Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail on Wednesday after the jury in his federal sex trafficking trial returned its verdict, convicting him on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution but clearing the hip-hop mogul of the most serious charges.
The verdict is, to some extent, a win for Combs, who will avoid the worst case scenario: If he had been convicted of the more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy or sex trafficking, Combs could have faced up to life in prison. Instead, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years – though could 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,” said CNN 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 leading a criminal enterprise made up of some of his closest employees, alleging they used threats, violence, forced labor, bribery and other crimes to force Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and another woman, “Jane,” to engage in drug-fueled sex acts with male escorts called “Freak Offs” or “hotel nights.”
Combs pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation for prostitution. His lawyers argued the sex acts were consensual and merely preferences, while trying to undermine the hip-hop mogul’s accusers by contending they were trying to gain a monetary benefit from Combs.
Here are takeaways from the jury’s verdict.
Combs can claim some vindication
Combs and his defense team surely hoped he would be acquitted on all counts. But the verdict Wednesday is something 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 sex trafficking are striking when looked at within the context of the defendant’s fall from grace: Two years ago, Ventura filed a lawsuit claiming Combs had raped and physically and emotionally abused her. Combs agreed to settle the lawsuit a day later; his attorney said it was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
Ventura’s lawsuit was only the beginning: More accusers came forward with allegations against Combs, and in March 2024, heavily armed federal agents searched the producer’s homes in Los Angeles and Florida.
Two months later, CNN published hotel surveillance video captured eight years earlier showing Combs physically assaulting Ventura in an elevator lobby at a Los Angeles hotel – footage included as part of the prosecution’s case for sex trafficking as to Ventura.
Now, while the verdict is mixed, Combs can claim some vindication on being cleared of the most serious charges.
“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,” said CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams. “He has not been convicted of the far more serious, life-eligible crimes that he was charged with.”
Prosecutors’ RICO case comes up short
The verdict shows prosecutors failed to prove racketeering conspiracy; and while the jury’s reasoning is not known, experts told CNN prior to deliberations that prosecutors’ greatest challenge would be securing a conviction on this charge.
That jurors found Combs not guilty shows they were unconvinced, either of the existence of a so-called “enterprise” – a key piece of any racketeering case – or that he and others committed the underlying crimes that would support a conviction.
The charge comes from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, which was passed by Congress in 1970 to prosecute organized crime. Racketeering is not a single, specific crime, but a framework for prosecuting many different crimes; in a RICO case, these are called “predicate acts.”
In Combs’ case, prosecutors specifically argued the defendant and members of his inner circle had engaged in crimes involving kidnapping, arson, forced labor, bribery and sex trafficking. To convict, jurors would have needed to find Combs and at least one other person committed at least two predicate acts within a ten-year window.
The use of RICO in Combs’ case, while not entirely novel, was unusual in that he was charged alone. Jurors did not hear direct testimony from many of the people who would have been members of the alleged enterprise – namely his closest employees, like his chief of staff or some of his security guards. And legal analysts had wondered whether the evidence presented at trial had clearly linked Combs’ alleged criminal acts to an enterprise.
In their closing argument, the government offered jurors a roadmap, outlining the charge, the elements needed to prove it and the parts of their case that would support a conviction. Still, the argument did not persuade jurors.
Mixed verdicts on charges tied to ‘Freak Offs’ and ‘hotel nights’
Combs’ acquittal on sex trafficking charges is a big blow to the prosecutors for the Southern District of New York – and to his accusers, Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane,” each of whom spent days testifying, recounting years of abuse they said they suffered from Combs.
While prosecutors accused Combs of sex trafficking as a predicate act under the umbrella of racketeering conspiracy, they also charged him with two separate counts of sex trafficking, one each for Ventura and Jane.
To prove sex trafficking, prosecutors needed to prove Combs compelled the women to participate in commercial sex acts through force, fraud or coercion. And jurors were presented with myriad examples of alleged physical violence and financial control.
Regarding Ventura, prosecutors contended physical force was illustrated in one instance by the InterContinental Hotel surveillance footage showing Combs assault Ventura in 2016 – first published by CNN.
Testimony by both women suggested some level of financial or professional control; Ventura signed to Combs’ record label at just 19, and prosecutors agued he controlled her career. Jane, meanwhile, testified she and Combs entered into a “love contract” where he agreed to pay her $10,000 rent, but that he threatened to cut her off financially if she stopped participating in “hotel nights.”
Combs’ attorneys had acknowledged physical abuse, but argued throughout the trial that domestic violence did not amount to sex trafficking. Prosecutors also told the jury they weren’t suggesting every “Freak Off” and “hotel night” were instances of sex trafficking. Both Ventura and Jane testified they were willing to try the sexual encounters in the beginning of their relationships with Combs.
The jury’s verdict suggests prosecutors did not prove the elements needed to convict – like the force, fraud and coercion.
“My heart in this moment is going out to Cassie,” said Dream Hampton, the executive 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, however, on two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution, each of which pertained to Ventura or Jane and the men Combs paid to have sex with them. Those charges were more straightforward than the other, and prosecutors merely needed to prove that people crossed state lines to engage in prostitution.
Both women testified to having “Freak Offs” or “hotel nights” in a variety of locales, and prosecutors presented documents to bolster that testimony, including flight records, American Express charges and hotel invoices for Combs’ former girlfriends and the men.
“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,” said 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’ defense unsuccessfully lobbied for the transportation to engage in prostitution charges, which stem from the Mann Act, to be dismissed, citing the statute’s “racist origins.” Attorneys for Combs have previously accused the government of racism, allegations the government denied.
Doug Wigdor, Ventura’s attorney, acknowledged Wednesday’s verdict was “not the exact outcome we wanted’ in an interview with CNN.
“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 said.
Combs’ legal troubles are far from over
While the verdict marks the beginning of the end of one legal chapter for Combs, he still faces legal trouble.
Most immediately, he’ll face sentencing for the prostitution charges for which he was convicted Wednesday. Each carries up to ten years, but CNN legal analysts indicated it’s possible he serves less.
“Certainly very few people are ever sentenced to the top of the statutory maximum,” Williams said. “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 will be scheduled at a later date. Judge Arun Subramanian said in court Wednesday he denied Combs’ bail when it wasn’t mandatory before the trial and “sees no reason to reach the opposite conclusion now.”
The judge quoted the defense at different instances when Combs’ lawyers acknowledged his violence toward 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 said.
Subramanian said there was also violence and illegal conduct after the searches on Combs’ homes, when he was aware he was under investigation. “This highlights a disregard for the rule of law and a propensity of violence,” he said.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey said the judge is correct in his decision to keep 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 asked the defense attorneys and prosecutors to submit letters on their positions about the possibility of releasing Combs ahead of the bail hearing.
“Mr. Combs has been given his life by this jury,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in court earlier Wednesday, as he argued for the judge to allow his client to return home.
Prosecutors in their letter to the judge said Combs faces a minimum range of 51 to 63 months in prison, according to their preliminary calculation, but it may be higher 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 attorney for central witness Ventura had requested the court keep Combs detained until he is sentenced on the transportation to engage in prostitution charges.
“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 Wigdor wrote in a letter.
At the bail hearing, Agnifilo said the jury has acquitted Combs of the most serious charges and that Combs has been a model prisoner since he was detained and has done everything his lawyers asked 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 said.
Teny Geragos, another one of Combs’ attorneys, made comments outside 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 said. “We’ve said it with each lawsuit that came out and today that was proven true.”
The attorney added: “He has not sexually assaulted anybody, certainly hasn’t sex trafficked anybody and the jury found that today.”
Combs still faces a raft of civil lawsuits – nearly 70 have been filed so far, with several as recent as last week – accusing Combs of further wrongdoing, including sexual assault. Combs has denied all the allegations.
Notably, civil claims carry a lower burden of proof. In the criminal trial, jurors needed to find Combs guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
But in a civil case, the proof only needs to meet what’s called a “preponderance of the evidence,” or more likely than not.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
Correction: A previous version of this story had the wrong date for when Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail. It was on Wednesday.