Sean “Diddy” Combs Found Not Guilty of Racketeering Conspiracy and Sex Trafficking

Photo of rap mogul Sean Diddy Combs from AP News.

According to CNN, a federal jury has found embattled rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs not guilty of 1 count of Racketeering Conspiracy and Sex Trafficking. They also found him not guilty of 2 counts of Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud or Coercion. Those charges carried up to life in prison. However, Diddy was found guilty of 2 counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Each of those counts carries up to 10 years in prison each. Diddy could be sentenced consecutively, meaning he would do the sentences back to back for a total of 20 years. The judge could run the sentences concurrently, and Diddy would serve 10 years at most. With the jury having struggled to come to this verdict, many are asking what happened, when they thought Diddy would be convicted.

Concerning the convictions for transporting for the purposes of prostitution, Diddy could get probation. Considering the male prostitutes were paid participants and were not physically abused, probation is a possibility.

What the Not Guilty Verdicts Mean

The jury has found they do not believe Diddy’s relationship with Cassie or Jane Doe amounted to sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. There was no racketeering. Simply put, the jury did not believe Diddy ran a corrupt criminal organization. They also didn’t believe he trafficked any accusers.
Some of Cassie’s statements came back to haunt her on the stand like when she said how much liked their our freak-offs in a text message. This statement contradicts her portrayal that she didn’t want to participate in them.

From the beginning, Diddy and his lawyers acknowledged that the video of Diddy abusing Cassie is bad, but they denied he ran a criminal organization. The prosecution pointed to an alleged incident where Diddy supposedly “blew up” Kid Cudi’s car in a jealous rage after finding out he was seeing Cassie. The prosecution said Diddy had also forced an assistant to take him and others to Cudi’s home. However, Diddy was not charged with kidnapping, and he was not ever charged with blowing up Cudi’s car. Still, if Diddy had done this, his lawyers contended this was disgruntled boyfriend behavior and not conspiracy behavior. The jury agreed.

Photo of jury make up from ABC News.
Cassie’s Credibility and Culpability

On the stand, Cassie described herself as a victim of Diddy’s rage and control, as covered by the BBC. A hotel video of Diddy beating her leaked before the charges and supports some of her claims. Although the two had loving moments, Cassie had been just 19 years old and impressionable when they met. Diddy, a man with power and control, had signed her as an artist and had control over her career.

She described the first time Diddy came on to her as shocking, but eventually she fell for him. What she didn’t know was that the near-decade that would follow would be full of sex with prostitutes, beatings from Diddy and nearly losing herself, she claimed.

But on the stand, some of her texts proclaiming how much she liked freak-offs came back to haunt her. The fact that she dated rapper Kid Cudi and complained about Diddy to him but was cheating with Diddy behind Kid Cudi’s back didn’t help either.

Male escort Daniel Philip admitted on the stand that Cassie continued to see him after her relationship with Diddy ended. Some say this speaks to Cassie’s mindset and shows she enjoyed having encounters with prostitutes. They also use this as support showing Cassie may have been as culpable as Diddy transporting escorts for sex.

The Takeaway

Diddy was found not guilty of 1 count of Racketeering Conspiracy and not guilty of 2 counts of Sex Trafficking by Force, Fraud or Coercion. Diddy faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a minimum of probation.

This article was written by Jermaine Reed, MFA, the Editor-in-Chief of The Reeders Block. Join the email list to get notifications on new blog posts and books. This article is 100% human-written. And remember, if you see an error, that’s what makes us human.