Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty on Wednesday 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.

After the jury read its verdict, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Subramanian to release Combs on bail.

“This is his first conviction and it’s a prostitution offense, and so he should be released on appropriate conditions,” Agnifilo said.

Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence on each of the two prostitution counts. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian will determine Combs’ sentence at a later date.

The acquittals on the sex trafficking counts means he will avoid a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence. He could have faced life in prison if he were convicted on sex trafficking or racketeering conspiracy.

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.

“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’ defense 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. Defense 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’ defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in his closing argument on June 27. “He did not do the things he’s charged with.”

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 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.

reuters.com

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Terrance “T.A.” Dixon, Fat Joe’s former hype man, has filed an incendiary lawsuit in federal court against the rapper. Filed on Thursday, the lawsuit alleges that Fat Joe, whose real name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena, engaged in “coercive labor exploitation, financial fraud, sexual manipulation, violent intimidation, and psychological coercion.” Dixon asserts that the rapper and his associates deliberately suppressed and erased his contributions to Fat Joe’s success and brand.

Filed in U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, the filing details many disturbing claims about Fat Joe’s sexual relations that it contains a trigger warning on the first page of the 157-page document. Allegedly, Fat Joe engaged in sex with minors on numerous occasions.

According to Dixon, Fat Joe forced him into “humiliating situations, including sex acts performed under duress and surveillance, accompanied by threats of abandonment in foreign countries.” Dixon believes he was coerced into “more than 4,000 sexual acts to maintain his standing within the Enterprise.”

“Defendant was in love with Minor Doe 3,” Dixon claims. “He even contemplated leaving his wife. The Defendant paid all Minor Doe 3’s bills and even took her overseas to his tour stops. He brought her to Florida and would put her up in a condo he rented a few blocks from his house with his wife,” the lawsuit asserts. “In a recorded conversation, Minor Doe 3 and her 15-year-old cousin describe in detail to Plaintiff how ‘inappropriate’ it was for Defendant, who was in his late 30s at the time, to be fawning over children.”

Notably, Dixon is represented by Tyrone Blackburn, who is also the lead counsel in the federal case against Sean “Diddy” Combs. He is seeking up to $20 million in damages.

Fat Joe’s attorney, Joe Tacopina—who has defended many high-profile clients, including Donald Trump and A$AP Rocky—responded to the lawsuit with a statement to Variety. “The lawsuit filed by Tyrone Blackburn and Terrance Dixon is a blatant act of retaliation—a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the civil suit we filed first, which exposed their coordinated scheme to extort [Fat Joe] through lies, threats, and manufactured allegations.”

“Law enforcement is aware of the extortionate demand at the heart of this scheme,” Tacopina’s statement continues. “The allegations against Mr. Cartagena are complete fabrications—lies intended to damage his reputation and force a settlement through public pressure. Mr. Cartagena will not be intimidated. We have taken legal action to expose this fraudulent campaign and hold everyone involved accountable.”

The new filing also names Pete “Pistol Pete” Torres and Richard “Rich Player” Jospitre, listed as key associates in Fat Joe’s “criminal enterprise,” with claims of violations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Further, the suit names Jay-Z’s Roc Nation with allegations that the company, which represents Fat Joe, knowingly participated in “concealing, transferring, and manipulating” Dixon’s creative rights and royalty interests.

Defendants allegedly “engaged in deliberate tax fraud schemes” in an effort to conceal their extensive wage theft, artificially inflate Dixon’s tax liabilities, and more. The filing also cites a whistleblower accountant who is said to have come forward last year, as well as recorded phone calls that “helped paint the picture” of the full scope of allegations.

graphic.com.gh