How prosecutors' case against Sean 'Diddy' Combs fell apart

The jury in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial ultimately rejected prosecutors’ assertion that the hip-hop mogul ran a racketeering and sex-trafficking scheme.

U.S. government prosecutors repeatedly told jurors that Sean “Diddy” Combs was the ruthless ringleader of a criminal conspiracy, the key figure in a sprawling racketeering and sex trafficking scheme. Combs must be convicted on all five criminal counts, the prosecutors argued, and only then can justice be served.

In the end, the jury was not convinced.

The panel of 12 New Yorkers returned a mixed verdict at the climax of Combs’ federal trial Wednesday, convicting the music mogul on two interstate prostitution counts but acquitting him on the vastly more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, which each carried a maximum prison sentence of life behind bars.

In interviews, legal analysts and former federal prosecutors said the verdict was a blow to the Southern District of New York, which spent seven weeks unwinding an expansive narrative, introducing reams of graphic evidence and calling more than 30 witnesses to the stand. In contrast, the defense team did not call a single witness.

“This trial was a major gamble, and Combs won that bet,” said Anna Cominsky, an associate professor of law and the director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at New York Law School. “Everything is stacked against the defendant going into a federal case, in particular one like this.”