Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been sent back to jail after being found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The 55-year-old rapper was given a mixed verdict by a jury on Wednesday (02.07.25), who found him guilty of two charges that carry a combined sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
Combs, who has been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center for nearly 10 months, was cleared of the most serious charges he faced — including racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking — following a dramatic trial that concluded after 13 hours of jury deliberation.
He had pleaded for leniency in court, requesting to be released so he could return to Florida and care for his mother.
The judge denied the request, and Combs now awaits sentencing.
Combs’ trial, held behind closed doors with no cameras allowed in the courtroom, centred on allegations the rapper ran what prosecutors described as a criminal enterprise involving sexual coercion and violence.
Cassandra Ventura, known professionally as Cassie, testified as the star witness against Combs.
The 38-year-old, who dated Combs for over a decade, alleged she was repeatedly abused, drugged and forced into orchestrated sex acts, known as “Freak offs”, involving male escorts while Combs watched.
Testifying while eight-and-a-half months pregnant, Cassie told the court: “Within the first year of our relationship Sean proposed to me this idea — this sexual encounter that he called voyeurism — where he’d watch me in sexual activity with a third party, specifically another man.”
She added: “It entails hiring of an escort, and… setting up this experience so that I could perform for Sean.”
The jury was shown surveillance footage from a California hotel in 2016 in which Combs was seen kicking and dragging Ventura by her hair.
He was not charged with domestic violence, but the video became a central piece of evidence during the trial.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik said: “The evidence will show the sexual conduct at issue in this case was coercive and criminal because the defendant made women have sex when they didn’t want to.”
She argued Combs “groomed” his victims, drugged them, and used violence to maintain control.
Prosecutor Emily Anne Johnson told jurors: “This case is not about a celebrity’s private sexual preferences.”
Despite this, the jury did not convict Combs of racketeering or sex trafficking, instead finding him guilty only of transporting individuals across state lines for prostitution.
But Combs will remain in jail until his sentencing later this year after a judge refused his request to be released on bail.
