Diddy jury decides on some counts while verdict unknown
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A jury at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial has reached a verdict on several counts, the judge overseeing the case says, after a seven-week trial in which two of the music mogul’s former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them.
US District Judge Arun Subramanian said the jury had informed him toward the end of its second day of deliberations that it had reached a verdict on the two counts each of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution that Combs faces but had not been able to reach a verdict on racketeering conspiracy.
Subramanian did not say what the jurors’ verdict on the four counts was.
He said he would instruct the jury to continue deliberating on the racketeering conspiracy count.
Prosecutors say Combs was charged with racketeering because for two decades he used his business empire to force two of his romantic partners to take part in drug-fuelled, days-long sexual performances sometimes known as “Freak Offs” with male sex workers in hotel rooms while Combs watched and occasionally filmed.
During raids on Combs’ homes, authorities found drugs and 1000 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, once famed for hosting lavish parties for the cultural elite in luxurious locales like the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez, 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, also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy and once feted for turning artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, settled with Ventura for $US20 million ($A30 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 a sex act on a male entertainer even though she told him she did not want to.
That alleged attack took place a month after Combs apologised on social media for his 2016 attack on Ventura, footage of which had been broadcast on CNN.
According to prosecutors, physical violence was just one way Combs compelled Ventura and Jane to take part in the performances – an act of coercion they say amounts to sex trafficking because the male escorts were paid.
Both women testified that he threatened to withhold financial support and to leak sexually explicit images of them if they refused to comply.
“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” prosecutor Christy Slavik said in her closing argument on June 26.
“He doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Combs’ defence lawyers argued that while Combs may have committed domestic violence in the context of volatile romantic partnerships, his conduct did not amount to sex trafficking.
They argued that Ventura and Jane were strong, independent women who voluntarily took part in the sexual performances because they wanted to please Combs.
Both women testified they spent time with Combs and took part in sexual performances after he beat them.
Defence lawyers argued that Ventura and Jane were retrospectively accusing Combs of forcing their participation in the performances because they were jealous he was seeing other women.
“If he was charged with domestic violence, we wouldn’t all be here,” Combs’ defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in his closing argument on June 27.
“He did not do the things he’s charged with.”
Combs has been held in federal lockup in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest.
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National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
Reuters
