The Diddy trial and verdict explained
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Five charges, seven weeks, 34 witnesses, 13 hours of jury deliberation.

There was tension in the courtroom. The lawyers were moving around. Combs was praying. The family was praying. And then we sat down and we immediately heard from the judge that there was a verdict. Three counts not guilty, two counts guilty. Sean Combs seemed absolutely jubilant in that courtroom. When the verdict came down, as soon as those not guilty started coming in, he was shaking his fists under the table. He turned around to his family too. I saw him and he mouthed what looked like, I'm coming home. It's the Diddy trial and verdict.

I'm William Lee Adams, and this is What in the World from the BBC World Service. We're going to talk you through the biggest moments in court and explain the verdict. And we're also going to ask what happens next for Diddy. Before we get into it, let's remind you how big of a deal Diddy is. I think Puff Daddy's always been that one person that like, it doesn't matter your cousin, your mother, your grandmother, your great grandmother will still know who Sean Puffy Combs is.

In 1993, Diddy, real name Sean Combs, started a record label called Bad Boy Records, and Biggie Smalls was the first artist he signed. After Biggie died, Diddy released his debut album under the name Puff Daddy. It was called No Way Out, and it included massive global hits like Can't Nobody Hold Me Down and I'll Be Missing You. That was the first hip-hop single to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

He's credited with bringing hip-hop into the mainstream. Mark Anthony Neal is Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Duke University in the U.S. He was hip-hop's most effective hype man in the early 1990s as hip-hop moved from the ghettos here in the United States to the mainstream of America, to a global mainstream.

That happened in large part because of the willingness of Sean Combs to sell the culture to the masses. Diddy signed Mary J. Blige and Usher and later made loads of brand deals. He founded the TV channel Revolt and his own clothing brand, Sean John. His most recent album, the love album Off the Grid, was released in 2023 and it was nominated for a Grammy.

So how did we get to this point where he's being found guilty of transportation for prostitution? And what even is that? Well, it all started with his ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, known as Cassie, who's a singer and model. She sued Sean Combs in a civil lawsuit back in 2023 and accused him of coercing her to attend parties known as freak-offs, drug-fueled, days-long sexual performances which Combs allegedly filmed for his own pleasure.

She also accused Combs of sexual assault and rape. Combs strenuously denied the allegations and accused Cassie of extortion. They settled the case for an undisclosed amount a day after it was filed. But lots more lawsuits followed after this, many of which are still ongoing. And in September 2024, he was arrested and charged by police.

In a previous episode, we spoke to the BBC's Anushka Mutanda-Dharedi, host of the Diddy on Trial podcast, who explained the charges he was facing. One count sex trafficking, one count transportation for prostitution, and one count racketeering with conspiracy. Now, most people know about sex trafficking and transportation for prostitution. RICO?

You may have heard it in rap songs. It's a bit of a confusing charge. It's basically the charge that took down the mob or it was originated, created to take down organised criminal activity and it allows prosecutors to tie together different bits of criminal activity and say, OK, well you stole this car over here and you sold drugs over there. Actually, they're

all linked as part of this broader criminal enterprise. And the prosecution are alleging that Diddy ran a criminal enterprise. The prosecution also referred to the freak-offs. So they say he had these freak-offs, which were these days-long orgies where people were performing sexual acts. They say they found a thousand bottles of baby oil in the raids that they performed on his homes.

What Diddy is defining it as is days-long sexual encounters, consensual sexual encounters, but the victims define as atmospheres where they were sort of trapped and forced to perform sexual acts with prostitutes, being filmed, and under the influence of drugs that they were given. Combs pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. His lawyer described the freak-offs as consensual. The trial started in May. Anushka, who you just heard from, sat through all of it.

We asked her to tell us about some of the moments that stuck with her. I constantly talk about this one, but Diddy's former assistant, George Kaplan, referring to him as a god amongst men, with a straight face, not said, that was not satire. Other moments, of course, Cassie's testimony was extremely impactful. I grew up listening to Cassie. We all know who she is. We all know her songs. But then she got on that stand and she told what is her side of the story in her own words.

And that was, of course, impactful, insightful, and something that I'm never going to forget, especially because she was so heavily pregnant at the time. As well as Cassie, two other women gave evidence about the coercion, abuse, and assault they say they'd endured by Diddy. His lawyers argued his domestic violence was driven by jealousy and drug addiction, and that his sexual activities were his private business and didn't amount to sex trafficking.

Former employees testified about procuring drugs and lubricant for Sean Combs. Mail escorts talked about how they'd been paid to have sex with Cassie whilst Combs watched. The defense only lasted 30 minutes, and Sean Combs didn't give evidence. And then, after 13 hours of deliberations by the jury, there was a verdict. Here's Anoushka again. It is not guilty on count one, racketeering with conspiracy. That's the big one. That's where he was facing life in prison. It

It is not guilty on count two that is sex trafficking in relation to Cassie Ventura, his former romantic partner. It is guilty on count three, transportation for prostitution in relation to Cassie. It is not guilty on count four, sex trafficking in relation to Jane, who's using a pseudonym to protect her identity.

It is guilty on count five, transportation for prostitution involving Jane. Now when it was read out in the courtroom Diddy kept his head down, there wasn't much emotion for him in but afterwards he got on his knees, he put his head in the chair in front of him and he began to pray while his defense lawyers patted him on the back, they were high-fiving and hugging each other. Make no mistake, although he is guilty on two counts, the transportation for prostitution counts, this is a victory for Diddy's defense team. Them getting him acquitted of the big

the biggest counts, racketeering, that is a huge accusation. Him being acquitted of that and sex trafficking is a massive victory for them. In simple terms, it means the jury found Combs guilty of transporting Cassie and the anonymous woman known as Jane to places where they would participate in sex acts and prostitution.

So how is this verdict being perceived? This trial has had huge media coverage, with big TV networks and influencers turning up to the court each day. Part of this has been a battle over the narrative. Here's Cassie's lawyer. You know, we're pleased that Cassie's brought to light

Everything that has happened in this trial, I just spoke with her. And she's in a good place. She's pleased that, again, that the jury has found him guilty of two federal crimes. And here's Diddy's lawyer. Today's a great victory. It's a great victory for Sean Combs. It's a great victory for the jury system. We had a wonderful jury. They listened to every word.

And they got the situation right, or certainly right enough. Why was he found not guilty of the more serious crimes? Criminal defense attorney Sean Kent thinks it comes down to the text messages. Well, don't forget to prove, and first let's go with the sex trafficking. To prove sex trafficking, they must prove coercion. It's not that they must prove coercion specifically from sex.

Cassie's eyes, but they also must prove it from Diddy's eyes. And if you go and you look through all of the text messages, there was a give and take that I enjoyed these things. I love these things. These things were fun for me. And so there was a question back and forth, I think possibly from the jury that they would say, how would this defendant have known she wasn't into it if she wasn't texting how much she liked it back and forth? I thought a lot of her text messages

hurt them. Now, a lot of her testimony was emotional. A lot of her testimony was very strong. A lot of her testimony was credible. But there was also parts of her testimony that you could look at and say,

She gave as much as she got. She herself signed off for a lot of the freak-offs. Given his lawyers acknowledged instances of domestic abuse in the trial, one question I had was, why didn't the charges relate to that? I asked Rihanna Croxford, a BBC investigations correspondent who's been covering the case. The reason why a domestic violence charge wasn't brought is simply because of time. Too many years had passed since the alleged violence took place.

Some of the most significant examples in this case were from Cassandra Ventura, who dated Combs from around 2007 until 2018. It was during this time that video footage showed her being assaulted in a hotel hallway. Under US law and in New York, where Combs' trial took place, domestic violence charges can only be brought within two years of the alleged incident.

It's what's known as the statute of limitations, the legal deadline for which a claim can be brought to court. In comparison, racketeering charges have a time limit of five years and sex trafficking claims can be brought within 10 years. So US prosecutors could only bring charges within the scope of the laws available.

So what next for Diddy? Diddy's just so legendary and I think at this point his image is tainted. And when you think of Diddy now, you think of the baby oil. You know, I think Diddy's reputation as an artist will be forever sullied by this in the public eye. The judge denied him bail. That means he has to go back to prison to wait for the judge to sentence him, which at the moment is scheduled to take place on October the 3rd. His lawyers are trying to bring that date forward.

Legal experts think his sentence is likely to be a prison sentence of months or years, but the judge will also take into account the 10 months he's already spent in prison. Sean Combs also still has over 60 civil lawsuits to deal with. A lot of his business ventures had folded before he got arrested.

Interestingly, Diddy's music saw a roughly 20% boost in U.S. streaming between April and May 2025. That's his biggest monthly spike this year, according to Luminate, which tracks streaming data. The jump in numbers coincided with key moments in the trial. And what about the hip-hop industry more generally? This is the view of someone who was outside the New York courthouse on Thursday. I have a deep

deep connection to hip-hop. I interned in the music industry and I saw firsthand how wild it can be. I feel that it's time now. The verdict is a wake-up call to address the whole industry. It's not just Puff. It's a bunch of music execs, interns, artists that are

are behind that blue wall of silence and they need to come forward and speak so we can better the music and better the industry. The verdict is a wake-up call for the music industry. And here's Mark Anthony Neal again, being interviewed by the BBC. You know, the reality is that for whatever misogyny and patriarchy gets expressed within hip-hop, hip-hop is not an outlier. You know, patriarchy and misogyny, at least in the U.S. context, is as American as U.S. context.

That being said, you know, there have often been the attempts and really, you know, pretty sustained over the last 25 years to

to hold hip-hop accountable for its representation of women. Sexist, misogynist. The Me Too moment really was a different moment because it caused us to really think about how practices were occurring within the industry and relationships that were problematic. So in this case, Sean Combs is kind of a reckoning that's occurring within Black pop culture and hip-hop culture in particular.

That's it for today. You've been listening to me, William Lee Adams, on What in the World from the BBC World Service. If you've got an opinion on the trial or the verdict, we'd love to hear from you. You can get in touch on WhatsApp or Instagram. Details are in the show notes. And if you're interested in learning more about the trial and the upcoming sentencing, just search for Diddy on Trial wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

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