For Sean ‘Diddy' Combs, could a lesser conviction mean a greater public rehabilitation?
Combs, 55, has yet to be sentenced and faces the likelihood of prison time, but he no longer faces the prospect of spending most of the rest of his life behind bars. While the law allows for a prison sentence of up to 10 years, the lawyers in the case said in court filings that guidelines suggest a term that could be as short as 21 months or last more than five years.
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'This is a very positive outcome overall for him. And it does give him an opportunity to try to rebuild his life,' Nierman said. 'It won't be the same, but at least he's likely going to be out there in the world and able to move forward.'
Moving on from the jokes that 'will haunt him forever'
The case had a broad reach across media that made Combs a punchline as much as a villain. Talk shows, 'Saturday Night Live' and social media posters milked it for jokes about 'freak-offs' and the voluminous amounts of baby oil he had for the sex marathons.
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'There are definitely terms which have now become part of the popular lexicon that never existed pre-Diddy trial, including things like 'freak-off,'' Nierman said. 'The images that were painted in the trial and some of the evidence that was introduced is going to stick with him for a long time.'
Danny Deraney, who has worked in crisis communications for celebrities as CEO of Deraney Public Relations, agreed.
'The jokes will haunt him forever,' Deraney said.
Managing public narratives — something Combs has previously excelled at — will be essential. He could cast himself as a tough survivor who took on the feds and came out ahead, or as a contrite Christian seeking redemption, or both.
'It's a powerful thing for the hip-hop mogul to go public and brag that he beat the rap and that the feds tried to come after him and they failed,' Nierman said. 'I could definitely see him leaning into that.'
Nierman said the fight 'now will become part of the Sean Combs mythology.'
Combs fell to his knees and prayed in the courtroom after he was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The moment by all accounts was spontaneous but could also be read as the start of a revival narrative.
'No matter what you're accused of, it's what you do to redeem yourself on the way back,' Deraney said. 'Is he redeemable? Those are still heavy charges he was guilty of. It's tough to say; people have had these charges hanging over their heads and were able to move on.'
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The long fall
Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest and will remain jailed while he awaits sentencing.
His long reputational fall began when his former longtime girlfriend and R&B singer Cassie, the criminal trial's key witness, sued him in November 2023, alleging years of sexual and physical abuse. He settled the next day for $20 million, but the lawsuit set off a storm of similar allegations from other women and men. Most of the lawsuits are still pending.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie, born Casandra Ventura, has.
The revelation last year of a major federal sex trafficking investigation on the day of a bicoastal raid of Combs' houses took the allegations to another level of seriousness and public knowledge. The later revelation that feds had seized 1,000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricant entered the popular culture immediately.
Fellow celebrities were called out for past Diddy associations — though no others were implicated in the criminal allegations.
The May 2024 leak of a video of Combs beating Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway eight years earlier was arguably just as damaging, if not more, than the initial wave of allegations. It brought a rare public apology, in an earnestly presented Instagram video two days later.
Nierman called the video, shown at trial, 'something people aren't just going to forget.'
Shortly after Combs' apology, New York City Mayor Eric Adams requested he return a key to the city he'd gotten at a ceremony in 2023. Howard University rescinded an honorary degree it had awarded him and ended a scholarship program in his name. He sold off his stake in Revolt, the media company he'd founded more than a decade earlier.
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Combs is not about to get the key, or the degree, back. But he could pick up the pieces of his reputation to salvage something from it.
Deraney said it may require 'some kind of come-to-Jesus moment where he owns up to it.'
'Really what it's going to come down to is if he goes to prison, will it change him?' Deraney said. 'Has he changed at all during this whole processes? I don't know.'
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What's next for 'Diddy' after his guilty verdict? Sean Combs awaits sentencing date, faces maximum prison time of 20 years
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was denied bail by a federal judge late Wednesday, after he was acquitted by a jury of sex trafficking and racketeering but convicted of transporting prostitutes to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons, and will remain in jail as he awaits sentencing. The ruling capped a roller coaster day in federal court for the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul, who hours earlier pumped his fist and fell to his knees after the mixed verdict was read. Combs could have been sentenced to life in prison had he been convicted of racketeering or sex trafficking. He now faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, though he could receive significantly less. After more than 12 hours of deliberations across three days, the jury of eight men and four women reached a verdict, finding Combs guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution under the federal Mann Act but not guilty of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and racketeering conspiracy — charges that each carried maximum sentences of life in prison. Count 1: Racketeering conspiracy — NOT GUILTY Count 2: Sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion regarding Victim 1 (Cassie Ventura) — NOT GUILTY Count 3: Transportation to engage in prostitution regarding Victim 1 (Cassie Ventura) and commercial sex workers — GUILTY Count 4: Sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion regarding Victim 2 ("Jane") — NOT GUILTY Count 5: Transportation to engage in prostitution regarding Victim 2 ("Jane") and commercial sex workers — GUILTY The defense team asked Judge Arun Subramanian to immediately release Combs, who has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., since his arrest last September. His lawyers proposed that he be released on $1 million bond, turn over his passport and submit to drug testing. "He needs and wants to be with — and remain with — his family," Combs's lawyers wrote in a letter to the judge. Federal prosecutors urged the judge to deny the defense's request, arguing that Combs is a 'danger' to society and should remain incarcerated while he awaits sentencing. "Over the course of seven weeks, the jury heard evidence of the defendant's violence, interstate transportation of numerous individuals for prostitution, drug use and distribution, and attempts to escape law enforcement detection," read their letter to the judge. "This conduct spanned two decades." Subramanian rejected the request from Combs's attorneys that he be released until sentencing, citing, in part, their admission that he had a history of violent behavior over the course of the trial. "At trial, the defense conceded the defendant's violence in his personal relationships," Subramanian said, adding that the defense had failed to prove that Combs poses "no danger to any person." Subramanian added that Combs's duties as a father and son did not rise to the level that's necessary to allow an exception under the law, which mandates detention in most cases. Combs faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. He was convicted of two prostitution-related offenses that each carry maximum sentences of up to 10 years. His lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely face about two years in prison, including the time he has already spent in jail. Prosecutors, citing Combs's history of violence and other factors, said the guidelines call for a sentence of at least four to five years. The final decision will be up to the judge. Judge Subramanian set a tentative sentencing date of Oct. 3 but will consider the defense's request for it to be sooner at a virtual hearing next week. 'We are not nearly done fighting,' Marc Agnifilo, Combs's lead defense attorney, told reporters at a press conference outside the courthouse. 'We're not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family.' 'I'll see you when I get out,' Combs told family members in the courtroom after being denied bail. 'We're going to get through this.'
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an hour ago
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What is the Mann Act? Here's what to know about the law used to convict Sean 'Diddy' Combs
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was convicted Wednesday of prostitution-related offenses under the federal Mann Act, an anti-sex trafficking law with a century-old history. Though he was acquitted of more serious charges, Combs was still convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in paid sexual encounters. Over the years, the law has been applied to prominent convictions, including R&B superstar R. Kelly, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, musician Chuck Berry and more than a century ago, boxer Jack Johnson. Its broad wording and a subsequent Supreme Court interpretation once allowed prosecutors to bring cases against interracial couples, and eventually many others in consensual relationships, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute. The law was amended in the 1980s and today it is primarily used for prosecuting interstate prostitution crimes or people accused of taking underage children across state lines for sexual purposes. Here's what to know about the law. Why is it called the Mann Act? In 1910, Congress passed the bill, which was named after Republican U.S. Rep. James Robert Mann of Illinois. It's also known as the 'White-Slave Traffic Act' of 1910. How does it apply to Combs' case? Combs was convicted of counts involving two former girlfriends: the R&B singer Cassie and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane. Both women said at trial that Combs had pressured them into degrading sex marathons with strangers, who were paid for the sexual performances. Jane said she was once beaten by Combs for declining to participate. Cassie said that when she tried to walk out of one such event, Combs beat her and dragged her down a hotel hallway. Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges but convicted of transporting people to engage in prostitution. What's the history behind it? The 1910 law originally prohibited the interstate or foreign commerce transport of 'any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.' It followed a 1907 congressionally appointed commission to look into the issue of immigrant sex workers, with the view that a girl would only enter prostitution if drugged or held captive, according to Cornell's Legal Information Institute. The law was used to secure a conviction against Jack Johnson, who became the first Black boxer to win a world heavyweight title in 1910. Johnson was convicted in 1913 by an all-white jury for traveling with his white girlfriend, who worked as a sex worker, in violation of the Mann Act. (President Donald Trump posthumously pardoned Johnson in 2018, saying Johnson had served 10 months in prison 'for what many view as a racially motivated injustice.') How has the law changed since 1910? In a 1917 Supreme Court case, the justices ruled that 'illicit fornication,' even when consensual, amounted to an "immoral purpose,' according to Cornell's Legal Information Institute. A 1986 update made the law gender-neutral and effectively ended the act's role in trying to legislate morality by changing 'debauchery' and 'immoral purpose' to 'any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.' The act received additional amendments in 1978 and 1994 to address issues of sexual exploitation of children. Nevertheless, Combs ' legal team made a motion last February to dismiss a Mann Act charge, writing that the law 'has a long and troubling history as a statute with racist origins." Prosecutors said there was nothing racist about pursuing charges under the act. Most of Combs' accusers are people of color.
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Sean 'Diddy' Combs was denied bail by a federal judge late Wednesday after he was acquitted by a jury of sex trafficking and racketeering but convicted of transporting prostitutes to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons, and will remain in jail as he awaits sentencing. The ruling capped a rollercoaster day in federal court for the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul, who hours earlier pumped his fist and fell to his knees after the mixed verdict was read. Combs could have been sentenced to life in prison had he been convicted of racketeering or sex trafficking. He now faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, though he could receive significantly less. After more than 12 hours of deliberations across three days, the jury of eight men and four women reached a verdict, finding Combs guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution under the federal Mann Act, but not guilty of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and racketeering conspiracy — charges that each carried maximum sentences of life in prison. Count 1: Racketeering conspiracy — NOT GUILTY Count 2: Sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion regarding Victim 1 (Cassie Ventura) — NOT GUILTY Count 3: Transportation to engage in prostitution regarding Victim 1 (Cassie Ventura) and commercial sex workers — GUILTY Count 4: Sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion regarding Victim 2 ("Jane") — NOT GUILTY Count 5: Transportation to engage in prostitution regarding Victim 2 ("Jane") and commercial sex workers — GUILTY The defense team asked Judge Arun Subramanian to immediately release Combs, who has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest last September. His lawyers proposed that he be released on $1 million bond, turn over his passport and submit to drug testing. "He needs and wants to be with — and remain with — his family," Combs's lawyers wrote in a letter to the judge. Federal prosecutors urged the judge to deny the defense's request, arguing that Combs is a 'danger' to society and should remain incarcerated while he awaits sentencing. "Over the course of seven weeks, the jury heard evidence of the defendant's violence, interstate transportation of numerous individuals for prostitution, drug use and distribution, and attempts to escape law enforcement detection," read their letter to the judge. "This conduct spanned two decades." Subramanian rejected the request from Combs's attorneys that he be released until sentencing, citing, in part, their admission that he had a history of violent behavior over the course of the trial. "At trial, the defense conceded the defendant's violence in his personal relationships," Subramanian said, adding that the defense had failed to prove that Combs poses "no danger to any person." Subramanian added that Combs's duties as a father and son did not rise to the level that's necessary to allow an exception under the law, which mandates detention in most cases. Combs faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. He was convicted of two prostitution-related offenses that each carry maximum sentences of up to 10 years. His lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines, he would likely face about two years in prison, including the time he's already spent in jail. Prosecutors, citing Combs's history of violence and other factors, said the guidelines call for a sentence of at least four to five years. The final decision will be up to the judge. Judge Subramanian set a tentative sentencing date of Oct. 3, but will consider the defense's request for it to be sooner at a virtual hearing next week. 'We are not nearly done fighting,' Marc Agnifilo, Combs's lead defense attorney, told reporters at a press conference outside the courthouse. 'We're not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family.' 'I'll see you when I get out,' Combs told family members in the courtroom after being denied bail. 'We're going to get through this.'
