With Combs not guilty of assault, the US is likely to have limited what it seeks through property confiscation, legal experts and former prosecutors say
What happened when Shawn “Diddy” Combs heard his verdict
The judge decides what happens next for Sean “Diddy” Combs after being convicted of two of five counts in his sex trafficking trial.
- On July 2, the federal ju judge in New York acquitted Sean “Diddy” Combs of the most serious criminal charge he had faced.
- The ju judge was found guilty of two transport charges to engage in prostitution.
- This could mean that federal prosecutors can seek more limits on how much comb property they can seek through the confiscation of assets.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ acquittal of the most serious criminal charges, including assault, doesn’t mean he’s likely to significantly reduce prison time.
The music mogul is likely to maintain his vast “Diddy Inc.” The legal expert told USA Today about the accumulation of mansions, business entities, exotic cars and other perks of his flying, almost billionaire lifestyle.
“The government has been stuck. They wanted RICO’s conviction, so they were able to seize Comb’s assets under Rico’s forfeiture law,” said David Ring, a Los Angeles-based civil trial lawyer. “That’s not going to happen now.”
“If he was convicted of Rico’s charges, he would have faced life in prison,” Ring said of Combs. “Instead, he will probably serve in prison for several years and return to his business empire.”
James Trusty, former longtime chief of the DOJ’s Organized Crime and Gang section, meant that federal assault, or comb accusations under RICO statute, was intended to chase what the Justice Department used to promote his crimes.
On July 2, ju judges effectively shut down their ability to chase most of the Justice Department’s Comb’s assets after committing the crime of transport engaged in prostitution, Trusty said.
“I think his universe of potential harm to the empire has been significantly reduced because he is innocent of the most serious count,” said Trusty, who currently specializes in representing clients in RICO and other complicated federal cases.
The Justice Department did not immediately comment on whether they would attempt to chase the comb’s assets.
According to Trusty and another former DOJ official, the US government is still possible to seek the confiscation of assets in a much narrower range.
To do so, they must prove that it was used to promote two charges of transport to engage in prostitution in connection with “freak-off,” including Combs’ two ex-girlfriends, Kathy Ventura Fine and “Jane” and “Jane.”
But Trusty said, “I think the Rico incident told a decades-long story,” about how Combs used his empire as part of a criminal assault company from 2008 to the present.
Without Rico and Combs’ convictions on sex trafficking charges, Trusty said “forfeiture would be much more narrow in both time and reach.”
“There may be some property, but there may be some component of the property. It is thought to promote the property or promote revenue,” Trusty said.
Combs’ convicted was “a truly glorious prostitution crime. It’s literally like prostitution on the borders of the state,” he said.
Trusty told USA Today in May that federal prosecutors had written “a very widely spoken claim of forfeiture.”
It included the location where so-called marathon sex occurred between two girlfriends and paid escorts, and the vehicles used to take participants there.
Combs was charged with federal charges of sex trafficking and transport for engaging in prostitution.
Hire a former DOJ property confiscation expert
When Combs was first charged, his All-Star defense team became very unsettled and was hired as Stefan Cassella, former deputy director of the Department of Justice’s assets confiscation and money laundering section.
At the time of his employment, and after the verdict, Kasera said he could not comment on the details of the incident as he was involved in it.
Broadly speaking, he said that by claiming comb under Rico, the government is taking a proactive approach to grab as many comb assets as possible by claiming combs, and by claiming corrupt organizational laws.
“As alleged in the indictment, Sean Combs used the business empire he controls for sexual abuse and exploitation, committing other acts of violence and obstructing justice,” Attorney Combs Williams said after his arrest in September 2024.
Forfeiture target with $400 million
By 2019, Combs had collected at least $740 million in personal wealth by becoming a successful entrepreneur in music, fashion, liquor and other areas, according to Forbes Magazine. (Combs and his team would later claim he reached the status of billionaires.)
Founded in 2013, Combs Enterprises included New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Wines and Spirits, Aquahydrate Water Firm, Revolt Media, Sean John Fashion and Fragrances, Capital Preparatory Charter Schools, and Sean Combs Foundation.
Over the years, we have expanded to include new business units and ventures such as Empower Global, a focus on R&B, our fair share, and Love Records.
Combs owned multi-million dollar mega-mansions in Los Angeles and Miami, and owned more than $25 million Gulfstream G550 jets.
Also open to confiscation was Combs’ Bad Boy Records, which has produced significant profits from recording and music publishing rights since starting the company in 1993.
Combs is also believed to have an extensive art collection, including works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. In 2018 he was revealed for $21.1 million as a mystery buyer for the famous painting “Age of the Past” by Kelly James Marshall.
In the past, a fleet of at least 20 luxury cars included the super-luxury Mercedes known as the Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maybach.
“Combs” “a much narrower foundation” for chasing assets
In November 2023, Combs’ empire began to collapse following allegations of rape, assault and abuse by his ex-girlfriend, Kathy Ventura Fine.
In testimony against Combs during trial, Ventura Fine said she agreed to pay $20 million and that Combs had resolved the case. He also lost other important businesses after Ventura Fine’s claims prompted other lawsuits and charges. Forbes recently estimated his net worth at nearly $400 million.
Now he said he trusts that it is up to the ju apprentice to discover that Comb has not committed any crimes of assault or sex trafficking to determine whether any of his assets should be confiscated. He said it is likely that Combs and his legal team could provide a small part of his empire and solve that aspect of the case.
“After being acquitted, you have a much narrower foundation, effectively and legally, to pursue his assets,” Trusty said. “He’s already paying this tough price, with the defense screaming for a contract that offers something like $100,000 or a million, and using that judgment. He has a civil settlement with the petitioner and now he’s confiscating the amount of X.”
“So now we’re going to see how aggressive the government wants to be about it,” Trusty said.
Comb is still facing dozens of civil lawsuits
In addition to federal criminal cases, Combs still faces dozens of civil cases from men and women who claim the rappers have abused them, which could also be significantly reduced by his fate.
To date, more than 70 lawsuits have been filed against the Comb. In October, Texas-based lawyer Tony Buzby announced he would represent 120 individual accusers. The alleged victims, represented by Buzbee, accounts for roughly half of the lawsuits filed so far.
The music mogul was hit by yet another civil lawsuit as the ju apprentice began deliberation on a widespread federal sex crime case against him.
Among them, Combs was charged in a civil complaint in 2021 with drug and rape a man from Orange County, California, according to a lawsuit obtained by USA Today.
In a statement to USA Today on June 30, Combs’ legal team said, “No matter how many cases are filed, it will not change the fact that Combs has never sexually assaulted or sexually trafficked, whether a man or woman, an adult or a minor.”
