Cassie Ventura’s $10M InterContinental Hotel Settlement

Cassie Ventura reached a settlement of approximately $10 million with the InterContinental Los Angeles Century City to resolve a pre-litigation demand tied to the March 5, 2016 hallway assault by Sean “Diddy” Combs, which was captured on hotel surveillance video. Ventura disclosed the figure while testifying at Combs’ federal sex-trafficking trial in May 2025, and clarified that she had pursued a demand against the hotel rather than filing a formal lawsuit.¹

How the $10 Million Figure Became Public

The hotel settlement surfaced during cross-examination on May 16, 2025. Defense attorney Anna Estevao pressed Ventura on the matter, and Ventura confirmed that negotiations with the hotel had wrapped up within the previous month. She said she expected to receive around $10 million but had not yet been paid. “I don’t know the exact number. Ten million, maybe,” she testified.²³

The defense used the disclosure to challenge her credibility, suggesting she had not been fully forthcoming and raising the question of financial motivation. Earlier that afternoon, Ventura had told prosecutors she had “no financial stake” in Combs’ criminal trial. On redirect, she reiterated that she had no pending lawsuits or financial interest in the trial’s outcome, since her settlement with the hotel was separate from the criminal case.³⁴

What the Hotel Was Accused of Doing Wrong

The specific legal claims behind Ventura’s demand were not made public, and the matter never went into formal litigation. But testimony at the Combs trial laid out what hotel employees did the night of the assault and in the weeks that followed.

Security footage showed Combs, wearing only a towel, chasing Ventura down the sixth-floor hallway, grabbing her by the neck, throwing her to the floor, and kicking her. A longer version showed him taking her phone and throwing a vase.⁵ Israel Florez, an off-duty LAPD officer working hotel security, testified that he responded to a call for “a woman in distress,” found Ventura in a corner with a destroyed flower vase nearby, and noticed she had a bruised eye. Instead of contacting police, Florez escorted the couple back to their room. As he was leaving, Combs called him over, produced a “sack of money,” and said, “Don’t tell anyone.”⁶

The cover-up escalated from there. Hotel security supervisor Eddy Garcia testified that Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, called requesting a copy of the hallway footage, then showed up at the lobby an hour later. Garcia refused to hand it over but warned her, “Off the record: it’s bad.” Combs then called Garcia directly, telling him the footage “could ruin him” and offering to “take care of” him financially. Garcia said his supervisor agreed to sell the video for $50,000. When Garcia brought a thumb drive to an apartment, Combs pulled out a brown paper bag and a money counter and fed in stacks of cash until the total reached $100,000. Garcia signed a nondisclosure agreement with a $1 million penalty for breach, along with a declaration that the footage had not been shared with anyone else, and handed over identification for himself, his supervisor, and a coworker.⁷⁸

The footage stayed hidden for eight years until CNN obtained and published it on May 17, 2024.⁵ The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said it could not prosecute the 2016 assault because the statute of limitations had expired.

Separate From Her $20 Million Settlement With Combs

The hotel settlement is distinct from the settlement Ventura reached with Combs himself. In November 2023, Ventura filed a federal lawsuit against Combs in the Southern District of New York alleging more than a decade of physical and sexual abuse, rape, sex trafficking, and coerced drug-fueled encounters Combs called “freak-offs.” The complaint specifically alleged that Combs had paid the InterContinental $50,000 for the hallway footage.⁹ That suit settled the following day for $20 million from Combs and his companies. Combs’ attorney said the settlement was “not an admission of any wrongdoing.”¹⁰

The $20 million amount also stayed confidential until Ventura disclosed it on the witness stand in May 2025. Asked about the money, she wept and told the court: “I’d give it back if I never had to have freak-offs. If I never had freak-offs, I would have had agency and autonomy. I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.”³

How the $10 Million Compares to Typical Hotel Cases

The figure is well above what hotels ordinarily pay in negligent security matters. Industry data cited during coverage of the case shows hotels pay an average of roughly $632,000 in pretrial settlements for negligent security claims, with assault and battery cases settling at a median of about $1.1 million. Even wrongful death cases average $2.8 million in jury verdicts.⁷

The Ventura settlement reflects unusual facts: a violent assault captured on the hotel’s own cameras, an off-duty LAPD officer on the security team who saw the aftermath and did not call police, and a supervisor who sold the evidence to the assailant and signed paperwork designed to keep the incident buried.

The Hotel’s Response

Neither the InterContinental brand nor IHG, the hotel’s parent company, has publicly commented on the settlement. A hotel representative told CNN in 2024 that because the Century City property is no longer under IHG management, the company does not have access to records or footage from that period.⁵ As of Ventura’s May 2025 testimony, she said the money had not yet been paid.²

1
Variety. Cassie Hotel Settlement 10 Million Diddy Assault
2
Complex. Cassie Hotel 10 Million Dollars 2016 Assault Video
3
Deadline. Cassie Ventura Testimony at Sean Diddy Combs Trial
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ABC7. Diddy Trial Live Updates – Cassie Re-Cross
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CNN. Sean Combs Cassie Ventura Surveillance Footage
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ABC11. Diddy Trial Live Updates – Israel Florez Testimony
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Courthouse News Service. Diddy Bribed LA Hotel Staff With $100,000 Cash to Bury Cassie Attack Video
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ABC News. Diddy Trial Day 19 Recap – Security Guard Testimony
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Courthouse News Service. Ventura v. Combs Complaint
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ABC News. Settlement Amount of Cassie Ventura’s Suit Against Sean Diddy Combs