
Diddy sex-crimes trial acquitted on top charge, split verdict from jury
On July 2, a 12-person jury delivered a split decision in Combs' sex-crimes case, which started May 5 in Manhattan federal court.
Jurors found Combs guilty of transportation to engage prostitution but acquitted him on the top charge of racketeering and both sex trafficking counts.
Combs, who was charged with two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and one count of racketeering for leading what prosecutors alleged was a criminal organization over the course of two decades, has long maintained his innocence. He previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Combs has been incarcerated at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since he was arrested on Sept. 16.
How long could Diddy be in prison? //How many years in prison was Diddy facing?
Combs faced a maximum sentence of life in prison for the racketeering charge. Sex trafficking has a 15-year mandatory minimum and maximum of life in prison. Transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Combs' verdict comes a year and a half after allegations of sexual assault and trafficking started mounting against the embattled music mogul following a bombshell lawsuit from his former girlfriend of a decade, Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine, over alleged trafficking, sexual assault and abuse. The two "amicably" settled the lawsuit one day later for $20 million, but his team has claimed her legal action kicked off the criminal investigation into the Bad Boy Records founder's alleged behavior.
Federal prosecutors claimed Combs led a "criminal enterprise" that operated on sex trafficking, kidnapping, drug offenses and forced labor, among other crimes. Combs leveraged his wealth and celebrity status to "fulfill his sexual desires" in a "recurrent and widely known" pattern of abuse, investigators alleged.
The Grammy-winning rapper and producer, who once reigned with his A-list frequented White Parties, has also staunchly denied allegations brought forward in approximately 80 sexual assault lawsuits, which detail alleged incidents dating back to the 1990s.
Combs' trial marked one of the highest-profile legal battles since the Me Too movement gained steam in 2017.
What happened during Diddy's trial?
Among the more than 30 witnesses in the trial were well-known stars such as ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura Fine, Scott Mescudi (aka Kid Cudi) and former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, also made a brief appearance to listen to some testimony on June 13.
In a long stretch of testimony from May 13 to 16, a nine-months-pregnant Ventura Fine laid bare the raw details of her complicated decade-long relationship with Combs. She emotionally opened up about her participation in his alleged sexual performances that were labeled "freak offs," the physical and emotional abuse she said she faced, and the drug addiction she'd developed after using various substances in part to cope with the "freak offs."
She also detailed alleged repeated physical abuse, which was captured in photographs shared with jurors.
Combs' ex-employees also testified about Combs' alleged pattern of physical and sexual abuse, with a witness list that included former personal assistant and Sean John marketing director Capricorn Clark, an ex-personal assistant and Revolt director of development who went by "Mia," former stylist Deonte Nash and former CFO Derek Ferguson.
The longest stretch of testimony was from an anonymous former partner to Combs, who used the pseudonym "Jane." The two were romantically involved from 2021 to 2024 – a time during which Combs was openly dating other women.
Over the course of six days, Jane shared all the ways Combs allegedly pressured her to do sexual performances – namely, so-called "hotel nights" with sex workers that could last days – that "disgusted" her by leveraging his control over her finances, convincing her to take drugs and taking advantage of her desire for his approval.
Diddy trial bombshells: What his inner circle said about baby oil, 'freak offs'
Like Ventura Fine, Jane also vividly described Combs' alleged abuse. In one episode, she said, he'd kicked, punched dragged her before coercing her into performing sex acts with an escort.
Despite this, Jane said on the stand, "I just pray for his continued healing, and I pray for peace for him."
Ahead of closing arguments June 26-27, both sides rested their cases on Tuesday, June 24. Combs' lawyers rested their case in less than half an hour and did not call any witnesses.
Diddy trial: Inside the media circus
Combs' trial ignited a ferocious media circus over the last two months.
Around the clock, social media influencers flooded the courtyard of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, just blocks away from the Brooklyn Bridge. The insatiable content creators – several of whom wore "Free Puff" and "Free Diddy" T-shirts and ball caps – often sparred with each other, and courthouse security guards, as they bellowed into their smartphone screens, recounting to their followers the most salacious details of the case (some of them true, many of them not entirely).
Their antics reverberated inside the courtroom itself. Most journalists were stationed in palatial overflow rooms, where they watched the trial unfold on midsize TV screens on the 24th floor alongside members of the public. There, the behavior of Combs' supporters went largely unchecked by security, as they cackled, booed and hissed profanities when the rapper's accusers took the stand.
"Gotcha, bitch!" one man yelled gleefully, after Combs' attorneys tripped up Bryana Bongolan, who struggled to recall the exact date that the hip-hop mogul allegedly held her over a 17-story balcony. And nearly the entire overflow room burst into applause when Combs' lead lawyer, Marc Agnifolo, finished his closing arguments, employing Trumpian rhetoric as he urged jurors to listen to "the real trial" and not "the fake trial" that prosecutors presented.
The attitude among reporters, meanwhile, was mainly convivial, as they bonded over the collective Stockholm syndrome of the daily courtroom tedium. The moment you walk into the courthouse, everyone is required to check their phones and laptops, after waiting through snaking lines for airport-style security. Due to the technology restrictions, journalists furiously scribbled notes for six to eight hours a day, sporadically darting out of the courtroom to dictate the latest news to their editors.
Given the limited number of spots in the main courtroom with Combs, multiple news organizations hired line-sitters, some of whom would start camping out the afternoon before in order to guarantee a seat inside. And as the trial trudged on for days and weeks, it attracted countless looky-loos who wanted a glimpse of the action, including law students, European tourists and throngs of sniggering teenagers. (On one particular afternoon, a family with two small children was escorted out of an overflow room by security guards, following roughly 20 minutes of them listening to highly explicit testimony about "freak offs.")
In one of the trial's most unforgettable moments, a middle-aged woman dressed in an MTA transit uniform was removed from the main courtroom, after screaming at Diddy that everyone is "laughing at" him. But for the women who testified through tears, and the credible journalists who reported through eight weeks of often-harrowing testimony, nothing about this grueling case was a laughing matter.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support in English and Spanish via chat and at 800-656-4673.

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