Author: business

Trials often are composed of careful building blocks. They start with mundane testimony that serve as a foundation for inevitable bombshell witness revelations that wrap the proceedings.

Not so the trial of the United States of America v. Sean Combs, a/k/a “Puff Daddy,” “P. Diddy,” “Diddy,” “PD,” “Love.”

The very first week of the drama unfolding in a lower Manhattan courthouse was marked by stunning and sordid details from arguably the trial’s star witness, Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine. Her 2023 lawsuit against Combs, which was settled a day later for a now-revealed $20 million, opened legal floodgates that ultimately led to the government raiding various Combs properties and bringing charges against him.

The one-time R&B singer, now pregnant with her third child with husband Alex Fine, described in emotional detail numerous instances of physical, sexual and psychological abuse during her years with the mogul. Particularly gut-wrenching were her descriptions of “freak offs,” dayslong sex parties populated by drugs and alcohol where Ventura Fine inevitably had sex with numerous escorts while Combs pleasured himself nearby.

The prosecution wants the jury to view her saga as evidence that Combs is indeed guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering, for which Combs could potentially go to prison for life. But the defense is hoping to cast her recollections merely as sickening details in a deranged love story between two consenting and jealous adults.

Many observers have predicted that the trial will go on for another month or two. It may well, but it’s hard to imagine that we’ll see another week as packed with numbing and disturbing pictures from inside the world of Diddy. Here are some of the more critical moments in Ventura Fine’s testimony:

‘A demon himself’: Cassie, husband Alex Fine speak out after Diddy trial testimony

Cassie reveals Diddy once overdosed

On her third day of testimony, Ventura Fine revealed the extent of her and Combs’ drug use in their decade together. Combs was once hospitalized due to “a very strong” opiate, she told defense lawyers, revealing the incident occurred around the time Whitney Houston died.

After a “freak off,” the pair had gone to a sex club in San Bernardino, California, Ventura Fine said, then Combs went to a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, but she went home. When he overdosed on painkillers later that night, she said took him to the hospital.

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Cassie said Combs threatened to ‘blow up’ Kid Cudi’s car

During cross-examination, Ventura Fine was asked about her relationship with rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi. The time the two spent together would cause Combs to fly into a jealous and even criminal rage.

Combs had introducted the two back in 2011, thinking that a musical collaboration with the rapper would be good for Ventura Fine’s career. At that time, Ventura Fine said she was on a break with Combs but didn’t want to tell him that she was seeing Mescudi. And yet she was concerned enough about Combs’ reaction that she obtained a burner phone for her communications with Mescudi.

Those fears appeared justified. The Ohio-born rapper was mentioned in Ventura Fine’s bombshell 2023 civil lawsuit against Combs, with Cassie citing an alleged incident in which Combs threatened to “blow up” Cudi’s vehicle, seemingly in retaliation for his relationship with Ventura Fine.

Cassie reveals how much Diddy paid to settle 2023 lawsuit

Months after Combs’ team first alluded to a “substantial eight-figure settlement” in for her 2023 lawsuit, Ventura Fine revealed on the stand that she had been paid $20 million by the record executive and his companies.

The revelation came as she delved into the years following her and Combs’ 2018 breakup, revealing she was involved in writing a book about her experiences while they were dating.

She wanted Combs to read it so he would understand what she went through in their decade-long relationship, she told the court. So she reached out to Combs through her lawyer and asked him to read the draft and offer her compensation.

Ventura Fine said she’d put a $30 million price tag on him acquiring the rights to her book, as this was an amount she thought would affect him. But after he allegedly failed to respond, she sued him, alleging he had trafficked, sexually assaulted and physically abused her.

‘A demon himself’: Cassie, husband Alex Fine speak out after Diddy trial testimony

Cassie breaks down crying while recalling ‘freak offs’

While discussing participating in the “freak offs,” Ventura Fine broke down and sobbed. “I just felt that’s all I was good for to him. I was humiliated and didn’t have anyone to talk to about it,” she told prosecutors, as she began to choke up.

“His eyes go black. The version I loved of him was no longer there,” she said of his anger, continuing to cry. Asked why she continued to participate in “freak offs” even when they made her uncomfortable, she said, “the one-on-one time.”

Cassie’s harrowing testimony, the myth of ‘mutual abuse’ and what domestic violence really looks like

“When you really care about somebody and love them, you don’t want to disappoint them,” she said through tears. When she “gently” tried to broach the subject of no longer doing “freak offs,” Ventura Fine said Combs was “dismissive” and that it made her feel “unheard.”

“Doing this made me feel horrible. It made me feel worthless,” she said of the sometimes days-long sexual performances.

Ventura Fine’s testimony ended in sobs as the singer recounted the “agency and autonomy” she would have had in her life if she never participated in a “freak off.”

Cassie Ventura ‘Perfect Match’ premiere hid alleged Diddy assault: Photos from 2016 event

Cassie Ventura ‘Perfect Match’ premiere hid alleged Diddy hotel assault

After the now-infamous 2016 hotel hallway assault, Ventura Fine claimed Combs tried to break into her apartment, saying she heard “chaos outside the door,” with kicking, banging and Combs’ voice yelling.

The same night, Ventura Fine claimed she went to Diddy’s house to get fitted for the premiere of her movie “The Perfect Match.” The jury was shown a photo taken in Combs’ bedroom of her wearing her premiere gown and large sunglasses “to cover up my eye,” she said, explaining, “I got hit in the face.”

The jury was then shown a red carpet photo where a bruise was visible on Ventura Fine’s shoulder and another of her at the afterparty where, now in a shorter dress, a bruise on her right shin was visible.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental and/or substance use disorders, you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration‘s free and confidential treatment referral and information service at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). It’s available 24/7 in English and Spanish (TTY: 1-800-487-4889).

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.

Contributing: KiMi Robinson

Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine and her husband Alex Fine are speaking out after her bombshell testimony in the federal sex-crimes trial of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs.

After her four days on the witness stand came to a tearful close May 16, the couple issued respective statements about the explosive week of emotional testimony from the “Me & U” singer.

Outside the Manhattan federal courthouse where Combs is standing trial, lawyer Douglas Wigdor read statements on the couple’s behalf.

“This week has been extremely challenging, but also remarkably empowering and healing for me,” Ventura Fine’s statement read. “I hope that my testimony has given strength and a voice to other survivors, and can help others who have suffered to speak up and also heal from the abuse and fear.”

Diddy trial updates: Cassie Ventura Fine sobs on the stand as her testimony concludes after 4 days

Ventura Fine’s statement continued: “For me, the more I heal, the more I can remember. And the more I can remember, the more I will never forget. I want to thank my family and my advocates for their unwavering support, and I’m grateful for all the kindness and encouragement that I have received.”

Ventura Fine, who is visibly pregnant with her third child, concluded her statement, writing, “I’m glad to put this chapter of my life to rest. As I turn to focus on the conclusion of my pregnancy, I ask for privacy for me and for my growing family.” The couple share two daughters: Frankie, 5, and 4-year-old Sunny.

During her testimony, Ventura Fine spoke openly about the decade of alleged sexual, physical and psychological abuse she said she endured at the hands of former partner Combs. It included an alleged rape, years of forced participation in Combs’ drug-fueled “freak off” sex sessions and an infamous beating at a now-closed Los Angeles luxury hotel.

Cassie’s husband Alex Fine says he didn’t save her from ‘demon’

“MobLand” actor and personal trainer Alex Fine, the husband of Ventura Fine, slammed commentary that suggested he “saved” the “Perfect Match” actress and shot back at online “speculation” about his feelings about her testimony.

“Over the past five days, the world has gotten to witness the strength and bravery of my wife, freeing herself of her past. There has been speculation online surrounding how it must feel for me to sit there and listen to my wife’s testimony,” Fine said through Wigdor. “I have felt so many things sitting there. I have felt tremendous pride and overwhelming love for Cass. I have felt profound anger that she has been subjected to sitting in front of a person who tried to break her.”

Fine directly responded to Combs: “So, to him and all of those who helped him along the way, please know this: You did not. You did not break her spirit nor her smile that lights up every room. You did not break the souls of a mother who gives the best hugs and plays the silliest games with our little girls. You did not break the woman who has made me a better man.”

Fine said that “I did not save Cassie, as some have said. To say that is an insult to the years of painful work my wife has done to save herself. Cassie saved Cassie. She alone broke free from abuse, coercion, violence and threats.”

He added that Ventura Fine “did the work of fighting the demons that only a demon himself could have done to her” and “all I have done is love her as she has loved me.”

“Her life is now surrounded by love, laughter and our family. This horrific chapter is forever put behind us, and we will not be making additional statements,” Fine said. “We appreciate all of the love and support we have received, and we ask that you respect our privacy as we welcome our son into a world that is now safer because of his mom.”

Contributing: Brendan Morrow

The entrance to this year’s Venice Biennale of Architecture is via a dark, hot hall in which air-conditioning units are suspended, spotlit and whirring above shallow pools of what looks like oil. It is sinister, dark and oppressive — just as it is supposed to be. This is a world about to broil, suffocate and flood. We have reached, curator Carlo Ratti suggests, the acceptance phase: it is too late to stop climate change and rising waters. What we need to do now is adapt. 

You emerge into the theatrical scenography of the Arsenale, but here there is no great revelation either, no sudden wave of hope that architecture can save the world. Instead, fragments of nature are encapsulated in vitrines, tethered robots with humanoid faces jerk around, endless screeds of text assault the eyeballs in the dark while disembodied heads appear on suspended screens. Ratti, an exuberant MIT professor, inventor and architect, has brought together a tech-inflected cast of characters, from biology, IT and physics — even a few architects — to create something that is as much laboratory as exhibition. The result is bleak: a dark future in which humanity appears as a disease on the face of the Earth and apocalyptic visions of post-carbon futures focus on repair and remaking in a world tainted by pervading paranoia. 

Architecture is not exactly absent but rather peripheral. At times it looks like a teen’s fantasy bedroom: all black and neon-lit, mediated through screens, augmented by sophisticated tech, robot arms and AI. At other times it seems engaged and keen to confront problems. Occasionally, the mood turns deeply dystopian, suggesting a desperation about architecture’s impotence — an ongoing crisis eloquently expressed here. This is a profession that, at its intellectual end, remains profoundly anxious about its reliance on extraction, capital, carbon and land, but which at the other end is gung-ho about planetary-scale transformation.

Ratti’s chosen title, Intelligens: Natural, Artificial, Collective, is actually three themes, not one. Of nature there is only a denuded version here: disembodied and lacking agency. Artifice? Well, yes, plenty. And yet collective is where he really succeeds; this Biennale features more participants than ever.

Interesting things lurk in the gloom. A temple for elephants, for instance, is a parabolic vault made of dung discs by Thai architect Boonserm Premthada. A huge curving wall is designed to illustrate the similarity between human and microbial populations. But there is also much we have seen before: acres of pointless, 3D-printed gloop; knitted shelters; trees contorted into useless sculptural forms and microbial structures (none of which has or will have real-world impact).

Most dismal is the finale. The large-scale scenography fades and we come to a surprisingly delicate Nasa space suit and a small, speculative group of items about future human life on Mars. Really? However bad life gets on Earth, surely it will be better than Mars. What exactly is the message here? It’s the kind of tone-deaf conclusion you might expect from tech titans cocooned in their bubbles of influence and wealth.

It’s a real relief to emerge into the light outside, the shimmering salty waters of the lagoon and the slowly decaying archaeology of a boat yard. They serve as a reminder of a time before architects experienced angst about their works and just built huge spaces that are somehow still adaptable and awesomely beautiful. 

Some, however, are crumbling. The Italian pavilion, which usually houses another big thematic show is, like so many buildings in Venice, in restauro, which piles more pressure on the other national pavilions to rebalance the Biennale. Too many fall into the trap of too much text: unreadable scrolls of words on walls that assume each visitor has endless time to delve into the depths of the complex, admittedly often fascinating social situations facing contemporary designers. As a result, many of the most interesting stories are lost in the constraints of time and energy.

A few shine through with real clarity. In the Giardini, Bas Smets’ miniature forest in the Belgian pavilion is a beacon. You walk in and feel the trees and plants actively cooling the space — and no need to read a label. The Spanish also try something new by exhibiting good new buildings (focusing on more sustainable and local material supply chains).

The Romanian pavilion is a delight. Here, finally, are some 20th-century architectural drawings, neatly curated. It transpires that the focus is not only on the buildings, but on the figures inhabiting them. Artist Vlad Nancă has extracted some of these figures from their 2D confinement and applied them to the walls in stylised outlines that appear as subtle murals, occasionally escaping a little into 3D. The effect is quite wonderful and the curation of the drawings by architects Muromuro is lovely. It makes you realise that you have been deeply missing simply presented architectural ideas on paper.

The Polish pavilion takes a tongue-in-cheek look at security, slathering warning signs around one door and making a grotto for a fire-extinguisher on another. This highlights the general absence of humour in this year’s Biennale — rarely, perhaps, a strong point for architecture but welcome in small doses.

The British pavilion, dramatically draped with strings of clay beads, is fizzing with ideas but incoherent. Its disparate stories are apparently linked by their location along the Great Rift Valley from Mozambique to Palestine. There is something strange about grouping casts of caves, sculptural installations and proposals to rebuild Gaza using salvaged materials. Nevertheless, it at least means that the tragedy of Gaza is present here, although glaringly absent elsewhere. 

Also representing the Middle East, an elegant bamboo structure designed by Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari serves as a place holder for the forthcoming Qatari pavilion (to be designed by Lebanon’s Lina Ghotmeh). 

Water, so urgently present around this city, emerges as a recurring concern. I liked Chile’s reflection on water use and data centres (the real cost of the AI explosion). On the other side of the lagoon, in industrial Marghera, British architect Nigel Coates and the Architectural Association present a post-industrial fantasy cityscape, “Margherissima”, that deals with issues of toxic land and polluted waters but manages to suggest an architecture of creativity and pleasure, otherwise mostly absent here.

Then there is Uzbekistan’s captivating exploration of the huge heliocomplex “The Sun”. Designed in the last years of communism and completed in 1987, this futuristic machine in the mountains outside Tashkent focused sunrays via mirrors to create extreme temperatures. In Venice, the curators try to resurrect it as something between industrial seriate and cosmic symbol.

The US pavilion, usually a mess, is a mess. But its theme of the porch as a place of vernacular welcome is indeed welcome in the current political climate, and the big-gesture timber structure by Marlon Blackwell is striking. The dominant theme elsewhere is self-reflection. A handful of pavilions, including the Swiss, Danish, Japanese and Korean, are concerned with their own archaeology, meta-tales about their histories. Some good stories about forgotten architects and material culture emerge, but it all smacks a little of architectural therapy. 

I used to think that the best thing about staging an architecture Biennale in Venice was that, if you disliked it, you could always escape back to the city’s decaying beauty and forget all the overwrought texts, dubious theorising and hand-wringing. Now I’m not so sure, unsettled by a cityscape more than half a millennium old that is more complex and prophetic than anything being built today. Those endless AI, robots, fizzing screens and spurious futures seem insubstantial. Has the magnificence of the city outside become a burden, a reproach?

To November 23, labiennale.org

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Almost exactly two years since he joined the band, Josh Freese is no longer a Foo Fighter.

The veteran drummer, who took over the beat-keeping following the March 2022 death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, announced on Instagram the band informed him Monday night that “they’ve decided ‘to go in a different direction with their drummer’.” Freese said no reason was given. The band’s camp had no comment when contacted by USA TODAY.

Freese, 52, who has also played with Nine Inch Nails, Guns N’ Roses and A Perfect Circle, took a tone of acceptance and confusion with his post, adding “I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band.”

More: Live Nation’s $30 concert tickets are back: Participating tours and how to get tickets

But, he continued, “In my 40 years of drumming professionally, I’ve never been let go from a band, so I’m not angry – just a bit shocked and disappointed.”

Freese also nodded to David Letterman and joked, “Stay tuned for my ‘Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters’ list.”

After the death of Hawkins from a drug overdose while the Foo Fighters were on tour in Colombia, the band took a hiatus aside from holding tribute concerts in Hawkins’ honor in September 2022.

The Foo Fighters reemerged with Freese behind the drums in May 2023 with a tour that began in New Hampshire.

While the band has again been quiet since the revelation last year that Grohl fathered a baby outside of his marriage, the frontman did reunite with his former Nirvana bandmates in January to perform at the Fire Aid concert to benefit victims of the Los Angeles wildfires as well at February’s “Saturday Night Live” 50^th anniversary concert.

The only upcoming performance on the Foo Fighters’ docket is Oct. 4 at the Singapore Grand Prix.  

Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes is joining the next “Hunger Games” movie as the dystopian franchise’s most infamous dictator.

The “Conclave” star has been cast as President Coriolanus Snow in the upcoming prequel, “Sunrise on the Reaping,” the official “Hunger Games” X account revealed Friday, May 16.

Set to premiere next year, the film adapts Suzanne Collins’ prequel book that published in March. Both the novel and movie chronicle the infamous 50th Hunger Games tournament that took place decades before the events of the original trilogy that starred Jennifer Lawrence as victor turned revolutionist Katniss Everdeen.

Fiennes joins a line of talented actors to play the villainous authoritarian ruler of Panem, including the late Donald Sutherland from the first four films and Tom Blyth in 2023’s “Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.” Sutherland died last June at the age of 88.

The new addition follows a slate of casting announcements including “The Haunting” star Lili Taylor, “Stranger Things” actor Maya Hawke and “Waves” actor Kelvin Harrison, who are all playing tributes from various districts. Last month, the “Hunger Games” social media pages confirmed that young Australian actor Joseph Zada will play protagonist Haymitch Abernathy, whom fans have long associated with Woody Harrelson.

The ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ cast, so far

The cast of “Sunrise on the Reaping,” so far, according to the official “Hunger Games” social media pages, includes the following:

• Joseph Zada as Haymitch Abernathy
• Ralph Fiennes as President Coriolanus Snow
• Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird
• Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner
• Maya Hawke as Wiress
• Lili Taylor as Mags
• Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee Latier
• Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow

What is the new ‘Hunger Games’ movie about?

The incoming prequel film titled “Sunrise on the Reaping” will depict the 50th Hunger Games, known as the second quarter Quell, in the dystopian nation of Panem.

Based on the book released in March, the film will follow a 16-year-old Haymitch’s journey to winning the battle to the death, showing exactly how he won.

When will ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ film come out?

The new “Hunger Games” prequel film titled “Sunrise on the Reaping” will hit theaters nationwide on Nov. 20, 2026.

Francis Lawrence is returning to direct the movie after helming all of the prior ones in the series, except the 2012 original, which Gary Ross directed.

Contributing: Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY

Mark Cuban is exiting the “Shark Tank.”

After 14 years on the hit ABC reality show, Cuban, 66, appears in his final “Shark Tank” episode May 16 (8 EDT/PDT), which is also the Season 16 finale. As the former Dallas Mavericks majority owner said simply on a May 15 X social media post, “It was time to move on.”

Cuban started as a guest shark in Season 2, and then officially joined the Emmy-winning show in Season 3 with Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec, and Kevin O’Leary. Lori Greiner joined as a main shark in Season 4, and KIND Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky joined full-time this season.

In Cuban’s final episode, he battles fellow sharks one last time for unique entrepreneurial investment opportunities and a special farewell.

Cuban tells USA TODAY via email that he respects all his fellow sharks despite the occasional feeding frenzy. “They all worked their butts off to get where they are.  They aren’t there by accident,” he says. But he gives special kudos to Corcoran, who has “an advanced understanding of people.

“I respect Barb’s talents the most,” says Cuban. “She is the best judge of character and commitment of entrepreneurs that I’ve ever seen.”

Those “Shark Tank” disagreements between founder-friendly Cuban and the aggressive negotiator O’Leary (aka “Mr. Wonderful”) were real. “We had our battles,” says Cuban. “Kevin always looks for ways to use royalties. Which is rarely, if ever, good for the company.”

Still, the two bid farewell respectfully in the finale, and Cuban offers kind parting words. “Kevin may be confused about business often, but he has a big heart and does care about his entrepreneurs,” he says.

What was Mark Cuban’s worst ‘Shark Tank’ investment?

Cuban has no problem revealing his worst investment on the show. In 2013, entrepreneur Charles Michael Yim pitched his Breathometer as the world’s first smartphone breathalyzer. Yim even brought champagne to test it. Blame the bubbles, but the pitch worked, pulling all five sharks into a joint investment for the first time. Cuban, O’Leary, John, Greiner and Herjavec pooled a $1 million investment for a 30% company stake. 

The party started to end in January 2017, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint against Yim and Breathometer, alleging the company misled customers about the product’s ability to accurately measure blood alcohol content. 

Breathometer settled with FTC over that complaint, but was compelled to fully refund every customer who had purchased the device (typically retailing for $49.99), according to an FTC statement.

“It was a lot of money, and I did a poor job of due diligence,” says Cuban. “It really didn’t turn out anywhere near what I expected.”

Why is Cuban really leaving ‘Shark Tank’?

Cuban cited family as his official reason for leaving the show. Cuban and wife Tiffany Stewart share three children: daughters Alexis and Alyssa and son Jake.

“My kids are teenagers, and I want to spend more time with them,” Cuban told People magazine in October. He pointed to the family-conflicting two-week shooting schedule in June and September as the deal-breaker. “When they were young, it was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to wait for Dad.’ Now that they’re teenagers, they aren’t waiting for Dad at all, and in September, they’ve just gotten back to school. I want to be there for that.”

Cuban retained a minority ownership position with the Mavericks, where he remains involved with the team’s operations. After the pro basketball team earned the first pick in the 2025 NBA draft, Cuban wrote “unreal” and “Let’s Go Mavs” on X.

The billionaire co-founded the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company in 2022, which is focused on providing lower-cost pharmaceuticals to consumers by bypassing middlemen and markups.