July 1 (UPI) — Jurors reached verdicts on four counts against Sean “Diddy” Combs but are continuing to deliberate a racketeering conspiracy charge against the former rapper and music mogul.
The jurors at U.S. District Court of Southern New York in Manhattan on Tuesday informed trial Judge Arun Subramanian they have reached agreement on verdicts on two counts each on sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges, The New York Times reported.
Some jurors remain strongly divided on the racketeering conspiracy charge, and Subramanian asked the jury to continue deliberating.
He read part of his jury instructions that say, “no juror should surrender his or her conscientious beliefs for the purpose of returning a unanimous verdict.”
The jury of eight men and four women ended deliberations for the day at 4:18 p.m. EDT, according to the Times.
Jurors will return to the courtroom to resume deliberations at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
Although the jury has reached verdicts on four counts, they aren’t official until announced in the courtroom, and jurors could change their minds.
Combs, 55, huddled with his attorney as the judge and jury entered the room and shared the jurors’ note with his legal team.
U.S. Attorney for Southern New York Damian Williams accuses Combs of running a criminal enterprise from 2008 until his arrest in September.
Combs allegedly “led a criminal enterprise that existed to facilitate his abuse and exploitation of women, to protect his reputation and to conceal his conduct,” Williams said in a news release on Sept. 17.
The federal indictment against Combs accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women and others while leading a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and has been jailed since his arrest in September.
Each sex-trafficking count carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, and each count of transportation for purposes of prostitution carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The racketeering conspiracy charge has a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Williams says Combs forced women to participate in “freak offs” that sometimes lasted for several days and required them to engage in sex with male prostitutes, some of whom were brought across state lines.
Combs allegedly supplied narcotics and arranged, directed and often recorded the sex acts and used the recordings, along with violence and intimidation, to coerce several women to participate by threatening to release the recordings.
Williams also accuses Combs of assaulting women, including striking, punching, dragging, kicking and throwing objects at them.
