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Sean “Diddy Combs was convicted of a prostitution-related offense but acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s most celebrated figures behind bars for life.
The mixed result came on the third day of deliberations. It could still send Combs, 55, to prison for as long as a decade, and is likely to end his career as a hitmaking music executive, fashion entrepreneur, brand ambassador and reality TV star.
Combs sat with his head down as the jury headed back into the courtroom.
The verdict comes a day after the panel of eight men and four women told U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian they were hung up on the racketeering conspiracy charge, which is the most complicated charge in the trial and carries a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking — relating to two of his ex-girlfriends — and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for allegedly arranging to fly sex workers across state lines.
Combs was found not guilty of counts 1, 2 and 4. Below we explain the counts and what they mean.
THE COUNTS EXPLAINED
COUNT ONE: RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY | NOT GUILTY
This is the main count and the one that the jury was having difficulty reaching a verdict for just a day before. The federal racketeering conspiracy, also known as RICO.
Racketeering conspiracy is the most complicated charge in the trial and carries a potential maximum sentence of life in prison.
The sex trafficking charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.
The prosecution alleges there was a racketeering conspiracy involving Combs’ personal assistants, bodyguards and other employees.
When it comes to the racketeering conspiracy count, prosecutors are not required to prove that the alleged criminal enterprise was actually established, but only that the accused alongside others conspired or agreed to participate in an enterprise.
The theory of racketeering law is that when someone commits a crime as part of a group “they’re more powerful and dangerous,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said during the trial. “The defendant was a very powerful man, but he became more powerful and dangerous because of the support of his inner circle and his businesses — the enterprise.”
Combs and his inner circle “committed hundreds of racketeering acts,” she said.
Combs’ lawyers contend there was no racketeering conspiracy because no employees agreed to join any conspiracy.
During the trial, Slavik said that’s wrong, and that Combs’ employees repeatedly agreed to commit crimes for him, including delivering him drugs; accompanying him to kidnap his personal assistant; and locking Cassie in a hotel room after he stomped on her face.
The charge falls under RICO — the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — which is best known for being used in organized crime and drug cartel cases.
COUNT TWO: SEX TRAFFICKING OF CASANDRA VENTURA | NOT GUILTY
“Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age,” according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Combs “again and again forced, threatened and manipulated” his ex-girlfriends Cassie and Jane into “having sex with escorts for his own entertainment,” Slavik said during the trial.
The prosecutor said Combs forced or coerced Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, and Jane, who testified under a pseudonym, to engage in days-long sex marathons known as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights” with drugs, violence, or by threatening financial harm or the release of video recordings of some of the hundreds of encounters.
“He knew exactly what he was doing. That is sex trafficking,” Slavik told the jury, adding that Combs was “knowingly using force and coercion to get Cassie back to that room where the escort was waiting.”
COUNT THREE: MANN ACT TRANSPORTATION — CASANDRA VENTURA | GUILTY
The third count pertains to the Mann Act—a federal law that criminalizes the transportation of “any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, prostitution, or any other immoral purpose.”
Prosecutors say Combs coerced two girlfriends, including Cassie, into drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers, at various locations.
Transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
COUNT FOUR: SEX TRAFFICKING OF JANE | NOT GUILTY
COUNT FIVE: MANN ACT TRANSPORTATION — JANE | GUILTY
The fourth and fifth counts are the same as the previous two but pertain to Diddy’s alleged acts against a woman whose name was not released by the court and is simply known as “Jane.”
Similar as the counts involving Cassie, Diddy was found not guilty of sex trafficking but guilty of the Mann Act when it comes to Jane. As in the third count — which he was found guilty of — transportation to engage in prostitution carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
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