A Manhattan jury found Sean “Diddy” Combs not guilty of sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy on Wednesday in a mixed verdict. It convicted the rapper on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution pertaining to two of his ex-girlfriends. The verdict was reached after 13 hours of deliberation and more than six weeks of often wrenching testimony.
“Mr. Combs has been given his life by this jury,” the mogul’s lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told presiding judge Arun Subramanian, asking that Combs be released until his sentencing hearing. “He treasures, I assure you, the opportunity that he has been given, and he will not run afoul of anything this court imposes on him.” Prosecutors urged Subramanian to keep Combs in detention until his next court date, however, and the judge granted that request several hours after the verdict came in. The defense had admitted Combs’s history of physical abuse, Subramanian said, behavior that “highlights a disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence.”
In September 2024, federal agents arrested Combs after raiding his homes in Miami and Los Angeles. Prosecutors alleged in an indictment that he used violence, blackmail, and his immense influence in the music industry to coerce women into drug-fueled, dayslong sexual encounters, sometimes with several men. Combs would allegedly film these so-called Freak Offs, leveraging the footage to secure participants’ silence. This system of sexual abuse, prosecutors argued, underwrote a vast “criminal enterprise,” which they said Combs maintained with support from employees who helped him orchestrate and cover up not only his alleged sex crimes but also “forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Combs’s lawyers told a different story, arguing that while the mogul is an imperfect man — one who had committed domestic violence and habitually abused drugs — he was neither engaging in organized crime nor trafficking his girlfriends. In her opening statements, defense attorney Teny Geragos claimed the women who would testify against Combs were rewriting their relationship history. They had been consenting participants in a kinky sex life, Geragos said, and were now looking for a payday. “We will not shy away from the things Mr. Combs did, but we will not own things he did not do,” Geragos said. “The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual, but it will not show you a racketeer, a sex trafficker, or somebody transporting for prostitution.”
As promised, the mogul’s flaws were on full display throughout the trial. The prosecution’s witnesses described an explosive temper, a pattern of interpersonal violence, and outlandish expectations for his staff. While many witnesses spoke to Combs’s physical abuse, the most harrowing testimony came from Combs’s ex-girlfriends. Nearly nine months pregnant, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura took the stand for four days, running through the former couple’s entire 11-year relationship. While she said she initially agreed to Freak Offs because she loved Combs and wanted to make him happy, she eventually came to see them as her “job.” Ventura detailed a dynamic in which saying “no” wasn’t an option: Any time she pushed back, she recalled, he would beat her, block professional opportunities, or threaten to release tapes of the Freak Offs. And the abuse didn’t end after they broke up, she said. Ventura testified that, after a “closure” dinner in 2018, Combs came up to her apartment and raped her in her living room. Another of Combs’s ex-girlfriends, the pseudonymous Jane, told jurors Combs used his financial support and, on one occasion, physical violence to coerce her into participating in his “hotel nights.”
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While prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses, the defense opted not to call any. In his closing statements, Agnifilo seemed intent on keeping things as light as possible, cracking jokes about the tremendous cache of baby oil discovered during the government’s raids on Combs’s homes. Ventura, he said, was a “winner” who was “sitting somewhere in the world with $30 million” thanks to her settlements with Combs and the former InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles, where Combs was recorded beating her in 2016. She wasn’t a victim but “a woman who actually likes sex,” he told jurors, adding, “Good for her.” Agnifilo similarly dismissed testimony from other key witnesses and downplayed the InterContinental incident as the unfortunate aftermath of bad drugs. Still, Combs “did not do the things he’s charged with,” Agnifilo emphasized.
After the verdict came in, Ventura’s attorney issued a statement praising his client for making her allegations public. “This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023,” the statement read. “By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice. We must repeat — with no reservation — that we believe and support our client who showed exemplary courage throughout this trial. She displayed unquestionable strength and brought attention to the realities of powerful men in our orbit and the misconduct that has persisted for decades without repercussion.”
Combs now faces a maximum of ten years for each count of transportation to engage in prostitution (by comparison, the racketeering conspiracy charge carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, whereas the sex-trafficking counts each carry a minimum term of 15 years). Prosecutors initially said they would push for the maximum of 20 years but later revised their request to between four and five years.
In letters to Subramanian, several people close to the case urged the court not to let Combs out on bond. “Ms. Ventura believes that Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community,” Ventura’s attorney said, per CNN. Deonte Nash, a stylist and friend of Ventura’s who testified at the trial, similarly expressed his “grave concern” about the possibility of the mogul going free.
“Mr. Combs has a long, well-documented history of violent, coercive, and retaliatory behavior,” Nash said. “Over the years, he has repeatedly escaped meaningful accountability, and each time this has only reinforced his sense of impunity. If he is released now, I have no doubt he will see it as yet another license to continue intimidating, threatening, and harming people who challenge or expose him.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Subramanian ruled that Combs will remain in custody until his sentencing hearing, which the judge tentatively set for October 3. The defense may request an earlier date. Regardless of the prison term, President Donald Trump has dangled the possibility of a pardon. Recently, he told reporters he would “certainly look at the facts” if prompted and decide from there.
