Diddy’s legal team claims CNN destroyed the original copy of the 2016 hotel security video showing him assaulting then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
According to TMZ, Diddy’s defense team filed new documents about evidence in his racketeering, sex trafficking, and prostitution case. They argue the disturbing footage of Diddy kicking and dragging Cassie at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles was published by CNN after buying it from an unidentified source. His lawyers claim the original surveillance footage was “altered” in editing and then “destroyed.”
The defense team alleges the footage was edited by “covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence.” They also claim it was sped up to “make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are.” His lawyers argue the assault video doesn’t “fairly and accurately depict the events in question” and shouldn’t be used as evidence.
In response to TMZ, Cassie’s attorney Douglas Wigdor denied the footage was altered. Wigdor said it’s unsurprising that Diddy’s team “would make a disingenuous argument to exclude the disturbing video from being shown to the jury in the upcoming trial.” He’s “confident” the video “fairly and accurately represents what happened” to his client and “will be admitted into evidence.”
Diddy’s lawyers plan to file documents to exclude the video as evidence. Prosecutors intend to use the video against him in his federal case. Diddy remains held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting trial on multiple sex crime charges.
