Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs found guilty on two out of five counts in sex-trafficking trial
A verdict has now been reached in the highly-publicised Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial.
This afternoon (2 July), Combs' mother and his six adult children returned to the courtroom as they waited to hear the verdict.
And at just after 3.00pm UK time, jurors told the judge they had reached a unanimous verdict on all five charges against Diddy.
Shortly after, it was announced Combs had been found guilty only of the two counts of transportation for prostitution, as he was acquitted on the sex-trafficking and racketeering charges
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It comes after jurors struggled to reach a verdict on one of the charges against the rapper, having announced a partial verdict had been reached yesterday (1 July).
However, jurors couldn't agree on the racketeering conspiracy charge, with Manhattan federal court Judge Arun Subramanian ordering them to continue to deliberate over it.
It's been well over two months since Combs' trial began on 5 May, with the 55-year-old having pleaded not guilty to all five of the charges.
Several celebrities were referenced in the trial, including Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and Justin Bieber.
Diddy's verdict summed up
Combs has received a mix of guilty and not guilty verdicts:
Racketeering conspiracy: not guilty
Sex trafficking of Cassie Ventura: not guilty
Transportation for prostitution of Ventura and others: guilty
Sex trafficking of woman known as 'Jane': not guilty
Transportation for prostitution of 'Jane' and others: guilty
What was Diddy accused of?
In his trial, Combs was accused of two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion as well as two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The jury - which was comprised of eight men and four women - reached a verdict on these four charges on Tuesday (1 July).
Combs' final charge, the most serious one, was one count of racketeering conspiracy.
After the jury reached unanimous decisions on four of the five counts in Combs' indictment on Tuesday, they told the court they were 'unable' to reach agreement on the racketeering conspiracy count, saying they had 'unpersuadable opinions on both sides'.
"We have not reached a verdict on count 1 because we have unpersuadable jurors on both sides," the note outlined, referring to the charge that falls under Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations or RICO.
The next day, they reached a verdict on all five charges.
Racketeering charge explained
The US government introduced this law back in 1970 with an aim to take down criminal gangs, seeking to tie crime bosses to the offences of those working under them.
While racketeering generally refers to the illegal activity of a criminal organisation, the RICO act defines 'racketeering activity' as any act or threat that involves several different crimes including the likes of bribery, arson, extortion, kidnapping and murder.
The racketeering charge was the most serious charge against Combs after he was accused of leading a criminal enterprise for as long as two decades.
And of course, this is among the charges he has been found not guilty of.
Topics: Cassie Ventura, Celebrity, Crime, Diddy, US News, Music
Rhiannon Ingle