The trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs took a devastating turn on Tuesday when a former InterContinental Hotel security guard testified that the embattled music mogul bribed him with $100,000 to erase the only known copy of surveillance footage showing him brutally assaulting singer Cassie Ventura.
Eddy Garcia, the guard at the luxury Los Angeles hotel, took the witness stand under immunity and laid out in grim detail how Combs—once hailed as hip-hop royalty—personally orchestrated the cover-up of the now-infamous March 5, 2016, beatdown.
The Testimony: Cash, Deception, and Desperation
Garcia testified that Diddy and his chief of staff Kristina Khorram began contacting him immediately after the assault, pushing him to destroy the footage. “He told me this could ruin him,” Garcia recalled. “He was frantic. He said he had too much to drink… one thing led to another.”
Despite Garcia initially refusing, he said both Combs and Khorram persistently reached out, eventually offering cash for silence. The price? $100,000 in a brown paper bag, with $50,000 going to Garcia’s supervisor, Bill Medrano, who allegedly helped transfer the footage onto a USB drive.
During their face-to-face meeting, Combs reportedly greeted Garcia warmly, calling him “Eddy, my angel”, and asked him to confirm it was the only copy of the tape. To seal the deal, Diddy even FaceTimed Cassie, claiming she “wanted it to go away too.”
From Bribe to Betrayal: “God Put You in My Life”
In an eerie follow-up, Garcia said Combs called him again on Easter Sunday, telling him:
“Happy Easter. You are my angel. God is good. God put you in my life for a reason.”
Garcia admitted that when federal investigators later came knocking, he initially lied about the incident before seeking legal counsel and ultimately confessing to accepting the bribe.
Fall of a Mogul: The Scandal Diddy Can’t Buy His Way Out Of
The trial is now drawing comparisons to the Harvey Weinstein downfall, with former staff, ex-partners, and whistleblowers painting a picture of systemic abuse, cover-ups, and criminal conduct by one of the most powerful men in music.
With this latest bombshell, prosecutors have landed a direct link between Diddy and the destruction of key evidence in an alleged violent assault—an offense that could carry significant legal consequences beyond the already mounting civil and criminal cases.
America Watches as Justice Closes In
The footage of the 2016 assault—leaked years later—sparked national outrage and renewed calls for accountability. But now, in a courtroom full of jurors, America is watching the behind-the-scenes reality unfold in real-time: a desperate mogul, a corrupted security staff, and a woman who nearly lost her life at the hands of a man worth hundreds of millions.
No amount of money should be able to buy justice.
This time, the cameras may finally be rolling in Diddy’s direction—and there’s no USB stick big enough to delete what’s coming.
