Diddy trial updates: Sean Combs' alleged efforts to conceal abuse uncovered in testimony
Diddy trial updates: Sean Combs' alleged efforts to conceal abuse uncovered in testimony
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Security guard says Sean Combs offered cash for hotel video
Eddy Garcia testified Sean Combs paid $100K for hotel footage showing him kick, hit and drag Cassie Ventura Fine, according to court testimony.
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.
Prosecutors in Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial are attempting to show the extreme lengths the hip-hop mogul went to conceal his alleged pattern of abuse.
The Grammy-winning rapper's sweeping federal sex-crimes case resumed in Manhattan court on June 4 after the jury heard from Eddy Garcia, a former security officer at a Los Angeles-area hotel where Combs and former girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine were captured on tape during a 2016 altercation.
Garcia told the court on June 3 that Combs paid $100,000 for a copy of the video, which showed him kicking, hitting and dragging Cassie in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel. The attack was first described in Ventura Fine's bombshell 2023 lawsuit, which accused Combs of sexual assault, trafficking and more.
CNN last year published the security footage from the hotel.
Diddy on trial newsletter: Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges.
Aside from Garcia, several new names are expected to testify in the trial, including radio personality Enrique Santos.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September 2024 and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty.
Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling lawsuit that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry.
He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to all five counts against him.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have video of.
The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings.
USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates.
Contributing: USA TODAY staff
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.
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