NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted of trafficking women for sex and a decadeslong RICO conspiracy on Wednesday and convicted on two lesser counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

The stunning verdict marked a victory for the Bad Boy Records co-founder, who could have faced a life sentence on the more serious charges. He now faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the two counts he was convicted of.

Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, immediately asked the court to let his client walk out of the courthouse on a $1 million bond to await sentencing under house arrest, saying Combs “would be nothing short of a fool” to violate the conditions of his potential release.

“He treasures, I assure you, the opportunity that he has been given and he will not run afoul of anything this court imposes on him,” Agnifilo told Manhattan Federal Judge Arun Subramanian.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey objected to the proposal, citing “serious conduct” in the charges on which Combs was convicted.

The judge said he would consider submissions from both sides and rule later Wednesday.

The eight men and four women who deliberated the case against Combs returned their verdict in Manhattan Federal Court after 13 hours in the jury room. Combs made a prayer gesture after the verdict was read, signaling his thanks to the jury. After the court adjourned, his family members and supporters in the gallery broke out into applause.

The 55-year-old Combs has been jailed since his September 2024 arrest, having failed to convince multiple judges to release him on a $50 million bond.

The jury heard from 34 witnesses over approximately seven weeks of testimony who alleged that the disgraced multimillionaire rap producer ran his empire with an iron fist, brutalizing women at sordid sex parties and terrorizing anyone who crossed him with help from a network of high-ranking staff and unlimited funds.

The hip-hop mogul’s ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura spent four days on the stand, alleging he had subjected her to violent abuse and sexual exploitation throughout their 11-year relationship — forcing her to participate in hundreds of drug-fueled, demeaning sexual performances with male escorts that lasted for days, which he called “freak-offs.”

“This entire criminal process started when our client Cassie Ventura had the courage to file her civil complaint in November 2023,” Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor said in a statement Wednesday. “Although the jury did not find Combs guilty of sex trafficking Cassie beyond a reasonable doubt, she paved the way for a jury to find him guilty of transportation to engage in prostitution. By coming forward with her experience, Cassie has left an indelible mark on both the entertainment industry and the fight for justice.

“She displayed unquestionable strength and brought attention to the realities of powerful men in our orbit and the misconduct that has persisted for decades without repercussion,” he added. “This case proved that change is long overdue.”

A woman who testified anonymously under the pseudonym “Jane” alleged Combs had coerced her into the vile performances in the years leading to her arrest. Like Ventura, the single mom said he threatened to leave her financially destitute and ruin her reputation when she tried to assert herself.

The jury’s verdict found Combs guilty of transporting people for prostitution in relation to claims by Ventura and Jane, but rejected the women were trafficked for sex.

A former assistant of Combs who testified anonymously as “Mia” said the rapper and producer had raped and sexually assaulted her during her decade working for him and that he, in essence, jailed her at his properties. In finding Combs not guilty of racketeering conspiracy, the jury rejected that Mia was subjected to forced labor, an underlying offense that was part of the top charge.

Another element of the RICO count was kidnapping, relating to testimony from former Combs aide Capricorn Clark, who alleged he had kidnapped her in late 2011 armed with a gun before breaking into Kid Cudi’s Hollywood Hills home, weeks before the “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper’s Porsche was blown up in his driveway.

The jury heard Combs’ security guards and long-serving staff were critical in keeping his victims compliant and setting up hotel rooms and various locations for the marathon sex sessions. Ventura said they monitored her at hotels and Combs’ properties when he kept her hidden away while she was healing from injuries he inflicted.

The producer, who launched the careers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, declined to testify in his own defense or call any additional witnesses. His lawyers maintained throughout the trial that while he had beaten women, freak-offs were consensual events and that his staff were not members of a criminal syndicate but employed for legitimate business purposes.

Prosecutors, in closing, told jurors the fact that while Combs’ victims may have sometimes consented to freak-offs, it didn’t mean they did so every time. The panel heard graphic testimony from Ventura and Jane about being forced into dehumanizing performances after facing brutal beatings by Combs.

“What we’re talking about is being in a dark hotel room, awake for days, covered in oil, wearing 8-inch heels, often with a UTI, having your pelvic area sore, sitting in the same position for hours, performing oral sex for hours, having sex for hours, including with strangers; having unprotected sex with stranger after stranger, a rotation of men for days,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey said in her Friday rebuttal.

“The defense wants you to believe that Cassie and Jane wanted that — or were willing to go along with it,” the prosecutor continued. “That’s ridiculous on its face.”

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