Sean "Diddy" Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering after a trial in New York, but he has been convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution. Photo / Getty Images
Sean "Diddy" Combs was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering after a trial in New York, but he has been convicted of transportation to engage in prostitution. Photo / Getty Images
Sean “Diddy” Combs received a standing ovation from fellow inmates after being found not guilty of a number of charges.
The disgraced rap mogul’s trial in New York ended last week when he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering, but convicted of two counts of transportation to engage inprostitution, and when he returned to Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, the other prisoners viewed the decision as a sign of hope.
His lawyer Marc Agnifilo told People magazine: “They all said, ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the Government’.”
The attorney, who speaks to the 56-year-old rapper four or five times a day, thinks Combs’ arrest and subsequent time behind bars have changed him.
“[He] realises he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on.
“He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws, and there’s no amount of fame and no amount of fortune that can erase them. You can’t cover them up.”
The Bad Boy Records founder, who has been in jail since September 2024, will stay behind bars until his sentencing on October 3 after once again being denied bail by Judge Arun Subramanian. He could face a prison term of up to 20 years for the charges he was found guilty of.
Denying bail, the judge noted prosecutors were right to point out that a Mann Act violation means detention is “mandatory”.
Judge Subramanian said that “for present purposes, the defendant is unable to meet his burden” to show “lack of danger to any person or the community” with clear and convincing evidence.
Sean "Diddy" Combs was convicted of transporting people to engage in sexual encounters. Photo / Getty Images
He said: “Prior to the trial, the court denied bail, and sees no reason to reverse that now.”
The original 1919 law prohibited interstate or foreign commerce transport of a woman or girl “or prostitution, debauchery or for any other immoral purpose”.
In 1986, the law was made gender-neutral and the wording altered to change “debauchery” and “immoral purpose” to “any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offence”.
