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    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Winning Defense: He’s Abusive, but He’s Not a Racketeer

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    In defusing much of the government’s case, lawyers for the music mogul did not dispute that he did bad things. They disputed that they matched the crimes he was charged with.Over 28 days of testimony, federal prosecutors called witnesses who gave compelling accounts of harrowing violence, acts of intimidation and voyeuristic sex in hotel rooms with oceans of baby oil. Sean Combs, they said, was the ringleader.Investigators detailed for the jury raids at Mr. Combs’s mansions in Miami Beach, Fla., and Los Angeles, where they carted away several AR-15-style guns and illicit narcotics. People who worked for Mr. Combs, the music mogul known as Puffy Daddy or Diddy, testified that they had procured drugs for him or had witnessed his physical abuse of a former girlfriend.In the face of this evidence, the defense presented a case that lasted less than half an hour. Mr. Combs declined to testify, and no other witnesses were called. The rapid turnaround was startling after six weeks of trial.But in retrospect, the defense’s compact case was a sign that Mr. Combs’s lawyers felt confident the government had not done enough to convince a federal jury that Mr. Combs was, as charged, the boss of a criminal enterprise.That confidence had appeared to waver on Tuesday afternoon, when eight of Mr. Combs’s lawyers somberly huddled near their client after jurors said they had reached a verdict on all but the racketeering charge. But those same lawyers turned jubilant on Wednesday after the jury declared Mr. Combs not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy — the two most severe charges against him.While Mr. Combs’s convictions on two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution could result in his spending years in prison, sex-trafficking or racketeering convictions would have carried potential life sentences.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Acquitted of Sex Trafficking but Found Guilty on Lesser Charges

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      The music mogul was convicted of arranging for the travel of male escorts across state lines but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.Sean Combs, the hip-hop mogul who crafted a business empire around his personal brand, was convicted on Wednesday of transporting prostitutes to participate in his drug-fueled sex marathons, but acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, the most serious charges against him.Though Mr. Combs, 55, still faces a potential sentence of as much as 20 years in prison, he and his lawyers were jubilant after the acquittals on the more severe charges in an indictment that accused the famed producer of coercing women into unwanted sex with male prostitutes, aided by a team of pliant employees.Mr. Combs had faced a possible life sentence. Under the transportation charges, set by the federal Mann Act, each of the two convictions carries a maximum term of 10 years, and the judge could set lesser sentences to run concurrently.After the verdict was read in Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan, Mr. Combs put his hands together and mouthed “thank you, thank you” at the jury of eight men and four women. Later, he dropped to his knees, apparently in prayer, and started a round of applause. His supporters and family began clapping and whistling for his legal team, who embraced one another at the conclusion of the eight-week trial.“Mr. Combs has been given his life by this jury,” Marc Agnifilo, Mr. Combs’s lead lawyer, said in court following the verdict.The mood slumped hours later when Judge Arun Subramanian ordered Mr. Combs, who has been held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest, back to jail until his sentencing, which is still unscheduled. Mr. Combs’s lawyers had sought their client’s release so he could return to his family in the interim.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Combs Was Convicted Under the Mann Act, a Law With a Long History

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      The law, passed in 1910, prohibits the interstate or foreign transportation of an individual for sex. It has at times been used as a tool for political persecution.Sean Combs on Wednesday was cleared of some of the most serious charges against him — racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking — but still faces sentencing on two counts of transportation for prostitution under the Mann Act.The mixed verdict is seen as a victory for Mr. Combs, who faced a possible life sentence had he been convicted of any of the other counts. He could be sentenced up to 20 years in prison on the transportation for prostitution charges — 10 years for each count — but the final sentence will be up to a judge. As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, a sentencing date has not been announced.The Mann Act was passed in 1910 to prohibit the interstate or foreign transportation of an individual with the intention of engaging them in prostitution or any sexual activity. Initially referred to as the “White-Slave Traffic Act,” the federal statute came at a time when the United States saw rapid changes after the Industrial Revolution, including urbanization and immigration as young, single women moved to cities.As young women experienced greater sexual freedom, public anxiety grew over fear that there existed a “white slavery” plague in which innocent girls were drugged and smuggled across the country to engage in sexual activity.The law soon became a way for federal prosecutors to criminalize many forms of consensual sexual activity, including premarital, extramarital and interracial sexual relationships that involved interstate travel.Jack Johnson, the Black heavyweight boxing champion, was first prosecuted under the Mann Act in 1912 on charges of abducting a 19-year-old woman he had a relationship with. She refused to testify, dooming the case, and later married him. The following year, an all-white jury convicted Mr. Johnson of transporting a different woman across state lines “for immoral purposes.” Mr. Johnson had been a lover of that woman, who was white and had worked as a prostitute. President Trump pardoned Mr. Johnson posthumously in 2018.The Mann Act has also been used a tool for political persecution, targeting notable figures like the actor Charlie Chaplin, who was ultimately acquitted, and the singer Chuck Berry, who served more than a year in federal prison.Mr. Combs’s lawyers filed a motion in February to seek the dismissal of one of the sex-trafficking charges, arguing that he was being unfairly prosecuted based on his race. They pointed to the law’s “racist origins” and argued that it was being used against a “prominent Black man.”The act has been amended over the years to protect minors against child pornography, include the transportation of men in its coverage and address its misuse against consensual sex. A 1986 amendment replaced “immoral purpose” with “any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense.” More

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      At the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial, Jurors Are Ready to Deliberate

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      The panel of 12 will be asked to decide whether the music mogul is guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking.A jury in the federal trial of the music mogul Sean Combs will begin deliberating on Monday after receiving legal instructions from the judge in the complex sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy case.The panel, made up of eight men and four women, heard closing arguments from the government prosecutors on Thursday, followed by a presentation by the defense and a final rebuttal from the government on Friday.Judge Arun Subramanian, who is overseeing the trial, then opted to send the jurors home for the weekend so they could “come back fresh on Monday morning” to receive his directions. The judge estimated it would take him a few hours to go over the fine points of the laws at the core of the government’s case, a process known as “charging the jury,” before the jurors could start deliberations.The anonymous group was not sequestered throughout the trial and spent the weekend at home following the passionate final pleas from both sides last week.“You’ve heard the closing arguments, but I will ask you to continue to keep an open mind about the case,” Judge Subramanian told jurors on Friday, before adding the standard instructions he has given throughout the trial: “Do not speak with each other about the case. Do not speak with anyone else about the case. Do not read or research or look up anything about the case.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Latest in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial: Timeline and Testimony

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      The music mogul has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Here’s what has happened in court.Sean Combs, one of America’s most influential music moguls, is standing trial on federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors accuse him of leading a criminal enterprise that committed a series of crimes including kidnapping, arson and obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have said all the sex at issue in the case was consensual. Read the indictment here.The Latest:The Jury Sees ‘Freak-Off’ Videos and a Juror Is DismissedAs the trial enters its sixth week, the prosecution has highlighted key pieces of evidence to summarize its case. Among them were a trove of text messages from Kristina Khorram, Mr. Combs’s former chief of staff, which prosecutors said showed that Ms. Khorram was closely involved in planning the intensive sex marathons that Casandra Ventura and a woman who testified as “Jane” said they endured. Over the course of the trial, those events have been called “freak-offs,” “hotel nights” and “wild king nights.”Prosecutors also showed jurors brief excerpts from videos of those events, which were taken from devices that Ms. Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, provided to the government. That evidence is sealed, and was not visible to the public or the news media. Jurors watched the videos on screens, and listened on headphones; one juror, frowning, snatched the headphones off after the first clip was played. During cross-examination, the defense chose segments of the same videos that lasted up to five minutes.The defense has called the footage “powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion.”On Monday, the judge dismissed a juror who gave inconsistent information about where he lives, raising concerns that he had been seeking a spot on the jury of the high-profile case. On Tuesday, the jury saw charts that detailed phone records and text messages related to Mr. Combs’s assault on Ms. Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, and illustrated how some of the expenses related to freak-offs were paid through Mr. Combs’s companies.Prosecutors are expected to rest this week, and the defense will then call its own witnesses, who are expected to include a former human resources manager for Mr. Combs’s company and a forensic psychiatrist.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      5 Takeaways From Cassie’s Final Day of Testimony in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Trial

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      Casandra Ventura, the singer known professionally as Cassie, ended four days of sometimes grueling testimony about being abused by Mr. Combs.The first week of Sean Combs’s sex-trafficking trial was dominated by four days of searing testimony by Casandra Ventura, the singer known professionally as Cassie, who told the jury that he had raped and abused her and subjected her to degrading marathon sex sessions with male prostitutes known as “freak-offs.”Ms. Ventura, who is eight and a half months pregnant, stepped down from the witness stand on Friday afternoon after a long and sometimes meandering cross-examination by lawyers for Mr. Combs, who has pleaded not guilty.Here are five takeaways:Mr. Combs’s lawyers suggested she was a willing participant in the “freak-offs.”In contrast to the prosecution’s questioning of Ms. Ventura, which traced a narrative of a troubled relationship from its origins until a painful collapse after years of abuse, the defense’s cross-examination frequently jumped back and forth in time. By zooming in on dozens of text messages from throughout her years in a relationship with Mr. Combs, his lawyers tried to paint a very different picture of the freak-offs.In many of those messages, which could be flirtatious in tone or matter-of-fact in setting up logistics, his lawyers noted, Ms. Ventura appeared to express willingness, or even excitement, about the sexual encounters.But Ms. Ventura pushed back, saying that she was just acceding to his requests. “I would say loving FOs were just words at that point,” she said, commenting on a 2017 text message chain about planning a freak-off, or “FO.”The sometimes repetitive pattern of the cross-examination led to a complaint by prosecutors. In a letter to the judge early Friday, they said that the “inefficiency of cross-examination” raised the possibility of a mistrial if Ms. Ventura went into labor before the questioning was completed. The judge urged the parties to stick to a schedule of completing Ms. Ventura’s testimony by the end of the week, and it ended midafternoon Friday.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      In Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Trial, Cassie Is the Star Witness

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      The identity of the individual referred to in waves of dramatic legal filings as Victim-1 — the woman at the very center of the racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking case against the music mogul Sean Combs — was never much in question.But when she takes the witness stand at a Manhattan courthouse under her own name this week, there will be little doubt that there would not have been a criminal indictment against Mr. Combs without the testimony of Casandra Ventura.A singer and model known mononymously as Cassie, she was Mr. Combs’s on-and-off girlfriend — and employee — almost from the time they met in 2005 (when she was 19, he 37), until she finally severed ties from his storied record label, Bad Boy, in 2019.After months of preparation and anticipation, Ms. Ventura, now 38, is expected to recount for the jury how Mr. Combs instituted a system of abuse and control over her life and career for more than a decade. Prosecutors say the executive dangled ever-disappearing music opportunities; beat her when she stepped out of line; and plied her with drugs, forcing Ms. Ventura to have marathon sex sessions with male prostitutes while he taped the encounters.Lawyers for Mr. Combs have portrayed the relationship as loving but deeply toxic and complex, prone to infidelity and mutual abuse, while maintaining that any sexual arrangements were completely consensual. They depict Ms. Ventura as a bitter ex and extortionist who sought only a payday, not justice.What both sides cannot disagree about is that it was Ms. Ventura’s decision in late 2023, following extensive therapy, to pour her allegations into a federal lawsuit — and Mr. Combs’s choice not to settle the dispute before it became public — that led to this moment, in which Mr. Combs, 55, has fallen from a beloved billionaire celebrity to an inmate facing a potential life sentence.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Will Remain Jailed Until Judge Rules on Third Bail Request

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      A federal judge is still weighing the music mogul’s arguments that he should be freed while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.Sean Combs, the embattled music mogul who has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, will remain in jail after a federal judge on Friday said he would continue to weigh arguments about Mr. Combs’s release.Judge Arun Subramanian said at a hearing that he would decide next week on Mr. Combs’s third and latest request to be released on bail.That means that Mr. Combs will, at least for now, stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a hulking federal facility on the Brooklyn waterfront; his trial is scheduled for May. Mr. Combs, 55, has been detained since his arrest two months ago after a nearly 10-month federal investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.Mr. Combs, in tan jail clothes, entered the courtroom smiling, and mouthed “love you” to his mother and six of his children.The central question of the hearing was whether he could be trusted to follow his lawyers’ commands and follow the specifications of his release if granted bail. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Combs of contacting grand jury witnesses, paying a potential witness to make a statement in his favor and attempting to use three-way phone calls from jail to contact associates whom prosecutors consider part of his “criminal enterprise.”The judge queried both sides closely, noting some evidence that Mr. Combs had not fully obeyed his lawyers, while also indicating some skepticism of the government’s argument that he was trying to obstruct the case from jail. (That included an allegation that Mr. Combs had orchestrated a social media post on his birthday that prosecutors said was intended to influence potential jurors.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What to Know About the Lawsuits Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

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      The music mogul, who faces federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, has been accused in civil court of raping and drugging people. He has denied the allegations.In November 2023, the R&B singer Cassie filed a lawsuit against the hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, her former record label head and boyfriend, accusing him of rape, of forcing her to participate in sexual encounters he called “freak-offs” and of ongoing physical abuse for about a decade. Mr. Combs, who is also known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has “vehemently” denied the allegations.Over the following months, more than 20 additional lawsuits were filed against Mr. Combs — including more than half of them after he was indicted on federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution in September. He has pleaded not guilty and remains detained in a Brooklyn jail; the trial is scheduled for May 5.The Lawsuits Against Sean Combs, Known as DiddyOCTOBER 202411 Lawsuits From Anonymous Plaintiffs in federal court in New YorkA legal team led by Tony Buzbee, a personal injury lawyer in Houston who has used a phone hotline, Instagram and a news conference to solicit clients with claims against Mr. Combs, filed six suits alleging sexual assaults from 1995 to 2021, followed by five additional suits alleging sexual assaults from 2000 to 2022.Tony Buzbee, a Houston lawyer, held a news conference to announce he had a large number of individuals with claims against Mr. Combs — and to solicit more.Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle, via Associated PressThe accusations: In two suits from the first batch of filings, women accused Mr. Combs of raping them at parties in New York City; one plaintiff said Mr. Combs raped her in 1995 at a promotional event for a music video by the Notorious B.I.G. Four of the plaintiffs are men, including one who said he was working security at a White Party in the Hamptons in 2006 when Mr. Combs drugged him, pushed him into a van and raped him. Another man accused Mr. Combs of groping his genitals at a 1998 White Party, when the plaintiff was 16. A third man’s suit involves a 2008 encounter in a stockroom at Macy’s, where he said Mr. Combs forced his penis into the plaintiff’s mouth.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More