Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty on Wednesday of prostitution-related offenses but cleared of more serious charges, in a blow to prosecutors who had urged a jury to find him guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
Combs was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, a partial win for the former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture.
After the judge dismissed the jury and lawyers for both sides, Combs knelt before his chair and appeared to pray. Combs then rose and faced the courtroom gallery.
“I’m gonna be home soon,” he said, smiling and clasping his hands. “I love you. Thank you, I love you.”
Combs’ family and supporters erupted into applause and cheers.
The verdict followed a criminal trial in which two of the music mogul’s former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them.
Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence on each of the two prostitution counts. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will determine Combs’ sentence at a later date.
The acquittals on the sex trafficking counts mean he will avoid a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. He could have faced life in prison if he were convicted on sex trafficking or racketeering conspiracy.
After the jury read its verdict, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Subramanian to release Combs on bail, which prosecutors opposed. Subramanian asked lawyers for both sides to submit written arguments on whether he should release Combs by 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).
Combs has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.
Combs’ family left the courthouse to chants of “love, love, love,” from Combs’ supporters. During his career, Combs’ stage monikers included Love, Puff Daddy and P. Diddy.
The trial focused on prosecutors’ allegations that Combs for two decades used his business empire to force two of his romantic partners to take part in drug-fueled, days-long sexual performances sometimes known as “Freak Offs” with male sex workers in hotel rooms while Combs watched, masturbated and occasionally filmed.
SEVEN-WEEK TRIAL
During the seven-week trial in Manhattan federal court, jurors saw some of the 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant authorities found during searches of his homes, which prosecutors said he would use in the performances. They also heard testimony from two of Combs’ former girlfriends, the rhythm and blues singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane, who said Combs beat them and pressured them to take part in the performances.
Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to all five counts. His lawyers acknowledged that the Bad Boy Records founder, once famed for hosting lavish parties for the cultural elite in luxurious locales like the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez, was at times violent in his domestic relationships.
But they said the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual, and accused prosecutors of trying to criminalize Combs’ private sex life. They argued that Ventura and Jane were strong, independent women who voluntarily took part in the sexual performances because they wanted to please Combs.
Both women testified they spent time with Combs and took part in sexual performances after he beat them. Defense lawyers argued that Ventura and Jane were retrospectively accusing Combs of forcing their participation in the performances because they were jealous he was seeing other women.
“If he was charged with domestic violence, we wouldn’t all be here,” Combs’ defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in his closing argument on June 27. “He did not do the things he’s charged with.”
PROSECUTORS ARGUED COMBS USED ‘VIOLENCE AND FEAR’
Combs was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution related to both Ventura and Jane. Those charges required prosecutors to prove that Combs paid the male escorts for sex, and arranged for their travel across state lines.
Prosecutors had argued that Combs’ conduct as to both women amounted to sex trafficking because he compelled Ventura and Jane to take part in the performances using physical violence and threats to withhold financial support or leak sexually explicit images of them.
“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” prosecutor Christy Slavik said in her closing argument on June 26. “He doesn’t take no for an answer.”
At the trial, jurors saw surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in the hallway of an InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles, where she said she was trying to leave a “Freak Off.”
Jane later testified that Combs in June 2024 attacked her and directed her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer, even though she told him she did not want to. That alleged attack took place a month after Combs apologized on social media for his 2016 attack of Ventura, footage of which had been broadcast on CNN.
Prosecutors also argued that Combs was guilty of racketeering conspiracy because he and his associates committed crimes to facilitate his abuse and keep evidence of his wrongdoing under wraps.
The defense argued Combs was a successful entrepreneur who used drugs recreationally, but kept his professional and personal lives separate.
The criminal trial is not the only legal problem Combs faces. Ventura sued Combs in November 2023 for sex trafficking, the first of dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse. Combs, once feted for turning artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, settled with Ventura for $20 million. He has denied all wrongdoing.
“Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution,” Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor said in a statement after the verdict.
REUTERS
