Diddy trial: Jury to keep deliberating after deadlocking on most serious charge
At around 16:30 EDT on Tuesday (20:30 GMT), the jury announced they had reached a verdict on four of the five counts, after two days of deliberations. Judge Arun Subramanian heard arguments from both the prosecution and the defence on how to proceed, before urging the jurors to keep trying. The prosecution urged the judge to use an Allen charge, which is a set of instructions given to a hung jury to press its members to reach a unanimous decision.Allen charges are controversial, as some believe they can put undue pressure on juries, forcing them to change their stances or cave to peer pressure - especially when their opinion is in the minority.The foreperson eventually sent a note to the judge saying the jury had finished for the day.They will return on Wednesday, and could potentially continue on 3 July - when the court is normally closed ahead of the 4 July public holiday. Over the past two months, the jury has heard from 34 witnesses, including ex-girlfriends, former employees of Mr Combs, male escorts and federal agents. The defendant, who has also gone by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, and Brother Love, is a well-known figure in the music industry. In 2023, he released his fifth record The Love Album: Off The Grid and earned his first solo nomination at the Grammy awards. He also was named a Global Icon at the MTV Awards.
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The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
New York City doctor pleads guilty to sexually abusing patients in hospital
A New York City doctor charged with raping or otherwise sexually abusing several hospital patients and acquaintances has pleaded guilty. Zhi Alan Cheng, a gastroenterologist, acknowledged filming assaults in his apartment and the hospital where he had previously worked, New York-Presbyterian Queens, state prosecutors said in a statement on Monday after his guilty plea. He is expected to receive a 24-year prison sentence from Queens supreme court justice Ushir Pandit Durant at a hearing tentatively set for 28 August. 'The level of violence and perversion displayed by Zhi Alan Cheng in sexually abusing multiple victims is compounded by the fact that he took an oath to do no harm as a medical professional,' said a statement attributed to local district attorney Melinda Katz. The guilty plea resulted from one of several prosecutions of prominent physicians in New York and other parts of the US on allegations they violated patients in medical settings. As prosecutors put it, authorities arrested Cheng on 27 December 2022 on allegations that he had raped a woman whom he knew at his apartment. That woman discovered videos depicting her and other women being assaulted by Cheng, and an attorney of the survivor approached Queens prosecutors with that information. An ensuing investigation led to the seizure of numerous devices containing videos of Cheng sexually abusing unconscious women who were his patients or over at his apartment. Investigators also seized recreational drugs – fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, LSD and MDMA – as well as powerful medical sedatives, including propofol and sevoflurane. In August 2023, prosecutors obtained a 50-count criminal indictment charging Cheng, who had been held without bail since his arrest. He faced additional charges in an indictment handed up against him in March 2024 after another hospital-related victim came forward. Ultimately, Cheng, 35, pleaded guilty to four counts of rape and three counts of sexual abuse, all in the first degree. He also entered what is known as an Alford plea to one count of sexual abuse, which means he maintained his innocence on that charge but conceded overwhelming evidence against him would probably get him convicted at a trial. Four of the survivors involved in the case against Cheng were described as hospital victims, prosecutors said. The rest, prosecutors said, were described as apartment victims. 'I thank the brave victim who initially came forward and exposed this abuse,' Katz remarked in her statement. 'We hope the guilty plea allows all the victims to continue to heal.' Authorities have said that the hospital which had employed Cheng cooperated in the case against the disgraced doctor. 'As caregivers, we are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of our patients. It is a sacred trust. The crimes committed by this individual are heinous, despicable, and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and the patients' trust. We are deeply sorry for all that the victims and their families have endured,' New York-Presbyterian hospital spokesperson Angela Karafazli said in a statement. News of the charges against Cheng came about two weeks after former Manhattan obstetrician-gynecologist Robert Hadden had been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for sexually abusing numerous patients. Back then, Cheng's attorney, Jeffrey Lichtman, said he recognized 'how serious the charges' against his client were. Lichtman on Monday thanked prosecutors for his client's plea agreement and said: 'The charges to which Mr Cheng has pleaded guilty today are extraordinarily serious.' The Associated Press contributed reporting
The Sun
40 minutes ago
- The Sun
Diddy could learn fate TODAY as jury to decide on last racketeering charge against shamed star in sex trafficking trial
SEAN "Diddy" Combs could learn his fate today after jurors reached a split verdict in the federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial. The courtroom received a letter from the jury at around 4:05 pm on Tuesday, informing the judge that jurors had reached a verdict on four of the five counts. 4 4 4 4 The note said the jury reached a verdict on counts 2-5, which are the sex trafficking and transportation for engaging in prostitution charges. However, it also indicated that jurors were unable to agree unanimously on count 1 - the racketeering conspiracy charge. Judge Arun Subramanian ruled to give the jury more time to deliberate over the deadlocked charge after receiving proposals from the prosecution and the defense on how to move forward with the split verdict. Moments later, the judge dismissed the jury for the day and instructed them to continue their deliberation on count one on Wednesday morning. If agreed by the jurors unanimously, the full verdict could be announced in the courtroom today. Combs faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence if convicted of either prostitution charge, and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of either sex trafficking count. He faces a life sentence if convicted on the racketeering conspiracy charge. In closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the "leader of a criminal enterprise" who used his expansive "wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted." "He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law," Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said. "It was his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him." The core evidence of the prosecution's case was the disturbing and graphic nature of the drug-fueled "freak-offs" that at times Combs allegedly coerced his ex-girlfriends to participate in with male escorts. Slavik described to jurors how Combs forced his former lovers Cassandra "Cassie" Ventura and " Jane" into participating in the punishing sex marathons and with the help of an inner circle of "loyal lieutenants" covered up the alleged crimes. Ventura and Jane were sometimes required to perform the lewd acts, which were also called "hotel nights and wild king nights," while they were hurting from urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to prosecutors. Ventura testified that the choreographed encounters, which she said were directed by Combs, could last days, with the longest she ever participated in being four days. On the other hand, Combs' defense team slammed the prosecution's case as an attack on "your bedroom" and one's sex life. 'They go into the man's bedroom. They go into the man's most private life. Where is the crime scene? The crime scene is your private sex life. That's the crime scene," Marc Agnifilo, Combs' lead defense attorney, said during closing arguments. Agnifilo summarized the seven-week trial as a "tale of two trials," arguing one side is the one told by the evidence of the case, by witnesses, videos, and text messages, and the other was a "badly, badly, exaggerated" story told by prosecutors. The defense attorney argued the sexual encounters involving Combs, Ventura, "Jane," and male escorts were consensual, and called the "freak-offs," which were sometimes video recorded, "homemade porn." "You want to call it swingers, you want to call it threesomes, whatever you want to call it, that is what it is - that's what the evidence shows," Agnifilo told the jury. "He did what he did. But he's going to fight to the death to defend himself from what he didn't do.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
China's Huawei must face US criminal charges, judge rules
NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday rejected Huawei Technologies' bid to dismiss most of a federal indictment accusing the Chinese telecommunications company of trying to steal technology secrets from U.S. rivals, and misleading banks about its work in Iran. In a 52-page decision, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn found sufficient allegations in the 16-count indictment that Huawei engaged in racketeering to expand its brand, stole trade secrets from six companies, and committed bank fraud. The Iran accusations stemmed from Huawei's alleged control of Skycom, a Hong Kong company that did business in that country. Donnelly said prosecutors satisfactorily alleged Skycom "operated as Huawei's Iranian subsidiary and ultimately stood to benefit, in a roundabout way," from more than $100 million of money transfers through the U.S. financial system. Huawei has pleaded not guilty and had sought to dismiss 13 of the 16 counts, calling itself "a prosecutorial target in search of a crime." A trial is scheduled for May 4, 2026, and could last several months. Neither Huawei nor its lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Interim U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella in Brooklyn declined to comment. The criminal case began during U.S. President Donald Trump's first term in 2018, the same year the Department of Justice launched its China Initiative to address Beijing's alleged theft of intellectual property. Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, whose father founded the company, had been a defendant, and was detained in Canada for nearly three years before being allowed to return to China. Charges against her were dismissed in 2022. In 2022, President Joe Biden's administration scrapped the China Initiative, after critics said it amounted to racial profiling and caused fear that chilled scientific research. Based in Shenzhen, Huawei operates in more than 170 countries and has about 208,000 employees. The U.S. government has restricted Huawei's access to American technology since 2019, citing national security concerns. Huawei denies it is a threat. The case is U.S. v. Huawei Technologies Co et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 18-cr-00457.
