On Friday, three months after he was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to 50 months, or a little more than four years, in prison. The federal trial, which took place in Manhattan earlier this year, ended in a mixed verdict, with the music mogul being acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. Had Combs been found guilty on all counts, he could have faced life in prison.
Judge Arun Subramanian said during Combs’s sentencing hearing that the sentence was required “to send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.”
Prosecutors had recommended Combs serve at least 11 years in prison for his crimes, nine years short of the maximum sentence. Combs’s defense, meanwhile, pushed for him to serve no more than 14 months behind bars — effectively a sentence of time served, which would have seen him released almost immediately. Combs and his attorneys seemed to be counting on this light sentence: During Friday’s hearing, per the New York Times, prosecutor Christy Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami for the following week. “That is the height of hubris,” she said. Combs’s lawyers said the events were not speaking but instead teaching engagements for incarcerated people.
Combs was arrested in September 2024, nearly a year after an explosive federal lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, set off a wave of wide-ranging abuse allegations. In a 14-page indictment, prosecutors accused him of a yearslong pattern of violence and sexual abuse — including beatings, rape, revenge porn, threats, and blackmail — and claimed he had used his power, wealth, and influence to avoid repercussions. In testimony, accusers said Combs had forced them to take part in so-called “Freak Offs,” lengthy drug-fueled sexual encounters that Combs allegedly directed and often recorded. Combs denied these allegations, and his defense argued that while he was often a “bad boyfriend” and had committed domestic violence, Combs’s partners had consented to kinky sex and he was not guilty of any sex crimes.
Speaking during his sentencing hearing, Combs apologized to Cassie “for any harm or hurt that I’ve caused her, emotionally or physically,” as well as to his former partner Jane, who also testified during the trial. He also apologized to all victims of domestic violence, pointing to hotel security footage from 2016 in which he can be seen assaulting Cassie. Combs called his conduct “disgusting, shameful, and sick,” but said that prosecutors were intent on making an example out of him. He asked Subramanian for a chance “to be a leader in my community again.”
Prosecutors disputed this characterization in court earlier on Friday, saying Combs was victimizing himself. “This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” Slavik, the prosecutor, said, per the Times.
Cassie was among the victims who submitted impact statements ahead of Friday’s sentencing. In her letter, she said she feared for her safety if Combs were to be released and asked Subramanian to hand down a sentence that “considers the truths at hand that the jury failed to see.” She also pushed back on Combs’s defense’s claims that he had changed while in jail and wanted to mentor abusers. “I know firsthand what real mentorship means, and this disgusts me,” she wrote. “I know that who he was to me — the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker — is who he is as a human. He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
Click here to preview your posts with PRO themes ››
Another one of Combs’s accusers, known by the pseudonym Mia, had been expected to speak at his sentencing but changed her mind at the last minute, submitting a victim-impact statement instead. The prosecution said that was due to a letter the defense submitted to the judge, which claimed that “virtually everything that came out of her mouth” during Mia’s testimony “was a lie.” The prosecutor, Slavik, said the letter “can only be described as bullying,” and even the judge agreed, saying “the tone of the defense’s letter was inappropriate.”
Meanwhile, Virginia Huynh, who’d been identified as Victim-3 in Combs’ indictment but whom prosecutors said they were unable to reach during his trial, submitted a letter pushing for leniency for Combs. In her letter to the judge, she said prosecutors made her feel “pressured to feel like a victim.” Huynh wrote that she understands “the gravity of the charges” against her ex, but called for the judge to “consider releasing him back to his family.”
Combs’s children also spoke at his sentencing hearing, imploring the judge to let their father walk free. His eldest son, Quincy Brown, said Combs is a “changed man.” “Our father will never do anything to jeopardize his freedom, and as his children we want to thank you,” Brown said. “We only wish to heal together.”
In handing down the sentence, Subramanian told the rapper, “Mr. Combs, you and your family — you are going to get through it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.” But the judge also emphasized the severity of Combs’s crimes, saying, “This was subjugation, and it drove both Ms. Ventura and Jane to thoughts of ending their lives.” Subramanian made it clear that a substantial sentence was required given the impact Combs’s actions had on his victims. In his closing remarks, he praised those women for sharing their “horrific” experiences at the hands of the music mogul. “To Ms. Ventura and the other brave survivors that came forward,” he said, “I want to say first: We heard you.”
For her part, lawyers for Cassie said in a statement that, “while nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs,” the sentence recognized the impact of the serious crimes the rapper had committed. The statement continued: “We are confident that with the support of her family and friends, Ms. Ventura will continue healing knowing that her bravery and fortitude have been an inspiration to so many.”
Additional reporting by Andrea González-Ramírez.
