A jury found Sean “Diddy” Combs guilty of charges related to prostitution, but acquitted him of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges following a federal criminal trial in New York City.
The verdict was reached on Wednesday morning, a day after jurors told the court it had only reached a partial verdict.
The 55-year-old music mogul had been accused of two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
He was found guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution involving his ex-girlfriends, who testified during the trial. It’s a lesser charge that does not carry as high a penalty as the more serious crimes he was accused of, which could have ended with life in prison.
On Tuesday, the jury said it was struggling to reach a decision on the racketeering charge, but had concluded a verdict on the other four charges.
The judge asked jurors to continue deliberating until they reached an agreement. The jury decided to continue deliberating the final charge on Wednesday.
Just a few hours into its third day of deliberations, the jury alerted the court it had reached a verdict.
In order to find Combs guilty on the racketeering conspiracy charge, the jury would have had to distinguish which five predicate acts within the charge Combs was guilty of. Those included, per the jury’s verdict form, include kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering and forced labor.
The jury — made up of eight men and four women residing in New York City — heard from 34 witnesses over the course of two months.
The key witnesses for the prosecution were two of his ex-girlfriends, a woman who testified under the pseudonym of “Jane” and singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine.
At the center of the accusations were what women named as “freak offs” or “hotel nights” — recorded marathon sex encounters that often involved male prostitutes. Cassie and Jane both testified that they felt like they had to participate in these sex acts to be in a relationship with Combs.
The women also detailed countless instances of physical, emotional and mental abuse at the hands of Combs over the course of their relationships.
During the closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said, “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
