A federal judge ruled that rap and fashion mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will serve four years and two months in prison after being found guilty this summer on two counts of transportation for the purpose of prostitution.
Federal prosecutors had recommended in a sentencing memo on Tuesday that Combs receive 11 years and 3 months in prison and pay a $500,000 fine. The attorneys cited Combs’ unrepentant attitude, trial evidence that he allegedly beat his girlfriends repeatedly and his behavior while in federal custody for the past 11 months. By contrast, Combs’ defense team argued he should face no more than 14 months behind bars.
Earlier this week, Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request to vacate his conviction.
During the eight-week federal trial in New York — which ended with Combs acquitted on more serious sex-trafficking and racketeering charges — his lawyers argued for a narrow interpretation of prostitution under the law.
Legal precedent holds that only those who engage in sex acts or profit financially from prostitution are criminally liable. Prosecutors argued that Combs arranged for male sex workers to participate in so-called “freak-off” parties over two decades. These drug-fueled gatherings, witnesses testified, often lasted for days, with Combs watching as his partners engaged in sex acts with the hired men.
In a letter to Judge Subramanian, Combs’ former longtime partner, singer Casandra Ventura, said he used violence, threats and drugs to coerce her into participating in these events beginning when she was 19. Ventura, the government’s star witness, described years of alleged abuse during her testimony. Another former girlfriend, identified as Jane Doe, also testified about alleged abuse she suffered at Combs’ hands.
Combs even wrote the judge a letter in which he said he was a new man after realizing he was “broken to my core.”
“Over the past year there have been so many times that I wanted to give up,” he wrote in part. “There have been some days I thought I would be better off dead. 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 wrote, earlier in the letter, “In my life, I have made many mistakes, but I am no longer running from them. 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.”
Combs apologized for physically attacking then-girlfriend Ventura at an L.A. hotel in 2016 and vowed to never again commit a crime, saying he went through a “spiritual reset.”
He wrote, “If you allow me to go home to my family, I promise I will not let you down, and I will make you proud.”
Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, faced a maximum of 20 years in prison for the two Mann Act violations. Regardless of today’s sentencing, the fallen mogul continues to face an uphill legal battle, with dozens of civil suits filed against him since his federal indictment last year.