Sean “Diddy” Combs was so concerned the video of him attacking then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel would leak, that he gave a paper bag containing $100,000 cash to a security guard to make the footage go away, the man testified Tuesday.
Eddy Garcia, a former security guard at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, took the stand in Manhattan federal court on June 3, in the music mogul’s sex trafficking trial.
Garcia said Combs bribed him in March 2016, to make sure the surveillance footage was never given to law enforcement or released publicly.
According to Garcia, he received a call from the music mogul’s chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, asking if he was aware of what happened, and “if there was any possible way to get a copy of the video,” according to USA Today.
Garcia, 33, testified that he spoke with his then-supervisor, who said he would handle the situation for $50,000.
Related: Diddy Heckler Shouts Obscenities in Courtroom
Khorram then put Garcia in touch with Combs.
“He stated that I sounded like a good guy,” Garcia told the court, adding that Combs worried “something like this could ruin him.”
According to Garcia, Combs said he would “take care of” him.
The former security guard said he was told to meet Combs at a high-rise condominium.
The mogul was there with his own security guard when Garcia arrived. Combs ran the cash through a money counter to prove that it was all there. The mogul handed Garcia a brown paper bag with the $100,000 cash inside, in exchange for a USB drive. Everyone involved thought the drive contained the only copy of the surveillance footage of the March 2016 assault.
Garcia testified that he gave his boss $50,000. He kept $30,000 for himself and paid cash for a used car, and he gave another security guard $20,000.
Diddy had Garcia sign a non-disclosure agreement that said he would have to pay $1 million if he ever leaked word of the deal, even though the security guard was making $10.50 an hour at the hotel.
Garcia said he later left messages for Combs about obtaining work, but the mogul never responded.
Then CNN aired the footage on May 17, 2024. Two days later, Diddy posted and later deleted a video on Instagram apologizing for his behavior. “My behavior on that video is inexcusable,” he said.
On May 12 during the trial, another man who worked on the hotel’s security team testified that he secretly recorded his own copy of the surveillance footage before the server was wiped clean. The man said he responded to Diddy’s room the day of the assault and the mogul also tried to bribe him.
“I started to leave and [Combs] called for me,” Israel Florez testified. “He had a sack of money and he threw it at me and said, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’”
Florez told the court he declined the money. He said Combs got aggressive, but he “pinned” the mogul to a wall, as previously reported.
Under cross-examination, Florez admitted he never reported the incident to police. He said he recorded a copy of the footage with his phone, to show his wife because he didn’t think she would believe what happened. Florez is now an LAPD officer.
On Tuesday, Garcia testified that Florez was “a very by-the-book guy.”
Neither CNN nor prosecutors have said if they obtained the footage from Florez.
Combs, 55, is charged with five felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
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