Sean “Diddy” Combs acquitted of the accusations of rackets and sexual traffic

During a press conference held in May in the oval studio, Donald Trump appeared evasive when he was asked if he would hypothetically grant grace to Sean “Diddy” Combs. “Nobody asked me,” he told journalists, “but I know people are thinking about it.”

Trump said he would examine the facts and that, despite being aware of the Combs statements against him since he entered politics, this would not have influenced his judgment. He reminded the press that he and Combs have known each other for some time, remembering that “I liked it very much”.

In the end, it will probably not be a decision that will have to make. After a process that lasted two months and about 13 hours of resolutionsa Manhattan jury said Combs Not guilty of the accusations of rackets and sexual traffic, the most serious against him. The jurors considered Combs guilty of two indictment of prostitution, relatively minor crimes.

The verdict represents an important victory for Combs. According to the journalists present in court, he raised his fist when reading the verdict. On X, the former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani He described the case as “the most expensive prostitution process in American history”.

Passing as an intern in a record company at the top of the American celebrity, Combs played a decisive role in the development of hip-hop music And the cultural and commercial mechanisms that surround it: fashion, marketing, television and gossip. He and Trump were a natural couple in New York in the 90s and both exploited their relationship as a distinctive sign of their common thirst for conquest.

The verdict concludes an almost total revision of the Combs image. In October 2023, his long -standing ex -girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, He sued him for physical and sexual abuses in a civil complaint so gruesome as to start with a notice of sensitive content. The cause also introduced The term “freak off” – an elaborate sexual performance orchestrated by Combs – As a synonym of the personal life of the magnate, which has long been the subject of study.

While Combs and Ventura quickly reached an agreement, with Combs that at the time did not admit any fault, the wider tumult was already underway. Combs also denied any offense in a series of civil cases intended against him, but He offered the excuses hesitant when they emerged some surveillance shots that showed him while beating Ventura in the corridor of a hotel. Ventura was the key witness in the criminal proceeding by federal prosecutors against Combs, and the aggression played a leading role in their thesis according to which the “Freak offs” of Combs, described by the defense lawyers as a life choice, were actually the result of a violent coercion.

cmentre walked back and forth in front of the jury during his final harangue, The Combs lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, admitted that his client had physically abused Ventura. “We recognize domestic violence,” he said. But Combs “did not do the things he is accused,” continued Agnifilo. “He has not kidnapped anyone, he did not hinder justice, he has not corrupted anyone.”

Most, Agnifilo derived the investigations on the sexual life of Combs, often raising his voice until he reached indignant tones. Also for the standards of the processes for sexual crimes that involve famous people, the interest in the procedure against Combs has sometimes assumed a decidedly frivolous character, in contrast to the serious tone that has accompanied the cases of poor high profile sexual conduct against powerful men in recent years. Outside the court, among the crowd of Livestreamers who documented every glimpse of the sexual life of Combs, some curious wore shirts with the word “A Freako is not a rico” (a freak is not an Rico).

In his reply, the federal assistant of the southern district of New York Maurene Comey He tried to pay attention to the crucial point. He said that Combs, as his fame and his success grew, considered himself “untouchable”.