Thursday, July 3, 2025 - The high-profile federal case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, which captivated the nation for weeks, has been labelled by legal experts as the “most expensive prostitution trial in American history.”
Defence attorney and former prosecutor Neama Rahmani offered
the stark assessment even before the verdict was delivered, noting that if
prosecutors failed to secure a racketeering conviction, it would represent a
massive blow to the government — especially given the enormous resources poured
into the case.
“This case was always going to hinge
on racketeering,” Rahmani said as jurors deliberated. “If the government
doesn’t get a RICO conviction, this will be a huge loss and the most expensive
prostitution trial in American history.”
Ultimately, that prediction proved true. On the third day of
deliberations, jurors acquitted the Bad Boy Records founder of two federal
sex-trafficking charges and a racketeering charge, sparing him a mandatory
minimum of 15 years and potential life behind bars. However, they found Diddy
guilty on two counts of transporting individuals to engage in prostitution,
charges that still carry up to 10 years each.
Throughout
the trial, prosecutors laid out lurid details of Diddy’s alleged sexual
escapades, describing so-called “freak-offs” — extravagant gatherings involving
sex workers and marathon encounters that his accusers claimed were coerced. The
defense countered with a trove of text messages suggesting many of the
participants were willing and eager, making it harder to prove sex trafficking,
since “consent is a defense,” Rahmani noted.
Shortly after the mixed verdict, Rahmani summed it up: “What
a tremendous loss for the prosecution. And a huge win for the defense.”
The two-month trial exposed the darker side of one of
hip-hop’s biggest moguls. Now, Combs faces up to 20 years in prison, with a
judge set to decide his fate — and whether he remains free pending sentencing —
in the coming days.
0 Comments