A jury reached a partial verdict on Tuesday in the sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs but failed to agree on the most serious charge of racketeering.
In a note to Judge Arun Subramanian, the jury stated it had reached verdicts on counts 2 through 5 but remained deadlocked on count 1, the racketeering charge.
“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 read.
Judge Subramanian instructed the jury to resume deliberations on the racketeering charge but dismissed them for the day, asking them to return on Wednesday.
Count One accuses Combs of leading a criminal organisation that allegedly forced women into coercive sex marathons with escorts. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The other charges include two counts of sex trafficking and two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution.
Combs’s downfall began when his former partner of 11 years, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit alleging severe sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Though that case settled out of court for $20 million, it sparked a wave of civil suits and, eventually, criminal charges.
The seven-week trial featured disturbing testimony from two women who claimed they were forced into lurid sex parties. Former employees described violent outbursts, while jurors reviewed thousands of pages of phone records, financial data, and video evidence.
Prosecutors alleged that Combs led a criminal enterprise of senior staff who existed to serve his personal desires. The charges include forced labour, drug trafficking, kidnapping, bribery, witness tampering, and arson.
However, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo argued that none of the alleged co-conspirators had testified against Combs or been charged alongside him. He claimed the prosecution relied on witnesses who had received immunity from prosecution.
To convict on the racketeering charge, the jury must unanimously agree that Combs conspired with others to commit at least two of the eight predicate offences.
The jury, consisting of eight men and four women, must reach a unanimous verdict on each count.
Combs is charged with sex trafficking Ventura and another woman, known by the pseudonym “Jane.” Both had long-term relationships with him and provided graphic testimony of coercion, abuse, and intimidation.
While Combs’s defence admitted he had struck his partners at times, they argued that such acts of domestic violence did not amount to sex trafficking or racketeering.
Agnifilo dismissed the prosecution’s portrayal of Combs as a violent and manipulative figure, insisting instead that he was a “self-made, successful Black entrepreneur” involved in consensual but complicated relationships.
He questioned the credibility of both women’s accounts and suggested they made their own choices as adults.
In closing arguments, however, prosecutors described the defence’s approach as a distortion of the truth.
Prosecutor Maurene Comey stated: “By the time the defendant committed his clearest-cut crimes, he was so far over the line, he couldn’t even see it anymore.”
She added, “The defendant believed he was untouchable. He never imagined the women he abused would dare to speak out. But that ends in this courtroom. The defendant is not a god.”