Sean “Diddy” Combs — once a hip-hop and fashion titan worth close to a billion dollars — will serve a prison sentence of four years and two months.
The 55-year-old music mogul was sentenced in Manhattan on Friday for transporting sex workers and his girlfriends across state lines for drug-fueled sex performances that Combs dubbed “freak offs.”
Ahead of his sentencing in a packed federal courtroom, Combs addressed US District Judge Arun Subramanian, who oversaw his seven-week trial.
Wearing a cream-colored sweater over a white button-up shirt, Combs apologized to his victims for his conduct, and to his seven children and his mother for letting them down. He called his own actions “disgusting, shameful, and sick.”
“I’ve been humbled and broken to my core,” he told the judge, with a bible open on the defense table in front of him. “I hate myself right now. I’ve been stripped down for nothing. I really, truly am sorry for it all, no matter what they say.”
Combs’ comments capped a daylong presentation featuring six of his children, five of his attorneys, a reverend, another formerly incarcerated person, and an 11-minute video showcasing his family and good deeds.
Subramanian told Combs that it was not enough.
“A history of good works can’t wash away the record in this case,” Subramanian told Combs. “Which shows that you abused the power and control that you had over the lives of women you professed to love dearly. You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically.”
As the judge issued the sentence of 50 months in prison, plus a $500,000 fine, Combs looked down and shook his head.
He was not smiling when he was escorted out of the courtroom by US Marshals. Nor was his family as they filed out the back of the courtroom.
During the daylong sentencing hearing, Combs showed a range of emotions: Good cheer and warm hugs as he greeted his lawyers on taking his seat, a look of confused concern as the judge crunched the sentencing guidelines math, and open anger as a prosecutor graphically described his violence while asking the judge to impose a severe sentence.
As six of his children made tearful addresses to the judge, Combs bent forward at the defense table, head in hand. He shook his head, his hunched frame rocking as he, too, appeared to cry.
Combs has been locked up at a notorious federal jail in Brooklyn since his September 2024 arrest and indictment — time that will likely count toward his sentence.
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His defense attorneys sought a sentence of no more than 14 months, arguing he should be released on time served, while prosecutors pushed for a far longer sentence of at least 11 years and 3 months.
In a four-page pre-sentencing letter made public on Thursday, Combs asked the judge for “mercy.”
“I take full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs,” Combs wrote to Subramanian. “This has been the hardest 2 years of my life, and I have no one to blame for my current reality and situation but myself.”
Ahead of the sentencing, prosecutors said they expected “Mia,” a woman who testified that Combs raped her, to speak at the hearing. But on Friday morning, Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said a “bullying” letter from Combs’ attorneys criticizing victims had persuaded her to not show up to court and face him.
Subramanian chastised Combs’ lawyers, calling the tone of their letter “inappropriate.”
And before adjourning the hearing, Subramanian praised the women who stepped forward to testify against Combs.
“You stood up to power. It’s not easy,” Subramanian said, addressing them. “You told those women and the world that violence behind closed doors doesn’t have to stay hidden forever. The number of people who you reach is incalculable.”
Months ago, Combs saw his jury verdict as a win
In July, a jury convicted Combs of two felony counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, known as Mann Act charges, for paying at least eight male escorts to cross state lines for freak offs with two former girlfriends, including R&B singer Cassie Ventura.
Each count carried a maximum sentence of 10 years.
Combs dodged a possible sentence of life in prison when the jury cleared the businessman and rapper of the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
The verdict was largely celebrated by Combs and his defense team, with his lead lawyer Marc Agnifilo calling it a “great victory” in the immediate aftermath.
Jane Rosenberg/Reuters
Combs’ trial saw weeks of testimony from 34 government witnesses, including Ventura — the prosecution’s star witness, who dated him between 2008 and 2019 — and a second sex-trafficking accuser, and a more recent ex of Combs who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”
Prosecutors alleged that Combs sex trafficked Ventura and Jane, using force, threats, and drugs to coerce them into performing in the freak offs — days-long sexual marathons at hotel suites in Miami, New York, and Los Angeles that he would masturbate to and often record. The jury, however, rejected that claim, finding there was no coercion.
During the trial, an eight-months-pregnant Ventura delivered, at times, tearful testimony about the abuse she said she suffered at Combs’ hands during their on-and-off 11-year relationship.
The infamous hotel-beatdown security video showing Combs kicking and dragging Ventura was a critical part of the government’s case.
Multiple trial witnesses described for the jury more than a dozen instances where Combs physically beat Ventura and Jane.
Combs’ lawyers cast those events as instances of domestic violence, not sex trafficking. The sexual interactions cited in the case were consensual, they said. The defense attorneys used their cross-examinations of Ventura and Jane to paint them as both jealous and financially motivated.
As part of the prosecution’s presentencing court filing, Ventura submitted an impact statement in which she told the judge she was fearful that Combs could be set free. She urged the judge in her letter to consider the “many lives” Combs has “upended with his abuse and control.”
“While nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs, the sentence imposed today recognizes the impact of the serious offenses he committed,” Ventura’s attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Meredith Firetog, said in a statement following Friday’s hearing.
Several others, including Ventura’s parents and a former personal assistant for Combs who accused him of rape, also submitted impact statements.
Combs’ attorneys argued in their presentencing submission that Combs is a changed man and is “committed to leading a completely law-abiding life.”
The court filing included letters from more than 60 family members, friends, and former colleagues who pleaded to the judge for leniency.
Prosecutors countered in their presentencing submission that Combs “engaged in violence and put others in fear” and should be sentenced to no less than 135 months in prison because he is “unrepentant.”
“The defendant has modeled disdain for his victims, disrespect for this system of justice, and a complete lack of accountability,” Slavik said Friday.
Meanwhile, Combs’ legal troubles are far from over.
He is still facing dozens of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault, rape, drugging, and other forms of violence.
Combs denied all accusations of sexual assault against him.
Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, whose firm has filed roughly 50 lawsuits against Combs, said in a post on Instagram on Thursday that “many more” lawsuits will be filed.
“Our team is proud to lead the civil effort in this important litigation and we look forward to the opportunity to try these cases to verdict in front of juries,” Buzbee said.