A judge has denied bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs after a jury convicted the hip-hop mogul of transportation to engage in prostitution, but acquitted him of the most serious charges: racketeering and sex-trafficking.

Lawyers for the recording artist had argued he posed no flight risk, pointing out his jet is being chartered in Hawaii.

But Judge Arun Subramanian cited Combs’ history of violence as he ruled the rapper must remain behind bars until sentencing later this year when he faces up to 20 years in prison.

In the nearly two-month federal trial in New York City, prosecutors accused Combs of using his celebrity status and business empire to run a criminal enterprise to sex traffic women.

A panel of 12 jurors deliberated for 13 hours before acquitting Combs of three of the most serious five charges.

He will continue to be held at the same federal jail in Brooklyn where he has been detained since last September.

The sentencing was tentatively scheduled for 3 October.

Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, made an impassioned argument for the judge to release his client.

The defence lawyer said Combs had attended a programme for perpetrators of domestic violence to try to reform his conduct, even before he was arrested, and that he had not been violent since 2018.

“I just think we should trust him,” Agnifilo said.

But Combs’ ex-girlfriend, musician Casandra Ventura, had warned the court in a letter that the hip-hop mogul posed a danger if released.

The rapper had acknowledged domestic violence, but denied any non-consensual sexual encounters or a larger racketeering scheme.

Judge Subramanian said bail was being denied because “the defence conceded violence in his personal relationship”.

The mood in court was emotional after jurors announced they had acquitted Combs of the most serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking and racketeering both carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

As Combs learned the verdict, he got on his knees, put his face into his chair and appeared to be praying. He was shaking.

The verdict comes a day after jurors told the court they had reached a decision on the sex-trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges against Combs, but were unable to decide on the racketeering count.

The jurors said they had had “unpersuadable” opinions on both sides about the charge, which was the most complicated of any of the counts Combs faced.

Racketeering conspiracy, or directing an illegal enterprise under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico), is the formal name for the charge.

To convict Combs on this charge, prosecutors had to prove he used his loyal network of associates to run a criminal enterprise to commit crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, drugging and obstruction of justice.

Defence lawyers argued the case could not be considered to be racketeering if members of Combs’ staff were not knowingly complicit.

Prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses over the course of the seven-week trial, including Ms Ventura, rapper Kid Cudi, several ex-employees and hotel security workers.

They alleged Combs had relied on employees to coerce his partners into so-called “freak-offs”, in which his girlfriends would have sex with a male escort while he watched and filmed.

The government relied on testimony from Ms Ventura, who took the witness stand while eight-months pregnant, telling the court that Combs had pressured her into sex acts and threatened to release tapes of the freak-offs if she disobeyed.

Ms Ventura warned on Wednesday that Combs would pose a danger if granted bail.

In a letter filed to the court, her attorney Douglas Wigdor wrote: “Ms Ventura believes that Mr Combs is likely to pose a danger to the victims who testified in this case, including herself, as well as to the community.”

At the centre of their case was a video of the rapper beating and dragging Ms Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016 – surveillance footage that security employees testified Combs tried to pay them to delete.

Combs’ attorneys conceded their client was violent towards women, but argued that his behaviour was motivated by drugs and jealousy, not evidence of a larger sex trafficking and racketeering scheme.

Combs is also facing dozens of civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and violence.

The Harlem-born rapper founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, a label that represented some of the biggest names in hip hop – including Notorious B.I.G. and Usher.

He went on to establish a clothing line called Sean John and a variety of other businesses including fragrances, alcohol and even a media company.

American convicted singer, Puff-Daddy also known as Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution following a bombshell nine-week sex-trafficking and racketeering trial.

See the charges below:

Combs was charged with five counts: one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force or fraud, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

He was found not guilty of sex-trafficking and racketeering. Prosecutors called 34 witnesses to the stand over a more than six-week period, including three women who accused him of abuse.

Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Diddy’s ex, told jurors that he coerced her into drug-fueled sexual encounters with male escorts for about a decade.

“I felt pretty horrible about myself,” Cassie told jurors, saying that he lured her into a lurid world under the false pretenses of a romantic relationship — keeping compliant with physical and verbal abuse, as well as the threat of blackmail.

“I felt disgusted,” Cassie said as she testified about these encounters, called “Freak Offs”, “Hotel Nights,” or “King Nights,” which are core to prosecutors’ case.

Diddy allegedly recorded many of these encounters, giving him blackmail material to hold over his victims’ heads, prosecutors said at trial.

The prosecution contends that Diddy’s abuse was part of a sprawling criminal enterprise that relied on other violent acts, such as alleged kidnapping and arson, and included other crimes such as drug distribution and witness tampering, made possible by his devoted employees and inner circle.

A key piece of evidence in prosecutors’ case is a spring 2016 video apparently showing Diddy attacking Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel during an alleged Freak Off.

Cassie described the alleged horrors in detail during her days on the stand. She was coerced into performing for days even when she had a urinary-tract infection or other injuries stemming from sex acts.

“When we were having frequent Freak Offs,” Cassie alleged, “sometimes they were back to back. I was actually doing the Freak Offs with the infection.” She said the infections were painful and frequent.

“It got to the point where Cipro didn’t work anymore,” Cassie also remarked, referring to the powerful antibiotic.

“Occasionally, I would get sores on my tongue from the Freak Offs, [from] taking drugs, substances, friction in my mouth,” she claimed.

Cassie added that she developed an “ongoing, ooff-and-on addiction with opiates.” Cassie said she would take opiates to come down from the ecstasy.

“Opiates made me feel numb, which is why I relied on them so heavily,” she said. “I didn’t want to feel what was actually going on … it was just an escape for me.”

Cassie also alleged that Diddy raped her after a post-breakup dinner in 2018. “I just remember crying and saying ‘no,’” she said on the stand.“

Jane,” another Diddy accuser who took the stand, entered into what she believed was a romantic relationship with him in early 2021.

He took her on a trip to Turks and Caicos for her birthday and they swiftly developed pet names for each other, Bert and Ernie.

“He was really charming, really nice, and I was just drawn to him,” Jane testified. As they spent more and more time together, which included using molly during their sexual encounters,

Diddy told Jane about his fantasies — involving her having sex with other men. One night, after they had been awake for 12 hours, Jane said Diddy suggested: “I can make this fantasy a reality if you’d like. I can make that happen.”

Since the idea was “turning him on” and Jane cared deeply about him, she agreed. “I felt that that night just opened like a Pandora’s box in our relationship. It just completely set the tone for our relationship going forward,” she said.

As time went on, Jane repeatedly told Diddy that she no longer wanted to participate in these encounters.

She broke into tears while describing how Diddy doled out ecstasy so she could stay awake during those dayslong events that sometimes involved multiple male escorts.

“He would be like: ‘You’re not getting tired on me, are you? Let’s finish strong, hard. Let’s end on a high note,’” Jane said.

Diddy was so demanding about these sexual events that he pressured her into not using condoms, saying “he didn’t want to see a rubber while he was watching.”

If she brought it up, he would “guilt-trip” her. Jane said she went along with Diddy’s desires given how much she’d fallen for him. “I just didn’t want to disappoint my lover.”

Diddy maintained his power over Jane financially, prosecutors claimed. Jane said that in spring 2023, they entered into a “love contract” in which he agreed to pay her rent.

As a result, she felt pressure to make Diddy happy, lest he cut off his support. In the summer of 2024 — when Diddy knew he was being investigated by the Feds — Jane said that Diddy pressured her into an encounter.

“I said, ‘I don’t want to!’” Jane recalled of that evening. Diddy got close to her face and said: “Is this coercion?” and compelled her to take ecstasy. “I had to perform oral sex on Anton. It just felt like forever.”

Diddy allegedly watched. “I felt so sick … I just felt disgusted. I just felt terrible.

”Mia, a former Diddy assistant, said that he attacked her multiple times.

“The highs were really high and the lows were really, really low,” Mia told jurors. The work environment varied wildly depending on Diddy’s ever-changing moods.

“He’s thrown things at me. He’s thrown me against the wall … He’s thrown me into a pool … He’s also, uh, sexually assaulted me,” she said.

Mia said he’d sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions. One night in 2010, when she was staying at Diddy’s Los Angeles home,

Mia woke to “the weight of a person on top of me.” The person was Diddy. Mia remembered Diddy undoing his pants.

“He put himself inside of me … I just froze.” Mia said she felt “terrified and confused and ashamed.”

Another time, when she was leaving a closet area, “He was standing right in front of me.”

Diddy, she said, “had his penis out” and forced her to perform oral sex.

Renowned Nigerian film and stage producer, Kayode Peters, has passed away in Canada.

His death was confirmed on Friday by his longtime colleague, comedian Steve Onu, popularly known as Yaw, who spoke to Peoples Gazette.

“Yes, he is,” Yaw responded when asked to confirm Peters’ passing.

He said, “I am still trying to speak with his brother but he is not picking.”

As of the time of reporting, the circumstances surrounding Peters’ death remain unclear.

Peters was widely known for his contributions to Nigeria’s entertainment industry, particularly in television and theatre.

He gained prominence for his work on popular stage plays and sitcoms, including Extended Family, and was the creative force behind the hit early-2000s comedy series Flatmates.

Celebrated for his influence in shaping contemporary Nigerian theatre and television, Peters leaves behind a legacy of creative excellence that inspired a generation of performers and producers.