07 September 2025
Background of the case: Sued for $24million dollars, Cardi B is on trial after a suit was brought by former security guard, Emani Ellis, after an alleged altercation that occurred between Emani and Cardi B on the 24th of February 2018. Cardi B went to an OB-GYN appointment at a Beverly Hills medical building. According to security guard Emani Ellis, that’s where things went off the rails.
Ellis alleges that Cardi physically and verbally attacked her while she was working security, striking her on the face and body, spitting on her, using racial slurs, and ultimately causing Ellis to lose her job. Emani Ellis says that she suffered injuries requiring plastic surgery due to scratches from Cardi B’s fingernails. Cardi B’s denies all wrongdoing, insisting Ellis was the aggressor that day and there was no altercation by both sides. Cardi B alleges that Emani was covertly recording her that day during her visit, she was four month pregnant which wasnt public knowledge yet.
Case Info
Judge: Ian C. Fusselman
Plaintiff Attorney(s): Ilan N. Rosen Janfaza
Defense Attorney(s): Peter J. Anderson
Day 1 Trial Recap
Witnesses:
Witness #1 – Plaintiff Witness #1 – Emani Ellis
Witness #1 – Emani Ellis
Direct Exam
- She testified that she was not recording or talking to anyone at the time she said wow that was Cardi B and says that she was going to board the elevator.
- She said that she was a fan of Cardi and had tickets to go see her in concert but didn’t go after the incident.
- She said that she showed her injuries to her grandmother on 24th February 2018, the same day of the incident.
- She says that Cardi was yelling and screaming vulgarities at her, calling her names and degrading her.
- She says that Cardi B had used her finger nails to cut her face and she had to undergo plastic surgery.
- She says that she was only upset that the incident had happened and she was not intending to sue.
- She says that the surgeon who is now dead had told her regarding her scar that she should wait for 1 year before coming back as he didn’t want to treat it prematurely.
- She said that on October 8th through to 2nd July 2023 with Dr. Avila a psychologist, as she received psychological treatment in relation to this incident. She says that she didn’t work as a security guard after the incident.
- She says that she was deeply traumatised about what happened that she didn’t want to pursue her career to become a Police officer.
- She says that all she wanted Cardi B to do was apologise for the incident.
Cross Exam
- The defence highlights the email that was sent on 26th February 2018 to her supervisor about the incident subjected incident report.
- She says that she doesn’t have access to the emails anymore after she was confronted to her saying in the interrogatories that she didn’t have emails in relation to this lawsuit.
- The email is read out and she says that she cannot remember the email.
- She agrees that it would be improper to tell anyone that Cardi was at the medical due to her job as a security guard.
- She says that denies using her phone to record or take photographs of Cardi and she she says that she had disposed of the phone.
- The email she sent was read to her where it contradicts what she said in her emails and deposition.
- The email she said that Cardi had scratched her nose and says that she touched her nose but scratched her cheek when the defence confronted her with details of her deposition where she said Cardi only scratched her cheek.
- She testifies that she is not sure if she said in her deposition that there was “no scar on her nose”.
- She testifies to the comments she made in her interrogatories and her depositions and agrees she made statements regarding what happened at the incident with Cardi B
- The defence highlighted if she had reported in the incident report to her supervisor that there was no scratches on her face and there was no shots to the body.
- She agreed with the defence that after the incident she didn’t go to the doctors or tell her grandmother about the incident and went to bed.
- She was shown the deposition where she said that she took pictures of the injuries after the incident.
- The defence highlights that there was no mention of having PTSD, anxiety, blows to face and head in her medical records and asks that she only said that when the lawsuit was filed, she said she wasn’t sure of what he is asking.
- She says that she doesn’t know if she told Dr. McKenzie if Cardi B almost scratched her nose.
Redirect Exam
- The plaintiff clarifies what was meant when she said in the email regarding Cardi B touching her face and nose.
- Plaintiff highlights that she was in need of psychological care and those measures were helpful to her.
There was recross however the feed was cut out.
Day 2 Trial Recap
Today’s witnesses:
Witness #2 – Plaintiff Witness – Dr. Brent Molkemm – Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.
Witness #3 – Plaintiff Witness – Leane Schimdt – Emani’s mother
Witness #4 – Plaintiff Witness – Diane Schmidt – Emani’s grandmother
Witness #5 – Plaintiff Witness – Dr. Nicole McKenzie – Psychologist
Wtiness #6 – Plaintiff Witness – Belcalis Almanzar (Hostile Witness) – Defendant
Witness #2 – Dr. Brent Molkemm – Board Certified Plastic Surgeon.
Direct Exam
- He testifies that Emani had a scar on her left cheek.
- He testifies that he is a super doctor and explains that a super doctor is 5% of doctors chosen by his peers and is proud to be a super doctor. He says that he teaches at UCLA as well.
- He says that he was told that the previous doctor that treated Emani Ellis had died but there was no way for him to verify.
- He testifies that the patient had given him an account of how she acquired the scar.
- He went onto give testimony to the medical work he had performed in November 2022
- He says that Emani Ellis had a vertically oriented scars (meaning up and down), says that it was hyper pigmented and hyper sensitive.
- He says that scars can form at anytime.
- He says that typically this is how fingernail injuries are sustained.
- He went onto give testimony regarding the billings for the surgery performed
- He says the billing for the examination on 4th November 2022 was charged $1,500, he says that he would actually be charging $2,500.
- He says the billing for the examination on either 20th February 2023 or 20th March 2023 was charged $6,500, that the $2,500 that was recorded was an error. No specific date was given to the billing of the procedure done.
- This testimony was important for assessing the damages incurred for the alleged assault.
- He testifies that the injuries she had incurred that the injury was associated with fingernails because the middle finger is longer than the index and the ring finger and when drawn down, the middle finger would cause the deepest scrape saying with a degree of medical certainty, that a fingernail caused the injuries.
- He testifies that Emani still has scars and would benefit from more treatment. Says that the approximate fees for this treatment would be $6,500 professional fee and $9,500 for the surgery centre fee, this would approximately be $15,000 in total.
- He says that the treatment would improve her state by 20%.
- He says that Emani Ellis owes the medical practice $17,500 and she was treated on a lean basis. He says that he is willing to wait for the outcome of the case and this is normal to do with clients who made payment on a lean basis
- This was to show that its only for damages of the assault not that Emani did the surgery in order to pay for the surgery.
- He explains the scar on the picture that was taken before the surgery. He says that the picture was not the best of quality but the picture that was in discovery was a much higher quality which showed the scar clearly.
- He explains that a Keloid is an overgrowth of scar and that Emani Ellis does not have a Keloid and does not have future appointments with him.
Cross Exam
- He says that he didn’t know at the time of his evaluation that Emani Ellis had been in a car accident and didn’t ask Emani on what other causes of the scar might be.
- His deposition was played to rebut his reasons for the scar appearing on Emani’s cheek where he said the most plausible explanation for the scar was that it was caused by a right handed person with the middle finger and index finger sliding down on the face.
- He says that the fees that he charges are from his 25 years of practising and did not come out of nowhere.
Redirect Exam
- He says that he determined the scratch of the cheek based on the positioning of the scar which was on Emani’s left cheek.
- The plaintiff highlights that Cardi B is left handed but could have used her right hand, he says that it doesn’t really matter as it wouldn’t be likely for someone to use their left hand to scratch the left side of the face.
There was a recross exam but nothing of note was testified to.
Reredirect Exam
He says that he has no evidence that the scar could have been caused by a car.
Witness #3 – Leane Schimdt – Emani’s mother
Direct Exam
- She says that Emani has never been in a fight or scraps in her life. She also says that she visibly the scar was on the left side of her leg and says that Emani moved from home when she was 19 and would see her for about two and three times a week.
- She says that Emani was upset and crying when this incident had happened.
- She testifies to Emani’s character saying that she is a compassionate person and an overall well rounded person.
Cross Exam
- She says that she was not part of the conversation or text with Emani’s supervisor so she doesn’t know the substance of the email
No redirect exam
Subject to recall by the defense.
Witness #4 – Diane Schmidt – Emani’s grandmother
Direct Exam
- She says that Emani had called her after the incident and had been traumatised by the event and had problems watching Cardi B on TV. She says that after the 24th february 2018, the surgeon did a good job in covering the scar.
Cross Exam
- She said that it was her understanding that she was expecting to be fired after being asked about Emani being fired.
- She said that she didn’t notice a scar on her nose, only her cheek.
Redirect Exam
- They just confirmed that Emani did call her on the 24th February 2018.
Subject to recall by the defense.
Witness #5 – Dr. Nicole McKenzie – Psychologist
Direct Exam
- She says that her focus in her role is for psychological injuries not physical injuries. Says that she would refer someone to a physical doctor to receive treatment for them.
- She testifies to performing a MMPI psychological test on 26th November 2018 and a psychological exam on Emani Ellis.
- She testifies not to knowing if the $5,000 bill was paid by anyone.
Cross Exam
- She testified that she didn’t verify what Emani had old her about the incident was true.
- She testified that she reported difficulty sleeping and headaches and the defence highlights that there was no mention of a scar.
- She testified that she would record bruises or scratches by the patient if there was any to note.
- This shows that it would have been noted despite not being to be treated as she said earlier, she would recommend seeing a physical doctor so would note those injuries for the record. It not being noted here is good for the defence theory that Emani made up the incident.
Redirect Exam
- The plaintiff highlights that even if she had dental injuries she wouldn’t highlight that and she said that they only record what is in the complaint form
- This was to rebut the line of questioning from the defence regarding lack of notation of the facial injuries.
Recross Exam
- Nothing of note was testified to.
The judge asked the question if a physical injury is reported to you, would you still make a note of it and she explained that the patient provide responses to their history and physical injuries, they would note physical symptoms whether or not it is related to their visit.
She was asked by the judge if In her practice that if the psychological trauma was caused by a physical injury that you would note that on your chart and she says yes. And was asked by the judge if she recalls seeing marks on the patient nose or cheeks and she says that she cant recall.
The counsels had their back and forth but nothing worthy of noting.
Wtiness #6 – Belcalis Almanzar (Hostile Witness) – Defendant
Direct Exam
- She testifies that she didn’t want people to know that she was seeing a “vagina” doctor.
- She testifies to the intervention of the other staff on the day of the incident of Emani questioning her actions.
- She testifies that it was a verbal altercation. She says that Emani didn’t hit her and she didn’t hit her.
- She says that she didn’t touch her, there are cameras there and she knows that she didn’t touch her.
- She explains the exchange the led to the altercation saying that Emani was recording her asking if she is security and why she is recording and Emani said that she can do what she wants.
- The plaintiffs focused on her nails and how she would wear them regularly and would cause damage if she tried to scratch with the nails.
- She says that Emani had told her to leave the building in her capacity as a security guard.
- She explains a second time what had happened and expounded more on what happened when she got to the elevator explaining the issue was that she was recording her saying that she was a patient and security is not supposed to be recording patients
Court adjourned for the day.
Day 3 Trial Recap
Day 3 witnesses
Continuation of Plaintiff Witness #6 – Belcalis Almanzar (Hostile Witness) – Defendant
Witness #7 Defence Witness #1 – Tierra Malcolm – Front house receptionist
Return of Witness #6 – Belcalis Almanzar (Hostile Witness) – Defendant
Witness #8 – Defence Witness #2 – James Rosenberg – Clinical Psychologist (Board Certified)
Witness #9 – Defence Witness #3 – Dr. David Finke – Gynecologist at Cedar Cenai Hospital
Continuation of Witness #6 – Belcalis Almanzar (Hostile Witness) – Defendant
- Direct Exam
- She says that she had her phone out recording her and says that it does matter because she is a security guard when she was asked why does it matter.
- The plaintiff questioned if she was disabled and she said that she was severly disabled because she was 4 months pregnant.
- She says that her and Emani were chest to chest at one point but says there was no contact.
- She says that she was more concerned because she believed that Emani was going to beat her up.
- She says that she didn’t she see a cut or scratch on her and says that there was no physical incident for her to know or see anything like that.
- She says that Emani had told her she can do what she want, its her building. She says that when she said why do you keep recording me she said my bad. The plaintiff pressed more and asked if she asked her to leave the building and she says that all she was doing was filming.
- She said that when Emani came out (before she proceeded to record her), five seconds later the doctors came out.
Testimony suspended for now.
Witness #7 Defence Witness #1 – Tierra Malcolm – Front house receptionist
- Direct Exam
- She testifies to seeing the incident, hearing the cursings and bickering, she says that she went between them and told Emani Ellis what are you doing, you are at work and says she was just trying to calm things down.
- She testifies that Dr. Finke, who was treating Cardi B, came out and was wondering what had happened.
- She says there was no spittle, scartches or cuts on her face.
- Cross Exam
- She said that she couldn’t really see Cardi B as she was backed against the wall and had to rush to go separate them
- Redirect Exam
- Nothing of note.
1. if she would usually close your office to maintain privacy for Cardi B? She says yes.
2. Another follow up was when you do that, was it your custom practice to also notify the building security? She says I honestly don’t know what if that was done or not.
3. The judge asked, do you normally do that? And she said no, that wasn’t her task.
4. The judge asks if she recalls the n word coming out of Cardi B’s mouth? She said no.
5. The judge asked if she can describe Cardi B’s emotional state during and after the incident? She says that she was upset, emotional, worried about the reasons she was there and upset about her privacy.
6. The judge asked if she noticed that whether Emani Ellis had a phone or a camera during the incident? She replied saying that Emani did have a phone in her hand.
7. Defense asked if she was open on Saturdays he said yes and also asked if Cardi was her last patient and she answered yes.
Return of Witness #6 – Belcalis Almanzar (Hostile Witness) – Defendant
- Cross Exam
- The defence asked her questions regarding her career and achievements
- She testifies that the reason she wanted to keep her pregnancy a secret was because she had an album out and was scared that it might be a detriment for her career. She says that she never spat at Emani or called her the N word.
- She testified to having boxy square acrylic nails.
- Redirect Exam
- Nothing of note.
Witness #8 – Defence Witness #2 – James Rosenberg – Clinical Psychologist (Board Certified)
- Direct Exam
- He testifies to conducting a psychiatric evaluation on the 24th February 2018 and says he is charging $800 per hour in 4 hour blocks for his trial testimony and depositions in connections with the case. He says his base rate is $550 for reviewing records and his face to face psychological testing of Emani Ellis.
- He testifies that there is no significant evidence that Emani Ellis sustained an emotional in terms of psychiatric disorders as she has never qualified for that in connection with this case from the time of the injury.
- He explains the validity scales he deployed when conducting the testing which he says measures feigning and the L scale which measures the elevations to determine whether there is manipulation.
- He testifies that from a psychiatric standpoint, Emani Ellis’s general scale elevations could be interpreted as either severe symptom exaggeration or symptom fabrication. He went on to explain the scores and concluded that no individual who does have the symptoms would not have these scores of elevation even though she did not claim to have these symptoms.
- He testifies that he is not diagnosing Emani Ellis nor has he diagnosed Emani Ellis as she had sustained no emotional injury.
- He testifies that what occurred with Emani Ellis would not constitute as trauma and more of stress. He says traumas are things that are life threatening, accidents, illness, witness to violence and gave examples of people who grew up suffering physical or sexual abuse, kidnapping, sexual assault, military combat etc. These things are traumas that can develop to PTSD but an argument or unpleasant interactions aren’t indicative of traumas and do not lead to PTSD.
- He mentions that her ability to sustain a high performing, well paid job and travels on holidays to Hawaii and other destinations is a mismatch for an individual who may have trauma and suffer from PTSD as they would be withdrawn from creating relationships or perform in demanding tasks.
- Cross Exam
- He testifies that he is not a plastic surgeon and says that he had intentions to look for a scar but acquiesced and agreed that he did not look for a scar.
- The plaintiff highlight that the doctor had said that Emani could not have malingering in his deposition and he explained that it means intentional manipulation, fabrication or intentional exaggeration in a legal context for secondary gain.
- He says that its not his job to determine if someone is injured or not.
- Redirect Exam
- The defence highlights that the facts came from Emani Ellis he agreed and he says in a care setting, he always takes what their patient says to them at face value but legally, he has to try and corroborate it with the appropriate testings.
- He testifies that though she cant rule out that there could’ve been issues with Emani growing up but there are no real traumas that she has had in her lifetime and it would make no sense that Emani would suddenly develop at this point and she had shown a gross symptom exaggeration and a pattern of inconsistencies across information.
- Recross Exam
- He says that based on the Kaiser records, that she had inconsistencies he found with her previous doctors that she had seen such as Dr King in April 2022, Dr. Amahad Muhammad in November 2022 and Dr. Leon in 2023.
- He says yes that the Kaiser records are non psychological records.
Witness #9 – Defence Witness #3 – Dr. David Finke – Gynecologist at Cedar Cenai Hospital
- Direct Exam
- He testifies to being part of the incident with Emani Ellis and says that he was in his office when he heard yelling and argument and he ran into the hallway and says that his receptionist, whom he said was Tierra, was in between both Cardi B and Emani and she was struck. He says that there was a phone in the security guard’s hands and says that at one point, the hands of both the receptionist and Emani was flailing.
- He testifies to addressing Emani Ellis saying that this is not okay and it was her job and says that there was a lot of insults and yelling while he was saying this.
- He testifies to not seeing blood, spit, cuts, scratches or any injuries on Emani Ellis’s face. He says that he heard Emani say that she would f* her s* up.
- He testifies that based on Emani’s conduct he decided that she needs to go and reported to the relevant authority that would ensure that she no longer works there.
- Cross Exam
- He testifies that he spoke to the defence three times because they wanted to know of his knowledge of the incident and to get hold of Tierra who no longer worked there.
- He says that he cant give an exact timeframe of the incident but it could not have been more than fifty seconds.
- Redirect Exam – Nothing Of Note
Both Plaintiff and Defence rest.
Sources:
Day 1 Trial Footage, Available online on Youtube at Law & Crime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hxvlk3g976Y&t
Day 2 Trial Footage, Available online on Youtube at Law & Crime, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajomYt83F04
Day 3 Trial Footage, Available online on Youtube at Law & Crime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmY-kbINzPs
