Jury reach verdict in Diddy sex-trafficking trial.A note has been passed to the court saying a verdict has been reached, but we do not yet know what it is
The trial heard from 34 witnesses over nearly two months, including ex-girlfriends, former employees of Combs, male escorts and federal agents
Combs, 55, is charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. He denies all charges. The jury foreperson says they have reached a verdict on four counts.
The counts are: the sex-trafficking of Cassie Ventura; transporting individuals including but not limited to Cassie Ventura to engage in prostitution; sex-trafficking of Jane; transporting individuals including but not limited to Jane to engage in prostitution.
Jane testified under a pseudonym to protect her identity.
The jury cannot reach a verdict on a charge of racketeering conspiracy as jurors on both sides have opinions that are unmovable.Racketeering conspiracy covers a number of alleged crimes in a criminal scheme or enterprise.
The eight acts Sean Combs is accused of that fall under this charge include kidnapping, arson, bribery, witness tampering, forced labour, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution, and possession with intent to distribute drugs.
ABC News
What is the RICO Act and why is Sean Combs charged with violating it?
Prosecutors allege Combs’ business empire concealed a criminal enterprise.
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Racketeering conspiracy charges against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs explainedProsecutors allege that Sean ‘Diddy…Show more
Following six weeks of testimony and two days of closing arguments, the jury in the Sean “Diddy’ Combs trial began their deliberations Monday. Tuesday afternoon, the jury sent a note to Judge Arun Subramanian stating that while they’d reached verdicts on four of the five counts with which Combs is charged, they were unable to reach a verdict on the first count — racketeering conspiracy — prompting the judge to instruct them to continue deliberations.
In charging Combs with racketeering conspiracy to build their criminal case against him, federal prosecutors are employing the legal weapon once used to take down the country’s notorious organized crime families.
In a sweeping indictment that accuses Combs of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, prosecutors allege the same business empire that nearly made Combs a billionaire also enabled him to illegally coerce women into sex and conceal his illicit conduct to protect his reputation.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to every one of the five counts in the indictment: charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. In dramatic fashion, his lawyers argued that Combs may well be a violent man – one who indulges in unconventional sexual conduct, abused illegal drugs and committed domestic violence – but he was not part of a broader criminal organization. This case is about those real-life relationships, and the government is trying to turn those relationships into a racketeering case,” Combs’ attorney, Teny Geragos, told jurors in her opening statement. “The evidence is going to show you a very flawed individual, but it will not show you a racketeer, a sex trafficker, or somebody transporting for prostitution.”
Long removed from the days of using RICO to break the back of the Mafia, federal prosecutors in recent years have used RICO to target a diverse array of criminals: the R&B singer R. Kelly, convicted for sexually exploiting children; NXIVM Leader Keith Raniere, for sex trafficking; and Bill Hwang, the founder of a multi-billion-dollar investment firm now in prison for manipulating the financial markets.
“While it’s typically been used to apply to in the past, to mob and street gangs, it can just as easily be used to apply to a totally otherwise legitimate business,” Rachel Maimin, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who led the largest gang prosecution in New York City history, said of the RICO statute. “These are sort of more innovative, creative, broader uses of racketeering than we’ve seen before.”
Jury reach verdict in Diddy sex-trafficking trial.A note has been passed to the court saying a verdict has been reached, but we do not yet know what it is- ABC
