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News.com.au
20 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Sean 'Diddy' Combs acquitted of sex trafficking, convicted on lesser charge
Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs was found not guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking on Wednesday but convicted of a less serious prostitution charge after a high-profile seven week trial in New York. The jury, after 13 hours of deliberation over three days, found Combs guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Combs, 55, smiled and looked relieved as the verdict was read out. He shook hands with one of his lawyers and said "thank you" to members of the eight-man four-woman jury as they left the courtroom. Judge Arun Subramanian also thanked the jury for their service before dismissing them. "You listened, you worked together, you were here every day, rain or shine," he said. "You did so with no reward, other than the reward that comes from answering the call of public service." The verdict came at the end of a trial in which prosecutors had accused Combs of being the boss of a decades-long criminal group who directed loyal employees and bodyguards to commit myriad offenses at his behest. The alleged crimes included forced labor, drug distribution, kidnapping, bribery, witness tampering and obstruction and arson. To find Combs guilty of racketeering, jurors needed to find the existence of a criminal enterprise and that the organization committed at least two of the offenses. Jurors announced a partial verdict late Tuesday and said they were deadlocked on the racketeering charge but Judge Arun Subramanian instructed them to keep working. Combs, once one of the most powerful figures in the music industry, had vehemently denied all charges. - 'Untouchable' - Jurors began deliberating on Monday after the judge read them nearly three hours of instructions on how to apply the mountain of evidence and testimony in the case to the law. The trial included at-times disturbing testimony along with thousands of pages of phone, financial and audiovisual records. Combs was charged with sex trafficking two women: singer Casandra Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane. Both were in long-term relationships with the entrepreneur and hip hop powerhouse, and they each testified about abuse, threats and coercive sex in wrenching detail. They both said they felt obligated to participate in Combs-directed sexual marathons with hired men. Combs's lawyers insisted the sex was consensual. They conceded domestic violence was a feature of his relationships -- one harrowing example of him beating and dragging Ventura was caught on security footage that has been widely publicized. Yet while disturbing, that did not amount to sex trafficking, the defense said. But prosecutors in their final argument tore into Combs's team, who they said had "contorted the facts endlessly." "In his mind he was untouchable," prosecutor Maurene Comey told the court. "The defendant never thought that the women he abused would have the courage to speak out loud what he had done to them."
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Prosecutors consider further charges against Lucy Letby
Prosecutors are considering bringing further charges against nurse Lucy Letby amid allegations she may have harmed babies at hospitals where she worked. Letby, 35, is serving life in jail after being found guilty of murdering seven newborns and attempting to kill eight more at the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital in northern England between June 2015 and June 2016. Letby has been named the UK's most prolific child killer in modern times. She has maintained her innocence. Her lawyers are seeking to have the case reviewed, saying there are serious doubts over whether she was guilty of any crimes. But Letby has been refused permission to appeal. However, following her convictions, police said they were investigating whether she had committed further crimes, and the Crown Prosecution Service said it was now examining the evidence. "We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought." It said a referral by police did not mean charges would follow. Since Letby was jailed, some lawmakers and medical experts have publicly challenged the prosecution evidence that was used to find her guilty, with some experts querying whether any babies had actually been murdered at all. The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which examines potential miscarriages of justice, is currently considering an application from Letby's legal team, and her lawyer Mark McDonald claimed on Wednesday the evidence of her innocence was "overwhelming". "We will cross every bridge when we get to it but if Lucy is charged I know we have a whole army of internationally renowned medical experts who will totally undermine the prosecution's unfounded allegations," Mr McDonald said in a statement. On Tuesday, detectives said they had arrested three unnamed senior members of the hospital's leadership team as part of their separate investigation into individuals and the Chester hospital itself. "Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these," said Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes, who is leading the investigation. The CPS said it had not yet been asked to consider any charges in relation to the investigation into the staff or the hospital itself.
7NEWS
an hour ago
- 7NEWS
Sean ‘Diddy' Combs found guilty of two counts in sex trafficking trial
Sean 'Diddy' Combs has been found guilty of prostitution-related offences but cleared of more serious charges after a criminal trial in which two of the music mogul's former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them. Combs was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, a partial win for the former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in US culture. After the jury read its verdict, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Subramanian to release Combs on bail. 'This is his first conviction and it's a prostitution offence, and so he should be released on appropriate conditions,' Agnifilo said. Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence on each of the two prostitution counts. US District Judge Arun Subramanian will determine Combs' sentence at a later date. The acquittals on the sex trafficking counts means he will avoid a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. He could have faced life in prison if he were convicted on sex trafficking or racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors say Combs for two decades used his business empire to force two of his romantic partners to take part in drug-fuelled, days-long sexual performances sometimes known as 'Freak Offs' with male sex workers in hotel rooms while Combs watched and occasionally filmed. During raids of Combs' homes, authorities found drugs and 1000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant that he would use in the performances, prosecutors said. Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to all five counts. His lawyers acknowledged that the Bad Boy Records founder, once famed for hosting lavish parties for the cultural elite in luxurious locales like the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez, was at times violent in his domestic relationships. But they said the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual. The seven-week trial in Manhattan federal court exposed the inner workings of Combs' business empire and gave the 12-member jury an intimate look into his volatile romantic relationships with the rhythm and blues singer Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane. Ventura sued Combs in November 2023 for sex trafficking, the first of dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse. Combs, also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy and once feted for turning artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, settled with Ventura for $US20 million ($A30 million). He has denied all wrongdoing. At the trial, jurors saw surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in the hallway of an InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles, where she said she was trying to leave a 'Freak Off'. According to prosecutors, physical violence was just one way Combs compelled Ventura and Jane to take part in the performances - an act of coercion they say amounts to sex trafficking because the male escorts were paid. Both women testified that he threatened to withhold financial support and to leak sexually explicit images of them if they refused to comply. 'The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,' prosecutor Christy Slavik said in her closing argument on June 26. 'He doesn't take no for an answer.' Combs' defence lawyers argued that while Combs may have committed domestic violence in the context of volatile romantic partnerships, his conduct did not amount to sex trafficking. They argued that Ventura and Jane were strong, independent women who voluntarily took part in the sexual performances because they wanted to please Combs. In an emergency, call 000.
