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Diddy’s Stunning Acquittal on Sex-Trafficking and RICO: Legal Experts Weigh in on How He Won

Here's how Diddy avoided a guilty verdict on sex-trafficking and RICO charges in his criminal trial, according to legal experts.

While a New York jury found Combs guilty on Wednesday (July 2) of transporting girlfriends and male escorts across state lines for drug-fueled sex marathons, they were not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this conduct amounted to sex-trafficking or occurred as part of a criminal enterprise. But legal experts tell Billboard that it may have been a stretch for prosecutors to indict Combs under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal “RICO” statute often deployed against mobsters and cartels. Beyond shrewd cross-examination and a focus on the evidence that supported their position, New York Law School criminal defense professor Anna Cominsky says Combs’ attorneys were smart to draw a bright line between domestic abuse and the crimes at issue in the trial.

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