A federal judge ruled on Friday evening that rap and fashion mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will serve four years and two months in prison, pay a $500,000 fine and undergo a five-year supervised release after being found guilty this summer on two counts of violating the Mann Act, which involves transportation of individuals for the purpose of prostitution.
The sentencing came after a full day of dramatic moments and tear-filled statements, which culminated in a massive mea culpa moment from Combs. As the final person to speak before Judge Arun Subramanian read out his sentence, the gray-haired former Bad Boy mogul stood in the middle of the courtroom, wearing a simple white sweater as a packed house looked on, and apologized to the two women he allegedly abused. The once-intimidatingly powerful rap impresario choked up as he spoke of no longer being there for his seven children and then burst into tears as he apologized to his mother, turning to her in the lower Manhattan courtroom gallery as her grandchildren looked on.
“I can’t change the past, but I can change the future,” Combs said. “I ask your honor for mercy. I beg your honor for mercy, to be a father again, a son again and be a leader in my community again and get the help I desperately need.”
The rapper-producer promised he’ll never be violent again because he now has deterrents, including raising his kids — several of whom addressed the court earlier in the day, bringing tears to the crowd watching in the courtroom as they evoked their late mother, Kim Porter, and asked the judge not to deny them of the parent they still have; Combs alluded to this in his spare and dramatic final words at his sentencing.
“They need me; they’re scared, and I’m scared,” he said. “I have nobody to blame but myself. I will never put my hands on another person again. I have learned my lesson.”
Lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo’s last-ditch effort on Combs’ behalf was to put a fine point on the amount he has suffered — having lost his companies, millions of dollars and his reputation as a result of the legal proceedings in the case.
“This is all probably one of the greatest general deterrence cases because everyone knows what happened to Sean Combs because it was destructive in every way,” he said.
Earlier in the day, federal prosecutors and Combs’ elite defense team sparred one last time, now over the objections previously issued in Combs’ pre-sentencing report. This is the probation officer-penned guide that judges use to decide on sentencing. Over the past week, both teams had weighed in to the court with final recommendations for Combs, who in early July dodged the two serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking at his eight-week jury trial but was found guilty of the lesser charges around transportation for prostitution.
Federal prosecutors had recommended in a sentencing memo on Tuesday that Combs receive 11 years and three months in prison and pay a $500,000 fine. The government 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 Subramanian denied Combs’ request to vacate his conviction. On Friday, after announcing his sentencing decision, Subramanian told Combs that he was convinced he was not the changed man his defense team and several character witnesses indicated him to be when he allegedly mercilessly attacked an ex-girlfriend known only by her “Jane” pseudonym well after he’d been handed the five-count indictment and his property had been raided by the feds.
During the eight-week federal trial, 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. “Jane” also testified about the abuse she allegedly suffered at Combs’ hands.
Ahead of his dramatic closing remarks on Friday, Combs 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.”
Earlier in the letter, he wrote: “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.”
The letter to the judge previewed Combs’ big apology for physically attacking Ventura on Friday evening. The violence against the R&B singer was seen by the world when it was caught by security cameras at an L.A. hotel in 2016 and released by CNN years later; he vowed in the letter and on Friday to never again commit a crime, writing in the letter that he went through a “spiritual reset.”
“If you allow me to go home to my family, I promise I will not let you down, and I will make you proud.” he wrote.
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.
Meanwhile, the media frenzy that defined the lengthy trial that overtook the exterior of the courthouse at 500 Pearl Street this summer returned for a day, with several of the live streamers and social influencers who regularly beat mainstream media outlets major scoops back on the Diddy beat. Among these do-it-yourself media personalities was a new crop of young men and women with selfie sticks and makeshift microphones, holding signage less about the Combs trial and more about other hot topics, including Jeffrey Epstein and the Israel-Gaza conflict.
