Who is Sean ‘Diddy' Combs, acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges

Indian Express

13 hours ago

US rapper and music producer Sean 'Diddy' Combs was on Wednesday (July 2) acquitted of the serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, but convicted of transportation for prostitution to participate in his 'freak-offs', or drug-fuelled sex parties.
He now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years, but may ultimately serve a shorter prison term. He has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, since his arrest last September. However, Judge Arun Subramaniam ordered Combs to remain in detention until his sentencing. While the judge proposed October 3 as a sentencing date, Combs' lawyers have sought an expedited schedule and will meet again on July 8, the BBC reported.
Combs was accused of heading a criminal enterprise with some of his closest employees, who allegedly used threats, coercive tactics, outright violence, bribery and other crimes to force his ex-girlfriend Cassandra 'Cassie' Ventura, and a woman identified as 'Jane', to participate in his 'freak-offs' with male escorts. His lawyers claimed that the sexual acts were consensual, that Combs' accusers were suing him for financial gain, and that he stood to be disadvantaged by the media trial given his public status.
Music producer who enjoyed the limelight
Sean Combs is a music mogul who dominated the hip-hop scene in the 1990s and 2000s, and is credited with helping bring it to the mainstream today. The 56-year-old rapper was reportedly nicknamed 'Puff' as a child as he would 'huff and puff' while throwing a tantrum.
His first single, 'Can't Nobody Hold Me Down,' was released in the aftermath of the killing of the famous rapper, The Notorious B.I.G. It stayed at Number 1 for six weeks, raising anticipation for the associated album. Titled 'No Way Out,' it debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and earned him Grammy wins for 'Best Rap Album' and 'Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group'.
Combs is credited with launching musicians like Usher and Mary J Blige through his record label, Bad Boy Records. As a rapper and producer, he has used the stage names Puff Daddy, P Diddy and Diddy over the decades, and collaborated with artists like Nelly, Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Lil Kim, Pharrell and The Weeknd to chart-topping success. In 2008, he became the first male rapper to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He has also ventured into other businesses, like fashion, vodka and television, to amass a portfolio valued by Forbes at $1 billion in 2022. His clothing line Sean John, launched in 1998, enjoyed critical and commercial success, which a 2023 GQ article valued at $525 million in annual sales.
Combs once famously likened himself to Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of the 1925 novel 'The Great Gatsby', who was known for hosting extravagant parties and rose from poverty to become incredibly wealthy. Combs hosted parties that were attended by the wealthy and influential, featuring guests such as Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Justin Bieber, Donald Trump, Salman Rushdie and Leonardo DiCaprio. The so-called 'White Parties' featured a white dress code for all in attendance, and were coveted by artists and businesspeople alike who sought to mingle. The parties also helped to boost Combs' personal profile.
His former publicist, Rob Shuter, told the BBC that Combs was obsessed with power and desired fame. 'He was just figuring out that how he could get the most attention was to become the party king of New York,' Shuter said. 'The reason he was such a superstar is because all he thinks about is Diddy. From the minute he wakes up until the minute he goes to bed.'
Combs had several run-ins with the law over the years. In 1999, he was first charged with assault for beating up a music producer, a case that was dropped following a public apology. He was allegedly involved in a public altercation and a shootout in a nightclub with his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez. In the resulting case, he was cleared of charges of gun possession and bribery, but his protege, Jamal 'Shyne' Barrow, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for assault, gun possession and reckless endangerment. Barrow, who was deported to Belize at the end of his term, alleged in April 2024 that he was the 'fall guy' and had taken the blame to keep Combs out of jail.
While several women anonymously accused Combs of sexual assault and coercion over the years, he was able to settle these cases outside court. All that changed when his ex-girlfriend, Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura, sued him in November 2023.
Ventura's lawsuit alleged among other things, rape, sexual assault, sex trafficking, sexual battery and human trafficking. It accused him of physically assaulting her and coercing her into drug-induced sexual encounters with hired men. Having met him as a 19-year-old in 2005, she alleged that he exerted complete control over her life and decisions for the next decade. Combs allegedly resorted to multiple intimidation tactics, even blowing up the car of the man she dated while the two were on a break.
Combs denied all the allegations and settled the lawsuit out of court for $20 million the very next day. However, in May 2024, CNN released a graphic hotel surveillance video from 2016, which showed Combs stopping Cassie from leaving the premises by physically overpowering and even kicking her. A day later, Combs offered a public apology.
Following Cassie's testimony, two more women stepped forward in November 2023 to accuse Combs of rape, with one survivor reportedly aged 17 at the time of her encounter, The New York Times reported. Two more women came forward in May and September 2024, accusing him of sustained sexual abuse and physical violence for years.
Ventura was the star witness in the federal case brought against him last year, which presented him as the bigwig at the helm of a racketeering conspiracy using a changing set of staff to help him commit crimes. The case relied on accounts by Ventura and 'Jane' of forced sex under the influence of drugs in hotels countrywide. These accounts recounted the extensive use of party drugs like MDMA or Ecstasy.
Both women claimed that Combs directed the women to use baby oil and engage in sex with the escorts, while he watched. Credence to these claims was lent by the recovery of 200 bottles of the oil from Combs' Los Angeles home in March 2024 by federal investigators from Homeland Security. The NYT reported that jurors saw video clips of the sexual encounters, while they remain hidden from the public eye.
Combs' legal team claimed that the federal case, alleging sex trafficking and racketeering, was an overreach, while they acknowledged the domestic violence against Ventura. 'Domestic violence is not sex trafficking,' Combs' attorney Teny Geragos argued in May.