NOTE: The next article incorporates disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your personal discretion.
Sean “Diddy” Combs informed a former Los Angeles lodge guard it could smash 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 Unhealthy 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 twenty 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 below 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 little 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 obtained out it could smash him.”
“He was speaking actually quick, a whole lot of stuttering,” Garcia added.
Within the night, Garcia stated, he grew to become nervous and scared when Khorram referred to as him at house on his cellphone — a quantity he had not offered — and put Combs on.
“He said that I seemed like a very good man,” Garcia testified, including that Combs once more stated “one thing like this might smash him.”
“He was involved that this video would get out and that it could smash his profession,” Garcia informed the court docket.
When he informed Combs he didn’t have entry to the server to acquire the video footage, Combs stated he believed Garcia may make it occur and that “he would deal with me,” which Garcia stated he took “to imply financially.”
Garcia stated he checked together with his boss and was informed he’d promote the video to Combs for US$50,000.
When he informed Combs, he stated the music producer “sounded excited.”
“He referred to me as ‘Eddy my angel,’” Garcia stated, including that Combs informed him: “I knew you possibly can assist. I knew you possibly can do it.”
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Inside two days of Combs’ assault on Ventura, Garcia delivered a storage system 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 lodge safety.
Garcia stated he signed a declaration swearing that, below 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 large purchases. Garcia stated he took that to imply he shouldn’t do something that may 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 additional paper path, by no means put the cash within the financial institution, he stated.
A number of weeks later, Garcia stated, Combs referred to 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 sweet. God put you in my method for a purpose.”
Garcia stated that on the decision, he requested Combs if the rapper may 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 trustworthy 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 Unhealthy Boy Leisure from 1998 to 2012.
Ferguson stated his obligations included accounting, record-keeping and being concerned in joint ventures and strategic partnerships. He was additionally liable 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 information 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 specific 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 infrequently electronically recorded.”
Quite a few witnesses have come ahead to accuse Combs of terrorizing individuals into silence by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, in accordance 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 costs towards him and has rejected a plea deal, selecting to go to trial as an alternative.
If discovered responsible within the New York court docket, he may face life in jail.
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World Information might be masking the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please verify again for updates.
— with information from The Related Press
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