Last month, the singer Cassie filed a federal lawsuit accusing her ex-boyfriend, the music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, of physical abuse, rape and sex trafficking during their nearly 10-year relationship.
The two settled for an undisclosed amount of money just 24 hours after Cassie, whose full name is Cassandra Ventura, filed the lawsuit. Following the settlement, Combs said that he “wishes Ventura nothing but the best,” while his attorney, Ben Brafman, said the settlement was “not an admission of wrongdoing.”
The singer/songwriter Tiffany Red, one of Ventura’s longtime friends, told NBC News in an exclusive interview that aired Wednesday on NBC News’ “Top Story with Tom Llamas” that Diddy should be held accountable for his treatment of the singer.
“I think a lot of people, especially in the Black community, I’ve seen the narrative of like, they just trying to take a black man down, and it’s just like, that’s not what this is about. This is about accountability and a reckoning. That’s just the bottom line,” Red said.
Red recently wrote an open letter in Rolling Stone recalling the verbal abuse she says she witnessed her friend endure. Red said that while working with Ventura on new music, they became friends and part of her inner circle, giving her a glimpse into the toxic dynamic between Diddy and Ventura. 
“I remember him [Diddy] calling her like over and over and over and I was in the car with her … and then she finally answered the phone. … It was on speakerphone and that was the first time I ever heard him screaming. He just was like, ‘B—-, what are you doing?’ She kept like hanging up because he was screaming, and he was like, ‘Ah, don’t you hang up on me!’ And he kept threatening to take her car,” Red said.
A few months before Ventura filed her lawsuit, Red said Ventura opened up to her and revealed she had suffered more than just verbal abuse. Ventura told Red about the “freak offs” that she detailed last month in her lawsuit.
“[She told me] that he would hire these like sex workers and like they would have, you know, sex with her and he would watch and tell them what to do. And she said that she didn’t want to do it and she would talk about like being sick and throwing up because she would be like nervous about all of it.”
One of these alleged freak offs took place on the night of Ventura’s 29th birthday party in 2015. After a day of celebrating and a night of karaoke with friends, Red says that Ventura told her during their conversation a few months ago that Diddy forced her to take part in a freak off that night.
In her letter, Red recounted an incident from that night, writing that Diddy showed up at Ventura’s home, where Red was staying, screaming about how she wouldn’t have sex with him.
“I found this out this year, that he made her have a freak off that night, which is why I decided to come forward because I just was like, You scream that in my face. … I saw it. I was there.”
But Red says Ventura revealed a horrific detail to her in their recent conversation.
“She told me the only time he was willing to do anything or work on her music … was when she had a freak off,” Red said. “To find out that like I spent all these years writing these songs for him to rape my friend to is just disgusting to think about,” she added.
Although Red did not witness any of the alleged physical abuse, she says Ventura, in their recent conversation, accused Diddy of giving her a black eye in March 2016, just a few days before the premiere of her movie “The Perfect Match.”
“She told me that she had a black eye under her makeup like on the red carpet,” Red said.
A lawyer for Combs did not respond to a request for comment, and Ventura’s lawyer declined to comment.
Ventura referred to an incident in her lawsuit in which she alleges Combs punched her, causing a black eye.
Red says she’s speaking out to validate her friend’s claims and also because she believes Combs is a “dangerous” person.
“I don’t think people understand what it’s like to be traumatized by somebody famous and rich, because you can’t get away from them,” she added.
Diddy has faced several lawsuits over a career spanning four decades as a rapper, producer and mogul, according to court documents reviewed by NBC News. Of the lawsuits that had known outcomes that were reviewed, three included allegations of violence. Two were settled, including Ventura’s lawsuit against Combs, and in the third a jury found in favor of Combs.