Diddy’s lawyers allege CNN “substantially altered” video footage of hotel assault on Cassie Ventura

Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs have alleged CNN altered video footage of him assaulting Cassie Ventura.

Over a year ago, Ventura – Diddy’s ex-girlfriend and former signee – filed a lawsuit against the Bad Boy Records founder for physical assault and rape, and the case was settled the following day despite Diddy denying the claims.

Months later, CNN obtained CCTV footage of Diddy dragging, kicking and hitting Ventura in an LA hotel, lending credence to Ventura’s allegations. Diddy later apologised for his “inexcusable” behaviour in the aforementioned video, which Ventura’s lawyers called “disingenuous”.

Last September, Diddy was arrested and charged with crimes including sexual trafficking and racketeering. He has since been held in a federal jail in his hometown, awaiting trial, which is set to begin on May 5. His legal team have continued to deny all allegations levelled against him.

Now, ahead of today’s (March 14) pre-trial hearing, a joint letter has been sent to Judge Arun Subramanian from Diddy’s defense and the U.S. Attorney’s office claiming the damning footage was altered.

“The defense has confirmed, through a forensic video analysis of the CNN footage that the government provided to this Court and of the footage provided by CNN in response to the defense subpoena, that all CNN video footage was substantially altered in significant respects,” the letter read (via Deadline).

“This includes covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence,” it continues. “It also includes speeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are. As a result, the CNN videos do not fairly and accurately depict the events in question.”

The letter added that the defense had “confirmed” that CNN bought the only known copy of the hotel’s surveillance footage, then “uploaded that footage into a free editing software, altered the video; and then destroyed the original footage even though it knew about and repeatedly reported about the federal investigation.”

The publication later shared a statement with TMZ strongly denying Combs’ claims. “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source,” a spokesperson for the outlet said Thursday. “CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”

The rap mogul’s then issued a statement to the Daily Mail yesterday (March 13), saying their “written and oral communications with CNN’s counsel was clear – they destroyed the original video file they received from their source”.

Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor also spoke to the publication, and said it was unsurprising Diddy would “make a disingenuous argument to exclude the disturbing video from being shown to the jury in the upcoming trial”.

“I am confident that the video fairly and accurately represents what happened, will be admitted into evidence, and that Combs will be held accountable for his depravity,” he added.

Elsewhere, one of Combs’ lawyers recently quit the rapper’s forthcoming criminal sex trafficking case, writing: “Under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs, consistent with the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice.”

Meanwhile, a woman who recently alleged she was sexually assaulted by Combs and Jay-Z in 2000 when she was 13 also recently voluntarily withdrew her lawsuit. Attorneys for Combs say no settlement was reached between the parties.

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