A New York Jury has found Sean “Diddy” Combs guilty of two counts and not guilty on three counts, following a closely watched seven-week federal trial marked by emotional and graphic testimony.
The mixed verdict saw Combs being found not guilty of the biggest charge, racketeering conspiracy, not guilty of the sex trafficking of Casandra Ventura or the sex trafficking of “Jane”, and guilty of both the transportation to engage in prostitution related to Casandra Ventura and the transportation to engage in prostitution related to “Jane”.
The verdict was delivered on Wednesday morning, after 13 hours across three days of deliberation by a jury composed of eight men and four women.
After the verdict came down, Combs knelt down in front of his chair and appeared to pray. He then faced the gallery and clapped, which led to the gallery responding with claps and cheers.
Later on Wednesday, Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’s request that he be released on bail, saying that he had demonstrated a “disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence”. Combs has been incarcerated in a federal detention facility in Brooklyn since his September arrest. The judge also proposed a sentencing date of 3 October, but said he was willing to move up the date at the defense’s request.
“I’ll see you when I get out,” Combs told family members including his mother and children just before leaving the courtroom to return to jail. “We’re going to get through this.”
Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the verdict a “great victory” and said the jury “got the situation right – or certainly right enough” as he stood outside Manhattan federal court at a stand of microphones. “Today is a victory of all victories.”
With acquittals on the charges that could have seen Combs be put behind bars for life, he faces a maximum of 10 years each for the two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Assistant US attorney Maurene Comey confirmed on Wednesday that the government intends to seek a sentence of incarceration.
Combs’s lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely face about two years in prison. Prosecutors, citing Combs’s violence and other factors, said the guidelines would call for at least four to five years. Locked up since his September arrest, Combs has already served nine months.
“We fight on and we’re going to win,” Agnifilo said. “And we’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family.”
On Tuesday evening, the jury announced that it had reached a verdict on four of the five counts – two counts of sex trafficking and two counts transportation to engage in prostitution – but said that they were unable to come to a decision on the racketeering conspiracy charge. On Wednesday, the jury returned with the verdict on that remaining count.
Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutors accused Combs of operating his business empire as a criminal enterprise, dating back to at least 2004, to carry out and conceal various crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, arson, bribery, forced labor, drug distribution, enticement to engage in prostitution and obstruction of justice, with help from employees and close associates.
The government alleged that Combs used his power and wealth, as well as violence and threats of blackmail, to coerce women into complying and participating in what were described as drug-induced sexual marathons often involving one of Combs’s girlfriends and male escorts, referred to as “freak-offs”.
Throughout the trial, which began on 12 May, the defense acknowledged past instances of domestic violence, but denied that any coercion or sex trafficking took place and maintained that all sexual activity was consensual and part of a “swingers lifestyle”. They claimed Combs was being wrongly prosecuted for his private sex life and also denied that any criminal conspiracy existed.
Over seven weeks, the government called 34 witnesses, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends, multiple former employees and assistants, male escorts, hotel staff, law enforcement agents and public figures such as rapper Kid Cudi and singer Dawn Richard and others. Combs did not testify.
Central to the prosecution’s case were the accounts from the two former girlfriends and alleged victims: singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman identified as “Jane”.
Both delivered raw and emotional testimony, alleging that Combs coerced them into participating in the frequent and sometimes days-long “freak-offs”.
They both described the alleged “freak-offs” in graphic detail, and testified that Combs directed, watched, masturbated during the encounters and sometimes filmed.
Ventura testified that over the course of their decade-long relationship, Combs subjected her to physical abuse and blackmail.
She also alleged that he raped her after their breakup in 2018, and testified that Combs would at times threaten to release explicit footage of her, threaten to cut off financial support or stifle her career if she acted in ways he did not like.
Jurors were shown the 2016 hotel surveillance footage of Combs attacking Ventura in a hotel hallway. They also heard from several witnesses who testified that they saw Combs be violent toward Ventura.
Jane echoed many of Ventura’s claims, and testified that she repeatedly told the music mogul that she no longer wanted to participate in the “freak-offs”. She said that he was dismissive and would pressure her, and that she felt “obligated” to participate as he paid her rent. She said Combs would threaten to stop paying when she voiced discomfort with the sexual encounters.
During cross-examination, Combs’s attorneys sought to portray both Ventura and Jane as willing and consenting participants in the “freak-offs”, pointing to explicit and affectionate text exchanges with Combs in which the women appeared to speak positively about the encounters. The defense also frequently asked about the role that jealousy and drug use played in their relationships.
A third woman, a former assistant to Combs who testified under the pseudonym “Mia”, alleged that Combs physically and sexually assaulted her during her employment, and said that she felt “trapped” and feared retaliation.
Defense attorneys suggested that she fabricated the allegations, and cited social media posts and messages in which she praised Combs after the alleged assaults.
A handful of witnesses testified under immunity deals, including several of Combs’s personal assistants who claimed that they were tasked with obtaining drugs for Combs.
Some former employees also testified that they would stock hotel rooms with baby oil and condoms and other items ahead of the “freak-offs” and then clean up afterward and said that protecting Combs’s public image was “very important”.
Throughout the trial, the defense sought to undermine the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses. They pointed to inconsistencies in witness testimony and suggested that financial motivation played a role among those who have filed civil suits against the music mogul.
The government rested its case on 24 June. The defense followed suit later that day, opting to call no witnesses, instead submitting more evidence to the court and relying on its extensive cross-examinations.
Closing arguments were delivered last week.
Prosecutors recapped their case against Combs, revisiting key testimony and breaking down each charge against the music mogul, painting him as a “leader of a criminal enterprise” who refused to take “no for an answer” and who used “power, violence and fear to get what he wanted”.
They argued that Combs was powerful but that he “became more powerful and more dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses”.
The defense countered, and urged the the jury to acquit Combs and reject what they called an “exaggerated” and “false” case by the government.
Combs’s lawyer challenged witness testimony from the trial, pushed back on the government’s allegations and charges, and disputed the prosecution’s portrayal of Ventura and Jane as sex-trafficking victims, describing them instead as women with agency who willingly participated in the “freak-offs”.
Though Combs didn’t testify, he remained visibly engaged throughout the proceedings, frequently conferring with his legal team and reacting visibly to testimony.
Separately, Combs still faces dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault. He has denied sexually assaulting anyone.
