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No verdict on first day of jury deliberations at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial

No verdict on first day of jury deliberations at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial
After weeks of at times emotional testimony and some explicit pieces of evidence, the trial of embattled hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs is coming to an end. Combs is facing several federal charges, including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. The government claims these crimes spanned over two decades. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The jury made up of 8 men and 4 women, heard from 34 witnesses called by the prosecution, including two of Combs's former girlfriends, Cassie Ventura, and *** woman testifying under the alias Jane. Both women testified. Forced them to engage in sexual encounters referred to as freak offs and hotel nights. Ventura spoke on the stand about violence she endured throughout the course of her 11-year relationship with Combs. Jurors watched this hotel surveillance video from 2016 showing Combs dragging and kicking Ventura several times throughout the course of the trial. Ventura's attorney read *** statement from her after she testified, I hope that my testimony has given strength and *** voice to other survivors. And can help others who have suffered to speak up. Combs's defense team never denied allegations of domestic abuse, but instead argued the two women participated willingly in the sexual encounters. Jurors heard from Combs's former personal assistants, *** male sex worker, and other former employees. The defense rested its case after less than 30 minutes, only reading text messages into the record. Combs did not testify.
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Updated: 5:04 PM CDT Jun 30, 2025
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No verdict on first day of jury deliberations at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex trafficking trial
AP logo
Updated: 5:04 PM CDT Jun 30, 2025
Editorial Standards
Jury deliberations got underway on Monday in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial and hit a snag almost as soon as they started. But, by the end of the day, jurors indicated they were making progress weighing complex charges that could put the hip-hop mogul in prison for life.The first day of deliberations saw a flurry of notes from the jury and Combs and his supporters bowing their heads in prayer in the courtroom — but no verdict.The jury of eight men and four women are sifting through seven weeks of sometimes graphic and emotional testimony about the rap, fashion and reality TV impresario ’s propensity for violence and his sexual predilections, including drug-fueled sex marathons dubbed “ freak-offs ” or “hotel nights.”About an hour in, the foreperson reported that a juror might be having trouble following the 61 pages worth of instructions the judge had just read to them.“We are concerned (the juror) cannot follow your honor’s instructions,” the foreperson said in a note to Judge Arun Subramanian just after 12:30 p.m.After the judge originally proposed asking the jury foreperson the nature of concerns about the fellow juror, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested caution and that it was better to say less than more.“We can always ratchet it up. We can’t ratchet it down,” Agnifilo said.Subramanian sent his response to the jury around 2 p.m., reminding the panel to deliberate and to follow his instructions on the law.The jury sent another note about three hours later asking for clarification on the part of the instructions addressing drug distribution — an allegation included in Combs’ racketeering conspiracy charge.As deliberations were happening, Combs prayed with his family and friends in the courtroom. Wearing his customary sweater and khakis, he stood facing his contingent in the audience and bowed his head with them. As they finished, they applauded, along with Combs.Combs also showed off two books he’s reading: “The Power of Positive Thinking,” by Norman Vincent Peale and “The Happiness Advantage,” by Shawn Achor.As he sent the jury to deliberate, Subramanian told the five alternate jurors to remain on standby at home in case they’re needed at a later point.Jurors were provided with a laptop loaded with all of the exhibits shown in court, including text messages, photographs and videos of the sexual encounters at the heart of the case.Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking — relating to two of his ex-girlfriends — and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for allegedly arranging to fly his girlfriends and sex workers across state lines.In closing arguments last week, federal prosecutors and Combs’ defense team took their last shots at convincing jurors to convict or acquit the Grammy Award-winning founder of Bad Boy Records.“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”She said that he used his “close inner circle and a small army of personal staff, who made it their mission to meet the defendant’s every desire, promote his power and protect his reputation at all costs.”Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo countered, “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money." He noted that one of Combs' accusers in the criminal case also sued him in civil court.“He is not a racketeer. He is not a conspirator to commit racketeering. He is none of these things. He is innocent. He sits there innocent. Return him to his family, who have been waiting for him,” the lawyer told jurors.In all, 34 witnesses testified, headlined by Combs’ former girlfriends Cassie — the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura — and “ Jane,” who testified under a pseudonym. Both women said he often was violent toward them. Cassie said he forced her into hundreds of sexual encounters with paid male sex workers while Jane recounted numerous “hotel nights.”Jurors also saw now-infamous security camera video of Combs beating, kicking and dragging Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 and clips from videos of sexual encounters.Combs chose not to testify, and his lawyers didn’t call any witnesses in their defense case. His attorneys elected instead to challenge the accusers' credibility during lengthy cross-examination questioning.The defense has acknowledged that Combs veered into violence, but his lawyers maintain that the sex acts were consensual. They contend that prosecutors are intruding in Combs’ personal life and that he’s done nothing to warrant the charges against him.Here are key moments from the trial:Prosecutors showed they weren’t withdrawing claims against CombsProsecutors triggered headlines last week that they had backed off or eliminated claims of arson and kidnapping against Combs when they said they were removing instructions on the law regarding them to be given jurors on Monday in response to the judge's request to streamline the case for the jury.“The Government is no longer planning to proceed on these theories of liability so instructions are no longer necessary,” prosecutors wrote in a letter to the judge.But when Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik launched closings on Thursday, she gave the allegations of arson and kidnapping a starring role in her first sentences, naming them before any others.“Over the last several weeks, you’ve learned a lot about Sean Combs. He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes the defendant committed with members of his enterprise: Kidnapping of one of the defendant’s employees; arson by trying to blow up a car; forced labor, including of an employee the defendant repeatedly sexually assaulted; bribery of a security officer to keep damning evidence against the defendant buried; and of course, the brutal crimes at the heart of this case — sex trafficking,” she said.The arson claim stemmed from evidence that Slavik said showed Combs was behind the firebombing of rapper Kid Cudi's Porsche in 2012. The kidnapping allegation also related to Cudi. Slavik said Combs kidnapped one of his employees to join him when he broke into Cudi's home after learning the rapper was dating his girlfriend.Defense lawyer strikes back, belittling government's caseAttorney Marc Agnifilo in an at-times folksy presentation spared few theatrics in mocking the government's case against Combs as overreach, saying hundreds of agents poured into Combs' residences in Miami and Los Angeles to seize hundreds of bottles of baby oil and Astroglide lubricant.“I guess it’s all worth it because they found the Astroglide. They found it in boxes, boxes of Astroglide taken off the streets. Whew, I feel better already,” he said. “The streets of America are safe from the Astroglide!”From the start, Agnifilo portrayed prosecutors as unjustly targeting Combs after a former girlfriend of nearly 11 years — Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — sued him in November 2023. She testified for four days in the trial's first week.The lawsuit was settled for $20 million the next day but she touched off a criminal probe with her allegations of being subjected to hundreds of drug-fueled “f𲹰-Ǵڴڲ” in which she alleged she was forced to perform sexually for days with male sex workers while Combs watched, filmed and directed the action.A woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” also testified during the trial that she experienced “hotel nights” similar to “f𲹰-Ǵڴڲ” in a relationship with Combs from 2021 until his arrest.Agnifilo maintained the prosecution was an unjust attack on a prominent and wildly successful Black entrepreneur.“They took Astroglide and they took baby oil, and that ends up being the evidence in this case, because his businesses are outstanding. There’s nothing about the businesses to find. There’s nothing about the businesses to make into a criminal case,” he said.Defense personalizes the case for jurors, calling it attack on ‘your bedroom’Agnifilo tried to cast the case for the jury as an attack on everyone's bedroom and the secrets of 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,” he said as he stood before jurors, who were largely expressionless as they took occasional notes and watched the closings.The lawyer said it was not uncommon that Combs liked to film sexual events with his girlfriends, calling it “sort of typical, you know, homemade porn” and adding that “I don't think by any stretch of the imagination this is the only man in America making homemade porn.”Still, he said, investigators "take yellow crime scene tape, figuratively, and they wrap it around his bedroom. Crime scene — your bedroom, your hotel rooms, where you go with your girlfriends. Crime scenes. A lot of yellow tape.”Then, he gave a nod to the 50th anniversary of the movie “Jaws,” resurrecting a classic line from Hollywood history when he said: “We need a bigger roll of crime scene tape, because that’s just not going to be enough.”Judge agrees defense went too far saying prosecutors targeted CombsJust after Agnifilo told jurors that it “takes a lot of courage to acquit,” he ripped the government's case a final time in stark terms, saying the trial was “very different" from any other trial.“I think that the evidence shows, and you can conclude, that the government targeted Sean Combs,” he said, noting that nobody complained to the government to instigate a probe, but investigators instead began their work a day after Cassie filed her lawsuit.After the jury left the room at the conclusion of Agnifilo's four-hour summation, his statement about targeting drew an outcry from the prosecutor, Slavik.When the jury returned, Judge Arun Subramanian noted the remark Agnifilo had made about targeting Combs and told jurors that “the decision of the government to investigate an individual or the decision of a grand jury to indict an individual is none of your concern.”In rebuttal, prosecutor tells jurors that Combs is ‘not a god’Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey got the final word with a rebuttal presentation to jurors, telling them: “The defendant is not a god.”She said that Combs in his mind “was untouchable." She noted that one former personal assistant even described him as a “god among men.”“For 20 years, the defendant got away with his crimes. That ends in this courtroom,” she said. “He is a person. And in this courtroom, he stands equal before the law. Overwhelming evidence proves his guilt. It is time to hold him accountable. Find him guilty.”

Jury deliberations got underway on Monday in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial and hit a snag almost as soon as they started. But, by the end of the day, jurors indicated they were making progress weighing complex charges that could put the hip-hop mogul in prison for life.

The first day of deliberations saw a flurry of notes from the jury and Combs and his supporters bowing their heads in prayer in the courtroom — but no verdict.

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of eight men and four women are sifting through seven weeks of sometimes graphic and emotional testimony about the ’s propensity for violence and his sexual predilections, including drug-fueled sex marathons dubbed “ ” or “hotel nights.”

About an hour in, the foreperson reported that a juror might be having trouble following the 61 pages worth of instructions the judge had just read to them.

“We are concerned (the juror) cannot follow your honor’s instructions,” the foreperson said in a note to Judge Arun Subramanian just after 12:30 p.m.

After the judge originally proposed asking the jury foreperson the nature of concerns about the fellow juror, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested caution and that it was better to say less than more.

“We can always ratchet it up. We can’t ratchet it down,” Agnifilo said.

Subramanian sent his response to the jury around 2 p.m., reminding the panel to deliberate and to follow his instructions on the law.

The jury sent another note about three hours later asking for clarification on the part of the instructions addressing drug distribution — an allegation included in Combs’ racketeering conspiracy charge.

As deliberations were happening, Combs prayed with his family and friends in the courtroom. Wearing his customary sweater and khakis, he stood facing his contingent in the audience and bowed his head with them. As they finished, they applauded, along with Combs.

Combs also showed off two books he’s reading: “The Power of Positive Thinking,” by Norman Vincent Peale and “The Happiness Advantage,” by Shawn Achor.

As he sent the jury to deliberate, Subramanian told the five alternate jurors to remain on standby at home in case they’re needed at a later point.

Jurors were provided with a laptop loaded with all of the exhibits shown in court, including text messages, photographs and videos of the sexual encounters at the heart of the case.

Combs, 55, has to federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking — relating to two of his ex-girlfriends — and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution for allegedly arranging to fly his girlfriends and sex workers across state lines.

In closing arguments last week, federal prosecutors and Combs’ defense team took their last shots at convincing jurors to convict or acquit the Grammy Award-winning founder of Bad Boy Records.

“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” . “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”

She said that he used his “close inner circle and a small army of personal staff, who made it their mission to meet the defendant’s every desire, promote his power and protect his reputation at all costs.”

Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo , “This isn’t about crime. It’s about money." He noted that one of Combs' accusers in the criminal case also sued him in civil court.

“He is not a racketeer. He is not a conspirator to commit racketeering. He is none of these things. He is innocent. He sits there innocent. Return him to his family, who have been waiting for him,” the lawyer told jurors.

In all, 34 witnesses testified, headlined by Combs’ former girlfriends — the R&B singer born Casandra Ventura — and “ ,” who testified under a pseudonym. Both women said he often was violent toward them. Cassie said he forced her into hundreds of sexual encounters with paid male sex workers while Jane recounted numerous “hotel nights.”

Jurors also saw now-infamous of Combs beating, kicking and dragging Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 and clips from videos of sexual encounters.

Combs , and his lawyers didn’t call any witnesses in their defense case. His attorneys elected instead to challenge the accusers' credibility during lengthy cross-examination questioning.

The defense has acknowledged that Combs veered into violence, but that the sex acts were consensual. They contend that prosecutors are intruding in Combs’ personal life and that he’s done nothing to warrant the charges against him.

Here are key moments from the trial:

Prosecutors showed they weren’t withdrawing claims against Combs

Prosecutors triggered headlines last week that they had backed off or eliminated claims of arson and kidnapping against Combs when they said they were removing instructions on the law regarding them to be given jurors on Monday in response to the judge's request to streamline the case for the jury.

“The Government is no longer planning to proceed on these theories of liability so instructions are no longer necessary,” prosecutors wrote in a letter to the judge.

But when Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik launched closings on Thursday, she gave the allegations of arson and kidnapping a starring role in her first sentences, naming them before any others.

“Over the last several weeks, you’ve learned a lot about Sean Combs. He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take no for an answer. And now you know about many crimes the defendant committed with members of his enterprise: Kidnapping of one of the defendant’s employees; arson by trying to blow up a car; forced labor, including of an employee the defendant repeatedly sexually assaulted; bribery of a security officer to keep damning evidence against the defendant buried; and of course, the brutal crimes at the heart of this case — sex trafficking,” she said.

The arson claim stemmed from evidence that Slavik said showed Combs was behind the firebombing of rapper Kid Cudi's Porsche in 2012. The kidnapping allegation also related to Cudi. Slavik said Combs kidnapped one of his employees to join him when he broke into Cudi's home after learning the rapper was dating his girlfriend.

Defense lawyer strikes back, belittling government's case

Attorney Marc Agnifilo in an at-times folksy presentation spared few theatrics in mocking the government's case against Combs as overreach, saying hundreds of agents poured into Combs' residences in Miami and Los Angeles to seize hundreds of bottles of baby oil and Astroglide lubricant.

“I guess it’s all worth it because they found the Astroglide. They found it in boxes, boxes of Astroglide taken off the streets. Whew, I feel better already,” he said. “The streets of America are safe from the Astroglide!”

From the start, Agnifilo portrayed prosecutors as unjustly targeting Combs after a former girlfriend of nearly 11 years — — sued him in November 2023. She testified for four days in the trial's first week.

The lawsuit was settled for $20 million the next day but she touched off a criminal probe with her allegations of being subjected to hundreds of drug-fueled in which she alleged she was forced to perform sexually for days with male sex workers while Combs watched, filmed and directed the action.

A woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” also testified during the trial that she experienced “hotel nights” similar to “f𲹰-Ǵڴڲ” in a relationship with Combs from 2021 until his arrest.

Agnifilo maintained the prosecution was an unjust attack on a prominent and wildly successful Black entrepreneur.

“They took Astroglide and they took baby oil, and that ends up being the evidence in this case, because his businesses are outstanding. There’s nothing about the businesses to find. There’s nothing about the businesses to make into a criminal case,” he said.

Defense personalizes the case for jurors, calling it attack on ‘your bedroom’

Agnifilo tried to cast the case for the jury as an attack on everyone's bedroom and the secrets of 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,” he said as he stood before jurors, who were largely expressionless as they took occasional notes and watched the closings.

The lawyer said it was not uncommon that Combs liked to film sexual events with his girlfriends, calling it “sort of typical, you know, homemade porn” and adding that “I don't think by any stretch of the imagination this is the only man in America making homemade porn.”

Still, he said, investigators "take yellow crime scene tape, figuratively, and they wrap it around his bedroom. Crime scene — your bedroom, your hotel rooms, where you go with your girlfriends. Crime scenes. A lot of yellow tape.”

Then, he gave a nod to the 50th anniversary of the movie “Jaws,” resurrecting a classic line from Hollywood history when he said: “We need a bigger roll of crime scene tape, because that’s just not going to be enough.”

Judge agrees defense went too far saying prosecutors targeted Combs

Just after Agnifilo told jurors that it “takes a lot of courage to acquit,” he ripped the government's case a final time in stark terms, saying the trial was “very different" from any other trial.

“I think that the evidence shows, and you can conclude, that the government targeted Sean Combs,” he said, noting that nobody complained to the government to instigate a probe, but investigators instead began their work a day after Cassie filed her lawsuit.

After the jury left the room at the conclusion of Agnifilo's four-hour summation, his statement about targeting drew an outcry from the prosecutor, Slavik.

When the jury returned, Judge Arun Subramanian noted the remark Agnifilo had made about targeting Combs and told jurors that “the decision of the government to investigate an individual or the decision of a grand jury to indict an individual is none of your concern.”

In rebuttal, prosecutor tells jurors that Combs is ‘not a god’

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey got the final word with a rebuttal presentation to jurors, telling them: “The defendant is not a god.”

She said that Combs in his mind “was untouchable." She noted that one former personal assistant even described him as a “god among men.”

“For 20 years, the defendant got away with his crimes. That ends in this courtroom,” she said. “He is a person. And in this courtroom, he stands equal before the law. Overwhelming evidence proves his guilt. It is time to hold him accountable. Find him guilty.”