Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been found guilty on two counts after his sex trafficking trial finally came to an end.
The 55-year-old was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution after he was arrested last September – he denied all allegations and pleaded not guilty.
Court hearings began in New York in May, with his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and fellow rapper Kid Cudi among those taking the stand over the last few weeks.
After six weeks of testimony, the jury began their deliberations on Friday, and today confirmed that they had unanimously reached a verdict.
Combs was found not guilty on counts one and two, the alleged racketeering conspiracy and the alleged sex trafficking of Casandra Ventura.
He was found guilty on count three, the Mann Act Transportation of Casandra Ventura.
The rapper was also found guilty of Count 5, the Mann Act transportation of former girlfriend Jane.
However he was found not guilty of Count 4, the alleged sex trafficking of her.
Combs was arrested on September 16, 2024, and initially charged with three offences – racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Two extra counts of the latter two offences were added in April, bringing the total to five.
When will he be sentenced and will he go to prison?
The government told Judge Subramanian that Combs should remain in jail until sentencing. Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the government will seek a 20-year maximum for Combs.
The BBC reported that, as the verdict was read out, Combs ‘remained stoic and hard to read, staring forward’.
Beforehand, he was seen praying with his children and hugging his lawyers.
Although Judge Arun Subramanian instructed the courtroom and the overflow room to stay orderly, the overflow room the BBC was sitting in ‘exploded with noise’ after each decision was read out.
After the trial started in May, the jury ended up deliberating for 13 hours over three days to come to a unanimous decision on the charges against Combs.
In a statement following the verdict, Ventura’s lawyer Douglas H. Wigdor said the ‘entire criminal process’ began when she had the ‘courage’ to file her civil complaint in November 2023.
‘Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution,’ he said.
‘By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice. We must repeat – with no reservation – that we believe and support our client who showed exemplary courage throughout this trial.
‘She displayed unquestionable strength and brought attention to the realities of powerful men in our orbit and the misconduct that has persisted for decades without repercussion. This case proved that change is long overdue, and we will continue to fight on behalf of survivors.’
The judge awaits submissions from both prosecutors and defense on whether to release Combs on bail until his sentencing.
As the court proceedings came to an end, prosecutors informed the judge that they were no longer ‘proceeding on theories’ related to attempted kidnapping and attempted arson, via CNN.
These allegations were included in the racketeering charge, which is just one count in the overall indictment, but they still alleged that he was involved in transportation for purposes of prostitution, witness tampering, bribery, and drug-related offenses.
In November 2023, a year before Combs’ arrest, Ventura filed a lawsuit in November 2023, accusing him of raping and physically abusing her during the course of their relationship.
They settled the suit privately the day after it was filed – but she appeared in court at the beginning of the trial to detail their 11-year on-off romance, and the ‘freak offs’, where he allegedly coerced multiple people into ‘elaborate and produced sex performances’.
He is said to have organized the incidents, while ‘directing, masturbating during and often electronically recording’ them, and forcing, or coercing, women to participate with male sex workers, who were reportedly flown in to take part.
After claiming that the sex parties could last up to 36 or 48 hours, with the longest taking four days, she spoke of the physical and mental toll these took, telling the court that she regularly suffered from gastrointestinal issues related to the drugs she consumed, and frequent ‘horrible’ UTIs.
She told the court that she would often have an infection during ‘freak offs’ but continued to perform in them.
Ventura also discussed the highly publicized video of Combs appearing to attack her at the InterContinental Hotel in LA in 2016, confirming that she will be receiving a $10million sum after negotiating an agreement with the hotel.
Becoming emotional in court, she insisted that she would give up the money if it allowed her to turn back the clock and not go through Combs’ drug-fueled sex parties.
‘I’d give that money back if I never had to have freak-offs,’ she said in tears. ‘If I never had to have freak-offs, I would have agency and autonomy. I wouldn’t have had to work so hard to get it back.’
When asked how those situations made her feel, she simply added: ‘Worthless’.
Combs denied all allegations against him, and pleaded not guilty to all charges, but declined to testify himself.
His lawyer previously issued a statement about the federal criminal charges, telling BBC: ‘Mr Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process.
‘In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone – man or woman, adult or minor.’
