Sean 'Diddy' Combs Net Worth as Trial Starts
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Sean "Diddy" Combs' long-awaited criminal trial began today with jury selection as the rap mogul faces charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Once considered one of the wealthiest artists in the music industry, Combs' financial status has become less clear amid mounting legal troubles and public backlash.
Why It Matters
Combs' financial decline comes amid what is one of the highest-profile criminal trials in the entertainment industry. He is facing life in prison if convicted. The trial has implications not only for Combs' freedom but for the future of his business interests.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all criminal counts and denies any wrongdoing. Newsweek reached out to Combs representatives for comments.
Sean "Diddy" Combs at a special screening of "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" held on May 16, 2017 at The Curzon Cinema Mayfair in London, England, UK.
Sean "Diddy" Combs at a special screening of "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" held on May 16, 2017 at The Curzon Cinema Mayfair in London, England, UK.
zz/KGC-247/STAR MAX/IPx
What To Know
In 2019, Combs had an estimated net worth of $740 million, according to Forbes. The outlet now estimates that Combs is worth $400 million. The decline follows a series of civil lawsuits, a federal indictment and the sale or diminishment of key assets in his empire.
Combs is the founder of the record label Bad Boy Records. At its peak, the label made $130 million annually, according to Business Insider. He has also made $100 million off his own music, Fortune reported in March 2024.
While Combs has been active in the music industry for decades, it is not his only stream of income. His clothing brand, Sean John, has annual revenues exceeding $525 million, Fortune reported.
In 2007, he entered a partnership with alcoholic beverage company Diageo to increase sales of the Cîroc vodka brand and DeLeón tequila. The agreement included a 50/50 split at the time, but Diageo now owns 100% of Cîroc and DeLeón. It is estimated that Combs made $60 million annually from the deal, according to Fortune.
Combs ventured into acting in the 2010s and signed a $185 million deal to buy cannabis retail stores across the U.S. in November 2022. His Combs Wine & Spirits venture and other licensing deals also played a role in increasing his net worth.
Combs has also profited from Revolt TV, the media company he launched in 2013. He has since sold his stake in Revolt.
Combs owns homes in Florida and California. His Miami Beach mansion is estimated to be worth over $37.4 million. His Los Angeles mansion is currently for sale, listed at $61.5 million.
Federal prosecutors say that from 2004 to 2024, Combs coordinated "freak offs" in which women were allegedly drugged and coerced into sex acts. Combs is also facing dozens of civil lawsuits.
What People Are Saying
Combs, in a 2023 interview with the Associated Press: "My dreams have always been to be successful in music, being obsessed with fashion and the greatest Black serial entrepreneur to ever live."
Combs' attorneys, in an October 2024 statement obtained by CNN: "Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman."
What Happens Next
Opening statements are scheduled for May 12 in Manhattan federal court, and the trial is expected to last eight to 10 weeks.
Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Diddy's ex testified she researched what it means to be a 'cuck' to understand freak offs
Since opening statements, the defense has tried to humanize the unorthodox appetites of Sean Combs. On Tuesday, the defense asked an accuser about her research into a sex fetish central to the trial. "I would use the word 'cuck' for him," she said of Combs' desire to watch her have sex with other men. The defense team for Sean "Diddy" Combs broke new ground on Tuesday in their ongoing efforts to humanize his unorthodox appetites — this time by asking one of his accusers to describe her "research" into the fetish of cuckolding. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights, and what was driving him," the accuser, "Jane," testified when asked by one of Combs' lawyers to describe her research. "I would use the word 'cuck' for him," she said her research led her to conclude. Jane, who is using a pseudonym, is the second ex-girlfriend and sex-trafficking accuser to testify against Combs at his federal trial in Manhattan. She spent Tuesday under a cross-examination that is due to continue on Wednesday and Thursday. Like the trial's first sex-trafficking accuser, R&B artist Cassie Ventura, Jane told the jury that Combs used violence, false promises, and drugs to coerce her into dayslong sessions of sex with male escorts. During these marathon sessions — Ventura called them "freak offs," Jane called them "hotel nights" — Combs would masturbate, make recordings, and give detailed instructions, like, "more baby oil," both women testified. Both Ventura and Jane described complying with these 72-hour threesomes — sometimes more men would be involved — out of love, and financial and emotional dependency. Both said Combs met their protests with scorn and insults, and with threats to withhold his affection and cash. Both described harrowing violence at Combs' hands. Ventura was beaten to the point of injury by Combs more than a dozen times in their on-and-off decadelong relationship, according to multiple witnesses, contemporaneous text messages, and photographs of her bruised face and body. "Is this coercion?" Jane testified that Combs taunted her last year, after a beating that covered her face with bruises. She said he then demanded she hide her welts and black eye with makeup, pop an ecstasy pill, and have sex with an escort, telling her, "you're not going to ruin my fucking night." Part of the defense strategy has been to portray the millionaire music and lifestyle mogul sympathetically, as a business genius who has struggled with mental health issues, drug addiction, and anger. Since the May 12 opening statements, his attorneys have made a point of calling him "Sean," instead of the other names they said he's otherwise known as, such as "Diddy" and "Puff." They have repeatedly asked prosecution witnesses to describe his generosity, including on Jane's first day of cross-examination. For two years, Combs has paid the $10,000 monthly rent on Jane's 5,300 square foot Los Angeles-area home, she testified Tuesday. He also invested $20,000 in her dress design business, she said. "I would assume that it would be close to that," Jane responded when defense lawyer Teny Geragos asked if it were true that Combs had wired her a total of $150,000 in the three years they dated, between 2021 and 2024. Jane being asked to describe her research into "cuckoldry" may be part of a challenging effort to humanize and normalize Combs and his appetites. His lawyers made a point during the cross-examination of his former assistants to highlight Combs' penchant for putting applesauce on his cheeseburgers. Freak offs or hotel nights. which the defense calls consensual, may be presented by the defense as a similar, though more extreme, example of a personal preference — a "lifestyle," as Geragos lightly called it on Tuesday. Geragos pressed Jane for a detailed description of her research into cuckoldry, repeatedly asking, "what else?" and "what were some of the other things" Jane had learned. Only after Jane used the word "bi-curiosity" did the line of questioning end, and the defense lawyer move on. "Cucks could also have a bi-curiosity that they were too ashamed to experience themselves," Jane said her research showed her. "So they use the woman to venture out into this curiosity — without venturing out into this activity themselves," she added. Prosecutors have shown these sex performances in a much darker light than as merely part of an exploration of a "curiosity" or a "lifestyle," calling them coercive and humiliating, as have Ventura and Jane. "I just felt like it was all I was good for to him," testified Ventura. She told jurors that freak offs would leave the walls, couches, and carpets of the hotel suites that Combs rented soiled with baby oil, lubricant, candle wax, blood, and urine. "I just felt pretty horrible about myself," she told jurors. "I felt disgusting." Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Combs' ex accuses him of abuse but says she loves him
An ex-girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs who accuses him of kicking, punching and dragging her has testified at his sex trafficking trial that she still loves the hip-hop mogul. "He was my baby," said the woman, who is testifying under the pseudonym Jane to protect her privacy. Asked under cross-examination by defence lawyer Teny Geragos if she still loves Combs, Jane said, "I do". The woman said she enjoyed taking care of Combs, bathing him and falling asleep with him while watching television after "hotel nights", their phrase for drug-fuelled encounters in which she would have sex with male entertainers while Combs watched. The questioning was part of Combs' strategy to portray Jane as a willing participant in the sexual encounters with him, not a victim of sex trafficking as prosecutors allege. She said she agreed to these "hotel nights" while "under a lot of emotional pressure" - and already hooked on love and a desire to stay in a relationship with Combs. Jane testified that she partook in the encounters, sometimes grudgingly, because they pleased Combs and she enjoyed spending time alone with him afterward. Combs, 55, and the founder of Bad Boy Records, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say Combs used force and threats of cutting off financial support to coerce women into taking part in the encounters, sometimes known as "Freak Offs". Over three days under questioning by prosecutors in Manhattan federal court, Jane said that she agreed to have sex with a male escort in front of Combs early in their relationship but that he later dismissed her requests to stop and threatened to stop paying her rent. On Monday, Jane said Combs kicked, punched and dragged her during an altercation at her Los Angeles home last June. Later that night, he told her to perform oral sex on a male entertainer even though she said she did not want to, Jane said. Under questioning on Tuesday, Jane said she researched the terms "cuck" and "cuckold" during her relationship with Combs to try to understand his desires. The words refer to men who enjoy watching female partners with other men, Jane said. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights and what was driving him," Jane said. Combs' defence lawyers are expected to cross-examine Jane until Thursday. Testimony is in its fifth week. Combs could face life in prison if convicted on all counts. Also known throughout his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs turned artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars, elevating hip-hop in American culture and becoming a billionaire in the process. with AP
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
Diddy's ex testified she researched what it means to be a 'cuck' to understand freak offs
The defense team for Sean "Diddy" Combs broke new ground on Tuesday in their ongoing efforts to humanize his unorthodox appetites — this time by asking one of his accusers to describe her "research" into the fetish of cuckolding. "I just wanted to know why my partner wanted so many of these nights, and what was driving him," the accuser, "Jane," testified when asked by one of Combs' lawyers to describe her "research." "I would use the word 'cuck' for him," she said her research led her to conclude. Jane, who is using a pseudonym, is the second ex-girlfriend and sex-trafficking accuser to testify against Combs at his federal trial in Manhattan. She spent Tuesday under a cross-examination that is due to continue on Wednesday and Thursday. Like the trial's first sex-trafficking accuser, R&B artist Cassie Ventura, Jane told the jury that Combs used violence, false promises, and drugs to coerce her into dayslong sessions of sex with male escorts. During these marathon sessions — Ventura called them "freak offs," Jane called them "hotel nights" — Combs would masturbate, make recordings, and give detailed instructions, like, "more baby oil," both women testified. Both Ventura and Jane described complying with these 72-hour threesomes — sometimes more men would be involved — out of love, and financial and emotional dependency. Both said Combs met their protests with scorn and insults, and with threats to withhold his affection and cash. Both described harrowing violence at Combs' hands. Ventura was beaten to the point of injury by Combs more than a dozen times in their on-and-off decadelong relationship, according to multiple witnesses, contemporaneous text messages, and photographs of her bruised face and body. "Is this coercion?" Jane testified that Combs taunted her last year, after a beating that covered her face with bruises. She said he then demanded she hide her welts and black eye with makeup, pop an ecstasy pill, and have sex with an escort, telling her, "you're not going to ruin my fucking night." Part of the defense strategy has been to portray the millionaire music and lifestyle mogul sympathetically, as a business genius who has struggled with mental health issues, drug addiction, and anger. Since the May 12 opening statements, his attorneys have made a point of calling him "Sean," instead of the other names they said he's otherwise known as, such as "Diddy" and "Puff." They have repeatedly asked prosecution witnesses to describe his generosity, including on Jane's first day of cross-examination. For two years, Combs has paid the $10,000 monthly rent on Jane's 5,300 square foot Los Angeles-area home, she testified Tuesday. He also invested $20,000 in her dress design business, she said. "I would assume that it would be close to that," Jane responded when defense lawyer Teny Geragos asked if it were true that Combs had wired her a total of $150,000 in the three years they dated, between 2021 and 2024. Jane being asked to describe her research into "cuckoldry" may be part of a challenging effort to humanize and normalize Combs and his appetites. His lawyers made a point during the cross-examination of his former assistants to highlight Combs' penchant for putting applesauce on his cheeseburgers. Freak offs or hotel nights. which the defense calls consensual, may be presented by the defense as a similar, though more extreme, example of a personal preference. Geragos made a point during Tuesday's cross of eliciting a detailed description of Jane's research into cuckoldry. Asked to elaborate, Jane said she learned that "Cucks could also have a bi-curiosity that they were too ashamed to experience themselves." She added, "So they use the woman to venture out into this curiosity — without venturing out into this activity themselves." Prosecutors have shown these sex performances in a much darker light, calling them coercive and humiliating, as have Ventura and Jane. "I just felt like it was all I was good for to him," testified Ventura. She told jurors that freak offs would leave the walls, couches, and carpets of the hotel suites that Combs rented soiled with baby oil, lubricant, candle wax, blood, and urine. "I just felt pretty horrible about myself," she told jurors. "I felt disgusting."
