Sean “Diddy” Combs was considered guilty on Wednesday of prostitution-related crimes, but acquitted of more serious accusations after a criminal trial in which two ex-girlfriends of the music tycoon witnessed that he physically and sexually abused them.
Combs was convicted of transportation for prostitution, but acquitted of conspiracy for extortion and two accusations of sexual trafficking, a partial victory for the former Billionaire known for raising hip hop in American culture.
Combs can take a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison at each of the two prostitution charges. The US district judge Arun Subramanian will determine the Comb sentence at a later date.
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Absolution in accusations of sexual trafficking means that it will prevent a mandatory minimum 15 -year sentence. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of sexual trafficking or conspiracy for extortion.
After the jury read his verdict, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Subramanian to release combs under bail.
“This is your first conviction and it is a crime of prostitution, so it must be released under appropriate conditions,” said Agnifilo.
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Prosecutors claim that Combs, for two decades, used their commercial empire to force two of their romantic partners to participate in full -day, drug -watered -wide, often known as “Freak Offs”, with male professionals in hotel rooms, while Combs watched, masturbated and occasionally filmed.
During beats in the Comb houses, the authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant he wore in the performances, prosecutors said.
Combs, 55, declared innocent of all five accusations. His lawyers acknowledged that the Bad Boy Records founder, once famous for organizing luxurious parties for the cultural elite, was sometimes violent in his domestic relationships. But they said the sexual activity described by the prosecutors was consensual.
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The seven -week trial at the Manhattan Federal Court exposed the internal operation of the Comb Business Empire and gave the jury an intimate view of their volatile relationships with Rhythm and Blues Casandra singer “Cassie” Ventura and a known woman in the court by Jane.
Ventura sued Combs in November 2023 for sex trafficking, the first of dozens of civil proceedings accusing him of abuse. Combs, also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy and once honored for turning artists such as Notorious Big and Usher into Stars, made an agreement with Ventura worth $ 20 million. He denied any irregularity.
At the trial, the jurors saw surveillance images of 2016 showing Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in the corridor of an intercontinental hotel in Los Angeles, where she said she was trying to get out of a Freak Off.
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Jane later witnessed that Combs, in June 2024, attacked her and advised her to have oral sex in a male artist, although she told him she didn’t want to. This alleged attack occurred a month after Combs apologized to social media for the Ventura attack in 2016, whose images were transmitted by CNN.
According to prosecutors, physical violence was just one of the ways in which Combs forced Ventura and Jane to participate in the presentations – an act of coercion that, according to them, equals sex trafficking, as male companions were paid.
Combs defense lawyers argued that although Combs could have committed domestic violence in the context of volatile romantic partnerships, their conduct did not fit into sexual trafficking.
