Sean Combs Acquitted of Sex Trafficking and Racketeering

Time​ Magazine

9 hours ago

Sean 'Diddy' Combs, the music mogul whose trial garnered global attention, has been acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The jury found Combs guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution (a federal felony), one in connection with his ex-girlfriend, musician Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, and another in connection with his ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym "Jane."
Upon hearing the verdict, Combs—who had pleaded not guilty to all charges—could be seen putting his hands together in a prayer stance and mouthing 'thank you, thank you' to the jurors, according to court reporters.Combs' lead lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has requested that his client be released ahead of sentencing, in light of him being found "not guilty" of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. The court is adjourning for a few hours while the judge considers this.
The prosecution has said that Combs faces up to 20 years in prison (the two transportation convictions carry a maximum sentence of 10 years each) but it will be down to the judge to decide how long he serves.
On Tuesday, the jury revealed they had reached a verdict on all but one count—the racketeering conspiracy charge. They said there were members with "unpersuadable opinions on both sides." As a result, the jury retired for the day, before resuming deliberations on Wednesday morning.
"We have reached a verdict on all counts," the jury wrote in a note at 9:52 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Combs could be seen smiling at his family as he entered the courtroom.
The stunning verdict comes after around seven weeks of emotional, graphic testimony from multiple witnesses.Here's what to know about the case against Combs.
What were the accusations against Diddy?
Combs was arrested in September, after many people came forward with physical and sexual abuse allegations against him.
The federal investigation into Combs that led to his arrest was spurred in part by a civil lawsuit filed in 2023 by his ex-partner, Cassie, born Casandra Ventura, who alleged that he had physically abused and raped her.
Ventura and Combs reached a settlement a day after she filed her suit, but Combs denied the allegations. Then, in May 2024, CNN aired CCTV footage in which Combs can be seen punching and kicking Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. After the footage was released, Combs admitted to assaulting Ventura in a video posted on Instagram.
The federal indictment against Combs alleges that he manipulated and forced women to participate in what he called 'freak-offs,' in which he would allegedly force victims to engage in sexual activities with male sex workers, often giving the women drugs to keep them 'obedient and compliant.' Combs also frequently recorded the 'freak-offs,' according to the indictment.
The indictment additionally accuses the music mogul of 'creating a criminal enterprise' that committed many crimes, including sex trafficking, forced labor, and kidnapping.
The indictment details various incidents of alleged abuse dating back to 2008. Other allegations separate from the federal indictment go back years earlier, with multiple accusers saying in civil lawsuits against Combs that he assaulted or abused them in the 1990s.
More than 50 civil lawsuits alleging abuse perpetrated by Combs have been filed against the music mogul. The accusers include other former romantic partners, as well as young artists, aspiring entertainers, and many men and women who say they encountered Combs at parties or clubs. A number of them were under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged incidents.
Combs has denied the allegations, saying in a December 2023 statement after a fourth lawsuit was filed against him: 'Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.'
What charges did he face?
Combs was indicted on federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Months after an initial three-count indictment, he was later charged with an additional count of sex trafficking and an additional count of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs now faces 10 years in prison for each count of transportation to engage in prostitution. (He was found guilty on two counts).
Before closing arguments began, prosecutors said in a letter to the judge overseeing the case that they would withdraw some of the criminal allegations against Combs in an effort to 'streamline' instructions given to the jurors prior to deliberations, USA Today reported, citing court documents it reviewed. The allegations in question were related to the racketeering charge, and involved claims that Combs attempted kidnapping and arson and aided and abetted sex trafficking, according to the news outlet.
In their closing arguments, however, prosecutors appeared to reference the arson and kidnapping allegations, according to the Associated Press. The prosecution did not drop any of the charges Combs faced.
What happened during the trial?
Prosecutors called many witnesses—including a male escort who said he was hired to participate in the 'freak-offs,' Ventura's friends and mother, and federal investigators—to the stand. Their case focused on the testimony of three women, including Ventura. The defense didn't call any witnesses to the stand, and Combs himself didn't testify. His lawyers claimed that all the sex being discussed during the trial was consensual.
Ventura, who was almost nine months pregnant at the time she took the stand, cried as she recounted the 'freak-offs' that she said Combs pressured her to participate in, The New York Times reported. She said during her testimony that the 'freak-offs' lasted anywhere from 36 hours to four days, and she described being subjected to unwanted sexual activity. Once, she testified, an escort urinated into her mouth until she began to choke and raised her hands, according to the Times. She also described the 2016 incident at the Los Angeles hotel, as well as other times she alleges she was physically and sexually abused by Combs.
While cross examining her, Combs's lawyers pointed to messages between Ventura and Combs, arguing that she had voluntarily participated in the 'freak-offs,' according to the Times. But Ventura insisted that she participated only because she had been going along with Combs's requests and that she had been afraid of violent retaliation. She also testified that she and Combs had an opiate dependency during their relationship, the Times reported.
Ventura said during her testimony that she received $20 million from Combs to settle her civil suit, but she said, 'I'd give that money back if I never had to have freak-offs,' according to the Times.
Multiple other witnesses reportedly testified that they saw or heard Combs beating Ventura.
Another woman, who testified under the pseudonym Mia, also took the stand, the Times reported. Mia began working for Combs in 2009, and held various roles in the eight years she worked for him. During her testimony, she described a moment when she had been sleeping in a room in Combs's home; she said he penetrated her without her consent, according to the Times. She described another incident in which she alleges she was forced to perform oral sex on him. She testified that she was afraid of retaliation, and that she felt like it was impossible to say no to him, the Times reported.
'I couldn't tell him no about a sandwich—I couldn't tell him no about anything,' she said, according to the Times.
During her testimony, Mia also described an incident in which she said she witnessed Combs attacking Ventura.
A third woman, who went by the pseudonym Jane, took the stand and recounted her relationship with Combs, according to the Times. She dated the music mogul from 2021 until he was arrested in September, and said that what had been an intense relationship became a series of incidents involving unwanted sex with male escorts. She described one incident in June 2024 in which the two got into an argument that she said turned into a physical altercation that left her with a black eye and welts on her forehead, the Times reported. She testified that Combs told her to 'put some ice on it and put an outfit on' before offering her an Ecstasy pill and instructing her to have sex with a male escort he had invited to come over, according to the Times.
Federal investigators also took the stand, describing the items seized during a raid on Combs's home in Los Angeles, including guns, drugs, about 200 bottles of baby oil, and roughly 900 bottles of Astroglide, the Times reported.
At one point during the trial, the prosecution showed the jury clips from videos of the 'freak-offs,' which were taken from electronic devices that Ventura had shared with federal investigators, according to the Times. The videos are sealed, so the public and reporters couldn't view them; instead, jurors viewed the videos on screens and listened with headphones. In its cross-examination, the defense selected other clips of those videos to show the jury, claiming that those clips are 'powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion,' the Times reported.
Ventura's and Jane's testimonies were central to both the prosecution and defense's closing arguments on Friday. Speaking for nearly five hours, prosecutor Christy Slavik argued that Combs had coerced the women to participate in 'freak-offs' through threats, violence, and blackmail, and portrayed them as victims of forced labor, The Washington Post reported.
'You do not need to find that all of the freak-offs or even the majority of freak-offs that he had with [Ventura] or Jane were the product of force or coercion,' Slavik said, according to the Post, telling the jury that 'if there was one time, one single freak-off, when the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded that [Ventura] or Jane was participating because of his lies, his threats or his violence then that's it. He's guilty.'
The defense, meanwhile, argued that the women were consenting participants in the freak-offs. 'The evidence, I think, is overwhelming that Cassie wanted to do this,' Combs's attorney Marc Agnifilo said during his nearly four-hour closing, the Post reported. At one point, Agnifilo called the abusive relationship between Combs and Ventura 'a great modern love story,' according to the Post. Jane, he said, may be 'regretting' joining the freak-offs, but Agnifilo argued that 'regret is not the same as intent at the time,' according to the Post.
In a rebuttal that lasted a little over an hour, prosecutor Maurene Comey dismissed the defense's arguments as 'excuse after excuse for inexcusable criminal behavior,' the Post reported.Weeks into the high-profile trial, a juror was dismissed after Judge Arun Subramanian said there were 'inconsistencies' in how the juror described where he lived, according to AP. 'Taking these all together, the record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,' Subramanian said. Combs's lawyers had argued against the removal, voicing concerns about replacing the juror, a Black man, with an alternate juror who is white.