NEW YORK—Sean “Diddy” Combs was convicted of a prostitution-related offense but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s most celebrated figures behind bars for life.
The mixed result came on the third day of deliberations. It could still send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador, and reality TV star.
Combs was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and paid male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act.
But the jury of eight men and four women acquitted Combs of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, related to allegations that he used his money, power, and frightening physical force to manipulate his girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fueled sex marathons with the men.
Combs and his defense team argued that the women were willing participants and that none of his violence justified the severity of the charges.
During raids of Combs’ homes, authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant that he would use in the performances, prosecutors said.
Combs, 55, had pleaded not guilty to all five counts. His lawyers acknowledged that the Bad Boy Records founder was at times violent in his domestic relationships. But they said the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.
The seven-week trial in Manhattan federal court exposed the inner workings of Combs’ business empire and gave the 12-member jury an intimate look into his volatile romantic relationships with the rhythm and blues singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman known in court by the pseudonym Jane.
Ventura sued Combs in November 2023 for sex trafficking, the first of dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of abuse. Combs settled with Ventura for $20 million. He has denied all wrongdoing.
At the trial, jurors saw surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs kicking and dragging Ventura in the hallway of an InterContinental hotel in Los Angeles, where she said she was trying to leave a “Freak Off.”
Jane later testified that Combs, in June 2024, attacked her and directed her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer, even though she told him she did not want to. That alleged attack took place a month after Combs apologized on social media for his 2016 attack on Ventura, footage of which had been broadcast on CNN.
Racketeering Conspiracy
Besides Ventura and Jane, jurors also heard testimony from Combs’ former personal assistants who said their jobs included setting up hotel rooms for “Freak Offs” and buying their boss drugs.
An InterContinental security guard testified that Combs, in the presence of his chief of staff, paid him $100,000 to hand over what he thought was the only copy of the surveillance tape of his attack on Ventura.
And Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi, told jurors that Combs was likely involved in an arson on his car after Combs found out he was romantically involved with Ventura.
According to prosecutors, those were all acts Combs and his associates undertook in furtherance of a racketeering conspiracy whose aim was, in part, to facilitate his abuse and keep evidence of his wrongdoing under wraps.
The defense argued Combs was a successful entrepreneur who used drugs recreationally, but kept his professional and personal lives separate.
Combs has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
