Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail on Wednesday after the jury in his federal intercourse trafficking trial returned its verdict, convicting him on two lesser fees of transportation to interact in prostitution however clearing the hip-hop mogul of essentially the most critical fees.
The verdict is, to some extent, a win for Combs, who will keep away from the worst case situation: If he had been convicted of the extra critical fees of racketeering conspiracy or intercourse trafficking, Combs might have confronted as much as life in jail. Instead, he faces a most sentence of 20 years – although might serve a shorter sentence.
“It’s a bit of a paradox, because here we have Sean Combs, who has just been convicted of two federal felonies,” mentioned NCS Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. “And for all practical purposes, he has won. He has defeated the Southern District of New York.”
Prosecutors accused Combs of main a felony enterprise made up of a few of his closest staff, alleging they used threats, violence, pressured labor, bribery and different crimes to power Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and one other lady, “Jane,” to interact in drug-fueled intercourse acts with male escorts known as “Freak Offs” or “hotel nights.”
Combs pleaded not responsible to at least one rely of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of intercourse trafficking and two counts of transportation for prostitution. His attorneys argued the intercourse acts have been consensual and merely preferences, whereas attempting to undermine the hip-hop mogul’s accusers by contending they have been attempting to achieve a financial profit from Combs.
Here are takeaways from the jury’s verdict.
Combs and his protection crew certainly hoped he can be acquitted on all counts. But the verdict Wednesday is one thing of a boon for a star defendant who has seen his reputation diminish in the face of repeated accusations of wrongdoing.
His acquittals on racketeering conspiracy and two counts of intercourse trafficking are hanging when checked out throughout the context of the defendant’s fall from grace: Two years in the past, Ventura filed a lawsuit claiming Combs had raped and bodily and emotionally abused her. Combs agreed to settle the lawsuit a day later; his legal professional mentioned it was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
Ventura’s lawsuit was solely the start: More accusers got here ahead with allegations in opposition to Combs, and in March 2024, closely armed federal brokers searched the producer’s houses in Los Angeles and Florida.
Two months later, NCS printed lodge surveillance video captured eight years earlier exhibiting Combs bodily assaulting Ventura in an elevator foyer at a Los Angeles lodge – footage included as a part of the prosecution’s case for intercourse trafficking as to Ventura.
Now, whereas the verdict is mixed, Combs can declare some vindication on being cleared of essentially the most critical fees.
“Regardless of what anyone thinks of Sean Combs … the simple fact is, as of right now, in the eyes of the law, he has not been convicted of a crime of violence,” mentioned NCS Legal Analyst Elliot Williams. “He has not been convicted of the far more serious, life-eligible crimes that he was charged with.”
The verdict reveals prosecutors did not show racketeering conspiracy; and whereas the jury’s reasoning shouldn’t be identified, specialists advised NCS previous to deliberations that prosecutors’ greatest challenge can be securing a conviction on this cost.
That jurors discovered Combs not responsible reveals they have been unconvinced, both of the existence of a so-called “enterprise” – a key piece of any racketeering case – or that he and others dedicated the underlying crimes that will assist a conviction.
The cost comes from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which was handed by Congress in 1970 to prosecute organized crime. Racketeering shouldn’t be a single, particular crime, however a framework for prosecuting many various crimes; in a RICO case, these are known as “predicate acts.”
In Combs’ case, prosecutors particularly argued the defendant and members of his internal circle had engaged in crimes involving kidnapping, arson, pressured labor, bribery and intercourse trafficking. To convict, jurors would have wanted to search out Combs and a minimum of one different particular person dedicated a minimum of two predicate acts inside a ten-year window.
The use of RICO in Combs’ case, whereas not totally novel, was uncommon in that he was charged alone. Jurors didn’t hear direct testimony from most of the individuals who would have been members of the alleged enterprise – specifically his closest staff, like his chief of workers or a few of his safety guards. And authorized analysts had questioned whether or not the proof introduced at trial had clearly linked Combs’ alleged felony acts to an enterprise.
In their closing argument, the federal government supplied jurors a roadmap, outlining the cost, the weather wanted to show it and the elements of their case that will assist a conviction. Still, the argument didn’t persuade jurors.
Mixed verdicts on fees tied to ‘Freak Offs’ and ‘hotel nights’
Combs’ acquittal on intercourse trafficking fees is a giant blow to the prosecutors for the Southern District of New York – and to his accusers, Ventura and a lady who testified below the pseudonym “Jane,” every of whom spent days testifying, recounting years of abuse they mentioned they suffered from Combs.
While prosecutors accused Combs of intercourse trafficking as a predicate act below the umbrella of racketeering conspiracy, additionally they charged him with two separate counts of intercourse trafficking, one every for Ventura and Jane.
To show intercourse trafficking, prosecutors wanted to show Combs compelled the ladies to take part in industrial intercourse acts by power, fraud or coercion. And jurors have been introduced with myriad examples of alleged bodily violence and monetary management.
Regarding Ventura, prosecutors contended bodily power was illustrated in one occasion by the InterContinental Hotel surveillance footage exhibiting Combs assault Ventura in 2016 – first printed by NCS.
Testimony by each ladies prompt some stage of monetary or skilled management; Ventura signed to Combs’ report label at simply 19, and prosecutors agued he managed her profession. Jane, in the meantime, testified she and Combs entered right into a “love contract” the place he agreed to pay her $10,000 lease, however that he threatened to chop her off financially if she stopped taking part in “hotel nights.”
Combs’ attorneys had acknowledged bodily abuse, however argued all through the trial that home violence didn’t quantity to intercourse trafficking. Prosecutors additionally advised the jury they weren’t suggesting each “Freak Off” and “hotel night” have been cases of intercourse trafficking. Both Ventura and Jane testified they have been keen to strive the sexual encounters in the start of their relationships with Combs.
The jury’s verdict suggests prosecutors didn’t show the weather wanted to convict – just like the power, fraud and coercion.
“My heart in this moment is going out to Cassie,” mentioned Dream Hampton, the manager producer of “Surviving R. Kelly.” “I can’t imagine what she’s feeling.”
“I’m afraid that with Puff walking from the more serious charges that he’s – not only him, the whole entire discourse – I just wonder what we’re going to learn from this,” Hampton added.
Combs was convicted, nevertheless, on two fees of transportation to interact in prostitution, every of which pertained to Ventura or Jane and the lads Combs paid to have intercourse with them. Those fees have been extra easy than the opposite, and prosecutors merely wanted to show that folks crossed state traces to interact in prostitution.
Both ladies testified to having “Freak Offs” or “hotel nights” in a wide range of locales, and prosecutors introduced paperwork to bolster that testimony, together with flight data, American Express fees and lodge invoices for Combs’ former girlfriends and the lads.
“What was clearer throughout this trial was acts of prostitution that were supported by airplane records, payments and so on – information that would just be hard to deny,” mentioned Williams. “There were sex acts, no one disputes that, and they were paid for. And there’s a paper trail linking the defendant to them. That was far more straightforward for the prosecution to prove compared to some of the other things.”
Prior to trial, Combs’ protection unsuccessfully lobbied for the transportation to interact in prostitution fees, which stem from the Mann Act, to be dismissed, citing the statute’s “racist origins.” Attorneys for Combs have beforehand accused the federal government of racism, allegations the federal government denied.
Doug Wigdor, Ventura’s legal professional, acknowledged Wednesday’s verdict was “not the precise final result we wished’ in an interview with NCS.
“Cassie prompted this investigation…and now Sean Combs stands before the court as a convicted felon of two federal crimes. He faces significant incarceration,” he mentioned.
While the verdict marks the start of the tip of 1 authorized chapter for Combs, he nonetheless faces authorized bother.
Most instantly, he’ll face sentencing for the prostitution fees for which he was convicted Wednesday. Each carries as much as ten years, however NCS authorized analysts indicated it’s doable he serves much less.
“Certainly very few people are ever sentenced to the top of the statutory maximum,” Williams mentioned. “So we should get the ten year or 20 year figure out of our heads. But he will go to jail for some time.”
Sentencing might be scheduled at a later date. Judge Arun Subramanian mentioned in court docket Wednesday he denied Combs’ bail when it wasn’t necessary earlier than the trial and “sees no reason to reach the opposite conclusion now.”
The choose quoted the protection at completely different cases when Combs’ attorneys acknowledged his violence towards his former girlfriends.
“At trial, the defense conceded defendant’s violence in personal relationships saying ‘it happened’ in relation to Cassie Ventura and Jane,” Subramanian mentioned.
Subramanian mentioned there was additionally violence and unlawful conduct after the searches on Combs’ houses, when he was conscious he was below investigation. “This highlights a disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence,” he mentioned.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey mentioned the choose is appropriate in his determination to maintain Combs in detention, saying the music mogul is “an extremely violent man with an extraordinarily dangerous temper who has shown no remorse and no regret for his multiple victims.”
Subramanian had requested the protection attorneys and prosecutors to submit letters on their positions about the potential for releasing Combs forward of the bail listening to.
“Mr. Combs has been given his life by this jury,” protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo mentioned in court docket earlier Wednesday, as he argued for the choose to permit his shopper to return residence.
Prosecutors in their letter to the choose mentioned Combs faces a minimal vary of 51 to 63 months in jail, in line with their preliminary calculation, however it could be larger at sentencing. “The possibility of a substantial sentence such as this is a significant factor in assessing the risk of flight,” the letter says.
Earlier, an legal professional for central witness Ventura had requested the court docket preserve Combs detained till he’s sentenced on the transportation to interact in prostitution fees.
“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 legal professional Wigdor wrote in a letter.
At the bail listening to, Agnifilo mentioned the jury has acquitted Combs of essentially the most critical fees and that Combs has been a mannequin prisoner since he was detained and has achieved every little thing his attorneys requested of him.
“He came here, he faced the court, he’s been decent with the court each and every day, and he just deserves the chance,” Agnifilo mentioned.
Teny Geragos, one other considered one of Combs’ attorneys, made feedback exterior the New York courthouse, thanking the jury for “putting such great care into this case.”
“I also have been saying this since the beginning of this case: Sean Combs has not sexually assaulted anybody. I’ve been saying this for months,” Geragos mentioned. “We’ve said it with each lawsuit that came out and today that was proven true.”
The legal professional added: “He has not sexually assaulted anybody, certainly hasn’t sex trafficked anybody and the jury found that today.”
Combs nonetheless faces a raft of civil lawsuits – almost 70 have been filed to this point, with a number of as latest as final week – accusing Combs of additional wrongdoing, together with sexual assault. Combs has denied all of the allegations.
Notably, civil claims carry a decrease burden of proof. In the felony trial, jurors wanted to search out Combs responsible past an affordable doubt.
But in a civil case, the proof solely wants to satisfy what’s known as a “preponderance of the evidence,” or extra probably than not.
This story has been up to date with extra developments.
Correction:
A earlier model of this story had the mistaken date for when Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail. It was on Wednesday.