Diddy Got a Standing Ovation in Prison After Sex Trafficking Trial Verdict, Lawyer Says
Sean “Diddy” Combs returned to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn last week to a standing ovation from his fellow inmates, his lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the Associated Press in an interview published Sunday.
“They all said: ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government,'” he explained.
A jury found Combs guilty on two prostitution charges but not guilty of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking on last week. The split July 2 verdict arrived after seven weeks of a trial that included testimony from 34 individuals, including ex-girlfriends and professional associates. Combs remains in prison and faces up to 20 years behind bars.
Agnifilo said he warned Combs he could expect to be arrested on sex trafficking charges after federal authorities raided his home in March 2024. “I said: ‘Maybe it’s your fate in life to be the guy who wins. They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart,” Agnifilo.
The attorney also said the team intentionally met Combs’ abuse against former partners and employees head-on. “The violence was so clear and up front and we knew the government was going to try to confuse the jury into thinking it was part of a sex trafficking effort. So we had to tell the jury what it was so they wouldn’t think it was something it wasn’t,” he explained.
Agnifilo said he woke up early the morning of the verdict and told the legal team to get bail organized. He also told the group, “It’s going to be a good verdict for us, but I think he went down on the prostitution counts so let’s try to get him out.”
Agnifilo is also deeply knowledgeable of New York’s racketeering laws, having expanded their use when he worked as a federal prosecutor 20 years ago.
“I knew the weak points in the statute,” he said. “The statute is very mechanical. If you know how the car works, you know where the fail points are.”
The prosecution, he continued, had “dozens of fail points” that sank their case. “They didn’t have a conspiracy, they just didn’t,” he added. “They basically had Combs’ personal life and tried to build racketeering around personal assistants.”
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