When the verdict was read out, Sean “Diddy” Combs clasped his hands together in a prayer motion, as if thanking God, looked to the jury and hugged his lawyer. Later, as the court was adjourned, he got down on his knees, rested his hands and face on his chair, and appeared to pray.
“I’ll be home soon,” the music mogul later told his family as he left the New York courtroom that has been his daytime home for the past eight weeks. “I love you,” he told his mother, Janice.
Janice Combs, centre, mother of Sean “Diddy” Combs, reacts outside Manhattan federal court after the verdict.Credit: AP
After a long and headline-grabbing trial, Combs, 55, was found guilty of two counts of a prostitution-related offence, but acquitted on the remaining three charges: sex trafficking and racketeering.
The latter, which carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, was the big prize eyed by prosecutors, who had alleged the hip-hop mogul used his vast business empire and staff to engage in a criminal conspiracy involving sex trafficking, drug distribution and attempts to cover up their behaviour.
But the jury of eight men and four women decided those allegations were not proven. Rather, they convicted Combs on the two lesser charges: that he transported ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, known as Cassie, and another woman, “Jane”, across state borders for the purpose of prostitution.
Those charges still carry a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.
Read more from our North America correspondent Michael Koziol here.
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