Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs given jailhouse standing ovation after verdict

Sean Combs was greeted with a surprising sight when he returned to jail in Brooklyn, New York City after his trial verdict.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs received a standing ovation from inmates when he returned to jail after he was acquitted on charges which potentially carried a life sentence, according to his lawyer.

Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo claimed Combs was cheered by fellow prisoners at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn after a jury found him not guilty on charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking last week.

The 55-year-old rapper was refused bail after being found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and is still facing up to 20 years in prison.

The lawyer said the inmates championed the violent domestic abuser for beating the more serious charges in the high-profile federal case in New York.

“They all said: ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government’,” Agnifilo told Associated Press.

Sean "Diddy" Combs awaits sentencing on prostitution charges. Picture: AP.

Agnifilo said he warned the rapper to expect sex trafficking charges after federal agents raided his home in Los Angeles and Miami in March last year.

The racketeering conspiracy charge stemmed from the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, or RICO, is a legal weapon introduced in the 1970s to bring down America’s notorious Mafia families.

“I said: ‘Maybe it’s your fate in life to be the guy who wins’,” he recalled during the AP interview.

“They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart.”

The phone interview with the lawyer was interrupted by a call from Combs, who reportedly speaks to his attorney up to five times a day from the Brooklyn lockup.

Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ attorney, at Manhattan Federal Court after last week’s bail hearing. Picture: Getty.

There will be a hearing this week to address the scheduling of his sentencing on the prostitution transportation charges which each carry a sentence of up to 10 years.

He also still faces a raft of civil lawsuits.

Over the two-months trial, prosecutors had accused Combs of running a criminal enterprise with close associates and used threats and violence to force his then partner Cassie Ventura and other women to engage in sex at drug-fuelled “freak-offs.”

The raft of charges against Combs were triggered by Ventura’s civil suit, filed in November 2023, alleging the powerful music mogul raped and physically abused her. He settled the case out of court.

Ventura set a letter to the judge opposing bail for Combs because of fears for her safety. Picture: AP.

Two months after the federal raids on his homes in March 2024, shocking hotel surveillance footage emerged of Combs chasing, kicking and beating Ventura outside a lift as she sought to escape him.

The singer was heavily pregnant as she testified in the New York court about the abuse she suffered at the hands of Combs during their relationship between 2007 to 2018.

After the verdict was announced last week, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered the rapper to remain in custody given the evidence presented at trial that he had been violent in the past.

Ventura, who gave birth to her third child two weeks after giving her evidence, sent a letter to the judge via her lawyer stating she believed “Mr. Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself.”

“It is impossible for the defendant to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that he poses no danger,” the judge said.

His lawyers will attempt to expedite the sentencing hearing schedule at a hearing before the judge on Wednesday morning (AEST).

Originally published as Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs given jailhouse standing ovation after verdict