Diddy verdict got it wrong because we don't recognize what sex trafficking looks like | Opinion

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On July 2, a New York jury cleared Sean “Diddy” Combs of federal sex trafficking, convicting him only on two Mann Act counts for transporting people for prostitution.

Jurors did so after reading a text from anonymous accuser Jane Doe to Combs – "I need a break. I don't want to" – and reviewing evidence that included leaked surveillance footage of him beating former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine, along with testimony describing sex on demand behind locked hotel doors.

An acquittal isn’t innocence. It is confirmation that even overwhelming evidence can be dismissed when it defies our narrow image of what trafficking looks like. If a jury cannot recognize coercion this blatant, the failure is not in the facts – it is in a culture unwilling to see exploitation unless it arrives in chains.

Why did the jury miss it?

Our culture still pictures trafficking in only two scenes: a woman in chains or a glamorous hustler in control. Real exploitation, economic coercion, grooming – fits neither, so we mislabel it even when the footage rolls in front of us.

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Survivors briefly held the weight. Then the verdict shifted it back.

Over seven weeks, federal prosecutors called 34 witnesses, but they made clear the case hinged on the testimony of Jane Doe and Ventura Fine.

Jane Doe courageously testified for six days, in open court, directly across from Diddy while recounting her experiences of sexual violence and trafficking. Her testimony included some of the most explicit and painful details of her abuse.

She was cross-examined on private text messages and subjected to invasive public exposure, even as her identity was technically protected.

Ventura Fine, a singer known as Cassie who in 2019 ended her business relationship with Combs and married trainer Alex Fine, testified in open court under her own name. Over several days, she described years of physical abuse and psychological manipulation.

Her civil lawsuit, filed in 2023, included hotel surveillance footage from 2016 that got leaked to the public, showing Diddy physically assaulting her. She let one of her worst moments play out on screens, knowing it would be paused, rewound and dissected. She faced public scrutiny and reputational harm – yet she refused to stay silent.

An acquittal after these brave testimonies is an unmistakable message to every survivor watching: Even extraordinary courage might not be enough to overcome cultural disbelief.

Here's why survivors stay silent

“As a survivor and someone who works with survivors daily, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is to come forward, especially when the abuser is powerful," said Lauren Moquette, founder of Daughters of The Corner, a nonprofit group supporting trafficking survivors.

"We have to stop expecting survivors to be perfect victims to be heard," she continued. "The judicial system was not built with survivors in mind. It often retraumatizes more than it restores. From invasive cross‑examinations to the burden of proof falling on the victim, the process can feel like another form of abuse."

"This moment is bigger than one man’s trial. It’s about what it reveals culturally about who is protected, who is believed, and who is ignored,” Moquette added.

Survivors hesitate to come forward for reasons this verdict just underlined:

• Anticipated disbelief. Every detail of their lives will be weaponized. When juries overlook text messages pleading “I don’t want to,” who else will listen?
• Self‑recognition gap. At the nonprofit Restore NYC, 48.47% of the survivors we served had not been identified before coming to Restore – because exploitation rarely looks like the movie scripts we carry in our heads.
• Legal landmines. Roughly 62% of survivors have been cited, arrested or detained for crimes their traffickers forced them to commit. Those charges shadow them in court. 
• Retraumatization. Six days of testifying left Jane Doe reliving violence in front of strangers. Many decide silence is safer than a second wound.

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This is the cultural reset we owe survivors

We owe it to survivors to believe first. When courage meets disbelief, silence spreads – and traffickers thrive. We must switch our first instinct from doubt to intentional belief.

Skepticism has protected traffickers far better than survivors.

We also must center survivors. That means giving lived experience decision power – in the rooms where decisions are made, stories are told and research is funded – so our responses reflect lived reality.

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And we must fund change. Culture moves fastest when survivors hold both the microphone and the resources.

This verdict falls on us as much as it disappoints. If we refuse to name obvious trafficking, we leave future survivors to choose between silence and spectacle. Ventura Fine and Jane Doe chose the truth. Whether a verdict reads guilty or not guilty, this is a lasting judgment on a culture that decides who is protected, who is believed and who is ignored. 

Changing that culture cannot wait. Our work starts now.Beck Sullivan, a licensed clinical social worker, is the CEO of Restore NYC, where she has led nationally recognized programs that earned the 2024 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons. She has more than 16 years of experience in the anti-trafficking field, including prior roles at the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition and as cofounder of the Valley Against Sex Trafficking (VAST).