A New York federal judge has sentenced Sean “Diddy” Combs to four years and two months in prison following his conviction this summer on federal prostitution-related charges.
The sentencing on Friday in Manhattan came after a federal jury in July acquitted the 55-year-old music mogul of the most serious charges against him – racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking – but found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Combs, who has been held at the Brooklyn metropolitan detention centre since his arrest in September 2024, had pleaded not guilty to all of the charges brought against him. He has gotten credit for the 13 months he has served in custody.
Last week, Combs’s lawyers urged the court to impose a sentence of no more than 14 months in prison, which, given time already served, would allow him to walk free before the end of the year.
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Federal prosecutors, however, pushed for a significantly longer sentence, asking the court to impose a sentence of at least 11 years and three months and a $500,000 (€425,900) fine. In their filing, the prosecutors described Combs as “unrepentant” and said that “his history and characteristics demonstrate years of abuse and violence”.
Since the jury delivered its verdict in July, judge Arun Subramanian has denied two bail requests from Combs’s legal team and also rejected a motion to overturn the convictions.
During Combs’s trial, which began on May 12th, federal prosecutors accused the Bad Boy Records founder of using his power, fame, wealth and influence, as well as violence, threats and blackmail, to coerce two of his former girlfriends into participating in what were described as drug-fuelled sexual marathons with male escorts, referred to as “freak-offs” or “hotel nights”, which they said Combs orchestrated, watched, masturbated to and sometimes filmed.
Prosecutors alleged that for more than two decades, Combs led a criminal enterprise – aided by employees and associates – that engaged in and worked to cover up a range of crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labour, drug distribution, arson and bribery, enticement to engage in prostitution and obstruction of justice.
The jury heard from more than 30 witnesses called by the prosecution, including two of Combs’s former girlfriends, multiple former employees and assistants, male escorts, hotel staff, law enforcement agents and public figures including rapper Kid Cudi and singer Dawn Richard and others. Combs did not testify.
And after 13 hours of deliberation across three days, the jury returned the mixed verdict and acquitted Combs of the racketeering and sex trafficking charges, which could have led to a life sentence, but found him guilty on the prostitution-related counts stemming from the federal Mann Act.
Central to the prosecution’s case were the accounts from the two former girlfriends: singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym of Jane. Both women described the so-called “freak offs” in graphic detail and alleged that Combs coerced them into participating.
Ventura testified that during her and Combs’s 11-year long on-and-off relationship, Combs subjected her to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and blackmail. Jurors were repeatedly shown the 2016 hotel surveillance footage of Combs attacking Ventura in a hotel hallway.
Jane testified that she, too, was pressured and threatened by Combs into sex acts, and also recounted an violence altercation with Combs that left her with welts on her head.
Throughout the trial, Combs’s legal team acknowledged past instances of domestic violence, but denied that any coercion or sex trafficking took place and maintained that all sexual activity was consensual, characterising them as part of a “swingers lifestyle”.
In their sentencing memo, Combs’s lawyers cited his opioid addiction as a factor that contributed to his behaviour.
On Thursday, the night before his sentencing, Combs submitted a letter to the court making a plea for leniency.
“First and foremost, I want to apologise and say how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused others by my conduct. I take full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs,” he wrote.
“This has been the hardest two years of my life, and I have no one to blame for my current reality and situation but myself. In my life, I have made many mistakes, but I am no longer running from them” he added. “I am so sorry for the hurt that I caused, but I understand that the mere words ‘I’m sorry’ will never be good enough as these words alone cannot erase the pain from the past.”
Later in the letter, he added, “I lost my way. I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness. I have been humbled and broken to my core.”
Earlier this week, before the sentencing, Ventura submitted a victim impact statement, urging the court to hand down the sentence suggested by the prosecutors.
“While the jury did not seem to understand or believe that I engaged in freak-offs because of the force and coercion the defendant used against me, I know that is the truth, and his sentence should reflect the reality of the evidence and my lived experience as a victim” Ventura wrote.
She said that she still has “nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday basis, and continue to require psychological care to cope with my past”.
“My worries that Sean Combs or his associates will come after me and my family is my reality,” she wrote to the court. “I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution towards me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial.
Outside of his criminal case, Combs is facing more than 50 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse and other misconduct. He has denied all allegations in those filings. – Guardian
