Diddy may be smiling now, nevertheless it may be completely different after 50 civil circumstances lodged in opposition to him | Credit score: Shutterstock
He would possibly’ve dodged a life sentence, however Sean “Diddy” Combs is much from strolling away clear. Discovered responsible of two lesser expenses in his federal trial — transportation to have interaction in prostitution — the music mogul now faces the load of greater than 50 civil lawsuits stacked excessive in opposition to him, every another damning than the final.
And whereas the jury spared him the gravest of verdicts, the reckoning he faces outdoors the courtroom could possibly be much more enduring, the Guardian wrote in an in-depth article on Diddy revealed on Thursday.
Diddy stays locked up in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre, awaiting sentencing, which may come as early as October, if his defence staff fails to persuade the decide to deliver it ahead. Every rely for which he was convicted carries a possible sentence of as much as 10 years in jail. However for a lot of of his alleged victims, that is solely the start of accountability.
Abuse, coercion and rape
It was Cassie — singer Casandra Ventura — whose civil go well with first cracked the silence in 2023. She accused Combs of sexual and bodily abuse, coercion, and rape. He settled swiftly — reportedly for $20 million — however her testimony in the course of the felony trial landed like a thunderclap.
Ms Ventura turned the state’s star witness. And after her got here the deluge: greater than 50 men and women have now filed civil fits echoing her claims — sexual assault, rape, drugging, bodily violence. The lawsuits are nonetheless rolling in, as current as final week.
Combs has denied all allegations within the civil filings. His bail attraction was rejected. The decide didn’t blink.
“This verdict isn’t just a stain on a felony justice system that for many years has failed to carry accountable abusers like Diddy,” mentioned girls’s rights group UltraViolet after the trial. “It’s additionally an indictment of a tradition wherein not believing girls and victims of sexual assault stays endemic.”
An indelible mark
Douglas Wigdor, Cassie’s lawyer, put it bluntly: “Cassie has left an indelible mark on each the leisure business and the combat for justice.”
The jury didn’t convict on intercourse trafficking, however her testimony helped safe convictions nonetheless.
Fatima Goss Graves of the Nationwide Girls’s Legislation Centre praised Ventura and others for his or her braveness. “They selected to inform their tales, maintain their abuser accountable, and search justice.”
Exterior the courthouse, Diddy’s followers chanted his identify. Inside, a really completely different actuality is settling in. The period of music business impunity is splintering.
Public response has been sharp. Singer Kesha wrote, “Cassie, I imagine you. I really like you. Your power is a beacon for each survivor.”
‘What a fu%&ing joke’
Christina Ricci referred to as her “a hero.” Even Rosie O’Donnell erupted on-line: “I suppose a jury simply by no means needs to imagine {that a} lady stays due to energy and coercion… what a fucking joke.”
Evan Rachel Wooden posted a strong reminder: “There is no such thing as a consent in a home violence relationship. Interval.”
Aubrey O’Day, previously of Combs’s Dangerous Boy Data, didn’t mince her phrases both. “It’s heartbreaking to witness what number of lives have been impacted by their experiences with Sean Combs, just for these tales to fall brief within the eyes of a jury.”
The felony trial could also be over. However for Combs, the authorized warfare is barely simply starting. The court docket of public opinion has already resumed its session, and the decision there could also be extra intense and harsh.