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NOTE: The following article comprises disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your personal discretion.
Sean “Diddy” Combs advised a former Los Angeles resort guard it might destroy 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 Hotel a centrepiece of proof in opposition to the Bad Boy Records 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. They additionally 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 mentioned, he spoke a number of occasions to Combs’ chief-of-staff, Kristina Khorram, telling her he couldn’t present her the recording however “off the record, it’s bad.”
Garcia, who’s testifying underneath an immunity order, mentioned throughout one cellphone name she put a “very nervous” sounding Combs on the cellphone. He “was just saying he had a little too much to drink” and that, as Garcia certainly is aware of, “with women, one thing leads to another and if this got out it would ruin him.”
“He was talking really fast, a lot of stuttering,” Garcia added.
In the night, Garcia mentioned, he turned nervous and scared when Khorram referred to as him at dwelling on his cellphone — a quantity he had not supplied — and put Combs on.
“He stated that I sounded like a good guy,” Garcia testified, including that Combs once more mentioned “something like this could ruin him.”
“He was concerned that this video would get out and that it would ruin his career,” Garcia advised the court docket.
When he advised Combs he didn’t have entry to the server to acquire the video footage, Combs mentioned he believed Garcia may make it occur and that “he would take care of me,” which Garcia mentioned he took “to mean financially.”
Garcia mentioned 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 mentioned the music producer “sounded excited.”
“He referred to me as ‘Eddy my angel,’” Garcia mentioned, including that Combs advised him: “I knew you could help. I knew you could do it.”
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Within 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 way of 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. At the time, he mentioned, he was making $10.50 an hour working resort safety.
Garcia mentioned he signed a declaration swearing that, underneath the penalty of perjury, there was no different copy of the video.
“He said it had to be the only copy and that he didn’t want it getting out and if I was sure nothing was on the cloud,” Garcia mentioned.
He mentioned he signed the papers in an workplace constructing with Combs’ bodyguard and Khorram current. Garcia mentioned he didn’t totally learn the paperwork, explaining that he was nervous and “the goal was to get out of there as soon as possible.”
After signing, he mentioned, Combs requested him what he deliberate to do with the cash and suggested him to not make any huge purchases. Garcia mentioned he took that to imply he shouldn’t do something that may draw consideration.
Garcia mentioned 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 mentioned.
He used money and, avoiding an extra paper path, by no means put the cash within the financial institution, he mentioned.
A couple of weeks later, Garcia mentioned, Combs referred to as him and requested if anybody had inquired in regards to the video. Garcia mentioned no, recounting Combs’ ebullient greeting: “Happy Easter. Eddy, my angel. God is good. God put you in my way for a reason.”
Garcia mentioned that on the decision, he requested Combs if the rapper may need future work for him, and Combs sounded receptive. But Combs by no means responded to his later inquiries, the witness mentioned.
Ex-hotel worker spoke with former colleagues after video resurfaced in 2024
Garcia mentioned that after the video resurfaced within the media in 2024, he reached out to his former colleagues, Israel Florez and Henry Elias.
He mentioned he was contacted by regulation enforcement in June 2024 in regards to 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 mentioned 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, mentioned he was testifying in compliance with a subpoena.
He mentioned he labored for Combs and his corporations from 1998 till 2017 and that he was the chief monetary officer at Bad Boy Entertainment from 1998 to 2012.
Ferguson mentioned his duties included accounting, record-keeping and being concerned in joint ventures and strategic partnerships. He was additionally accountable for Combs’ private funds.
He mentioned that when he first began on the firm, he interacted with Combs “a couple times a week” however the interactions turned 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 one in every 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 Kid 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 way of 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 sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Numerous 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.
Although 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 in opposition to 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 may face life in jail.
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Global News will likely be overlaying the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please test again for updates.
— with recordsdata from The Associated Press
