NOTE: The next article accommodates disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your personal discretion.
Sean “Diddy” Combs advised a former Los Angeles resort guard it could damage his profession if a safety video of the hip-hop mogul kicking and dragging his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016 had been made public, the safety specialist testified Tuesday at Combs’ federal intercourse trafficking and racketeering trial.
Eddy Garcia, 33, testified to a jury that Combs made the remark repeatedly in March 2016, quickly after the assault, as he tried to purchase what he hoped was the one copy of the video.
Prosecutors have made the footage from the Intercontinental Lodge a centrepiece of proof towards the Dangerous Boy Information founder, saying it helps the claims of three girls, together with Ventura, who allege Combs abused them sexually and bodily over the previous 20 years. In addition they say Combs’ persistent efforts to hush up the episode match into allegations that he used threats and his fortune and fame to get what he needed.
Combs has pleaded not responsible to a number of counts of an indictment accusing him of a sample of abuse towards Ventura and others.
Day 15
After the assault, Garcia stated, he spoke a number of instances to Combs’ chief-of-staff, Kristina Khorram, telling her he couldn’t present her the recording however “off the report, it’s unhealthy.”
Garcia, who’s testifying underneath an immunity order, stated throughout one telephone name she put a “very nervous” sounding Combs on the telephone. He “was simply saying he had a bit an excessive amount of to drink” and that, as Garcia certainly is aware of, “with girls, one factor results in one other and if this received out it could damage him.”
“He was speaking actually quick, a variety of stuttering,” Garcia added.
Within the night, Garcia stated, he grew to become nervous and scared when Khorram known as him at house on his cellphone — a quantity he had not offered — and put Combs on.
“He acknowledged that I appeared like an excellent man,” Garcia testified, including that Combs once more stated “one thing like this might damage him.”
“He was involved that this video would get out and that it could damage his profession,” Garcia advised the court docket.
When he advised Combs he didn’t have entry to the server to acquire the video footage, Combs stated he believed Garcia might make it occur and that “he would handle me,” which Garcia stated he took “to imply financially.”
Garcia stated he checked together with his boss and was advised he’d promote the video to Combs for US$50,000.
When he advised Combs, he stated the music producer “sounded excited.”
“He referred to me as ‘Eddy my angel,’” Garcia stated, including that Combs advised him: “I knew you might assist. I knew you might do it.”
Get every day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
Inside two days of Combs’ assault on Ventura, Garcia delivered a storage machine containing the footage to Combs, who paid him $100,000 in money — feeding payments by a cash counter and placing them in a brown paper bag.
Garcia signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure settlement (NDA), proven in court docket, that required him to pay $1 million if he breached the deal. On the time, he stated, he was making $10.50 an hour working resort safety.
Garcia stated he signed a declaration swearing that, underneath the penalty of perjury, there was no different copy of the video.
“He stated it needed to be the one copy and that he didn’t need it getting out and if I used to be positive nothing was on the cloud,” Garcia stated.
He stated he signed the papers in an workplace constructing with Combs’ bodyguard and Khorram current. Garcia stated he didn’t totally learn the paperwork, explaining that he was nervous and “the aim was to get out of there as quickly as attainable.”
After signing, he stated, Combs requested him what he deliberate to do with the cash and suggested him to not make any massive purchases. Garcia stated he took that to imply he shouldn’t do something that will draw consideration.
Garcia stated he gave $50,000 to his boss, who had talked about promoting the video for revenue earlier than Combs intervened, and $20,000 to a different safety officer. He pocketed $30,000 and used a few of it to buy a used automotive, he stated.
He used money and, avoiding an extra paper path, by no means put the cash within the financial institution, he stated.
A number of weeks later, Garcia stated, Combs known as him and requested if anybody had inquired concerning the video. Garcia stated no, recounting Combs’ ebullient greeting: “Joyful Easter. Eddy, my angel. God is nice. God put you in my manner for a cause.”
Garcia stated that on the decision, he requested Combs if the rapper might need future work for him, and Combs sounded receptive. However Combs by no means responded to his later inquiries, the witness stated.
Ex-hotel worker spoke with former colleagues after video resurfaced in 2024
Garcia stated that after the video resurfaced within the media in 2024, he reached out to his former colleagues, Israel Florez and Henry Elias.
He stated he was contacted by legislation enforcement in June 2024 concerning the incident however testified that he wasn’t sincere about his involvement.
Garcia added that he deleted his textual content messages with Florez and Elias after assembly with investigators.
He stated he employed authorized counsel and met with the federal government later in 2024 and disclosed that Combs had paid him for the video.
Combs’ former head of finance takes the stand
Derek Ferguson, the previous head of the finance division for Combs Enterprises, stated he was testifying in compliance with a subpoena.
He stated he labored for Combs and his firms from 1998 till 2017 and that he was the chief monetary officer at Dangerous Boy Leisure from 1998 to 2012.
Ferguson stated his duties included accounting, record-keeping and being concerned in joint ventures and strategic partnerships. He was additionally accountable for Combs’ private funds.
He stated that when he first began on the firm, he interacted with Combs “a pair instances per week” however the interactions grew to become much less frequent as soon as he was introduced in to run the corporate.
Ferguson would then report back to the corporate president and when there was no president, he reported on to Combs.
Prosecutors confirmed monetary data from considered one of Combs’ financial institution accounts, which included a $20,000 wire switch from Ventura’s father on Dec. 23, 2011.
Ventura’s mom beforehand testified that Combs demanded the household pay $20,000 after he threatened to launch express intercourse tapes of her daughter after studying she was relationship rapper Child Cudi.
Prosecutors additionally famous two different $20,000 transfers that very same month, with an outgoing switch to Ventura on Dec. 14, 2011 and one other to an unidentified account on Dec. 27, 2011.
What Combs is on trial for
U.S. prosecutors allege that for 20 years, behind the scenes, Combs was coercing and abusing girls with assist from a community of associates who helped silence victims by blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that features descriptions of “freak-offs,” that are outlined within the court docket doc as “elaborate and produced intercourse performances that Combs organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and sometimes electronically recorded.”
Quite a few witnesses have come ahead to accuse Combs of terrorizing folks into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in keeping with prosecutors. One indictment alleges that Combs dangled somebody from a balcony.
Though dozens of women and men have alleged in lawsuits that Combs abused them, this trial will spotlight the claims of 4 girls.
Combs is charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to interact in prostitution. He has denied all the fees towards him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as a substitute.
If discovered responsible within the New York court docket, he might face life in jail.
—
—
International Information might be overlaying the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please test again for updates.
— with information from The Related Press
