Diddy trial: Forensic video expert claims Cassie's InterContinental hotel assault video wasn't manually edited

In Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial, more than two dozen witnesses have testified. Earlier, the jury watched surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs physically assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. Eddie Garcia, the former security guard from the InterContinental hotel where CCTVs captured the video, made an appearance before the court on Tuesday.

As per CNN, Garcia confirmed in his testimony that Combs purchased the video for $100,000, making sure there were no other copies of it. However, CNN obtained this video nine years later, and it went viral. On Wednesday, Frank Piazza, who is a forensic audio and video editor, came on the court stand to confirm the veracity of the video.

According to CNN, Piazza said that the only knowledge he had about the case was from his reviews of some cell phone videos, surveillance clips, and “sex videos.” He testified that the recovered surveillance video from the hotel system did not undergo any manual editing. He also clarified to the court that during the file conversion, the video got sped up, which he had slowed down.

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What happened in the court during the forensic video expert's testimony in the Diddy trial?

According to The Washington Post, Frank Piazza was cross-examined by the defense for approximately 45 minutes, during which Diddy's lawyers asked some detailed questions related to the video. However, the defense didn't contest any claims made by the expert witness, the outlet reported.

As per Fox News, Piazza reportedly reviewed two cellphone videos and three surveillance videos, the latter of which were from three different angles. The forensic video expert cleared that neither the cellphone videos that captured the surveillance footage nor the original footage was altered. Piazza also explained that the pixilation in the video could not be seen as a justification for claiming video alteration, as per the outlet.

As reported by CNN, Piazza compiled the videos at the request of the government for a comprehensive view, which were shown to the jury. When defense attorney Teny Geragos questioned the discrepancy in timestamps in different surveillance cameras, Piazza said that all CCTVs were not linked to the same internal clock, but he managed to sync them according to overlapping events.

The outlet also reported that Piazza mentioned that any motion could cause a time stamp change in the surveillance system and that motion detection cameras did not update the timestamp unless a distinctive motion was detected by the camera.

Piazza also reportedly told the court that he received the videos from the government, but he was unaware of the original source.

According to CNN, Piazza also shared in his testimony that he enhanced 10 "sex videos" that were recovered from the laptop turned over by Cassie Ventura to the government. The "Frank Black" profile, a pseudonym Diddy had previously used, on the laptop contained these recovered videos.

The expert asserted in his testimony that the events depicted in the video were indeed real.

The video footage showing Diddy beating Ventura was reportedly shown to the jury before opening statements were made in the case, and the defense accepted it. However, they claimed that this was a case of domestic violence and assault, which are not the charges that Diddy is currently facing.

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After Frank Piazza, Ventura's friend, Brayana Bongolan appeared on the stand and testified against Diddy and accused him of dangling her from the 17th floor, as per The Washington Post. Bongolan also filed a lawsuit against the rapper in 2024.