After 13 hours of deliberations over three days, the jury empanelled for the federal sex trafficking trial of rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has returned a split verdict.
The eight men and four women who made up the jury has found Diddy guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which carries a maximum ten-year prison sentence.
He was found not guilty for the more serious charges including two counts of sex trafficking and racketeering which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years and life in prison, respectively.
Once the jury were dismissed, the 55-year-old rapper was seen kneeling next to his chair and appeared to pray.
“I’m gonna be home soon,” Diddy said to the courtroom gallery.
“I love you. Thank you, I love you.”
A few hours after the verdict was returned, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered Diddy to remain in custody until his sentence hearing slated for October 3.
“It is impossible for the defendant to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he poses no danger,” Judge Subramanian told the court.
Here’s everything you need to known about the trial:
WHAT ARE THE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST DIDDY?
In September 2024, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, following a federal investigation.
The charges came after a wave of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations from some of Diddy’s former partners, women in the entertainment industry, and young women and men who were lured to Diddy’s infamous ‘freak offs’ from the early 1990s until the 2020s.
The trial began on May 12, at Manhattan Federal Court, and is expected to last eight weeks.
Here’s everything we know about Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial:
Among the many allegations, prosecutors allege the rap mogul orchestrated ‘freak offs’, where sex workers, Diddy’s romantic partners, and others, were forced to engage in drug-fuelled marathon sex sessions. Prosecutors also allege the rapper used various controlled substances — sometimes without the victim’s knowledge — to maintain control over them and that when Combs’ residences in Los Angeles and Miami, law enforcement officers found ‘freak off’ supplies such as over 1000 bottles of baby oil, lubricant and drugs.
Several of Combs’ former partners and employees have also come forward with allegations of sexual and physical assault.
“For decades [Diddy] abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” the prosecutors allege in the indictment.
“Combs relied on the employees, resources and influence of the multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled — creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
WHAT IS DIDDY CHARGED WITH?
Combs faces five criminal charges in the sweeping sexual trafficking case. The five charges include one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison; and two counts transportation to engage in prostitution, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
WHO HAS TESTIFIED AT THE TRIAL SO FAR?
The prosecution’s case revolves around four alleged victims, identified in the indictment as Victim-1, Victim-2, Victim-3 and Victim-4. All four alleged victims were expected to testify during the trial and three have already been called to the witness stand.
On the second day of the trial, Combs’ ex, American singer Cassie Ventura, was confirmed as Victim-1 and called to give evidence. In total, she spent four days on the witness stand.
She told jurors that over the course of their relationship, Combs subjected her to hundreds of ‘freak offs’, where she was forced to have sex with male sex workers while he watched and filmed it.
“The longest was four days or even more with breaks. Then I was recovering from the drugs, dehydration — just trying to stay awake all the time,” she told the jury.
During week three of the trial, the court heard from Mia*, a former employee of Combs and the second alleged victim to give evidence against him. Mia*, who is using a pseudonym, broke down in tears as she told the court she was allegedly sexually assaulted and physically assaulted by Combs on several occasions.
She alleged that she once woke up to Diddy on top of her and he forced her to have sex against her will. She also alleged that Diddy forced her to perform oral sex on another occasion.
“I knew his power. And his control. I didn’t want to lose everything that I worked so hard for,” she told the court when explaining why she couldn’t tell her former boss ‘no’.
In the fourth week of the trial, the court heard from Jane*, who is also using a pseudonym, and who dated Combs between 2021 and his arrest in September 2024. She told the court she was also forced to participate in ‘freak offs’.
WHAT DOES DIDDY’S DEFENCE SAY?
Diddy and his defence team have denied all the allegations.
His legal team said the trial is an unjust prosecution of an “imperfect person” who is “not a criminal”.
In his opening statement, Diddy’s defence attorney Teny Geragos, said that while Combs takes full responsibility for his violent behaviour, “domestic violence is not sex trafficking”. And as reported by ABC News, during the trial his other attorney Marc Agnifilo described Diddy as a “swinger” rather than a sexual predator.
“There’s a lifestyle, call it swingers, that he was in that he thought was appropriate,” Agnifilo said. “The reason he thought it was appropriate is because it’s so common.”
The trial is expected to continue for at least a few more weeks.
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