Sean “Diddy” Combs has been found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, but has dodged the three most serious charges, two counts of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering.
The charges carry a maximum of 10 years each for the two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The jury delivered the verdict after a grueling eight-week trial that featured 34 witnesses testifying against the hip-hop mogul and Bad Boy Records founder, who was charged with two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and one count of racketeering.
Combs, once a titan of the music and fashion industries, was accused of coercing multiple women into having “freak-offs” — days-long, drug-fueled sex marathons with male escorts. During an intense, four-day testimony, his ex-girlfriend of 11 years, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, alleged he routinely assaulted and psychologically abused her. Photos of her injuries and videos of the “freak-offs” from across their relationship were shown to the jury.
“Jane,” an anonymous witness who dated Combs from 2021 to 2024, accused Combs of forcing her to take drugs and have “freak-offs,” using the fact that he paid her rent as leverage. In what prosecutors called “the most clear-cut example of sex trafficking in this case,” Combs allegedly punched, kicked and dragged Jane into the house before giving her drugs and inviting over a male escort. “Is this coercion?” Combs allegedly said to Jane, mocking the federal investigation looming over him.
“Mia,” another pseudonymous witness, worked for Combs as a personal assistant and then executive. She said during her employment, he physically assaulted her and raped her. Other witnesses testified to Combs’ alleged criminal activity spanning 20 years.
A former stylist spoke of witnessing Combs’ violence toward Ventura. A fashion designer claimed Combs held her over the railing of a 17th-story balcony. A hotel security guard said Combs bribed him with $100,000 in cash to erase the surveillance footage that depicted his 2016 assault on Ventura.
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The rapper Kid Cudi, who briefly dated Ventura in 2011, accused Combs of breaking into his house and, on a separate occasion, orchestrating an arson on his car.
Prosecutors painted Combs as the leader of an enterprise whose “inner circle” of security guards and staffers helped him commit crimes (including sex trafficking, drug distribution, arson and bribery) and cover them up.
The defense argued that Combs was simply part of a “swingers lifestyle,” and that his drug-fueled sex parties known as “freak-offs” were entirely consensual. Combs’ attorneys disputed the racketeering charge by saying Combs did not have a co-conspirator, and, for example, his personal assistants were not aware they were committing crimes when they picked up drugs and delivered them to him.
A key piece of evidence in the trial was a 2016 surveillance video that showed Combs violently beating Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel, where they were having a “freak-off.” The footage was played for the jury repeatedly, and Comb’s attorneys called his behavior in the video “inexcusable.” “We own the domestic violence,” Comb’s lead counsel Marc Agnifilo said in his dramatic closing argument. Throughout the trial, the defense admitted that Combs was violent with some of his romantic partners, but that the violence was not connected to the “freak-offs.”
Agnifilo ended his closing argument by asking the jurors to acquit Combs on all charges. “He sits there innocent,” he said. “Return him to his family who have been waiting for him.” Indeed, Combs’ mother Janice and his children — especially his sons Christian and Justin — sat through weeks of trial to support him.
From Variety US