Sean “Diddy” Combs has been cleared of racketeering and sex trafficking in federal court, but is guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Concluding a trial that began in May, in Manhattan’s Federal District Court, the jury determined that Diddy is not guilty of three of the five charges, including racketeering, which carried the heaviest sentence. Each count of transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, NBC News reports. Diddy, who pleaded not guilty to all the charges, still faces numerous civil lawsuits accusing him of various sex crimes.
The jury began deliberating on Monday, June 30, and the jurors informed Judge Arun Subramanian that they had reached a partial verdict on Tuesday. The jury had been deadlocked on the racketeering conspiracy charge at the heart of the federal government’s case against Diddy, and delivered its final verdict on Wednesday morning. Reporters including Meghan Cuniff and Matthew Russell Lee posted live from the courtroom.
The federal indictment alleged that Diddy has run a criminal enterprise since at least 2008, under which he “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” largely during marathon multi-partner sex sessions the rapper calls “freak-offs.” Diddy and his associates have been accused of drugging women and forcing them to have sex with male sex workers while filming them.
The prosecution, an all-women legal team led by Maurene Comey, questioned 34 witnesses during the trial, presenting photos, videos, pages of text messages and email transcripts, and financial records as evidence against Diddy. Among the central testimonies were those of Diddy’s former girlfriends Casandra Elizabeth “Cassie” Ventura and a woman identified only as “Jane,” both of whom accused Diddy of forcing them to participate in “freak-offs.” Cassie also accused Diddy of rape and physical abuse during her four-day testimony. Diddy declined to testify during the trial, and the defense presented no other witnesses.
The two counts on which Diddy was convicted relate to the transportation of Cassie and Jane to engage in prostitution. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. It is still to be determined if Diddy will be released on bond as he awaits sentencing.
Key testimony in the trial came from singer, songwriter, and former Diddy collaborator Dawn Richard. Richard alleged that, during that period, Diddy physically and verbally assaulted her during their years working together on the reality show Making the Band and in the groups Danity Kane and Diddy – Dirty Money. (She brought the same allegations in a lawsuit filed last year.) During the trial, Richard also testified to witnessing Diddy physically abuse Cassie on numerous occasions, including an alleged 2009 incident during which she watched Diddy “beat [Cassie] on the ground in front of us.” Richard added, “I was scared that if I intervened, I might get [it] worse. I had never seen anything like that before.”
