Who Is Cornell Whitfield? Trey Songzs Bodyguard Becomes The Latest American Jailed In Dubai

May 2024 · 3 minute read

The latest Western visitor to fall foul of Dubai’s sharia-based legal system is R&B musician Trey Songz’s bodyguard Cornell Whitfield. Dubai is one of the seven emirates that comprise the United Arab Emirates federation.

A Miami native, Whitfield, 40, is the father of a small child and has served as a bodyguard for a number of celebrities, such as Lil Kim, Trevon Diggs of the Dallas Cowboys, and Deebo Samuel of the San Francisco 49ers.

Last week, Whitfield was sentenced to a year in prison for allegedly “slapping” a male fan who attempted to touch Songz at a hotel in Dubai in March.

Who Is Cornell Whitfield?

Help is being requested by the family of a Miami bodyguard who was sentenced to prison in Dubai after intervening to stop a fan from approaching R&B artist Trey Songz.

After being accused of slapping a man from Jordan as they were leaving the opulent Five Palm Jumeirah hotel in March, Cornell Whitfield was given the penalty. That’s the word from the organization Detained in Dubai, which helps international visitors to the United Arab Emirates with legal matters.

Celebrities like Lil’ Kim, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs, and San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel have all had Whitfield, 40, serve as their bodyguard.

When Whitfield placed himself in the path of Tremaine Neverson, the singer, Whitfield claimed he was “doing his job.” Whitfield’s attorneys, through Detained in Dubai, accuse the man of being “drunk and acting in a threatening and aggressive way.”

Cornell Whitfield Arrest

According to reports, the man asked for $60,000 to drop the accusation. The group claimed Whitfield had anticipated the Dubai legal system would clear him because he claimed to be acting in self-defense and to have shown restraint.

Whitfield’s cousin Sarena George told Detained in Dubai, “He was just doing his job and never expected the man would make a complaint considering it was him who was acting that way.”

George referenced witnesses, surveillance footage, and hotel security as proof.

Whitfield was detained and given a one-year prison sentence when he arrived back in Dubai in August, though.

If a bodyguard can be jailed for protecting his client, should celebrities really be supporting Dubai?” wrote the advocate and lawyer Radha Stirling, the chief executive officer of Detained in Dubai.

Stirling added: “Foreigners are seen as prey by locals who know they will pay large sums of money to have frivolous or false cases dropped. Locals have turned Dubai’s police force into an extortion tool making it extremely risky for tourists.”

Cornell Whitfield Family React To His Arrest 

Whitfield owes the court system more than $35,000. His family has requested assistance from the US State Department and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson of Florida.

“We are really hoping the judge at least overturns the custodial sentence,” said his mother, Marysia Whitfield.

“It’s one thing if he committed a real crime, but he was just going about his business,” the woman remarked. He made no requests for difficulty.

The charges made against Whitfield and the following demand for payment seem to be similar to what happened to Elizabeth Polanco De Los Santos, a 21-year-old American student, who asked an airport security guard for assistance and was sentenced to 12 months in jail.

Polanco, a business arts major at Lehman College in the Bronx, was allegedly forced to remove a waist compression device she had been wearing following surgery by airport customs authorities as she was passing through Dubai airport.

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