Hotel Security Guard Testifies To Day Diddy Assaulted Cassie, Plays Footage In Court

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial began last week with jury selection, and both sides were present in court today (May 12) for opening statements. Prosecutors called a witness to the stand this afternoon, LAPD officer Israel Florez, who once worked in hotel security.

Last May, CNN released footage from 2016 showing Diddy assaulting his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel. Florez was the guard on duty that day when the event occurred, which took place in the InterContinental Los Angeles hotel in March 2016 around 11 a.m. He testifies that the “Me & U” singer looked “scared” and Diddy gave him money to keep the incident a secret.

“She was scared,” Florez said in court, per NBC News. “She was in the corner, hood on, covered up. I couldn’t see her face, she was pretty much in the corner. On the floor was a destroyed flower vase.”

“I started to leave and (Combs) called for me,” Florez said. “He had a sack of money and he threw it at me and said, ‘Don’t tell anyone.’” He added that Combs attempted to take the phones of other hotel guards, and when the Bad Boy Records founder attempted to take his, he pinned Combs to the wall and tried to de-escalate the situation.

The March 2016 hotel surveillance videos were submitted as evidence. Prosecutors played five clips on the screen in court, and Florez was asked to describe what was happening. “Combs comes up behind her in a towel and slams her in the head and drags her to the floor, starts to drag her back to the room,” he said.

Florez said he took videos on his cellphone that day during the event because he wanted to show his wife and felt he would need evidence for her to believe him. One of his videos shows him motioning to Cassie to go into the room and another includes him picking up a phone and discussing the incident with his supervisor.

The former guard said he ultimately did not get authorities involved because Cassie wanted to leave and no one was pressing charges.

Diddy is currently facing one count of racketeering conspiracy; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was arrested in NYC on Sept. 16, 2024, and was held at MDC Brooklyn without bail. Prosecutors’ opening remarks allege the media mogul used his money, power, and fame to facilitate two decades of sexually abusive “freak-offs” with countless victims. The defense plans to argue that Diddy’s sexual partners participated during these events willingly. Diddy has consistently and vehemently denied the allegations against him.