Sean 'Diddy' Combs has been cleared of racketeering and sex trafficking by a New York jury but found guilty on two prostitution-related charges. His legal team called the verdict a win.
For more, US Lawyer Benjamin Chew joins.
Welcome back. In breaking news, Sean Diddy Combes has been cleared by a New York jury on the most serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, but the music mogul could still face time behind bars after being found guilty on two charges relating to prostitution.
The defense appeared to be celebrating inside the courtroom today as diddy lawyers made it quite clear that this verdict was a win for their client.
For more, we're joined by US lawyer Benjamin Chu. Is this a win for Ditty?
Definitely a big win for Diddy and his defense team. As you pointed out, he was ac credit of the three most serious charges which could have landed him in prison for the rest of his life. As it is, I mean, he's looking at a far shorter prison sentence, right.
So those charges, those more serious ones, racketeering, sex trafficking, he was found not guilty on. But he was found guilty on transportation to engage in prostitution? What has that been?
That is colloquially called in the United States the Man Act. That is, when you are engaging a prostitute and taking him or her across state lines. So it's an old charge in the United States, and one that is a criminal criminal act, but not nearly as serious as as the racketeering and sex trafficking by force.
Okay, so what does this entail? Will he get more jail time?
He will likely get a significant jail time. He will get credit for time served, but that's just a few months and he's looking at somewhere between two and five years. Now. Technically, because they are two counts, they could run one after the other, but I think it's more likely that they will run consecutively, so he'll get the benefit of that as if he were only convicted of one.
Yeah.
No, thanks for explaining that, Ben, it's fast docinating to see what he will get. As you say, they both carry up to ten years in prison, so who knows? Did he not out of the woods just yet? Yeah?
Okay. We are also hearing that the bail hearing whether he can get out on bow while all this is determined, is happening at seven am our time, so we'll bring that to you.