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Shocking footage shows Sean “Diddy” Combs punching and kicking his former girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, in a hotel hallway in 2016 – then bought the hotel footage after the encounter .
The footage, captured from multiple angles and first obtained by CNN, shows the towel-clad music mogul chasing Ms Ventura down the hallway, before attacking her near the elevators. He then tries to drag her into the hallway.
The incident reportedly took place at the InterContinental Hotel in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles. CNN verified the location based on publicly available photos of the former hotel’s interior.
After pushing Ms. Ventura to the ground, Combs retrieved a purse and suitcase from the floor near the elevators. He turns around and kicks her again as she lies on the ground.
Ms Ventura is later seen in the footage slowly getting up and gathering items from the floor before reaching for a hotel telephone on the hallway wall near the elevators. Combs, still in towel and socks, returns.
A mirror directly in front of the security camera shows Combs shoving Ms. Ventura. We then see him throw an object at her.
According to CNN, Combs then paid $50,000 to the InterContinental Century City for security footage of the hallway.
The video appears to corroborate several allegations made in a lawsuit Ms. Ventura filed in 2023, in which she claimed she was trafficked, raped and beaten by Combs repeatedly over 10 years.
According to the complaint, which cited the altercation as occurring “around March 2016,” Combs became “extremely intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye.”
After the mogul fell asleep, Ms. Ventura attempted to leave the hotel room, but he woke up and “followed her down the hotel hallway while yelling at her,” according to the complaint.
“He grabbed her, then took glass vases from the hallway and threw them at her, causing the glass around them to crash as she ran toward the elevator to escape,” a- he declared.
The lawsuit also claimed that Combs lured the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, drug-fueled lifestyle” shortly after meeting, and signed her to his label in 2005, when she had not only 19 years old and he 37.
Ms Ventura said the abuse began early in their relationship and that when she tried to end it in 2018, he forced his way into her Los Angeles home and raped her.
The lawsuit against Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed amount of money.
Ms. Ventura told CNN at the time that she had chosen to “resolve this matter amicably,” while Combs’ attorney said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.” reprehensible” and did not change anything in its denial of the allegations.
The independent contacted representatives for Combs and Ms. Ventura for comment on the incident shown in the surveillance footage.
It comes amid a series of civil lawsuits filed against the rapper and music mogul, credited with helping launch the careers of some of the biggest stars in recent years, who have accused him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape.
Federal agents from the United States Homeland Security raided two of the rapper’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25, as he faces a series of various charges. The numerous accusations date back to the 1990s, when he founded his own label, Bad Boy Records.
Combs has strongly denied all allegations against him. His lawyers have called the lawsuits and their accusations of money grabs “baseless” or “sickening.” The artist has not been formally charged or accused by federal prosecutors of any crime.
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News Source : www.independent.co.uk
