Offset Receives Diversion in Assault Case Over 2025 Dispensary Incident

Offset will avoid jail time on a misdemeanor assault charge tied to a 2025 altercation with a security guard at a MedMen dispensary near LAX. A Los Angeles judge has approved the rapper’s entry into a diversion program, according to a court order. The criminal case will be dismissed if he completes 50 hours of community service, participates in an anger management program, and avoids legal trouble for the next 12 months.

Prosecutors had opposed the diversion, pushing for a trial and describing the March 13, 2025 incident as a “crime of violence.” Their filings state the rapper, whose legal name is Kiari Cephus, refused to show identification and asked the guard, “Do you know who I am?” before punching him once in the face. Cephus fled after the guard deployed pepper spray.

The defense argued the guard, Jim Leobardo Sanchez, showed no immediate signs of injury and resumed greeting customers moments later, only calling an ambulance when a coworker identified Cephus as a famous rapper. Sanchez filed a civil lawsuit last October. The criminal resolution does not end that separate claim, which is still working its way through the courts.

The incident sits at an awkward intersection of fame and everyday friction. The question “Do you know who I am?” is rarely just a question. Here, it registers less as a threat than as a bad bet on clout in a room where it didn’t count. Offset’s legal exposure is shrinking, but the episode fixes a brief, unflattering image: a platinum-selling artist defaulting to recognition as a shortcut, only to find it had no currency.