A jury on Tuesday handed down a partial verdict in the high-profile sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, though it was unable to reach agreement on the most serious charge — racketeering.
In a note to Judge Arun Subramanian, the jury did not specify whether it found Combs, 55, guilty or not guilty on four of the five counts against him.
“We have reached a verdict on counts 2, 3, 4 and 5. We are unable to reach a verdict on count 1 as we have jurors with unpersuadable opinions on both sides,” the note stated.
Judge Subramanian instructed the jury to continue deliberating on the racketeering charge but dismissed them for the day, asking them to reconvene on Wednesday.
The racketeering charge, the most severe, accuses Combs of orchestrating a criminal organisation that coerced women into extended sex sessions involving escorts. It carries a potential life sentence.
Alongside racketeering, Combs faces two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transportation for prostitution purposes.
The case follows the dramatic fall of Combs’s reputation, which began when his former partner of 11 years, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit alleging disturbing sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. That case settled out of court for $20 million but sparked a wave of related civil suits and ultimately criminal charges.
The seven-week trial featured harrowing testimony, including accounts from women who described feeling forced into degrading sex parties and former employees recounting violent outbursts. Prosecutors presented thousands of pages of phone, financial, and audiovisual evidence.
Central to the prosecution’s case is the allegation that Combs led a criminal enterprise composed of senior employees who existed to serve his demands, enforcing his will through crimes including forced labour, drug distribution, kidnapping, bribery, witness tampering, and arson.
However, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo highlighted that none of those employees testified against Combs or were named as co-conspirators, with many granted immunity to avoid self-incrimination.
For a racketeering conviction, the jury must be unanimously convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Combs agreed with others to commit at least two of eight specified crimes.
Combs faces sex trafficking charges relating to two women — Ventura and a witness known only as Jane — both former long-term partners who gave detailed testimony of abuse and coercion.
While the defence admitted Combs sometimes used physical violence, they denied it amounted to sex trafficking or racketeering.
Agnifilo dismissed the prosecution’s portrayal of Combs as a violent, fear-inducing figure. He described Combs as a “self-made, successful Black entrepreneur” whose romantic relationships were “complicated” but consensual.
The defence scrutinised and at times ridiculed the accounts of Ventura and Jane, arguing they were adults freely making choices.
In closing arguments, prosecutors criticised the defence for “contorting the facts endlessly,” with lead prosecutor Maurene Comey asserting Combs was “so far past the line he couldn’t even see it.”
