedly entered Clark's apartment, shouting, "Why didn't you tell me? Who is Scott?" after finding out Mescudi and Ventura Fine were dating. He then allegedly told Clark to get dressed because "we're going to go kill this (man)."

"I'd never seen anything like this before," Clark said, explaining that Combs had never shown up at her apartment unannounced, and she had never seen him carrying a gun.

Clark said they got into an Escalade SUV, with Combs' security guard known as Ruben driving. They arrived at Mescudi's house, and Combs and Ruben went inside while Clark stayed in the car. Clark said she called Ventura Fine's burner phone and told her that Combs had "brought me to Cudi's house to kill him." (Cassie testified earlier this month that she purchased the phone to hide her relationship from Diddy.)

Combs got back in the car and asked Clark who she was on the phone with. "He was livid, more so than already," Clark testified.

Capricorn Clark says Diddy kidnapped, threatened to 'kill' her

After the alleged incident with Mescudi, Clark said Combs calmed down and told her to call Ventura Fine.

The assistant recalled telling Ventura Fine that "he's not gonna let me go until I come get you." According to Clark, Combs said she could only leave once she made Ventura Fine promise that Mescudi would not call law enforcement. "If you guys don't convince him of that, I'll kill all (of) you," Clark recalled Combs saying. "If you tell on him, he's gonna hurt us all," she added.

Clark told the jury that Mescudi was "mindblown" over the alleged incident, but she and Cassie still returned to Combs' house about four hours later, around 10:50 a.m.

Capricorn Clark recalls Diddy kicking Cassie: 'With each kick, she moved back'

Clark said she went with Ventura Fine and a bodyguard to Combs' rental home in Los Angeles after the confrontation at Mescudi's house, where Diddy allegedly attacked Cassie.

"Puff was standing there in a robe in his underwear and began kicking Cassie. He kept kicking her," she said. "He never used his hands."

Clark tearfully testified that Combs pushed Ventura Fine into the street, noting she was down in a full fetal position as he kept kicking her. "With each kick, she moved back," Clark said. "She was crying silently, he was kicking her in the back."

Clark said the bodyguard, Ruben, didn't do anything to help Ventura Fine and neither did she, because Combs warned her to stay away. She said she frantically tried to call several of Combs' security guards, but she eventually resorted to Cassie's mother, Regina Ventura.

"I'm in over my head. I can't call the police, but you can," she remembered telling Ventura.

Clark said she was traumatized by the ordeal. "He was very upset. He said, 'I should kill you. I should cut her face,'" about Ventura Fine, Clark testified.

Capricorn Clark testimony intensifies as Lauren London is named

Marc Agnifilo, one of Combs' defense attorneys, zeroed in on Clark's testimony about the confrontation at Mescudi's home during his cross-examination.

For example, Clark told Combs' lawyers in an April interview that she went with the embattled mogul to Mescudi's home so "he wouldn't do something stupid." When asked about it on the witness stand, Clark repeatedly told the jury, "I did not want to go, and it was not my choice, sir."

Agnifilo also pressed Clark on whether she told Ventura Fine that Combs had a gun once they arrived at Kid Cudi's house. Capricorn said there was "no doubt in my mind" before Agnifilo repeated, "You said Combs had a gun, 100%?" Judge Arun Subramanian quipped to the lawyer, “You gonna ask that again?"

Agnifilo said that Clark previously told prosecutors she was actually on a three-way call with Cassie and actress Lauren London. But Clark said on the stand that she called London before calling Cassie to warn her.

She started tearing up on the witness stand as she described her panicked headspace that morning: "I was praying that Cudi wasn't inside." Clark added, "I just needed someone to know where I was in case something went bad. I was just scared and needed to talk to someone to get my head on straight."

Agnifilo then asked if she thought London could save Mescudi from the confrontation. Capricorn responded that "it wasn't about saving Cudi." After stumbling over her words and recalling that Combs exited the house a couple of times, she said "maybe Lauren was on the phone" with Cassie, "I really don't remember."

During the emotional exchange, she cried and grabbed a kerchief to dab her eyes.

What's Lauren London's connection to Diddy and Cassie?

Combs vocally supported London in the wake of the 2019 shooting death of her late partner and rapper Nipsey Hussle.

Ventura Fine and London are close friends and frequently comment on one another's Instagram posts. London commented "Love you guys" with blue heart emojis on Ventura Fine's February pregnancy announcement.

Capricorn Clark says Diddy told her 'he'd make me kill myself'

Prosecutors also asked Clark about how Combs' alleged abuse seeped into her job as his aide. Clark told jurors she generally worked from 9 a.m. into the next day, until 4 a.m., as a personal assistant for Combs, not given breaks to sleep or eat.

She said she developed alopecia, a health condition that causes hair loss, due to the stress of her role. At one point, Clark complained about her working conditions to human resources at the rapper's company, and employees calculated that she was owed $80,000 in overtime.

When Combs was told about the pay, he ripped up the paper with the calculations, Clark testified.

The former assistant noted part of her job was booking hotels Combs. She alleged that "100% of the time," Combs brought a camera and a Louis Vuitton toiletry bag containing illegal drugs, as well as small bottles of baby oil and lube. She recalled seeing baby oil handprints on suede walls after he checked out of various hotel rooms.

The former assistant said she went to Bad Boy Records President Harve Pierre in March 2012. "I told him that Puff kidnapped me with a gun and was going to kill Cudi," Clark said, but she accused the executive of dismissing her concerns.

A few months after she went to the label president, she was told her role was terminated because she didn't properly submit a request for vacation time. She said Combs told her after she was fired that she would never work again and that "he'd make me kill myself."

Capricorn Clark refers to Diddy's longtime rivalries with Suge Knight, 50 Cent

Clark told jurors she has a personal connection to one of Diddy's major rap rivals, Suge Knight. The former record executive is the father of her best friend's children.

On her first day of work as Combs' assistant, Clark alleged that he took her to Central Park after 9 p.m. and told her "he didn't know I had anything to do with Suge Knight" when she was hired and "if anything happened, he would have to kill me."

Clark took this as "a very serious" threat, she said, arguing there was nothing she could do to convince him she was "a trustworthy person." She also recalled an instance early on in working for Combs when she accompanied him to an MTV office to speak to reporters. She overheard him tell his security guard that he didn't like "nonsense" in his work, but he did "like guns."

Clark noted that 50 Cent was at the MTV offices that day, and "he had an issue with 50 Cent," a rapper Clark also briefly managed.

Diddy and the "Get Rich or Die Tryin" rapper have another legendary hip-hop rivalry, dating back nearly 20 years. 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson, is producing a docuseries to premiere on Netflix about the allegations against Combs.

Combs allegedly pushed Capricorn Clark, told her 'you can't have' a life

Clark testified about a confrontation in summer 2006 when she was working in Miami with the rapper. While she was off the clock, Combs called her and demanded to know where she was: "Your problem is you want a life, and you can't have that here."

The next morning, after Combs' chef told her there was no more turkey bacon in his home, Clark grumbled, "I hate it here." She alleged Combs overheard and "ran toward me with his hands open and he pushed me."

Clark said he jostled her 20 to 30 yards before one of Combs' security guards intervened. After that, Clark left her position.

"That was crossing my boundary," Clark said, getting choked up on the stand. But later, Combs asked her to work for his Sean John women's clothing line − this way she wouldn't be working directly under him. "I didn't want to be trapped in his house no more," Clark said.

During cross-examination by Combs' lawyers, Clark was asked why she would come back to Combs' companies in the face of such abuse. She explained that she wanted to support her son, who has autism and is nonverbal. She also said she wanted to work in the industry where she built her career, and she alleged that Combs had essentially blacklisted her for every option.

Why is Diddy on trial? What charges is he facing?

Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.

He was arrested in September 2024 and has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all five counts.

What is racketeering?

Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.

Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors claim they have video of.

Where can I watch the Diddy trial?

The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.

USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom.

Contributing: USA TODAY staff, Reuters

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diddy trial recap: Capricorn Clark alleges Sean Combs kidnapped, threatened to kill her

Reporting by Patrick Ryan, Aysha Bagchi, Edward Segarra, Josh Meyer, Anna Kaufman, Brendan Morrow, Taijuan Moorman and Jay Stahl, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect