Latest news with #Florez
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Diddy Tried to Bribe Security Over Cassie Hotel Beating, Guard Testifies
Diddy offered a hotel security guard a stack of money to keep quiet about the Cassie beating ... at least according to the guy's court testimony. The first witness called to the stand in Diddy's sex trafficking case Monday was the assistant director of security at the InterContinental Los Angeles Century City at Beverly Hills Hotel ... and he was grilled about the infamous 2016 incident between Diddy and Cassie. The witness, Israel Florez, says he got a report of a woman in distress on the 6th floor around 11 AM and checked the cameras ... and saw Diddy pacing back and forth. Florez told the jury he rushed to the scene and encountered Diddy in a towel and Cassie on the floor. He says he told them if they were arguing, they needed to take it back to their room, and he says he noticed a broken vase on the floor and told Diddy it would be charged to the room. Cassie stated she asked for her phone and her bag and wanted to leave, but Diddy told her she couldn't leave ... Florez testified. Florez told the jury Diddy later called for him and was holding a stack of money ... telling him not to tell anyone about what happened. He testified that he told Diddy he didn't want the money, and the damage would still be charged to the room. The hotel security guard testified he went to Diddy's room to remind him of hotel rules ... and Diddy opened the door and grabbed his phone, and asked if he was recording Diddy. Florez says he pinned Diddy to the wall. Florez says he took photos of the broken vase for an incident report and recorded two videos of the surveillance footage with his iPhone, explaining he wanted to show his wife at home. He says he had the following two days off -- and when he returned to work, he looked for the surveillance video ... but "it was gone" and he never saw it again until recently. On cross-examination, Diddy attorney Brian Steel asked Florez if law enforcement was called, and Florez said, "they were not." He asked why Florez didn't put that in the report and why he didn't include the part about Diddy allegedly telling Cassie she wasn't leaving. Florez said he didn't put every last detail in his reports. Steel asked Florez, "You were offered a bribe -- but hadn't you told him he had to pay for the vase?" Florez responded, "Yes." The prosecution circled back and asked Florez what Diddy said when he allegedly offered the money, and Florez testified that Diddy didn't want anyone to know about what happened. Florez also testified that the video shows Diddy dragging Cassie back to the room ... and Steel asked if there are gaps in the footage because the cameras are motion sensitive, and Florez said, "Yes." His testimony is done and now the prosecution's second witness is coming to the stand.
Sydney Morning Herald
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Take it to your room': Security guard tells Diddy trial of finding Cassie in hotel
WARNING: This article contains graphic detail that may distress some readers. New York: A former security guard has told a court Sean 'Diddy' Combs offered him a 'stack' of cash following a violent altercation between the rapper and his then-girlfriend in the aftermath of a 'freak-off' sexual encounter in a Los Angeles hotel. The assault, in which Combs hits, kicks and begins to drag Cassandra Ventura, the R&B singer known as Cassie, down a hotel hallway, was caught on surveillance footage and was published by CNN last year. It was also shown to the jury in Combs' racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, which began in New York on Monday (Tuesday AEST). Israel Florez, now a Los Angeles police officer, was stationed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, near Beverly Hills, on the morning of March 5, 2016, when the incident took place. He told the court he went to the sixth floor after being alerted to a 'woman in distress'. When he got there, he found Ventura 'bundled up in the corner' of the hallway with a hoodie on, looking 'scared' and with a 'purple eye'. In the lobby, a vase had been destroyed. Combs, Florez said, was wearing a towel and coloured socks, and sat slouched in a chair with a 'blank stare' or a 'devilish stare'. Loading Florez said he told Combs and Ventura that if they were going to argue they would have to take it back to their room. He said Cassie wanted to leave but Combs told her not to. When they went to the room, Florez said he stood in the doorway and watched her gather her belongings, while Combs reappeared with a 'stack' of cash, which he understood to be a bribe. 'I don't want your money,' Florez recalled telling the music producer. He says he then went downstairs to find Cassie outside the hotel at the valet, where he suggested she might wish to call the police. But she got into a black SUV and left the premises. The prosecution alleges Combs and his team paid another security guard $US100,000 to make the video footage disappear, although it did not. This was part of a wider conspiracy to use the rapper's music business to support and advance his abusive sexual predilections, prosecutors say, and cover up his behaviour.
The Age
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘Take it to your room': Security guard tells Diddy trial of finding Cassie in hotel
WARNING: This article contains graphic detail that may distress some readers. New York: A former security guard has told a court Sean 'Diddy' Combs offered him a 'stack' of cash following a violent altercation between the rapper and his then-girlfriend in the aftermath of a 'freak-off' sexual encounter in a Los Angeles hotel. The assault, in which Combs hits, kicks and begins to drag Cassandra Ventura, the R&B singer known as Cassie, down a hotel hallway, was caught on surveillance footage and was published by CNN last year. It was also shown to the jury in Combs' racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, which began in New York on Monday (Tuesday AEST). Israel Florez, now a Los Angeles police officer, was stationed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, near Beverly Hills, on the morning of March 5, 2016, when the incident took place. He told the court he went to the sixth floor after being alerted to a 'woman in distress'. When he got there, he found Ventura 'bundled up in the corner' of the hallway with a hoodie on, looking 'scared' and with a 'purple eye'. In the lobby, a vase had been destroyed. Combs, Florez said, was wearing a towel and coloured socks, and sat slouched in a chair with a 'blank stare' or a 'devilish stare'. Loading Florez said he told Combs and Ventura that if they were going to argue they would have to take it back to their room. He said Cassie wanted to leave but Combs told her not to. When they went to the room, Florez said he stood in the doorway and watched her gather her belongings, while Combs reappeared with a 'stack' of cash, which he understood to be a bribe. 'I don't want your money,' Florez recalled telling the music producer. He says he then went downstairs to find Cassie outside the hotel at the valet, where he suggested she might wish to call the police. But she got into a black SUV and left the premises. The prosecution alleges Combs and his team paid another security guard $US100,000 to make the video footage disappear, although it did not. This was part of a wider conspiracy to use the rapper's music business to support and advance his abusive sexual predilections, prosecutors say, and cover up his behaviour.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Defense concedes Sean ‘Diddy' Combs had violent outbursts, but say no federal crimes occurred
The public knew Sean 'Diddy' Combs as a larger-than-life music and business mogul, but in private he used violence and threats to coerce women into drug-fueled sexual encounters that he recorded, a prosecutor said Monday in opening statements at Combs' sex trafficking trial. 'This is Sean Combs,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the jury, pointing at Combs, who leaned back in his chair in a Manhattan courtroom. 'During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes." Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction. Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos, though, described the closely watched trial as a misguided overreach by prosecutors, saying that although her client could be violent, the government was trying to turn sex between consenting adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case. The judge said he expects the trial to take eight weeks. 'Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,' Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women. 'There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.' Geragos conceded that Combs' violent outbursts, often fueled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts. She told jurors they might think Combs is a 'jerk' and might not condone his 'kinky sex,' but 'he's not charged with being a jerk.' Prosecutors seized on Combs' violence as they questioned their first witness and showed jurors a key piece of evidence: a now-infamous video without audio of him kicking and dragging the R&B singer Cassie, his longtime girlfriend, at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016. Combs shook his head slowly side to side as the footage played. Jurors ended up seeing it four times as former hotel security officer Israel Florez testified, including once as Combs' lawyer tried to poke holes in his recollection. After CNN aired the video last year, Combs apologized and said he was 'disgusted' by his actions. Florez testified that he encountered Combs near the sixth floor elevators while responding to a security call for a 'woman in distress.' Combs, wearing only a white towel, was slouching in a chair 'with a blank stare ... like a devilish stare, just looking at me,' Florez told jurors. Florez, who is now a Los Angeles police officer, said that as he was escorting Cassie and Combs to their room, she indicated she wanted to leave and Combs told her, 'You're not going to leave.' Florez said he told Combs, 'If she wants to leave, she's going to leave.' Cassie left, and Florez said Combs, while holding a stack of money with a $100 bill on top, told him, 'Don't tell nobody.' Florez said he considered it a bribe and told Combs, 'I don't want your money. Just go back into your room.' Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, is expected to testify Tuesday. The second witness, Daniel Phillip, said he was a professional stripper who was paid $700 to $6,000 to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and gave instructions, with the first encounter in 2012. Phillip told jurors that he stopped meeting with the couple after he saw Combs throw a bottle at her and then drag her by her hair into a bedroom as she screamed. On cross examination, defense attorney Xavier Donaldson tried to attack Phillip's credibility, mocking Phillip's former employer, a male review show company whose slogan promised 'the ultimate ladies night experience.' Combs watched Monday's proceedings attentively. He hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs-up to family and friends as he entered the courtroom. He also blew a kiss to his mother and mouthed, 'Hi mom, I love you,' as she arrived for the start of testimony. Some of Combs' children also attended, including three daughters who left the courtroom when the testimony turned lurid. The case has drawn intense public interest, and the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. As Combs' family and lawyers left court Monday, some people were already lining up to snag a seat for Tuesday. Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could result in a 15-year-to-life prison sentence if he is convicted. Since his September arrest, he's been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. Judge Arun Subramanian has granted Combs permission to wear regular clothes in court, instead of jail garb. On Monday, he sported a gray sweater and a white button-down shirt. Because hair dye isn't allowed in jail, his normally jet black mane is now mostly gray. Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but not illegal. Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters he called 'freak-offs,' 'wild king nights' or 'hotel nights,' then kept them in line by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair. In her opening, Johnson said Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited. The prosecutor said Combs last year brutally beat another woman — identified only as Jane — when she confronted him about enduring years of freak-offs in dark hotel rooms while he took other paramours on date nights and trips around the globe. The sex parties are central to Combs' sexual abuse, prosecutors say. Combs' company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the U.S. and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said. Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said. Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a freak-off without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson said. Combs threatened to ruin Cassie's singing career by publicly releasing videos of her sexually involved with male escorts, the prosecutor said. 'Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,' Johnson said. Cassie sued Combs in 2023, and the lawsuit was settled within hours, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits making similar claims. Geragos claimed Combs' accusers were motivated by money. She told jurors that Cassie demanded $30 million when she sued him, and another witness will acknowledge demanding $22 million in a breach of contract lawsuit. She also conceded that Combs is extremely jealous and 'has a bad temper,' telling the jury that he sometimes got angry and lashed out when he drank alcohol or 'did the wrong drugs.' But, she said, 'Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.' The Associated Press doesn't generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done. ___ This story was updated to correct the spelling of Casandra Ventura's first name, which had been misspelled 'Cassandra.' Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Security Guard Who Pinned Diddy After Cassie Assault Says Rapper Gave Him Cash — and Said 3 Chilling Words
Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who is on trial at a Manhattan court on several allegations of sex crimes, was allegedly pinned against the wall by a security guard who claims Combs tried to bribe him after the music mogul assaulting his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, the former guard said in court. Israel Florez was a security guard at the InterContinental in Century City, Los Angeles, in 2016, where a security camera captured Combs violently beating his Ventura. On Monday, May 12, as Combs stood trial on a series of sex crimes, Florez testified that the music mogul allegedly tried to bribe him following the assault. In the security camera video, which was previously published by CNN, Combs is seen chasing Ventura down a hotel lobby, grabbing her by the throat and shoving her to the ground. He kicks her as she lies on the ground, motionless, and at one point throws an object at her. Related: Diddy Allegedly Made Sex Worker Do Shocking Act in Cassie's Mouth During 'Freak Off': 'Felt Like She Was Choking' On Monday, Florez, now a Los Angeles Police Department officer, told the jury that after responding to a call about a woman in distress on the hotel's sixth floor, he encountered Combs wearing only a towel and sitting on a chair, 'slouched down, like with a blank stare … like a devilish stare, just looking at me." Combs allegedly offered him a wad of cash and said, "Don't tell nobody," which Florez interpreted to be a bribe, Florez testified, adding that he declined the money. After Ventura left the hotel with a "purple eye," Florez said he headed to Combs' room with another guard to remind him of hotel policy, CNN reported. During their interaction, Combs allegedly snatched the other guard's phone, accusing him of recording their conversation, Florez said. Florez pinned the Grammy-award winner against a wall, demanding he return the other guard's phone, he said. Related: A Timeline of Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Sexual Assault Allegations and Arrest Combs is on trial for sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution stemming from a September indictment. He has pleaded not guilty. The accusations against him emerged months after a lawsuit Ventura filed against him in 2023, alleging he raped and sex trafficked her over the course of an abusive 10 years. He settled that lawsuit with Ventura shortly thereafter. He was arrested on Sept. 16. Related: Sean 'Diddy' Combs on Trial: Live Updates On Monday, his defense team acknowledged the video and said it showed "horrible, dehumanizing violence" but was not proof of sex-trafficking, the Associated Press reported. Ventura is expected to testify in court on Monday. If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. Read the original article on People
