A jury in the USA has discovered musician Sean “Diddy” Combs responsible of prostitution-related offences however cleared him of extra severe costs after a federal criminal trial.
Combs, a celebrated figures in hip hop music, was convicted on Wednesday of transportation to interact in prostitution however acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of intercourse trafficking.
The decision culminates seven weeks of trial during which two of the music mogul’s former girlfriends – singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a second lady known as “Jane” – testified that Combs bodily and sexually abused them.
The jury’s determination additionally represents a partial win for the previous billionaire identified for elevating hip hop in US tradition, by way of his work with artists like Infamous BIG and Usher.
After the jury learn its verdict, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo requested US District Choose Arun Subramanian to launch Combs on bail.
“That is his first conviction and it’s a prostitution offence, and so he needs to be launched on acceptable circumstances,” Agnifilo mentioned. Subramanian will decide Combs’ sentence at a later date.
The acquittals on the intercourse trafficking counts imply he’ll keep away from a 15-year obligatory minimal sentence. He may have confronted life in jail if he have been convicted of intercourse trafficking or racketeering conspiracy.
Prosecutors say that, for 20 years, Combs used his enterprise empire to drive his romantic companions to participate in drug-fuelled, days-long sexual performances with male intercourse employees in resort rooms. These performances have been generally known as “freak-offs”.
Throughout raids of Combs’s houses, authorities discovered medication and 1,000 bottles of child oil and lubricant that he would use within the performances, prosecutors said.
Combs, 55, had pleaded not responsible to all 5 counts. His legal professionals acknowledged that the Unhealthy Boy Data founder, as soon as famed for internet hosting lavish events, was at occasions violent in his home relationships.
However they argued the sexual exercise described by prosecutors was consensual.
The musician has beforehand confronted a lot of civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse. Ventura, for instance, sued Combs in November 2023 for intercourse trafficking.
Combs, additionally identified all through his profession as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, settled with Ventura for $20m. He has denied all wrongdoing.
On the trial, jurors noticed surveillance footage from 2016 displaying Combs kicking and dragging Ventura within the hallway of an InterContinental resort in Los Angeles, the place she mentioned she was attempting to depart a “freak-off”.
Jane later testified that Combs, in June 2024, attacked her and directed her to carry out oral intercourse on a male entertainer, though she instructed him she didn’t wish to. That alleged assault befell a month after Combs apologised on social media for his 2016 assault on Ventura, footage of which had been broadcast on CNN.
“The defendant used energy, violence and concern to get what he wished,” prosecutor Christy Slavik mentioned in her closing argument on June 26. “He doesn’t take no for a solution.”
Combs’s defence legal professionals argued that, whereas he might have dedicated home violence within the context of risky romantic partnerships, his conduct didn’t quantity to intercourse trafficking.
His defence workforce mentioned Ventura and Jane have been robust, impartial girls who voluntarily took half within the sexual performances as a result of they wished to please Combs.
Additionally they recommended that Ventura and Jane have been retrospectively accusing Combs of forcing their participation within the performances as a result of they have been jealous he was seeing different girls.
Each girls testified they frolicked with Combs and took half in sexual performances after he beat them.
“If he was charged with home violence, we wouldn’t all be right here,” defence lawyer Agnifilo mentioned in his closing argument on June 27. “He didn’t do the issues he’s charged with.”
Ventura’s lawyer Doug Wigdor, in the meantime, praised his shopper’s braveness to talk up, saying she “paved the way in which” for Combs’s conviction.
“By coming ahead along with her expertise, Cassie has left an indelible mark on each the leisure trade and the battle for justice,” Wigdor mentioned in an announcement.
Individually, the US Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York revealed remarks underscoring the lasting influence of sexual violence.
“Intercourse crimes deeply scar victims, and the disturbing actuality is that intercourse crimes are all too current in lots of points of our society,” the statement learn. “New Yorkers and all People need this scourge stopped and perpetrators delivered to justice.”
