Hip-hop mogul faces up to 20 years in prison for conviction on prostitution charges

Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to be sentenced on Friday morning after being convicted of transporting women to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons.

The 55-year-old hip-hop mogul, who is being held without bail, is due to appear in federal district court in Manhattan at 10 a.m. before Judge Arun Subramanian for his sentencing. According to his lawyers, Combs is expected to speak at the hearing.

Combs faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. In July, after an eight-week trial, a jury found Combs guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution related to his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, and a victim who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.” Each count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

But the Bad Boy Records founder was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, which could have landed him in prison for life.

Combs pumped his fist and fell to his knees in court after the mixed verdict was read.

Prosecutors ask for more than 11 years

Federal prosecutors are asking Subramanian to sentence Combs to more than 11 years in prison — or no less than 135 months — as well as impose the maximum fine of $500,000.

In a 161-page court filing, they argued Combs has shown no remorse, and that his sentence “should reflect the substantial psychological, emotional, and physical damage he has inflicted” on his victims.

“Time and again, he has shown that he is concerned only with his own power and control,” prosecutors wrote. “Only a significant term of imprisonment — meted out in a substantial number of years — can effectively deter him and show future victims that their abusers will be held accountable, no matter their wealth or fame.”

Defense seeks no more than 14 months

The defense is asking that Combs be sentenced to no more than 14 months in prison, including the more than a year Combs has already served since his September 2024 arrest. If granted, Combs could be freed before the end of the year.

“Mr. Combs has already seen how being arrested and convicted can destroy his reputation and lead to terrible collateral consequences for his businesses,” his lawyers argued in a court filing. “Mr. Combs’s celebrity status in the realms of music, fashion, spirits, media and finance has been shattered and Mr. Combs’s legacy has been destroyed.”

They said that the hip-hop mogul has had to endure terrible conditions inside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. According to his attorneys, Combs is under constant suicide watch, sleeps with other inmates in a room containing a bathroom with no door, heats his water because he doesn’t trust it and is served food that sometimes contains maggots.

“Mr. Combs has not breathed fresh air in nearly 13 months, or felt sunlight on his skin, often walking with a limp due to a painful knee injury that requires surgery,” they wrote. “He has served over a year in one of the most notorious jails in America — yet has made the most of that punishment. It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family.”

Federal probation officials recommended a sentence of up to seven years and three months in prison.

Combs did not testify in his own defense at his trial, but is expected to speak at his sentencing. In its filing, the defense informed Subramanian that he “wishes to appear before the Court, address Your Honor, and allocute in the most dignified and respectful fashion possible.”

Cassie Ventura urges judge to consider psychological toll

In a letter submitted to the court ahead of sentencing, Ventura asked Subramanian to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control” in deciding his fate.

“I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human,” Ventura wrote in her three-page letter. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”

Ventura, who dated Combs for nearly 10 years, described it as a “horrific decade of my life stained by abuse, violence, forced sex and degradation.” She said she still has “nightmares and flashbacks on a regular, everyday basis,” and is worried that Combs might seek revenge against her and others who testified against him.

“I am so scared that if he walks free, his first actions will be swift retribution toward me and others who spoke up about his abuse at trial,” Ventura wrote. “As much progress as I have made in recovering from his abuse, I remain very much afraid of what he is capable of and the malice he undoubtedly harbors toward me for having the bravery to tell the truth.”

Ventura said Combs’s sentence “should reflect the reality of the evidence and my lived experience as a victim.”

“If there is one thing I have learned from this experience,” she added, “it is that victims and survivors will never be safe.”

Combs’s children ask judge for leniency

The defense submitted letters to the judge from dozens of people, including six of Combs’s seven children, who portrayed him as a flawed but loving and caring father, and as a role model for them.

“My dad is not perfect,” Justin Combs wrote. “I know he has made mistakes, and I do not deny that. But I refuse to let those mistakes erase the truth of who he is: a loving, present father who has instilled in me and my siblings the importance of respect, of honoring women, and of standing tall in the face of adversity. He is the anchor of our family, the one we look to for guidance and reassurance.”

“Please let him out!” Christian Combs wrote in his letter to Subramanian. “This is driving me crazy and my family crazy! I’m asking for grace and compassion to the family. Please let my dad out of jail!”

Judge denies defense request to overturn conviction or grant new trial

Combs’s defense team had previously asked Subramanian to either overturn his conviction on the two prostitution counts or grant him a new trial. Both motions were denied this week.

The defense argued that prosecutors did not actually prove Combs had violated the Mann Act, a law that makes it illegal to transport people across state or international lines for the purpose of prostitution.

“The government at trial presented overwhelming evidence of Combs’s guilt under the Mann Act on many occasions,” Subramanian said in a written ruling. “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.”