The Sean ‘Diddy' Combs story - From recording studio to criminal trial: Timeline
Combs was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and paid male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act.
But the jury of eight men and four women acquitted Combs of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, related to allegations that he used his money, power and frightening physical force to manipulate his girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fuelled sex marathons with the men.
Here is a timeline of his career and legal troubles:
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Time of India
15 hours ago
- Time of India
Antonio Brown ridicules Diddy's courtroom collapse and calls trial fallout a "media freak off" circus
Antonio Brown fires back as courtroom sketch of Sean 'Diddy' Combs (Image via AP) A recent courtroom sketch representing Sean "Diddy" Combs on his knees after his trial verdict has truly lit up social media, stimulating overnight reactions, especially from former NFL star Antonio Brown. Brown, never one to shrink from a hot take, eagerly jumped into the conversation with a cryptic tweet. Antonio Brown ridicules Diddy verdict The music tycoon has been involved in a serious legal battle, facing charges like sex trafficking and racketeering. His trial, which commenced in May 2025, didn't allow cameras, but sketch artists were there to capture every moment. One of these artists, Jane Rosenberg, drew the now-viral image of Combs, which he claimed to look like a 'Koala'. He was acquitted of the major sex trafficking and racketeering charges but was found guilty of two counts of transporting individuals for illegal activities under the Federal Mann Act. This particular sketch resonated deeply with Antonio Brown, prompting him to share his perspective on social media. His tweet, "Media freak off betrayal...", hinted —a broader sense of exploitation or manipulation, connecting to past discussions surrounding Combs' notorious "freak offs.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Una inversión en Amazon podría darte un salario extra. Undo The Diddy trial has beyond doubt been a massive story, even seizing the attention of the sports world. Former Cowboys player Dez Bryant also shared his thoughts. A vital figure in the trial was singer Cassie Ventura, whose powerful evidence charged Combs of severe sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. After the verdict, NFL analyst Ashley Nicole Moss took to X, articulating her empathy: "My thoughts are with Cassie and her family. as a woman, as a person, her testimony was heartbreaking and I couldn't imagine how she feels this morning. it's the very unfortunate reality of women who experience sexual violence - the story is just never enough." However, Bryant perceived things differently. He retorted to Moss, saying, "I respect your opinions heavy but Cassie wasn't no victim.. not even close." Moss quickly pushed back, "She wasn't a victim? For starters, we saw her beaten on camera." Bryant then clarified his controversial stance, interpreting, "I was referring to the freak offs and drugs she chose to participate in…" Also Read: Leanna Lenee accused of controlling Travis Hunter's wedding after rejecting his one simple request Concerning Combs himself, his legal journey isn't over. He's been denied bail and will remain in custody until his sentencing on October 3, 2025. It's a story that continues to unfold, leaving many to consider the complexities of fame, power, and justice. Game On Season 1 continues with Mirabai Chanu's inspiring story. Watch Episode 2 here.
NDTV
17 hours ago
- NDTV
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Received Standing Ovation From Inmates After Verdict
News York: Sean "Diddy" Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when the music mogul returned to jail after winning acquittals on potential life-in-prison charges, providing what his lawyer says might have been the best thing he could do for incarcerated Black men in America. "They all said: 'We never get to see anyone who beats the government,'" attorney Marc Agnifilo told The Associated Press in a weekend interview days after a jury acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs, 55, remains jailed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn after his conviction Wednesday on prostitution-related charges, which could put him in prison for several more years. Any sentence will include credit for time already served. So far that's almost 10 months. After federal agents raided Combs' homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area in March 2024, Agnifilo said he told the "I'll Be Missing You" singer to expect to be arrested on sex trafficking charges. "I said: 'Maybe it's your fate in life to be the guy who wins,'" he recalled during a telephone interview briefly interrupted by a jailhouse call from Combs. "They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart." Blunt trial strategy works The verdict in Manhattan federal court came after a veteran team of eight defense lawyers led by Agnifilo executed a trial strategy that resonated with jurors. Combs passed lawyers notes during effective cross-examinations of nearly three dozen witnesses over two months, including Combs' ex-employees. The lawyers told jurors Combs was a jealous domestic abuser with a drug problem who participated in the swinger lifestyle through threesomes involving Combs, his girlfriends and another man. "You may think to yourself, wow, he is a really bad boyfriend," Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors in her May opening statement. But that, she said, "is simply not sex trafficking." Agnifilo said the blunt talk was a "no brainer." "The violence was so clear and up front and we knew the government was going to try to confuse the jury into thinking it was part of a sex trafficking effort. So we had to tell the jury what it was so they wouldn't think it was something it wasn't," he said. Combs and his lawyers seemed deflated Tuesday when jurors said they were deadlocked on the racketeering count but had reached a verdict on sex trafficking and lesser prostitution-related charges. A judge ordered them back to deliberate Wednesday. "No one knows what to think," Agnifilo said. Then he slept on it. Morning surprise awakes lawyer "I wake up at three in the morning and I text Teny and say: "We have to get a bail application together," he recalled. "It's going to be a good verdict for us but I think he went down on the prostitution counts so let's try to get him out." He said he "kind of whipped everybody into feeling better" after concluding jurors would have convicted him of racketeering if they had convicted him of sex trafficking because trafficking was an alleged component of racketeering. Agnifilo met with Combs before court and Combs entered the courtroom rejuvenated. Smiling, the onetime Catholic schoolboy prayed with family. In less than an hour, the jury matched Agnifilo's prediction. The seemingly chastened Combs mouthed "thank you" to jurors and smiled as family and supporters applauded. After he was escorted from the room, spectators cheered the defense team, a few chanting: "Dream Team! Dream Team!" Several lawyers, including Geragos, cried. "This was a major victory for the defense and a major loss for the prosecution," said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer who worked with Agnifilo as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey over two decades ago. He credited "a dream team of defense lawyers" against prosecutors who almost always win. Agnifilo showcased what would become his trial strategy - belittling the charges and mocking the investigation that led to them - last September in arguing unsuccessfully for bail. The case against Combs was what happens when the "federal government comes into our bedrooms," he said. Lawyers gently questioned most witnesses During an eight-week trial, Combs' lawyers picked apart the prosecution case with mostly gentle but firm cross-examinations. Combs never testified and his lawyers called no witnesses. Sarah Krissoff, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, said Combs' defense team "had a narrative from the beginning and they did all of it without putting on any witnesses. That's masterful." Ironically, Agnifilo expanded the use of racketeering laws as a federal prosecutor on an organized crime task force in New Jersey two decades ago, using them often to indict street gangs in violence-torn cities. "I knew the weak points in the statute," he said. "The statute is very mechanical. If you know how the car works, you know where the fail points are." He said prosecutors had "dozens of fail points." "They didn't have a conspiracy, they just didn't," he said. "They basically had Combs' personal life and tried to build racketeering around personal assistants." Some personal assistants, even after viewing videos of Combs beating his longtime girlfriend, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, had glowing things to say about Combs on cross examination. Once freed, Combs likely to reenter domestic abusers programme For Combs, Agnifilo sees a long road ahead once he is freed and resumes work on personal demons, likely reentering a programme for domestic batterers that he had just started before his arrest. "He's doing OK," said Agnifilo, who speaks with him four or five times daily. He said Combs genuinely desires improvement and "realizes he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on." "He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there's no amount of fame and no amount of fortune" that can erase them," he said. "You can't cover them up." For Agnifilo, a final surprise awaited him after Combs' bail was rejected when a man collapsed into violent seizures at the elevators outside the courtroom. "I'm like: 'What the hell?'" recalled the lawyer, who has experience in treating seizures. Agnifilo straddled him, pulling him onto his side and using a foot to prevent him from rolling backward while a law partner, Jacob Kaplan, put a backpack under the man's head and Agnifilo's daughter took his pulse. "We made sure he didn't choke on vomit. It was crazy. I was worried about him," he said. The man was eventually taken away conscious by rescue workers, leaving Agnifilo to ponder a tumultuous day. "It was like I was getting punked by God," he said.
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Sean 'Diddy' Combs gets standing ovation from jail inmates; Lawyer says 'they never get to see anyone who beats the government'
Sean "Diddy" Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when the music mogul returned to jail after winning acquittals on potential life-in-prison charges, providing what his lawyer says might have been the best thing he could do for Black incarcerated men in America. "They all said: 'We never get to see anyone who beats the government,'" attorney Marc Agnifilo told The Associated Press in a weekend interview days after a jury acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges. Combs, 55, remains jailed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn after his conviction Wednesday on prostitution-related charges, which could put him in prison for several more years. Any sentence will include credit for time already served. So far that's almost 10 months. After federal agents raided Combs' homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area in March 2024, Agnifilo said he told the "I'll Be Missing You" singer to expect to be arrested on sex trafficking charges. "I said: 'Maybe it's your fate in life to be the guy who wins,'" he recalled during a telephone interview briefly interrupted by a jailhouse call from Combs. "They need to see that someone can win. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it better to shower in the morning or at night? Here's what a microbiologist says CNA Read More Undo I think he took that to heart." Blunt trial strategy works The verdict in Manhattan federal court came after a veteran team of eight defense lawyers led by Agnifilo executed a trial strategy that resonated with jurors. Combs passed lawyers notes during effective cross-examinations of nearly three dozen witnesses over two months, including Combs' ex-employees. The lawyers told jurors Combs was a jealous domestic abuser with a drug problem who participated in the swinger lifestyle through threesomes involving Combs, his girlfriends and another man. "You may think to yourself, wow, he is a really bad boyfriend," Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos told jurors in her May opening statement. But that, she said, "is simply not sex trafficking." Agnifilo said the blunt talk was a "no brainer." "The violence was so clear and up front and we knew the government was going to try to confuse the jury into thinking it was part of a sex trafficking effort. So we had to tell the jury what it was so they wouldn't think it was something it wasn't," he said. Combs and his lawyers seemed deflated Tuesday when jurors said they were deadlocked on the racketeering count but reached a verdict on sex trafficking and lesser prostitution-related charges. A judge ordered them back to deliberate Wednesday. "No one knows what to think," Agnifilo said. Then he slept on it. Morning surprise awakes lawyer "I wake up at three in the morning and I text Teny and say: "We have to get a bail application together," he recalled. "It's going to be a good verdict for us but I think he went down on the prostitution counts so let's try to get him out." He said he "kind of whipped everybody into feeling better" after concluding jurors would have convicted him of racketeering if they had convicted him of sex trafficking because trafficking was an alleged component of racketeering. Agnifilo met with Combs before court and Combs entered the courtroom rejuvenated. Smiling, the onetime Catholic schoolboy prayed with family. In less than an hour, the jury matched Agnifilo's prediction. The seemingly chastened Combs mouthed "thank you" to jurors and smiled as family and supporters applauded. After he was escorted from the room, spectators cheered the defense team, a few chanting: "Dream Team! Dream Team!" Several lawyers, including Geragos, cried. "This was a major victory for the defense and a major loss for the prosecution," said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer who worked with Agnifilo as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey over two decades ago. He credited "a dream team of defense lawyers" against prosecutors who almost always win. Agnifilo showcased what would become his trial strategy - belittling the charges and mocking the investigation that led to them - last September in arguing unsuccessfully for bail. The case against Combs was what happens when the "federal government comes into our bedrooms," he said. Lawyers gently questioned most witnesses During an eight-week trial, Combs' lawyers picked apart the prosecution case with mostly gentle but firm cross-examinations. Combs never testified and his lawyers called no witnesses. Sarah Krissoff, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan from 2008 to 2021, said Combs' defense team "had a narrative from the beginning and they did all of it without putting on any witnesses. That's masterful." Ironically, Agnifilo expanded the use of racketeering laws as a federal prosecutor on an organized crime task force in New Jersey two decades ago, using them often to indict street gangs in violence-torn cities. "I knew the weak points in the statute," he said. "The statute is very mechanical. If you know how the car works, you know where the fail points are." He said prosecutors had "dozens of fail points." "They didn't have a conspiracy, they just didn't," he said. "They basically had Combs' personal life and tried to build racketeering around personal assistants." Some personal assistants, even after viewing videos of Combs beating his longtime girlfriend, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, had glowing things to say about Combs on cross examination. Once freed, Combs likely to reenter domestic abusers program For Combs, Agnifilo sees a long road ahead once he is freed as he works on personal demons, likely reentering a program for domestic batterers that he had just started before his arrest. "He's doing OK," said Agnifilo, who speaks with him four or five times daily. He said Combs genuinely desires improvement and "realizes he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on." "He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there's no amount of fame and no amount of fortune" that can erase them," he said. "You can't cover them up." For Agnifilo, a final surprise awaited him after Combs' bail was rejected when a man collapsed into violent seizures at the elevators outside the courtroom. "I'm like: 'What the hell?'" recalled the lawyer schooled in treating seizures. Agnifilo straddled him, pulling him onto his side and using a foot to prevent him from rolling backward while a law partner, Jacob Kaplan, put a backpack under the man's head and Agnifilo's daughter took his pulse. "We made sure he didn't choke on vomit. It was crazy. I was worried about him," he said. The man was eventually taken away conscious by rescue workers, leaving Agnifilo to ponder a tumultuous day. "It was like I was getting punked by God," he said.
