Burden of Proof: Follow the Money

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Hey, it's Brian.

Today on Bad Rap, we've got something a little different.

A dispatch from my colleagues over at ABC News Live and their show, Burden of Proof, The Case Against Diddy.

I think you're really going to like it.

It's more great analysis and insight on the latest in the Sean Diddy Combs trial.

Burden of Proof, The Case Against Diddy, streams weekdays at 5:30 p.m.

Eastern on ABC News Live.

Find it on Disney Plus, Hulu, or on most of your favorite streaming apps.

Today, you'll hear me on there with host Eva Pilgrim.

Take a listen.

Hi, I'm Eva Pilgrim.

Thanks for streaming with us today.

It was about the money.

Two witnesses taking the stand talking about just that in the sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial against Sean Diddy Combs.

A hotel employee testifying under immunity, telling the jury Combs gave him over $100,000 cash for the 2016 surveillance footage that shows the hip-hop mogul attacking then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura inside a Los Angeles hotel.

Eddie Garcia saying Combs asked me if I knew who he was and said that something like this could ruin him.

After Garcia got the money, he says Combs told him to not make any big purchases.

We also heard from Combs' former chief financial officer who explained his business.

Combs has denied all allegations in this case.

There is a lot to get to, including a notable witness we expect to testify tomorrow.

Also coming up, the former NYPD detective known as the hip-hop cop.

He investigated the murders of rappers Notorious B.I.G.

and Tupac Shakur.

He joins us in studio to give us a glimpse into the world of hip-hop then and now.

But we begin with ABC News chief investigative correspondent Aaron Katersky live outside the federal courthouse here in Manhattan.

And Aaron, that 2016 video of Combs attacking Cassie Ventura in the hotel back in the spotlight today, what did we learn about it?

We learned that Sean Combs paid $100,000 to keep it from being seen.

And we heard this extraordinary yarn from a hotel security guard named Eddie Garcia, who said at first

he knew that there was a domestic dispute.

Then he saw the video and then he took repeated phone calls from Sean Combs' assistant, Christina Karam, asking to see it, asking if she could have it.

And the first few times he said, no, you'd have to talk to the manager or file a subpoena.

And then Christina Karam, Eddie Garcia said, put Sean Combs on the phone.

And Combs, according to Garcia's testimony, told him, I'll take care of you.

And arrangements were made.

And he finally takes this thumb drive containing the video to an apartment or room where Sean Combs was.

He remembered being greeted, Eddie, my angel.

And Sean Combs pulling out a brown paper bag and a bill counter and putting $10,000 stacks of cash through the machine before handing it over.

Garcia said, Combs asked him, do you want to count it?

And Eddie Garcia said, I trust the machine.

We also know that Combs' mother and some of his other family members were in court today.

What was their response to what they saw and heard?

Well, they'd seen the video before, so when the jury saw it again, I don't think it was much of a shock or a surprise to see the actual video.

And then to hear the yarn, I mean, I think captivated everybody in the courtroom.

There's Eddie Garcia talking about making the arrangements with his boss.

At first the boss said, all right, we'll do it for 50.

But then there came the non-disclosure agreement and the promise that this was the only copy.

And eventually he walks away with $100,000 after turning over his ID and the ID of two others who were part of the security team.

And a couple of weeks later, Eddie Garcia gets a message from Sean Combs wishing him a happy Easter and wondering if there was anyone out there asking about the tape.

Combs' former CFO also took the stand today.

What did he say about Combs' business dealings?

Derek Ferguson was called by federal prosecutors, I think, to help walk them through all of the money that

Sean Combs had at his disposal and then how some of it worked, including how they handled cash, like say $100,000 to pay for video, and how they handled reimbursements on corporate credit cards.

Because remember, Eva, a number of assistants testified they would buy supplies for the freak-offs with their corporate card and then get reimbursed.

But Derek Ferguson also said one other critical thing.

He talked about wire transfers from 2011 of $20,000 and that's a payment that Cassie Ventura's mother said Sean Combs demanded to recoup money that he had spent on Cassie Ventura.

Combs, remember, was upset that Ventura began dating rapper Kid Cuddy.

The jury saw the wire transfers, the $20,000 in from Cassie Ventura's dad, and it being being returned four days later.

Ferguson worked for Combs for some 20 years.

Did the two have any interactions in court today?

They did.

Sean Combs seemed to nod and smile at him and maybe Derek Ferguson gave him a bit of a tentative hello back.

But he worked for the defense also because

in effect they were able to launder Combs's image through the pedigree of Derek Ferguson.

Went to Stuyve Edison High School, grew up in the Bronx Harvard Business School.

And the impression the defense was hoping to leave the jury was: here's a legitimate businessman protecting Combs from any shenanigans that the federal prosecutors might be talking about as a criminal enterprise.

Also, I have to ask you, Aaron, we heard there may have been some sort of outburst in the courtroom this morning.

What happened?

Yeah, this was before any testimony got underway.

There's been a woman kind of loitering outside, heckling a number of the reporters, and then she's gotten inside a couple of times, times, and in court, she began to just make a scene.

She started yelling about the treatment of Sean Combs, and eventually court security officers took, I think, three of them to lead her from the room.

And Sean Combs saw the whole thing.

Aaron Katersky, for us there at the federal courthouse.

Aaron, thank you so much.

Now to break down today's testimony, let's bring in ABC News legal contributor, Brian Buckmeyer.

Brian, you were there in court today.

What stood out to you about everything that you heard?

I mean, other than I think Aaron called them shenanigans about having the beginning, what stood out to me was just Eddie Garcia's testimony walking us through this very riveting piece of testimony that almost was reminiscent of Kid Cuddy talking about that Marvel super villain of Sean Combs allegedly in the room with a brown paper bag counting money ten thousand dollars at a time and just the whole kind of story of it all of hearing how this all worked out and the defense didn't necessarily push back on that narrative but focus instead on other eras in the cross examination but that was very riveting to listen to how this video didn't make it to the light of day until some years later.

Eddie Garcia was granted immunity ahead of his testimony.

This is the second time we've seen this in this trial.

What did he say that he needed immunity from?

I mean just really quickly, accepting bribes, tax evasion, obstruction.

This is an individual who is testifying very truthfully, at least if you believe his testimony, and it came off pretty credible, that he accepted $100,000 from Sean Combs.

50 of it went to his manager, 20 went to another associate with this, and then 30 went to him.

And then he took that money and bought a used vehicle with it.

Because of course, Sean Combs Combs said, don't spend it all in one place.

We don't want to raise suspicions.

This, don't forget, is a 24-year-old at the time who's just a new security guard.

And so that's what he's testifying in their immunity.

He doesn't want to testify to allegations of a crime and then be prosecuted for it.

But again, the government wants his testimony to be able to convict, or at least try to convict Sean Combs.

Yeah, and Garcia talked about how he got paid for the hotel video.

He mentioned Christina Coram.

Who is she?

So Christina Coram is Sean Combs' chief of staff.

If you want to even go further back, in Rodney Jones's civil lawsuit, he describes her as the Ghylaine Maxwell to this whole criminal enterprise.

And a few times we hear her name in this testimony and we've heard it in a lot of other witnesses as well.

But she's supposedly the one that is speaking on the phone first when she reaches out to Eddie Garcia, trying to convince him to get the video and then gives the phone to Sean Combs when it's really trying to push it over the finish line of trying to get that video.

And then even when that money's getting counted, she's in and out of there, walking back and forth, kind of participating in this to some degree, allegedly.

We should also note that Corham has denied all allegations.

We also have to talk about Sean Combs's CFO, took the stand today.

We were talking a lot about money today.

Was there a money trail?

What did it tell us?

So, Derek Ferguson broke down how this enterprise,

a legitimate business by his definition, had money coming in and out, who had MX cards, who did not, how petty cash has moved around.

But again, Aaron Katurski mentioned this.

We saw this $20,000 first going to Cassie Ventura and then money coming in on December 23rd.

If you remember, Cassie's mother testified that she had to get a bank equity loan to pay Sean Combs.

And then on December 27th, four days later, we have a return of funds, money being transferred from an account that belongs to Sean Combs out of that account.

That I think connects with the allegations earlier on.

Don't forget this money movement.

There are five charges that Sean Combs is facing, the top one being racketeer and conspiracy.

And when we talk about the activities within this enterprise, this is what the government is trying to argue is this criminal enterprise, this movement of money that it's disguised as legitimate business deals, but is recording an effort on multiple people to repeatedly earn a profit.

And later this week we're expecting to hear from a witness who's going to be going by the pseudonym Jane.

They are going to take the stand.

Do we have any idea what she's going to say?

Jane is expected to be potentially the last alleged victim to testify because you've heard that victim number three may not come forward.

We heard some of the potential testimony from the opening statements.

Jane, very similar to Cassie, dated Sean Cosborough 2020 to 2024.

Same allegations of drug use, freak offs, and forced fraud and coercion.

All right, Brian Buckmeyer, thank you so much.

Still ahead.

The hotel employee on the stand today telling the jury the length Sean Combs allegedly went to trying to get that infamous video of the music mogul assaulting Cassie Ventura.

Also coming up, the so-called hip-hop cop takes us back to the 90s and inside one of the rap rivalries that has helped define hip-hop.

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Welcome back to ABC News Live.

Another day of testimony in the Sean Diddy Combs trial.

On the stand today, an employee at the Intercontinental Hotel and the former chief financial officer of Combs Enterprises.

Time now to examine the key legal strategies that we saw playing out in court today.

We have Brian Buckmeyer playing the defense, Bernardo Villona playing prosecutor.

Bernardo, we're going to start with you.

We got to talk about that video, the 2016 hotel video.

Today, we learned how combs allegedly was able to get it what do you think of it all eva today was pure bombshells i mean when i talk about riveting testimony inside of that courtroom you can hear a pin drop when eddie garcia was actually testifying i think what shocked us the most and i think what did diddy in was the fact that it was sean combs who directly called the security guy to try to get that video not just one time not just two times but multiple times and then to take it a step further he's the one who meets with the security guy and actually gets the USB from him.

And actually, he's the one who gives the money to the security guy.

So before we were thinking, oh, it's probably one of Sean Kong's employees, or maybe it was security that works for him, or maybe KK.

No, Sean Kongs was directly involved in arranging for this payoff and to get that thumb drive.

And he knew what was going on was actually wrong, Brian.

I mean, how did he know what was going on was wrong?

Because he said it will ruin his career.

It could ruin his actual career.

Yeah.

To that extent.

Think about every person in Sean Combs' life.

And this, I think, is a spin the defense has to argue here.

Everyone that's a celebrity.

If we had bad press on us and we're nowhere close to Diddy, it could ruin our career.

So I think what the defense is going to position here is, is this about controlling and furthering a criminal enterprise?

Or is this about protecting a celebrity's image?

Because a celebrity, if his dirty drawers are outside in the street, that could destroy his reputation.

So if that's the case, then get your other people to do it.

Get legal to do it.

Get your security to do it.

Your chief of staff to do it.

But he said, this is so important to me that I am going to handle this.

He's a control freak.

And I think the other thing the defense is raising too is in the NDA, I think it's a bit of a stretch, but an argument nonetheless, you'll see who's going to bite, is that in the NDA, the only argument.

Is this about bribing a witness?

And what they're saying is the NDA does not inhibit the person from testifying in front of the jury, testifying in front of the government, testifying if the law enforcement.

But the crime was already done before they even signed the NDA because he got into conversations with them and says, look, I need to get that tape.

I need to make sure it is the only copy.

It cannot get out there.

But it wasn't the only copy.

Well, he thought it was the only copy.

That's the issue.

He thought it was the only copy.

Had it been the only copy, we wouldn't be here today.

Okay, so one of the other points that the defense raised was that police didn't come to the hotel, that Garcia said he spoke to Cassie about it all and he said she told him, quote, she had a movie coming out and it wasn't a good time for this to come out and she wanted it to go away.

Bernarda, her not appearing to want to report this, does that factor at all in here?

So it does factor into it, but remember, we had the testimony the prosecution put on that expert, Dr.

Hughes, to testify about why a person who's been a victim of domestic violence, been a victim of being beaten by their partner, why they wouldn't want to come forward and to cooperate,

that it takes many times before they finally reported or actually decide that they want to leave this relationship.

And in the end, regardless whether she wanted to report it or not, because we have that visual that everyone has seen of Sean Combs beating her, there's no way around it.

Brian, you're being so quiet today.

I'm trying my best.

No, because all this is, is yes.

Is that the application of it?

Sure.

But also, she is a celebrity in her own right as well.

Does she want this press out there?

There's also the aspect of Sean Combs is protecting not only his

image, he's also protecting that of the artists that he has.

And so the defense is gonna make the argument here is this is not, again, about a criminal enterprise.

Is this bad?

Yes, the defense has already given that up.

This is a bad look all around.

This is domestic violence, but this isn't a criminal enterprise.

This isn't furthering free costs.

This is about a legitimate business of having an enterprise, a music artist, having a business, whether it may be, and protecting that from the public.

Well, you still, the main point point that you got from today is the obstruction of justice for the racketarian conspiracy.

So you got two points today, obstruction of justice and that there was a criminal enterprise in the sense that you put KK Security and Sean Combs all in.

That's only if you tried to color this as a crime and not as a business of trying to protect the people from bad people.

But that's what the prosecutor, when you start piling on and piling on all these different instances, it's not just one unique one-off.

We're talking about multiple occasions of crimes taking place that ultimately is going to add up and all be this big criminal enterprise.

I'm talking about trying to hide information from the public.

Yes, freak offs, those are

also aspects of this criminal enterprise, but keeping information from the public.

Are you sure beyond a reasonable doubt that he's keeping information from the public to hide a criminal enterprise or to hide bad press so that they can still do their business?

It's a combination of all of it.

Okay.

All of it.

So, okay, let's,

we'll have to wait and see how that all shakes out, right?

But tomorrow we do know that we're going to have a forensic video expert who's going to take the stand yes what what why why are you looking like that oh because we're not know something about this expert so this expert who is testifying well this expert who is testifying Frank Piazza, he's testifying for the government.

I've had the unique experience that when I was a prosecutor, I cross-examined him and a judge did not consider that he was qualified to be an expert on the exact matter that he is testifying for the government tomorrow as an expert.

So he has been questioned as to his abilities and his actual opinion.

So, we'll see where the defense goes in terms of cross-examining him.

But he's not the prestigious expert that many people will think of him if they're able to get that cross-examination.

The video is still coming in.

I know we're still in the coming.

Oh, the video's still coming in.

I know we're switching a little on my new title process.

Yeah, the video's coming in.

The video is coming in.

All right.

Thank you guys.

It's always fun talking to you too.

Thank you so much for being here.

Coming up, the so-called hip-hop cock takes us inside one of the rap rivalries that define the music industry.

What it has to do with Sean Didi Combs.

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Welcome back tonight on Burden of Proof, the case against Diddy.

We dive into one of the most significant rap rivalries in hip-hop.

East Coast, West Coast, dueling record labels in the 90s.

Sean Diddy Combs, founder of Bad Boy Records versus Marion Shug Knight, founder of Death Roat Records.

Our next guest, known as the hip-hop cop, former NYPD detective Derek Parker, found himself with a front row seat to many of the moments that are now considered major in hip-hop history.

Derek, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Take us back to that time, the 90s, okay?

Back then, you actually tried to get people's attention about what you called emerging violence that was happening in the rap world.

What did people say to you?

What was the response?

Well, what happened back then was that the rap music industry was going through a big change.

And I was letting the NYPD know that we're going to have a potential problem with this East Coast, West Coast war that was going on between Death Row.

and Bad Boy.

One commissioner listened to me and he said, Derek, look, sit down, tell me about what's going on.

And I explained to him, he said, look, you know, we're going to have you come to One Police Plaza and you're going to have to brief the joint chiefs of staff, like the commissioner and all the chiefs, onto what's going on because we're getting death threats, we're getting all these different things here in New York.

What rap, the rap music industry, and we know how to prepare for it.

When you look back on your time as a cop, is there a particular moment that stands out as it pertains to all of the music industry stuff?

I mean, you know, a lot of it does.

I mean, I was upfront for most of all the hip-hop action that happened back then.

You know, the 1991 shooting with Sean Combs with J-Lo.

I had Sean Combs with the Steve Stout incident at the MTV.

I had Jay-Z.

I had Lil Kim, Junior Mafia, Biggie Smalls, Tupac murder in Los Angeles.

I mean, in Las Vegas, Tupac, the Biggie murder in Los Angeles, Tupac in Vegas.

I was in all over Miami, all over watching the rap music industry, policing it.

Yeah, and you just mentioned you were part of both of the those big murder investigations, the Tupac murder investigation and the Biggie murder investigation.

There's no proof per se of the East Coast, West Coast rivalry playing a role in those murders.

But do you think the families and their fans are ever going to find out for real what happened in those?

Well, in actuality, there is some partial truth to it.

There is some.

It's going to come out sooner or later.

The Tupac murder is basically, I mean, Keefe D's on trial right now.

He's going to be going to trial and they're going to see what happens with that.

The Biggie case is pretty much solved.

It's just a point of trying to prove it.

So these two cases are still pending somewhat, but we might see closure soon with them.

Right.

And we have to say that Combs denies any involvement in the Tupac murder.

And we should also note Combs has never been charged or named a suspect in that case.

I'm curious, you know, you were part of it in the 90s.

How do you think hip-hop has changed over the years?

Well, you got to remember, in the rap music industry, you first had positive rap music.

Then rap music went to another level where it got gangster rap.

Then you went from gangster rap to disc records.

Disc records, radio stations, clubs, rappers going at each other.

And then now we have drill music.

So it's changed, it's evolved so many times over and over and over again.

That's what rap music's about.

Yeah, we've gotten some disc records again recently.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

We really appreciate it.

Pleasure to have me.

Thank you.

As the Sean Diddy Combs trial unfolds, we're taking a look at some of the top online searches surrounding this high-profile criminal trial.

Today's biggest searches, it's a range from 50 Cent to how much money Diddy's lost.

ABC News contributor Kelly Carter joins us now from Los Angeles.

She covers entertainment and pop culture for us.

So we got to start with 50 Cent, Trump, and Diddy.

Why is this trending?

I mean, listen, 50 Cent has been taking a little bit of pleasure at trolling, you know, Sean Combs.

We recently saw him at the Knicks Pacers game wearing a free Diddy shirt.

And he recently said that if, you know, President Trump is even thinking about about partying in him, he wants to meet with him to ask him not to do that.

So let's see what happens there.

Another search people want to know about how much money has Diddy lost?

Yeah, so you know, in 2019, Forbes was estimating that his personal fortune was worth about $740 million.

Last year in 2024, Forbes said that fortune is now at about $400 million.

So that there has been a significant loss if that estimation is spot on.

People are also searching how much longer for the Diddy trial.

Questions that we all have, right?

You know, what we do know is that we're expecting to see what, another at least four weeks of testimony before we get into jury deliberation.

So, we're in this for the long haul.

There's also a lot of interest for Brianna Bonna Bongolin.

She's expected to testify.

What can you tell us about her?

Yeah, she was the aspiring, you know, fashion designer who allegedly he dangled over a balcony from Cassie Ventura's apartment.

Of course, he has denied all of these allegations, but I think people are very interested to see what she might have to say on stand this week in court.

Kelly Carter, thank you so much for being with us.

And thank you for joining us.

We'll be back with new episodes every day of the trial.

The show streams right here on ABC News Live, Disney Plus, and Hulu, weekdays at 5.30 p.m.

Eastern and Pacific.

For even more on the Diddy trial, make sure to follow our podcast, Bad Rap, the case against Diddy, hosted by our very own Brian Buckmeyer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

I'm Evie Pilgrim in New York.

Have a good rest of your day.

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