Wednesday, June 4, 2025 - The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs continued Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, with two more witnesses including a hotel security guard who was paid $100,000 by Combs in exchange of the surveillance video showing him beating Cassie Ventura testifying in the s£x trafficking case.
Federal prosecutors say that for decades, Combs abused,
threatened and coerced women to participate in marathon s£xual encounters
called "freak offs" and used his business empire, along with guns,
kidnapping and arson, to conceal his crimes.
The 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing five criminal
counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of s£x trafficking by
force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in
pr0stitut!on.
Combs has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face
life in prison.
Before Tuesday’s testimony got underway, a woman who began
screaming obscenities was removed from the courtroom at the request of Judge
Arun Subramanian.
The woman could be heard yelling at Combs, “These
motherf***ers are laughing at you!”
"Escort her out right now!" Subramanian shouted
from the bench.
Combs, seated in his chair at the defense table, glanced at
the woman as she was taken away by court marshals.
Speaking to reporters outside, the woman said she was a
Combs supporter and was upset about how people attending the trial in person
had been mocking him.
Eddy Garcia, a former security guard at the InterContinental
Hotel in Los Angeles, where Combs was caught on surveillance video assaulting
Cassie Ventura in March 2016, took the stand first. He testified under an
immunity order after asserting his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate
himself.
Garcia told the court that he was initially approached by
Combs’s former chief of staff Kristina Khorram about the footage, which showed
Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in an elevator bank. The video was shown to
the jury earlier in the trial.
He said he told Khorram that she would need a subpoena to
see the video. Combs then called from his personal cellphone saying the video
“could ruin” him if it got out and that he would “take care” of Garcia if he
could secure the only copy. Garcia said he spoke to his boss and they agreed to
sell it for $50,000.
At a private meeting at a Los Angeles high-rise building a
few days later, Garcia said he and Combs got on a FaceTime call with Ventura,
who at Combs’s direction said she also wanted the video to go away.
Garcia testified that Combs made him sign documents,
including a nondisclosure agreement. Garcia then handed Combs a USB drive with
the footage. “Eddy, my angel, I knew you could help,” Combs told Garcia,
according to the former security guard. Combs left the room and returned with
$100,000 in a brown paper bag, ran the cash through a money counter and handed
it to him while warning him not to make any big purchases, Garcia recalled.
According to Garcia, Combs told him to give the extra cash
to the other security guards on duty that day. Garcia testified that he gave
$50,000 of the money to his supervisor who approved the deal with Combs,
$20,000 to another guard involved in the incident and kept $30,000 for himself.
Derek Ferguson, the former chief financial officer of
Combs’s Bad Boy Entertainment, took the stand next. Ferguson told the court
that he sometimes reported directly to Combs as CFO of Bad Boy from 1998 to
2012, overseeing budgets and salaries and at times responsible for the music
mogul's personal finances.
Financial records from December 2011 submitted as evidence
by prosecutors while Ferguson was on the stand showed three $20,000 transfers,
including:
An outgoing transfer of $20,000 from Combs to Cassie Ventura
on Dec. 14
An incoming transfer of $20,000 to Combs from Broderick
Ventura, Cassie Ventura’s father, on Dec. 23
An outgoing transfer of $20,000 from Combs to Broderick
Ventura on Dec. 27.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government intends to call
three more witnesses on Wednesday, including Bryana Bongolan,
who previously accused Combs of s£xual battery and dangling her over
a balcony; and “Jane,” another one of Combs’s accusers who is using a pseudonym
during the trial.
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