Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty on Wednesday (2 July) of prostitution-related offenses but cleared of more serious charges after a criminal trial in which two of the music mogul’s former girlfriends testified that he physically and sexually abused them.
Combs was convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking, a partial win for the former billionaire known for elevating hip-hop in American culture.
Prosecutors say Combs for two decades used his business empire to force two of his romantic partners to take part in drug-fueled, days-long sexual performances sometimes known as “Freak Offs” with male sex workers in hotel rooms while Combs watched, masturbated and occasionally filmed.
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, 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 $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 of 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.
