No New Trial For Sean “Diddy” Combs, Judge Rules As Sentencing Looms

Unless Donald Trump is finally coming through with that much considered pardon for his old pal, there will be no near eleventh-hour reprieve for Sean Combs ahead of this week’s sentencing in the much-accused “Mo Money, Mo Problems” performer’s sex-trafficking case.

Read the judge’s ruling here.

The government at trial presented overwhelming evidence of Combs’s guilt under the Mann Act on many occasions with respect to both Ventura and Jane,” Judge Arun Subramanian said in an order just posted in the federal docket with reference to both Combs’ ex-girlfriends Cassie Ventura and the pseudonymed “Jane.” In the 16-page opinion and order, the judge noted: “That evidence consisted of testimony from Ventura and Jane, testimony from the escorts involved, and evidence from text messages and emails. The government proved its case many times over.”

After a less than two-hour long hearing on the morning of September 25 in federal court in a wet New York City on the defense’s post-trial motions for a new trial or an acquittal for Combs, Judge Subramanian promised prosecutors, the defendant and his team that he would rule “very shortly.”  Having overseen Combs’ often grueling eight-week trial and the July 2 jury verdict of guilty on just  two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, Judge Subramanian pushed the notion of “shortly,” taking over several days to finally hand down his decision.

With an appeal set to be made, today’s ruling still now fully clears the way for the long-scheduled October 3 sentencing of the 55-year-old Bad Boy Records founder. As it stands, even with the almost certain federal government shutdown as of midnight Tuesday, the courts are anticipated to stay open and mainly running until at least the end of the week — so no sentencing delay for Diddy.

Also, if the longer then expected wait for a new trial or acquittal decision raised hopes for the defense, the judge quashed them today.

“That by itself might be enough to dispose of Combs’s challenge,” he says of the government’s case on the prostitution charges. “But the other factors don’t do much to help Combs either. He concedes that under the second factor ‘if the inflammatory evidence would have been admissible anyway on a separate trial for the remaining counts” then his ‘claim of spillover prejudice likely fails.’ That narrows any factual challenges to evidence unrelated to the Mann Act charges, like arson or forced labor, to give a few examples. But on the first factor, it isn’t at all clear that this evidence worked to incite the jury or prejudice Combs. It weighs heavily that the jury declined to convict him on any of the counts related to that conduct. Had the prejudice indeed been so great, one would expect a jury to convict on the most relevant counts before it could spill over and infect the others.”

“A new trial is not warranted.”

A prison garb wearing Combs was in attendance, last Thursday, his first time back in court since the end of his trial almost three-months ago. Many members of Combs’ family and remaining inner circle were there too. They are all expected to be back in court on Friday for the sentencing hearing.

Found not guilty this summer by the eight men and four women jury on the sex-trafficking and racketeering charges in a big defeat for the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Southern District of New York, Diddy no longer faces the possibility of life behind bars. The counts Combs was found guilty of carry a maximum sentence of 10 years each, but at this point, no one believes that the Grammy winner is going to serve anything near 20 years once sentenced.

Early in the morning of September 30 East Coast time, the feds filed victims statements and their 164-page sentencing recommendation with a suggested 11 years and three months in federal prison for Combs and “a hefty fine” in the significant six-digit range. The Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos-led defense are bringing a much lighter hand, aiming for 14 months, with time already served. The latter circumstance would see Combs, who has been holed up teaching Business courses in Brooklyn’s the Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest in September 2024, out before Christmas.

Though it took longer that anticipated, the denial of a new trial and an acquittal for Combs by the judge comes as little surprise. Pointing to Combs’ admitted acts of violence and abuse over the years, Judge Subramanian has repeatedly denied Combs’ $50 million bail pitches – including two times since the trial ended – as well as other efforts to short circuit the case.

Still, hoping to shift the case to a First Amendment basis, Combs’ lawyers on September 24 argued that when push comes to shove the drug fueled and paid male escort added “freak offs” were simply their now sober client producing “highly choreographed” sex tapes with his lovers. Porn videos by any other name that Combs and his girlfriends could watch for their viewing pleasure at a later date, nothing more.

“What we’re left with is a case about adults who traveled interstate and participated in a threesome,” defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro asserted at the September 25 hearing of the marathon sex sessions. “The statute should be construed narrowly essentially to only apply to pimping,” she added of the “racist and sexist” originating Mann Act.

The feds took another view last week in court, shutting down the Constitution angle.

“Ms. Ventura was getting punched in the face,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said of the years long abuse Combs’ then girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who testified for days at the trial, suffered by Combs’ lawyers’ own admission. “Jane was getting hit and kicked,” she said of another Combs girlfriend and frequent freak-offs participant. “The defendant was providing drugs to all parties.”

“The Mann Act criminalizes transportation of individuals for the purpose of prostitution,” AUSA Slavik told the Judge and others in the Chinatown-adjacent Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse Thursday. “It does not criminalize filming sex acts of any kind.”

Before wrapping things up in court Thursday, Judge Subramanian asked the defense if they would be throwing up any objections on sentencing if their motions were denied. Attorney Shapiro said they would not be.

Also on September 25, after the hearing was over and done, the judge denied a September 23 defense filing to allow Combs “non-prison clothing” for the session and this week’s sentencing. “The application was made the afternoon before the hearing, and it doesn’t explain the basis for a clothing order of this kind outside of the context of a jury trial, whether this has been done in other cases, or whether relevant personnel were consulted and it posed any issues,” he wrote. “The Court will entertain an application relating to the sentencing proceeding, but it needs to provide some explanation along these lines.”

Friday saw Combs’ team send another letter and attached proposed order to the Judge seeking “non-prison clothing” for the defendant for the October 3 sentencing hearing. “The sentencing proceeding holds significant importance for Mr. Combs,” the two-page correspondence from Teny Geragos stated. “He wishes to appear before the Court, address Your Honor, and allocute in the most dignified and respectful fashion possible.”

Today, in a tease of his later motions ruling, Judge Subramanian issued an order that Combs “will be permitted to receive non-prison clothing at the MDC to wear for his sentencing on October 3, 2025.” As he had during the trial this summer, the Judge got very specific: “He is permitted to have one button down shirt, one pair of pants, one sweater, and one pair of shoes without laces to wear to court.”

Earlier in the week, Combs’ ex-stylist  Deonte Nash filed a sexual battery and human trafficking civil suit against her much accused and sued ex-boss in LA Superior Court. “Nash personally experienced sexual, physical, mental, and emotional abuse at the hands of Defendants during his ten-year employment,” the 37-page complaint alleges. Getting specific, Nash’s action cites “forced tests of loyalty and manipulation, sexual harassment and sexual assaults, physical violence and manhandling, labor trafficking, threats of harm, and threats of death,” the lawsuit against Combs reads.

Close to Cassie Ventura, Nash testified at Combs criminal trial on May 28, though he noted at the time he did not want to be in court, and was only there under subpoena. “After enduring years of abuse, I finally found the courage during the criminal trial, and I am now ready to take action,” a September 24 statement from Nash declared of that testimony and his time working for Combs and Ventura from 2008 to 2018. “Sean Combs has never taken accountability for the years of harm he inflicted on me and so many others,” he added, in a 18 words that certainly undercut most of the positive spin Combs’ defense put on their client said in court on September 25.

Last week, Combs lawyer Erica Wolff directly threw shade on this latest suit by saying that “Mr. Nash is another opportunist looking to profit off his proximity to celebrity.” Recycling terms Combs’ team has used over and over on past suits, Wolff added: “This complaint is riddled with falsehoods and stands in stark contrast to the record that has already been established in court. Mr. Combs has dedicated his life and career to uplifting artists, creating opportunities, and building one of the most influential cultural enterprises in the world.”

“Mr. Combs looks forward to clearing his name again in a court of law where truth matters.”

As for the Trump pardon factor, remember this: the lead prosecutor on the Combs case was the now fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former SDNY boss and FBI Director James Comey.

The younger Comey is now trying to take the government to court for being kicked out after a decade as a prosecutor, The elder Comey is now staring down a grand jury indictment spawned out of the desires of the former Apprentice host to have AG Pam Bondi and the DOJ go after the ex-top cop a million different way to Sunday.

Remember, with Trump it’s alway personal.