Crime & Arrests

Bryana Bongolan -- a fashion designer who is suing Diddy for $10 million -- took the stand against him ... and, she testified that she bought drugs for him and Cassie.

Bongolan -- who also goes by the name "Bana" -- began her testimony Wednesday morning in the rap mogul's federal trial in NYC, and she touched on the allegations introduced in her civil suit ... once again alleging Diddy held her over the edge of a balcony and threw a knife at Cassie during a different incident.

In the lawsuit, Bryana said he came over to Cassie's apartment and attempted to grope her, and she says when she resisted, he allegedly took her out to the balcony and held her off of it

Bongolan said Wednesday she was sleeping on the couch with her ex-girlfriend when Diddy stopped by. She said she brought her ex to a bathroom to shield her from what she anticipated was going to happen next.

The man suspected of fatally shooting a "King of the Hill" voice actor in Texas is out of jail ... having posted bail days after he was arrested for murder in the national headline-making case.

San Antonio authorities tell TMZ ... Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez posted $200,000 bail, and will be required to wear an ankle monitor. Bexar County court records say he's been placed under house arrest, and he will undergo random drug and alcohol testing, and he's forbidden from possessing firearms during his detention.

Alvarez was arrested Sunday night after he allegedly shot and killed neighbor Jonathan Joss after the two men got into a heated exchange, according to police.

Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial continues in NYC Wednesday morning ... and the 16th day of testimony begins with the prosecution calling a forensic video expert to the stand.

In terms of his qualifications, Frank Piazza says he runs a website called Legal Audio Video and has previously worked with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, the New Jersey Bar Association and private law and investigation firms. When asked by the prosecution this morning if he's been qualified as an expert in his field, he responded, "50 times." The defense has no objection to his qualifications as an expert witness.

Piazza is asked how many times he's worked for the Southern District of New York -- the federal body prosecuting Diddy in the case -- and he says "50 or 100 times," and he's asked if that will influence his testimony. He points out he does "75 percent defense work." He says he's paid $295 per hour.

Diddy's guardian angel appeared at his federal trial Tuesday ... but, instead of getting all the charges dropped, he may have helped the prosecution's case.

Day 15 of testimony in Diddy's federal sex trafficking case took place ... and, Eddy Garcia -- the former security supervisor at the InterContinental in Century City, Los Angeles -- testified about an alleged payout he and his colleagues received to bury the infamous Cassie beating tape.

As we've told you ... Eddy worked at the hotel back in 2016 -- and, on the same day cameras captured Diddy beating up Cassie, he says he was approached by Diddy's right-hand woman, Kristina Khorram, who wanted to get the tape.

A Texas man was arrested after breaching the wall at Donald Trump’s Florida resort, telling police he was there to marry the President's granddaughter.

According to an arrest report, 23-year-old Anthony Reyes was taken into custody shortly after midnight on Tuesday by Secret Service agents who claim he triggered perimeter alarms at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

Reyes reportedly told police he had climbed the wall to "spread the gospel" to the President and "marry Kai," referring to Trump's 18-year-old granddaughter, Kai Trump -- who's the daughter of Donald Trump Jr.

Luigi Mangione's legal team's working to free their client one body part at a time ... because they're now asking a judge to unshackle his hands in the courtroom for future appearances.

According to a letter sent to the judge in the case, Mangione's side -- led by Karen Friedman Agnifilo -- is requesting Mangione be allowed to wear court-appropriate clothes instead of a prison jumpsuit, and not have to put on a bulletproof vest.

They also want the restraints taken off his hands ... arguing all of the shackles and prison garb unfairly prejudice his ability to get a fair trial.

The Chrisleys are officially back in business -- and if you ask Savannah, it’s like Todd and Julie never did time at all ... the family’s already snapping back following their prison pardons.

Savannah spilled all the tea on the latest episode of her "Unlocked" podcast -- recorded Friday, the same day as Todd’s big post-prison press conference -- revealing their first order of business was a Nordstrom run to get Todd some fresh threads for his redemption tour.

Turns out that first post-prison pic Savannah posted of Todd was snapped during their shopping spree -- and she’s all about how her dad’s still as funky and hilarious as ever. Prison didn’t kill his vibe one bit.

Tom Girardi, the estranged husband of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne, is heading to prison -- he was just sentenced in a Los Angeles court to seven years and three months in federal prison for embezzlement.

The sentence comes after he was found guilty of stealing $15 million from his clients over a decade-long period -- infamously including $3 million of settlement cash from relatives of the victims of the 2018 Lion Air crash.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton in Los Angeles fined Girardi $35,000 and ordered him to pay more than $2.3 million in restitution.

Mary Lou Retton's attorney is adamant the Olympic legend has not vanished following her DWI arrest last month ... in fact, the lawyer is adamant she's currently "in good spirits."

Edmund J. Rollo released a statement to TMZ Sports on Tuesday, insisting the Daily Mail's report that Retton's family had not "seen or heard from her" since her mid-May arrest was "grossly inaccurate."

"This report did not originate from Mary Lou's family, as the article stated," said Rollo, who was hired by Retton after prosecutors levied the misdemeanor DWI charge on her on May 17.

The "King of the Hill" voice actor who was shot and killed, allegedly by his neighbor, had a bitter feud with the man for several years ... and it had nothing to do with homophobia, neighbors say.

Here's the deal ... hours after TMZ broke the news Jonathan Joss had been killed Sunday during an altercation on his San Antonio property ... the actor's husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, said on Facebook the shooting was a hate crime -- as homophobic slurs were allegedly hurled by the suspect at the scene.

However, neighbors tell TMZ ... they did NOT hear anything homophobic said in the moment of the intense fight, and they say Joss and suspect Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja have been locked in a bitter feud for years -- neighbors blaming Joss' "antics" for disturbing an otherwise quiet, peaceful block.

Diddy's criticisms of Cassie go way back -- long before the infamous hotel beating -- as evidenced in this clip, where he boldly tells fans the singer had fallen way below expectations ... all while she awkwardly sat next to him.

The rap mogul made the video in 2006 -- shortly after Cassie bombed at BET's "106 & Park" performance -- and it shows the two celebs sitting with each other as Diddy admits she had a "whack show."

Despite that, he says, Cassie's going to keep striving to improve in the live arena ... besides, her song "Me & You" was still one of the hottest going in the clubs, he pointed out.

As the 15th day of testimony got underway in Diddy's federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial in NYC, the prosecution called Eddy Garcia to the stand ... he was the security supervisor at the InterContinental in Century City, Los Angeles -- the site of the infamous Cassie beating video.

Garcia is asked about a specific day during the week of March 10, 2016, saying he was told there was an incident involving Diddy ... he's asked about monitoring security video feeds, and he said upon closer inspection, he says he did recognize the music mogul on screen, and he said he later learned the other person involved was Cassie Ventura.

Garcia testified law enforcement was not called because Cassie did not request it. He said he received a phone call from Kristina Khorram, from a New York area code. Khorram was Diddy's chief of staff for Combs Enterprises at the time. He says she asked about the video ... and he says she claimed Diddy had been intoxicated at the time the video was recorded, and didn't remember the event. That drew an objection from defense attorney Brian Steel, which the judge sustained.

Jonathan Joss' husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales is convinced he was gunned down in cold blood by a neighbor due to homophobia -- but cops are pumping the brakes, saying they’re not calling it a hate crime just yet.

The actor -- best known as the voice of John Redcorn on "King of the Hill" -- was shot dead on his own property Sunday evening -- and cops are saying that right now there's not enough proof to back up Tristan's claim it was a hate-fueled attack.

San Antonio Police posted an update on X Monday, writing, "Despite online claims of this being a hate crime, currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss’s murder was related to his sexual orientation."

Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial in NYC resumed Tuesday morning with the 15th day of testimony ... but before the jury was even seated, a woman caused a scene in the courtroom and was quickly ejected.

As proceedings began, Judge Arun Subramanian discussed with the prosecution and defense teams a compilation video exhibit expected to be introduced later Tuesday. There was a question about an expert's testimony ... and the defense questioned certain edits of the video, claiming they distorted the actual events. The prosecution noted time stamps on security videos are routinely inaccurate.

As they discussed a video played by the defense yesterday featuring "Mia" -- a former Diddy employee testifying under a pseudonym -- of her birthday, the prosecution says they intended to introduce a recording of Diddy's phone calls from jail in which he organized "social media celebrations" of his own birthday.

The Italian businessman who was allegedly kidnapped and tortured in NYC for nearly 3 weeks, wasn't always in distress during that period ... according to a bizarre video of him cooking crack in an air fryer.

TMZ obtained a 20-second clip, which seemingly illustrates a much different picture of Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan's alleged captivity in the SoHo townhome where police say John Woeltz and William Duplessie tortured him for 17 days. In the video, Carturan appears to be tied around the chest to a wheelchair, but his hands are free and he's smiling and joking with at least 3 other people in the room.

Carturan -- whose face we've blurred because he's an alleged victim -- is fiddling with an air fryer on a table, and you can hear a male voice say, "You're in a wheelchair cooking crack" ... and someone else says, "That's so whack."

Diddy once saved his former assistant from R. Kelly ... or, at least the version of her boss she dreamed up did, she revealed on Day 14 of testimony.

"Mia" -- Diddy's former assistant who used the pseudonym while testifying -- was back on the stand Monday ... and, she name-dropped quite a few celebs during her time on the stand.

The most shocking had to be R. Kelly, who made an appearance in a dream she had ... one where she was trapped in an elevator with Kelly and Diddy had to step in to save her.