Another former member of Diddy’s security team is speaking out against him in the wake of Cassie’s recent bombshell lawsuit.
In the lawsuit, which was settled through undisclosed terms less than 48 hours after the complaint’s filing, Cassie (legal name Casandra Ventura) accused Diddy of rape and of trapping her in a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking.” After news of the lawsuit broke, stories that other women had previously shared about the producer, whose legal name is Sean Combs, began to spread.
Upon the complaint’s filing, Combs’ lawyer Benjamin Brafman called Ventura’s allegation “offensive and outrageous” in a statement on his client’s behalf. He also alleged that Ventura had unsuccessfully tried to “blackmail” Combs for $30 million by threatening to detail her alleged abuse in a book. Meanwhile Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, claimed that it was Combs who had offered Ventura “eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit,” which she allegedly rejected.
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Now, Roger Bonds—whom TMZ notes worked with Diddy roughly a decade ago as his head of security—has backed Cassie’s allegations after she named him in her lawsuit. Bonds also alleged that he’d intervened in other situations on other survivors’s behalf.
In an Instagram video posted Wednesday, Bonds said, “There comes a time when you’re in a situation that might seem like a good situation, but if you not waking up happy, or if you disgruntled, or you really don’t want to be around that person, you’ll find every excuse to get out of there.” In his case, he said, he used his diabetes to avoid Combs.
“My excuse was, ‘I can’t be with you every day. I can’t do this. I can’t do that. I’m losing weight. I’m doing that,’” Bonds said before directing his words to his former boss. “But in reality it was, I was sick. I was sick of you. I was sick of everything that was going on around you. I was sick of having to cover up everything that you did.”
In her complaint, Ventura said that Bonds intervened during an incident when she and Combs were leaving a club in January 2009—when Combs allegedly “beat” her, “pushing her into a corner of the vehicle and stomping on her face.”
The complaint continues: “Mr. Combs’s security staff, Roger Bonds, tried to stop the beating, but was unable to deescalate the situation. When the car arrived at Mr. Combs’ residence, Ms. Ventura attempted to run away, but Mr. Combs followed her and proceeded to again kick her in the face.”
Addressing his appearance in the lawsuit in reference to his own issues with Combs, Bonds said, “Cassie spoke on it. ... I jumped in between it. That wasn’t the only time. It was other times. And there was other people.”
Bonds is not the only former member of Diddy’s security team to speak out against him, and based on the hashtags he used in his post—#2FacesTHEDOCUMENTARY and #ROGERBONDSMYTRUTH—this likely won’t be the last we’ll hear from him.
Last week, Diddy’s former bodyguard Gene Deal also spoke out against his former boss and compared Ventura’s alleged experience to that of Diddy’s ex, the late Kim Porter. (Porter died from pneumonia in 2019.)
“I didn’t know Cassie, but I knew somebody who was going through the same thing she was going through, and that was Kim Porter,” Deal said in a viral interview last week. “Cassie’s story is Kim’s story,” Deal added later. “Cassie’s book is Kim’s book.”
Brafman, Combs’ attorney, did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Bonds and Deal’s allegations.
In a statement shared after the lawsuit was settled, Brafman wrote, “Just so we’re clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing. Mr. Combs’ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”
In her own statement at the time, Ventura said, “I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.”
