A security guard told how Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs counted out $100,000 from a brown paper bag to buy the only copy of a video showing him beating up his ex-girlfriend on the second day of the fourth week of the disgraced rap mogul’s sex trafficking trial.

Eddy Garcia, who worked at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, told in vivid detail how the hip hop mogul used a counting machine to add up the money for the bribe in 2016.

Garcia said that Diddy called him ‘Eddy, my angel’ for deleting it from the servers and giving it to him on a USB stick.

The money was split between Garcia, another security officer and the head of security at the hotel.

But another security officer secretly made a copy which was leaked to CNN in 2024 – the airing of the footage helped lead to Diddy’s downfall and arrest in September that year.

Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, denies sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

The 55-year-old has pleaded not guilty.

Day 15 of the trial got off to a dramatic start when a woman was ejected from the court before testimony began.

The woman screamed ‘Diddy, these m*****f****** are laughing at you’ as she was hauled out by court security officers. Diddy turned around to watch and nodded his head.

Garcia told the court he was on duty at the InterContinental Hotel on March 5, 2016, the day that Diddy and his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura were having a ‘Freak Off’ in one of the rooms.

Midway through the ‘Freak Off’, where Ventura had sex with a male escort in front of Diddy, she tried to escape and ran to the elevators.

The surveillance footage shows Diddy running after her in a towel, grabbing her hair and throwing her to the ground before kicking her.

Diddy can be seen dragging Ventura along the floor then letting her go.

Garcia – who was testifying under an order of immunity – said that an hour or so into his shift that day he got a call from Kristina Khorram, who said she was the ‘personal assistant to Mr. Combs’.

Garcia said: ‘She asked if I was familiar about an incident that occurred earlier that day. I said yes.

‘She said if there was any possible way to get a copy of the video or see the video. She stated that Mr. Combs had been intoxicated and didn’t remember exactly (what happened).’

Garcia said he couldn’t give her the footage but ‘I did mention to her that off the record it’s bad’.

Later that night, Diddy himself called the security desk asking for the video too.

Garcia said: ‘Mr. Combs sounded very nervous, just was talking really fast, was saying that he had a little too much to drink and that I knew how things were with women, one thing led to another. If this got out it could ruin him.’

But Garcia again told him he couldn’t hand it over and that he would need to speak to hotel management or get a subpoena.

‘He was talking really fast, lots of stuttering, just sounded very nervous,’ Garcia said.

The next call Garcia got was when he was at home, on his personal mobile number – even though he hadn’t given it to Khorram or Diddy.

When he picked up Khorram was on the line, Garcia became ‘nervous’ and ‘scared’, he told the court.

‘He (Diddy) stated that I sounded like a good guy,’ Garcia said. ‘I sounded like I wanted to help and something like this can ruin him. He kept repeating (that) I sounded like a good guy and I can help.’

Garcia told Diddy he was ‘just a guard’ and didn’t have the credentials to get into the server room, where the original would be, and remove the video.

Diddy asked who had access, and Garcia told him that Bill Medrano, the head of security, had access.

‘He (Diddy) stated that I sounded like I wanted to help, and he believed I could make it happen’ Garcia said.

‘He said he would take care of me.’

When asked what he understood Diddy meant, Garcia said: ‘I understood it to mean financially, for the video.’

Garcia rang Medrano and informed him that Diddy was willing to pay for the video.

‘There was a pause, and he (Medrano) stated he would do it for 50,’ Garcia said, telling the jury he meant $50,000.

Next Garcia gave Diddy the news and told the court he sounded ‘excited’.

‘He referred to me as Eddy my angel,’ Garcia said. ‘I knew you could help, I knew you could do it.’

The jury heard that Garcia went to work the next day, and Medrano went into the server room and emerged with a black USB stick with the video on it.

Garcia called Diddy who asked ‘how fast I could get it to him’ and so they arranged to meet at an apartment block in Los Angeles.

Garcia said that Diddy was ‘smiling, excited, just looked happy’.

He said: ‘He was asking me if I was ok. I was very nervous, so my voice kept cracking.’

Garcia told the court that Diddy asked if it was the only copy as he ‘didn’t want it getting out’.

After a quick phone call to Medrano, Garcia confirmed it was.

But Garcia had concerns too and told Diddy if a police report was filed it could cause him issues.

Diddy told him he ‘didn’t have to worry about that’ and called Ventura who told him she had a film coming out and wanted it to ‘go away’.

The court heard that Diddy asked for IDs from Garcia, Medrano and the other security officer on duty at the time, to ensure they were ‘all on the same page’.

When Garcia called Medrano, he said that Israel Flores, who handled the incident, wouldn’t want to be involved but Henry Elias, another security officer at the hotel, would be on board, and sent him his ID.

The court was shown the non-disclosure agreement and another document signed by Garcia.

The agreement – dated March 7, 2016, two days after the incident – stated that Garcia would have to pay $1million if he breached the terms – at the time he was earning just $10.50 an hour.

Garcia said that Diddy then left the room and came back in.

‘He returned with a brown bag and a money counter,’ Garcia said.

‘(It was) rectangular shaped, off-white color. He was putting the money through the counter.’

When asked how much it was, Garcia said that ‘in total it was $100,000’.

‘There were stacks of money being put in through it, stacks of $10,000,’ he said.

When asked why Diddy was paying $100,000 instead of the agreed upon $50,000, Garcia said: ‘He’d mentioned he’d take care of us, so the additional was for me and what he thought was Israel Flores,’ referring to the other security officer.

‘He (Diddy) asked me if I wanted to count it. I said I trusted the machine. I stood up to indicated I’d be leaving.

‘He said he would walk me out. Mr Combs and his bodyguard. I got nervous.

‘We walked to the valet area. He had asked me how I’d be spending the money, and I said I didn’t know. He said not to make any big purchases…I understood it, it would draw attention.

‘He signed my valet ticket so I wouldn’t be charged and requested his vehicle. I drove off.

‘For a few minutes, I was looking back because he also requested his vehicle, I was looking back to see if I was being followed.’

Garcia – who wasn’t followed – took the money to the hotel and handed $50,000 to Medrano, $20,000 to Elias and took $30,000 for himself.

He told the jury that he bought a used car and didn’t report it to the police.

The next time Garcia saw the footage was in 2024 when it was aired by CNN.

He said that he got a text from Flores showing a still from the CCTV footage of the incident, suggesting he had made a copy.