A federal judge sentenced Sean “Diddy” Combs to 4 years and 2 months behind bars after the music mogul was convicted of two prostitution-related charges in a case that gripped the nation.
Diddy returned to federal court Friday, three months after jurors found him guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution but acquitted him of the more serious sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.
Friday’s sentencing marks the end of a year-long high-profile drama, starting from his September 2024 arrest and culminating in a two-month trial that highlighted Diddy’s drug addiction, domestic abuse, and penchant for drug-fueled sex marathons called “Freak Offs.”
Prosecutors had asked for the rapper to be imprisoned for at least 135 months — over 11 years — while his defense team asked for no more than 14 months behind bars.
However, early into the sentencing, Judge Arun Subramanian said that he saw no reason to deviate from the range recommended in the pre-sentencing report, which was 70 – 87 months.
When handing down his sentence, Subramanian said: “You abused these women. You used that abuse to get your way, freak offs and hotel nights. The evidence of the abuse is massive.”
“The court is not assured that if released these crimes will not be committed again,” he added.
The mogul, 55, never took the stand at the trial. Prior to sentencing, and for the first time since his case began, he pleaded directly to Subramanian.
“I ask your honor for mercy, I beg your honor for mercy,” he said.
“I ask your honor for a chance to be a father again. I ask your honor for a chance to be a son again. I ask your honor for a chance to be a leader in my community again,” he added.
He apologized directly to his mother, and also to ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who he physically abused for years, branding his behavior “disgusting, shameful and sick.”
His comments echoed a letter he sent to the judge on Thursday, in which he apologized to Ventura and the pain he caused “Jane,” another one of his ex-girlfriends who testified under a pseudonym. “I take full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs,” he said.
The rapper emphasized that he’s changed since his arrest, explaining that he’s reflected on his conduct while serving time. “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn. Prison will change you or kill you—I choose to live,” he said.
While he claims to have grown in prison — he’s now sober for the first time in 25 years and has been teaching and mentoring fellow inmates — he has also lost a lot outside of it, Diddy wrote. He lost the ability to care for his mother or his children; he lost his music career and businesses and “destroyed” his reputation.
“Today, I humbly ask you for another chance—another chance to be a better father, another chance to be a better son, another chance to be a better leader in my community, and another chance to live a better life,” he told Subramanian.
The rapper’s six adult children each addressed the court for a few minutes, delivering emotional pleas for mercy.
Diddy held his hands in his head, as if signaling his heart was breaking, and wiped tears from his eyes as he listened.
D’lila Combs, a daughter Diddy shares with the late model Kim Porter, concluded the group’s remarks. Through tears, she said: “We cannot watch our baby sister grow up fatherless the way we grew up motherless.” She pleaded with the judge: “Please give our family the chance to heal together…Not as a headline, but as human beings.”
The defense team also played a 15-minute video, a collection of home videos and media clips that served as a highlight reel of the mogul’s life.
Several of his attorneys also pleaded with the judge for a lenient sentence. Nicole Westmoreland teared up as she spoke about the impact of his businesses and charity work. “He’s dedicated so much to breaking the chains of systemic racism,” she said.
She also mentioned his six-week business course that he’s been teaching fellow inmates, arguing that he’s changing the dynamics of the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he’s been held since his arrest: “Mr. Combs can reach so many more on the outside than he can on the inside.”
“Mia”, the rapper’s former personal assistant who testified under a pseudonym about the physical and sexual abuse she endured during her eight-year tenure, had initially asked the court to read her victim impact statement during the hearing. However, prosecutor Christy Slavik announced at the hearing that “Mia” changed course for reasons mostly attributable to the defense team’s letter that branded her a “liar,” which Slavik described as “bullying.”
The judge agreed that the tone of the letter was “inappropriate.”
Even without a stage, Diddy managed to draw a crowd. For the trial’s eight weeks, fans, influencers, and journalists lined up outside the courthouse day after day to try to get a glimpse of him.
Inside, jurors — and the rapper’s mother and children who frequently attended — heard the witnesses’ shocking accounts about Diddy’s domestic abuse, drug use, and voyeuristic sexual tendencies.
Jurors were forced to repeatedly watch 2016 footage from the InterContinental Hotel capturing Diddy assaulting Ventura and dragging her across the hotel hallway after she tried to leave a “Freak Off” early. Lawyers from both sides also frequently showed explicit clips from “Freak Offs” and graphic text messages.
Ventura, who took the stand while nine months’ pregnant, testified about several other incidents of abuse, including one that left a “permanent scar” on her eyebrow. Both she and Mia separately accused him of rape.
Several of his former employees testified about witnessing the physical abuse. “Jane”, who dated Diddy up until his September 2024 arrest, related a harrowing night that left her bruised and she recalled feeling “disgusted” after “Freak Offs.”
In her victim impact statement, Ventura asked the judge to consider “justice and accountability” when delivering his sentence, noting she still fears his “malice” and potential retribution for speaking out.
She wrote: “For over a decade, Sean Combs made me feel powerless and unimportant, but my experience was real, horrific, and deserves to be considered.”
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