Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial verdict branded ‘disappointing’ by attorney representing his accusers: ‘Reprehensible!’
US Attorney Lisa Bloom has branded the verdict in the trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs as “disappointing” after being found guilty of two out of five charges against him.
Following the sex-trafficking trial in New York, the US rapper was acquitted of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges, but found guilty on two lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Speaking to GB News, Bloom, who has represented two of Combs’s accusers, said the musician was a “reprehensible” man who is “not innocent”.
Bloom stated: “This was a split verdict, which means the jury found him guilty of two charges, and they acquitted him of the other three, the ones that he was acquitted of were the more serious charges. Combs had denied all charges.
“I represent two Sean Combs’s accusers, one of whom, Dawn Richard, was brave enough to testify in this trial, and there’s no question about it that this is a disappointing day for us.”
She added: “But our civil cases will go on, and we hope that the judge will sentence him to many years behind bars for the charges that he was convicted of.”
Highlighting the “defeat” for the prosecution in the trial, Bloom praised the team’s “admirable job” in the courtroom, and admitted they now have to “respect the verdict”.
Bloom said: “It’s definitely a defeat for the prosecution. And they did an admirable job, I was in that courtroom for weeks, I followed the case very closely. I think the prosecutors worked very hard.
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“But this is what happens in a jury trial, I’ve been a trial attorney for many years. When you put the case in front of a jury, you never know what they are going to do. But the jury has spoken unanimously, and we all have to respect this verdict.”
Issuing stark criticism of Combs, Bloom claimed that his “career is over” and ‘Diddy’ is a “reprehensible man”.
Bloom fumed: “His own attorneys admitted that he is a terrible human being, that he is a domestically violent boyfriend, and he has got multiple civil charges against him. He violated federal law at least twice by transporting prostitutes against state lines.
“So this is no choirboy, this is not somebody that we’re going to look up to as a role model, and I think his career is over. Diddy is a reprehensible human being and nobody would want to raise a son to be like this man who was caught on video beating his girlfriend. Multiple witnesses, including my client, also testified to that abuse.
“The defence was simply ‘this is a domestic violence case, it’s not a federal racketeering case’, and the jury believed that. But this man is not innocent.”
As host Martin Daubney highlighted that the verdict is a “defeat for the MeToo and feminist movements”, Bloom said she hopes nobody is “discouraged” from speaking out on the basis of the Combs verdict.
Bloom concluded: “The MeToo movement and the feminist movement that I have been involved in all of my life is not about one case or one person, it is much bigger than that.
“Millions of women and men all over the world have shared their stories of sexual abuse, and they are continuing to do so, and that, to me is a beautiful, breathtaking movement. It’s a very empowering experience for people to stand up.
“I’ve been representing victims for 40 years, I’m going to continue to do it, and each case is decided on its own facts. I hope that nobody is discouraged by the outcome in this one case.”