NOTE: The next article incorporates disturbing particulars and video footage. Please learn at your personal discretion.
Sean “Diddy” Combs advised a former Los Angeles resort 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 have 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 in opposition to the Unhealthy Boy Data 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 mentioned, 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 document, it’s unhealthy.”
Garcia, who’s testifying below an immunity order, mentioned throughout one telephone name she put a “very nervous” sounding Combs on the telephone. He “was simply saying he had a bit of 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 acquired out it could smash him.”
“He was speaking actually quick, a variety of stuttering,” Garcia added.
Within the night, Garcia mentioned, he turned 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 gave the impression of an excellent man,” Garcia testified, including that Combs once more mentioned “one thing like this might smash him.”
“He was involved that this video would get out and that it could smash his profession,” Garcia advised the courtroom.
When he advised Combs he didn’t have entry to the server to acquire the video footage, Combs mentioned he believed Garcia might make it occur and that “he would care for me,” which Garcia mentioned he took “to imply 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 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 way of a cash counter and placing them in a brown paper bag.
Garcia signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure settlement (NDA), proven in courtroom, that required him to pay $1 million if he breached the deal. On the time, he mentioned, he was making $10.50 an hour working resort safety.
Garcia mentioned he signed a declaration swearing that, below the penalty of perjury, there was no different copy of the video.
“He mentioned 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 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 objective was to get out of there as quickly as potential.”
After signing, he mentioned, Combs requested him what he deliberate to do with the cash and suggested him to not make any massive purchases. Garcia mentioned he took that to imply he shouldn’t do something that might 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.
Just a few 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: “Completely happy Easter. Eddy, my angel. God is sweet. God put you in my means for a cause.”
Garcia mentioned 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 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 legislation enforcement in June 2024 in regards to 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 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 firms from 1998 till 2017 and that he was the chief monetary officer at Unhealthy Boy Leisure from 1998 to 2012.
Ferguson mentioned his tasks included accounting, record-keeping and being concerned in joint ventures and strategic partnerships. He was additionally liable for Combs’ private funds.
He mentioned that when he first began on the firm, he interacted with Combs “a pair instances per 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 data from one among 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 courting 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 way of blackmail and violence.
Combs faces an indictment that features descriptions of “freak-offs,” that are outlined within the courtroom 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 response to 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 have interaction 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 courtroom, he might face life in jail.
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World Information might be overlaying the Diddy trial in its entirety. Please verify again for updates.
— with recordsdata from The Related Press
