Hip-hop icon Sean Combs was stunningly acquitted Wednesday on federal charges of forcing his former lovers to live out his degrading sexual fantasies — but found guilty of lesser prostitution raps.
Combs, better known by his stage name Diddy, dodged charges that carried a possible life sentence after a two-month trial that revealed twisted details about the mogul, including his preference for “freak-offs” — watching his girlfriends have grueling, drug-fueled sex romps with male escorts.
The embattled entrepreneur, 55, had faced life in prison after being charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.
The two-month trial revealed twisted details of the mogul’s sex life. Combs pleaded not guilty. REUTERS
But a jury convicted him only of prostitution charges stemming from shipping the escorts across state lines, which could send him to prison for up to 20 years.
Jurors had deliberated for 13 hours total over three days, leading to a dramatic scene in a Manhattan federal courtroom Tuesday morning.
Combs nodded his head repeatedly as the verdict was read out and pumped his fist as the jury cleared him on a sex-trafficking charge, saying “thank you” for being cleared on the most serious charge.
He then held his hands in the prayer gesture and waved them in the direction of the jury approvingly.
Diddy’s family members react as they leave Manhattan federal court after the verdict was announced. AP
The jury ultimately found Combs guilty of two Mann Act Transportation counts, which are prostitution charges, each carrying a maximum prison term of 10 years.
After the verdict, Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked the judge to release the rapper from jail and into home confinement because he had been acquitted of the most serious charges.
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“My proposal would be that he be released today, that he be permitted to live at his home in Florida,” Agnifilo said. “It would be a bond of whatever size your honor sees fit, maybe $1 million?”
Assistant District Attorney Maurene Comey opposed the request, arguing that Combs was still convicted of serious crimes and posed a danger.
A supporter of Sean “Diddy” Combs, reacts outside Manhattan federal court. AP
“There is serious, serious relevant conduct here that will merit a lengthy period of incarceration,” she said.
Judge Arun Subramanian drily asked Combs if he wanted to go back to the notorious Brooklyn lockup that he’s been held in since his September arrest.
“Mr. Combs, you don’t want to go back to the MDC?” Subramanian asked.
The mogul shook his head several times and held up his hands in a prayer gesture toward the judge.
Subramanian likely will decide whether Combs should be released after he listens to legal arguments from the prosecution and defense at 1 p.m.
As the judge left the courtroom, Combs dropped to the floor on his hands and knees in prayer.
His family and supporters erupted in loud cheers — and several of his lawyers hugged each other — after he stood up and blew a kiss toward them.
Combs then exited the room through a side door as his family gave loud, supportive whistles.
The verdict is the latest twist in the downfall of a Harlem native who grew his Bad Boy Records label into an empire worth nearly $1 billion, became one of the music world’s most recognizable figures, and hosted celebrity-packed “white parties” in glitzy locales like the Hamptons and Beverly Hills.
“He thought that his fame, wealth, and power put him above the law — but over the course of this trial, his crimes have been exposed,” Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik told jurors in closing statements.
Prosecutors called 34 witnesses as they painted Combs as the kingpin of a crew that plotted a slew of crimes over two decades, including setting Kid Cudi’s Porsche on fire and breaking into his home in a jealous rage over the rapper’s relationship with longtime on-and-off girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
The 12-person jury was repeatedly shown infamous surveillance video of Combs shoving, kicking, and dragging Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016 — and heard evidence that he bribed security guards with $100,000 in a failed bid to bury the footage.
Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, celebrated Combs’ conviction.
A woman in a “A REAKO IS NOT RICO” shirt reacts outside a courthouse following the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial. REUTERS
“We’re pleased that he’s finally been held responsible for two federal crimes,” Wigdor told reporters outside the courthouse.
“He still faces substantial jail time,” the attorney noted of the 10 years that Diddy could get for each of the prostitution charges he was convicted of, for a total maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
Jurors also heard evidence that Combs had multiple employees buy him illegal drugs and fly them across state lines for use during his sex romps.
A man holding a Sean John T-shirt, a company created by Sean “Diddy” Combs, reacts outside the U.S. federal court. REUTERS
Combs — who has been held at a Brooklyn lockup since his September 2024 arrest at a Midtown hotel — did not testify during the sensational trial, which drew scores of observers to the courtroom, including the mogul’s mother, children, and his supporters.
The “All About the Benjamins” rapper sat at the defense table throughout the trial in a revolving outfit of five muted sweaters over crisp white button-down shirts — and with his hair growing grayer by the day — in a striking shift from his snazzy looks featured on red carpets and celebrity parties.
Combs has maintained his innocence. His lawyers argued at trial that the women consented to the encounters, that the feds improperly criminalized his “swinger” lifestyle, and that he was guilty of domestic abuse, but not the sex crimes he was charged with.
Diddy dodged charges that had the mogul facing life in prison. FilmMagic
“He did what he did,” Combs’ lead attorney Marc Agnifilo said in his closing statement. “But he’s going to fight to the death to defend himself from what he didn’t do.”
The jet-setting tycoon’s fall from grace began when Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a bombshell November 2023 lawsuit accusing Combs of forcing her into the “freak-offs” and viciously beating her throughout their decade-long relationship.
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Combs paid Ventura $20 million to settle the case just one day later, but her allegations spurred the feds’ criminal probe into Combs.
The case heated up with theatrical March 2024 raids on his Los Angeles and Miami mansions and the release of the shocking surveillance footage showing Combs shoving, kicking, and dragging Ventura to the floor by her hair.
Combs had grown an empire of nearly $1 billion and hosted famous celebrity-packed parties before his sudden downfall. Bryan Bedder/CP
Inside the packed lower Manhattan courtroom, the jury of eight men and four women heard evidence that Combs controlled every aspect of the marathon sex sessions, dictating his lovers’ outfits, demanding that they apply copious amounts of baby oil and plying them with ecstasy so they could stay awake.
Ventura, 38, quietly wept as she told jurors excruciating details about Combs beating her for years and pressuring her into the humiliating freak-off “performances.”
At first, she consented to the sexual escapades, despite being “confused and nervous,” because she loved Combs and “wanted to make him happy,’’ Ventura testified.
The vicious hotel hallway beating of Cassie was part of the evidence shown at the trial. via REUTERS
Shattered glass and debris were scattered on a hotel room carpet after an altercation between Diddy and Cassie. via REUTERS
But the singer, whom Combs had signed to his record label, said she soon felt forced to yield to his demands that she have “hundreds” of encounters with male sex workers.
The disgraced music producer threatened to release tapes of the “freak-offs” if she stopped participating, said Ventura, who took the stand while nine months pregnant.
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“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” she testified.
Jane, who dated the globe-trotting impresario for a couple of years until his arrest, testified about numbing herself with drugs to endure “robotically” having sex with three escorts in a row at Combs’ behest — after what she thought would be a quiet Miami birthday dinner date in 2023.
“At this point, I’ve done so many of these that I just know how to tune out and get in a zone,” she haltingly told jurors, wiping away tears from her face.
The evidence photo shows a drawer filled with numerous small bottles of lubricant and baby oil. Department of Justice
“I just turn on this person,” she added. “I just put my thoughts away.”
Jane, a social media influencer, repeatedly texted Combs that she wanted to stop the escort-filled encounters — once telling him “I’m not a porn star. I’m not an animal” — yet he kept pushing “freak-offs,” or “hotel nights,” on her until a month before his arrest, jurors heard.
In one of hundreds of text messages read in court, Combs made an implicit threat that he’d stop paying Jane’s rent if she didn’t comply with his demands.
Guns found in Diddy’s mansion. Department of Justice
She also recounted Combs choking, kicking and punching her during an hours-long abusive onslaught on June 18, 2024 at her Los Angeles home — before forcing her into a “freak-off” that same night.
When she pushed back, Combs — aware that he was under federal investigation over allegedly coerced sex acts — moved an inch from her face, where the “golf ball sized” welts from his assault were still faintly visible, she said.
He leaned in, Jane recalled, and chillingly mock-asked her, “Then is this coercion?”