Music producer Sean Combs, also known under the art pseudonym, was liberated on Wednesday under the accusation of sex trafficking and participation in conspiracy for the purpose of committing organized crime.
The jury found him out of five points of the indictment in two – from the transport of people for the purpose of prostitution and repeated use of violence against the telling witness.
Instead of a lifelong punishment that threatened a 55-year-old producer, Combs is now facing a maximum of 20 years behind bars.
The court proceedings lasted eight weeks and the witness bench testified 34 people. The most important thing for the plaintiff was the testimony of Combs’s former partner Cassie Ventury, who participated in his orgies known as. When she tried to escape from one of them, the producer physically attacked her and then pulled her back to the hotel room. This is also evidenced by the recording of the hotel camera, which appeared on the Internet before the start of the trial.
After hearing the judgment in the most serious accusation, Combs did not hide enthusiasm. He rolled to the ground and prayed, then turned on his supporters and applauded. “We are not over in this fight yet. We will not stop until he returns to his family as innocent of prison,” said Marc Agnifilo, one of the eight lawyers who represented the Combs. The lowest punishment of the former rapper and producer is currently on the range of two years. His application for prosecution after paying a million -dollar deposit judge refused.
The Ultraviolet Women’s Rights Organization described this judgment as a mockery in the face of the survivors.
“This is a decisive moment for our judicial system, a moment that threatens and degrades the sacrifice of the courageous survivors who have spoken and provided their testimony, as well as all those who have misused and could not speak,” they said in their official opinion. The director of Rainn (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) condemned mainly the defense statement. “The advocate Marc Agnifilo called the relationship between Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura, a great modern love story ‘,” said Scott Berkowitz. “There is nothing modern or big about the abuse of a partner, and it is definitely not a manifestation of love.”
Chronology of the trial with Puff Diddy
The first week: The trial began with the initial speech of the prosecutor Emily Johnson, who described Combsa as a man with an explosive nature with the desire to control others. The defense subsequently argued that their client committed domestic violence, but the survivors agreed with everything. The atypical behavior that included orgies was commented on the words that Combs is complicated. The identity of the jurors, as in any process with a publicly known person, is secret. We only know that it consists of eight men and four women aged 30-55. Everyone comes from New York, where the court takes place.
The first witness in the case was a guardian from a hotel in which the physical attack Combssa on Ventur was. As a second, a man providing sexual services, whose producer hired on orgies with his girlfriend, testified. Cassie Ventura appeared in court the next day. She also described the details of the orgies in which she was forced to be forced while Combs looked. At some point, an unnamed man urinated her mouth until she was choked. It was also said in court that Combs decided on everything; From whom it is associated with what lacquer he will have on the nails. Given that his singing career was covered by his publishing house Bad Boys, she was astonished for fear. He used increasingly harder tactics to achieve his Combs. The physical and mental violence also joined the threatening by publishing the videos from the orgies you filmed.
The second week: The American musician Kid Cudi, who dated Ventura after breaking up with Combs, also testified in court. In one day the producer was supposed to fly to the apartment. Shortly thereafter, his car exploded after an unknown perpetrator placed a incendiary bottle. The musician is convinced that it was Combs.
The other three people testified how the producer challenged his partner. A former personal assistant, in turn, said that Combs excessively used drugs. The words of her daughter came to court to confirm the mother of Cassie Ventury. The only statement that has so far testified in favor of the defense was from the Sharay Hayes sex service provider. She provided her escort services on Freaks Off eight to twelve times, with one of them collected $ 2,000. “What seemed to me was that it was with her consent,” she quotes her words.
The third week: Former employees also testified against Combs. One of them was Capricorn Clark, who worked for P. Diddy initially as a personal assistant and later a brand director. At a time when Ventura was dating Cudi, the producer fell at home with a weapon in his hand and words – “Come, we are going to kill him.” The defense resisted that she did not lose interest in work. After Clark, he spoke a former stylist who described Ventury injuries or the sick fear she had from Combs.
The testimony was also provided by another survivor who used her right to privacy – and thus acted under the assigned pseudonym. She has worked for Combs for eight years and describes this period as a time full of falls and ups. The working conditions were not proportionate as well as the behavior of her supervisor. At one moment, during the overnight stay in the Combs house, he came to the room and had broken into her without her consent. After rape, he repeated abuse. Diddy forced her to oral sex. “I couldn’t even tell him not even to the sandwich, I couldn’t tell him not anything,” she described in court. The defense objected to her photos on the Instagram social network, where she published images with Combs in the past, referred to as a mentor.
Fourth week: A hotel employee, who made a copy of the Combs’s attack on Ventur, said the then director received a bribe worth $ 100,000 in exchange for a camera record. The fact that they managed to make a copy did not inform the producer. They supported their testimony with a confidentiality agreement, which was signed by the Combs company. The former CFO subsequently testified that he had no records of anything like that and the producer never saw a crime.
In court, she testified Bryan Bongolan, a friend of Cassie Ventury, accusing Combsa of endangering her in life. According to her testimony to her after he did not find his girlfriend, he came, lifted and held over the railing of the balcony on the 17th floor. Since she could not remember specific details, the defense challenged her testimony.
Fifth Week: Combs also testified to his last partner, with whom he created a couple until his arrest in September 2024. She testified in court that she was fanatically in love with her partner and later also financially dependent on him. As a single mother, she paid her the rent of an apartment in which she lived with her children. Soon, she said their relationship has changed and Combs forced her to orgies and sex with strangers he looked at. “It was like a door I was unable to close,” she explained in the courtroom. She also mentioned an incident that took place only in June last year. When she confronted the producer after revealing his affair, a physical attack followed. Combs caused a monocle under his eye, but he didn’t make a worry head. He told her to put her ice, dress – and soon he called a man to have sex with her while looking at them.
Sixth week: Videos from orgies were played in the courtroom. The public and the media do not have access to them, only the indictment, defense, judge and jury has available. One of the jurors pulled his headphones right after five minutes. According to the indictment, videos are clear proof that women with an act have not disagreed and did not practice it voluntarily. Of the eight jurors, one man was excluded after there were ambiguities around his residence. The court thus wanted to avoid charges of bias. The Combsa employee who procured drugs for a wild party also testified.
Seven Week: The last witness of the trial was a special agent Joseph Cerciello. His evidence points to Combss as Freaks Off. There were also a raid in which the police secured the arsenal of weapons, video recordings of sexual intercourse or thousands of bottles of children’s oil. Finally, the Legal Team Combsa has announced that it will renounce its option to testify.
Eighth week: The final indictment lasted about five hours, the defense of four. While the prosecutors were convinced of the life sentence they proposed, the Combsa legal team fought until the last possible moment. The defense admitted that their client had mistakes, used drugs, committed domestic violence, but according to them the accusations are exaggerated. He pointed out six children who supported their father in the courtroom. “You should know what it is. The man who cares for others. That’s what says the evidence. Sitting here – innocent. Return him to the family that awaits him all the time,” quotes the final speech of Marc Agnifil.
The testimony was described by the aforementioned lawyer to be twisted and also used in a large scale sarcasm, which entertained the jury. “Child oil will no longer be in the streets, Woho! I feel better. We thank the special unit. They found children’s oil. They found five Diazepam tablets. Great job! But if you have to choose the winner of this thing, it’s hard to not be able to take Cassie,” he said. “Cassie is not weak and therefore loved her. She fits him. She was like him. Their relationship was a great modern story of love,” he added.
Meanwhile, a crowd of supporters of Combsa gathered at the courtroom, including Kanye West. When he learned he couldn’t go to the producer, he left. Kanye was also part of Freaks Off, according to media coverage.
You can find this article: How the public learned of the Sean Combs and what Freaks Off and Freaks Off.
