{"id":45506,"date":"2025-09-02T20:53:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/closing-arguments-begin-in-assault-case\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T20:53:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:53:34","slug":"closing-arguments-begin-in-assault-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/closing-arguments-begin-in-assault-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing Arguments Begin in Assault Case"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tCardi B<\/a> and the female security guard suing her for assault were in a California courtroom Tuesday as their lawyers gave starkly different accounts of what happened when the two women argued inside a Beverly Hills medical building<\/a> seven years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe lawyer for plaintiff Emani Ellis said his client was on a routine patrol when the Grammy-winning rapper stepped off a fifth-floor elevator on Feb. 24, 2018, purportedly acted like she was \u201cabove the law,\u201d and cut Ellis\u2019 left cheek with her fingernail amid a dispute over claims Ellis was filming her.<\/p>\n

\n\tCardi\u2019s lawyer, meanwhile, argued that Ellis was an admitted fan who knew the platinum-selling rapper was due to visit the building that day. \u201cFrom those facts alone, you can infer that she was actually lying in wait. She wanted to photograph and videotape Cardi,\u201d defense lawyer Peterson Anderson argued.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnderson told jurors that even if the meeting outside the elevator was a chance encounter, Ellis testified that she was well aware Cardi B believed she was filming her. \u201cPlaintiff had the chance to be professional and avoid all of this by putting her phone away. That\u2019s all she had to do. But the evidence is, she kept that phone in her hands all the way through as she advanced on Cardi B in the hallway,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the trial, the obstetrician and receptionist at the office Cardi B was visiting told jurors that they heard the loud altercation and rushed to the hallway to intervene. They testified Ellis had her phone in her hands the entire time. Anderson reiterated that Cardi B, born Belcalis Alm\u00e1nzar, was about four months pregnant that day with her first child with Migos<\/a> rapper Offset<\/a>. He cited Alm\u00e1nzar\u2019s testimony that she felt her privacy was being violated. She hadn\u2019t yet told her parents she was expecting, and she considered the pregnancy \u201csacred,\u201d she told jurors last week.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring two days of testimony, Alm\u00e1nzar was adamant she never laid a finger on Ellis. She claimed Ellis was the one who stalked her down the hallway and cornered her. In colorful testimony that spawned several viral one-liners<\/a>, Alm\u00e1nzar said she and Ellis engaged in a \u201cverbal altercation\u201d only.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

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ICYMI: Cardi B’s civil trial testimony produced some viral one-liners<\/p>\n

I was in the CA courtroom, can confirm multiple jurors smiled or laughed at these:<\/p>\n

“They’re wigs\u201d & \u201cWe’re having \u2026 a debate”<\/p>\n

Cardi denies assaulting security guard<\/p>\n

Closing arguments today pic.twitter.com\/6X1pz1WMYI<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Nancy Dillon (@Nancy__Dillon) September 2, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\n\tPeterson said his client\u2019s account amounted to \u201ccommon sense\u201d because Ellis did not go to the emergency room or see a doctor immediately after the incident. She also never filed a police report.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe did not know if the scratch that supposedly ruined her life was even bleeding,\u201d he said, citing Ellis\u2019 testimony last week. \u201cWhat did she do? She claims that Cardi mauled her, basically, cut her face, and what did she do? She went home and took a nap. That was her own testimony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe said the evidence, including the testimony from the doctor and receptionist, supported the defense claim that Ellis was the aggressor. \u201cPlaintiff went berserk,\u201d he said. \u201cPlaintiff advanced on Cardi, screaming and yelling, forcing Cardi backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his final statements to the jury, Ellis\u2019s lawyer Ron Rosen Janfaza said his client was\u2019t asking for the \u201cmillions\u201d she allegedly demanded from Alm\u00e1nzar before the trial started. He said his client deserved compensation for her medical expenses along with $250,000 for past pain and suffering and whatever else the jury sees fit to award.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe was abused. She was harmed. She was assaulted and battered by Cardi B, and Cardi B needs to pay for that,\u201d he said of his client.<\/p>\n

\n\tEllis, 32, first sued Cardi in February 2020. In her 13-page complaint, she claimed Alm\u00e1nzar \u201cviolently\u201d attacked her, spit on her, hurled \u201cracial slurs,\u201d and then \u201cused her celebrity status to get [her] fired.\u201d As the trial started last week, Ellis\u2019 lawyer confirmed his client had dropped the employment claim related to the alleged plot to get her fired.<\/p>\n

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\n\tOn the witness stand, Ellis told jurors she was conducting her routine rounds in the medical office building when she saw Alm\u00e1nzar exit the elevator and audibly blurted out the rapper\u2019s name in surprise. She claimed she was not talking to anyone on her phone and never recorded the rapper.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe was extremely upset,\u201d Ellis testified. \u201cShe put her finger in my face.\u201d Ellis claimed Alm\u00e1nzar cut her left cheek with a three-inch fingernail. \u201cI was deeply traumatized about what happened,\u201d Ellis testified.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlm\u00e1nzar testified she was in Los Angeles for work and visited the doctor that day because she felt \u201cweird\u201d and wanted a pregnancy checkup. She had not yet announced she was expecting her first child with Migos rapper Offset and asked her bodyguard to wait downstairs to conceal her visit to the obstetrician, she told jurors, delivering multiple one-lines in her first day on the stand.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Alm\u00e1nzar, Ellis appeared to announce her arrival to someone she was speaking with on her phone. Ellis then followed her down a hall and started recording her, she testified. \u201cI asked her, \u2018Yo, why are you recording me?\u2019\u201d Alm\u00e1nzar testified. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Why are you recording me? Aren\u2019t you security?\u2019 And she\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, my bad.\u2019 But then I\u2019m walking, and I feel her still following me. So as I\u2019m speed walking trying to look for the office, I turn around again, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Why are you following me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Alm\u00e1nzar, Ellis replied, \u201cBecause I can.\u201d To this, Alm\u00e1nzar says she replied, \u201cNo, you can\u2019t.\u201d Again, Alm\u00e1nzar rebuked Ellis for allegedly recording and following her.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe\u2019s getting closer and closer. Now she\u2019s like in front of me, where I can\u2019t really maneuver,\u201d Alm\u00e1nzar testified. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Ain\u2019t you supposed to be security? \u2026 You\u2019re recording me. Now you\u2019re following me. Like, back up!\u2019 She\u2019s like, \u2018I can do what I want.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Grammy winner said she accused Ellis of \u201cinvading\u201d her privacy. \u201cNow, we\u2019re like chest to chest,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m thinking to myself, this girl is big. She\u2019s got big black boots on. I\u2019m like, damn, what the hell am I going to do now? She\u2019s literally right in my face, like, on my chest, and we\u2019re arguing, I\u2019m telling her to back up. And she\u2019s not backing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlm\u00e1nzar admitted the argument devolved into a shouting match with obscenities. \u201cBitch, get the fuck out of my face,\u201d she recalled saying. \u201cWe\u2019re literally screaming at each other,\u201d she testified. But the platinum-selling artist was adamant the \u201cverbal altercation\u201d did not lead to any physical contact with Ellis. \u201cShe didn\u2019t hit me. I didn\u2019t hit her. There was no touch,\u201d Alm\u00e1nzar testified. She claimed Ellis was still \u201cwilding out\u201d when the medical office receptionist and the obstetrician rushed out to break up the argument. She accused Ellis of demanding $24 million for her alleged injuries that day.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlm\u00e1nzar\u2019s defense was bolstered by key testimony from the receptionist and doctor. Both described Ellis as the apparent aggressor. Dr. David Finke said he rushed out into the hallway that day to investigate the disturbance and watched as Ellis allegedly \u201csmacked\u201d the receptionist, Tierra Malcolm. He said Ellis was out of control and \u201cflailing\u201d her arms during what he described as an \u201cepic yelling match.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was a lot of yelling, a lot of finger-pointing,\u201d he said. \u201cMy receptionist was struck, not hard, but on her shoulder.\u201d The doctor said he clearly saw a phone in Ellis\u2019 hand as he tried to de-escalate the situation. He recalled repeatedly telling Ellis in a loud voice that \u201cthis was not okay,\u201d and that she had \u201cto stop and to do [her] job.\u201d Finke said he was a foot away from Ellis, staring her in the face, as he wrangled her into the elevator to leave the fifth floor. He did not notice any injuries on her cheek, he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her separate testimony, Malcolm said it appeared Ellis had Alm\u00e1nzar \u201ckind of cornered\u201d in the hallway. She said the women were \u201ccursing,\u201d but she never heard Alm\u00e1nzar use any racial slurs.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI saw them in the corner, Cardi B\u2019s back to the wall, and I just heard a lot of arguing,\u201d Malcolm testified. \u201cI immediately walked over there and got in between them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMalcolm said she stood facing Ellis, with Alm\u00e1nzar behind her. After the incident, she noticed a scratch on her forehead that was bleeding slightly. She wasn\u2019t exactly sure how she got the scratch, but she recalled seeing Ellis\u2019 \u201chands trying to reach over me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI could only see arms flying in front of me,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel anything or see any hands come from behind me.\u201d Asked if she heard Ellis yell, \u201cI will fuck your shit up,\u201d she said, \u201cYeah, something along those words.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tMalcolm said that a few months after the incident, Ellis called and asked if she would assist her with some type of claim related to the incident. Malcolm said she declined. \u201cI didn\u2019t think if I told my truth [that] it would help her,\u201d she testified.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlm\u00e1nzar, who\u2019s set to release her second studio album, Am I the Drama?<\/a><\/em>, on Sept. 19, previously prevailed in multiple other civil trials. She scored a $4 million jury verdict<\/a> against gossip blogger Latasha Kebe, professionally known as Tasha K. A New York judge later sided with Alm\u00e1nzar and dismissed a libel lawsuit<\/a> that named her as a defendant alongside her sister, Hennessy. Alm\u00e1nzar also won at a California-based federal trial<\/a> where she was accused of\u00a0using a portion of a man\u2019s back tattoo<\/a>\u00a0on the cover of her early mixtape\u00a0Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n