Warning: This story contains details of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
Seven weeks after it began, the prosecution and the defence have rested their cases in the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
Now the jury has retired to consider their verdict.
Here's a recap of the trial and what to expect.
When did the Diddy trial start?
His trial began seven weeks ago on May 12.
Mr Combs was arrested in New York in September and was kept behind bars until his trial after being denied bail three times.
Where is the trial at now?
The jury is now deliberating on their verdict.
This is done in secret.
The 12 jurors must decide whether the prosecution — the legal team trying to convict Mr Combs — proved all elements of the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
That means the evidence must be so clear that a reasonable person would have no doubt about the defendant's guilt.
All 12 jurors must agree to convict on each count.
What was Diddy charged with?
He is defending five charges in this criminal trial:
- One count of racketeering conspiracy
- Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion
- Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution
The racketeering count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Sex trafficking has a maximum of 15 years in prison, while the prostitution charge's longest jail term is 10 years.
Mr Combs pleaded not guilty to all five charges.
What does racketeering mean?
Racketeering generally refers to the illegal activity of a criminal organisation — think a crime gang or a dodgy business.
In this case, the prosecution is accusing Mr Combs of using his business, the Combs Enterprise, to violently coerce and blackmail women to perform sex acts, among other criminal acts.
The US law Mr Combs is charged with breaking was created in the 70s and was aimed at taking down crime gangs.
Called the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the idea was to tie the leader of a gang to the crimes of those working under them.
It's unusual for the law to apply in a case about sex trafficking, legal experts told Reuters.
But former US prosecutor Bobby Taghavi said it allowed the prosecution to paint a more compelling picture of Mr Combs's alleged criminal activity.
"RICO allows you to bring in the bigger picture," Mr Taghavi said.
"[That includes] his lifestyle, his power, his anger issues the way people had to obey him — the 360-degree view of his conduct."
It puts the focus not on individual acts, but on a broader alleged system of abuse.
And it's not the first time this law has been used in a sex trafficking case.
R Kelly was convicted for racketeering and sex trafficking in 2022, when he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
What happened in the trial?
The prosecution called a total of 34 witnesses to testify in court.
But there were two main witnesses — both being former girlfriends of Mr Combs:
- Casandra "Cassie" Ventura
- A woman using the alias "Jane"
Ms Ventura was questioned in the witness box for four days while heavily pregnant with her third child.
She was in a relationship with Mr Combs from 2007 to 2018.
The singer, who waived her rights to privacy, told the court she felt pressured to engage in hundreds of marathon sexual encounters known as "freak-offs".
"[A freak-off] basically entails the hiring of an escort and setting up this experience so that I could perform for Sean," she said.
"The performance involved … Sean being able to watch me with the other person and direct us with what we were doing sexually."
Ms Ventura said the encounters continued because, "I just didn't feel like I had much of a choice".
When asked what she meant, Ms Ventura said she feared both blackmail and physical violence.
The next day, Ms Ventura said she felt "trapped" by Mr Combs.
She said Mr Combs threatened to release explicit videos from the freak-offs when he got angry or upset with her.
She also detailed multiple times when she said Mr Combs had been violent towards her and her friends.
This included allegations of Mr Combs hitting one of her friend's head with a hammer and threatening to blow up Kid Cudi's car after learning Ms Ventura was dating the rapper.
She also detailed multiple times Mr Combs attacked her, including an assault in a Los Angeles hotel — footage of which was leaked to US broadcaster CNN.
Ms Ventura said Mr Combs raped her on her living room floor after they broke up in 2018.
'Jane' was questioned for six days.
She was frequently with Mr Combs from 2021 until his arrest in September last year.
Jane told the court about the sexual performances she labelled "hotel nights", saying that she was putting them into perspective after beginning therapy three months ago.
She recounted how Mr Combs pushed her to continue having sex with men while he watched and ignored her signals to stop.
The longest sessions lasted three-and-a-half days, while most went on for about 24 to 30 hours.
She said she repeatedly told Mr Combs she didn't want to have sex with other men — pleading with him, "I'm not an animal. I need a break" — but that he kept pressuring her.
Jane said she felt "obligated" in part because he paid her rent.
She wiped away tears as she recounted the many ill effects of hotel nights, including constant back pain, frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and soreness in her genitals and pelvic areas.
In an audio recording of one of the encounters, Jane asked a man to wear a condom during her first hotel night, but Mr Combs "guilt tripped me out of it", she said.
"It wasn't something he wanted to see," she said.
She told the court that last year Mr Combs put her in a chokehold, punched her in the face and forced her into an encounter with a sex worker.
Rapper Kid Cudi, whose legal name is Scott Mescudi, was among the prosecution's witnesses.
He told the court about several incidents, including that he was sure the accused was behind the firebombing of his car.
Mr Mescudi said his car was damaged by fire while parked in his driveway and a Molotov cocktail was found on the passenger seat.
Earlier in the trial, Ms Ventura said Mr Combs threatened to blow up Mr Mescudi's car after discovering the pair were dating.
Eddy Garcia, a security guard at the hotel where Mr Combs assaulted Ms Ventura, was called to testify.
He told the court Mr Combs gave him a bag of $US100,000 ($152,000) in cash for what he thought was the only copy of surveillance footage of him attacking Ms Ventura.
Mr Garcia signed a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement, shown in court, that required he pay $US1 million if he breached the deal.
At the time he said he was making $US10.50 an hour.
A former personal assistant to Mr Combs testified under a pseudonym.
Going by the name of "Mia", the woman worked for Mr Combs for eight years, telling the court about escalating sexual assaults.
She said Mr Combs put his hand up her dress and forcibly kissed her at his 40th birthday party in 2009.
Mia said Mr Combs forced her to perform oral sex while she helped him pack for a trip
She said he raped her in guest quarters at his Los Angeles home in 2010 after climbing into her bed.
"I couldn't tell him 'no' about anything," Mia said, telling jurors she felt "terrified and confused and ashamed and scared" when Combs raped her.
The assaults, she said, were unpredictable: "always random, sporadic, so oddly spaced out where I would think they would never happen again".
She said if she hadn't been called to testify, "I was going to die with this. I didn't want anyone to know ever".
His lawyers said her claims were false.
Towards the end of the trial, jurors were shown clips from videos described by the prosecution as "explicit".
These clips were shown only to the jurors and parties of the trial because of their graphic nature.
Jurors listened to the clips with headphones and watched the video on screens that were not visible to the many spectators in the courtroom.
Prosecutors said the events were proof of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.
They argued that Mr Combs coerced his employees, associates and even his girlfriends to recruit and arrange flights for sex workers.
And they said his workers obtained drugs, stocked hotel rooms with baby oil, lubricant, condoms, candles and liquor and delivered cash.
One of Mr Combs's lawyers said the videos were "powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion".
After the prosecution rested its case, Mr Combs was asked to confirm that he was not going to testify.
Mr Combs said he "thoroughly" discussed the matter with his lawyers before deciding not to put himself forward for cross-examination.
"That is my decision, your honour," he said.
Shortly after this, the defence presented its case, which took less than an hour.
What was Diddy's defence?
Lawyers for Mr Combs acknowledged he was occasionally violent in domestic relationships but argued the "freak-offs" were consensual.
They've said there was nothing criminal about Mr Combs and his long-time girlfriends occasionally bringing in a third person to their relationships as part of a "swingers" lifestyle.
They presented the case without calling any witnesses to testify — defendants in US criminal cases are not required to present evidence.
Instead, his legal team sought to undercut the credibility of his accusers through cross-examination during the prosecution's case.
They seized on inconsistencies in witness accounts, highlighted accusers' willingness to continue seeing him and warm messages they exchanged with him after alleged abuse.
They read out text messages Ms Ventura sent Mr Combs during their decade-long relationship.
On of those included a message from 2012, when Ms Ventura told Mr Combs, "besides making love, talking to you is my favourite thing".
Five years later, Ms Ventura told Mr Combs in a series of messages that she missed him, asked him to send a picture of his genitals, and pledged to "be your little freak".
They also accused women of trying to cash in on "the #MeToo money grab against Sean Combs".
What happens next?
Once the jury has come to a unanimous decision, they'll inform the court staff.
Then the presiding judge — US District Judge Arun Subramanian — will summon everyone back to the court room for the jury to give their verdict on the each of the charges.
If the jury find Mr Combs not guilty, he'll be released from custody.
If the jury finds Mr Combs guilty, he'll be sentenced for the charges he's been convicted on.
This could happen immediately but may also happen some time after the verdict.
When will we know the verdict?
That's anyone's guess.
It could take days of reviewing evidence for the jury to come to a unanimous decision.
If they don't all agree despite extra deliberations, that's what's called a "hung jury" and a mistrial will be declared.
Then it's up to the prosecution to decide whether it will pursue another trial.
Are there more lawsuits against Diddy?
Yes.
This trial was just over criminal charges.
Mr Combs has also been accused of sexual assault and rape in more than 50 civil lawsuits.
He has denied those allegations.
ABC with Wires
