Sean "Diddy" Combs will remain in jail until sentencing, bail denied

Sean “Diddy” Combs was acquitted Wednesday of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put one of hip-hop’s most celebrated figures behind bars for life.

The rapper was convicted of lesser prostitution-related offenses and still faces prison time, although how much will only be clear once he is sentenced.

Combs, 55, was convicted of flying people around the country, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a felony violation of the federal Mann Act.

“The question in this case from the very beginning has been whether Cassandra Ventura and ‘Mia’ were victims or volunteers. Everybody was in agreement that the sex happened. Everyone was in agreement that it went on for many years, and everyone was in agreement that, at least at the beginning, it was voluntary," said Mitchell Epner, former federal prosecutor and attorney at Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner LLP.

"The prosecution's case was that at some point, Cassandra Ventura and ‘Mia’ stopped being volunteers and became victims who were only continuing to participate in the freak-offs because they were being coerced. The prosecution had to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt, and the jury found that the prosecution did not meet that very heavy burden,” he said.

Up to 10 years in prison, but likely less

The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but Combs’ lawyers said that under federal sentencing guidelines he’d likely face 21 to 27 months. Prosecutors, citing Combs’ violence and other factors, said he’d likely face 51 to 63 months.

Jailed since his arrest last September, he’s already served nine months behind bars. The jury of eight men and four women acquitted him of the racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, related to allegations that he used his money, power and frightening physical force to manipulate his girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fuelled sex marathons with the men.

Combs’ defence team argued that the women were willing participants and that none of his violence justified the severity of the charges.

The judge in the case has proposed a sentencing date for 3 October at 10 a.m.