Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to only over 4 years in jail, three months after he was discovered responsible of two counts of prostitution.
Combs was given 50 months in jail and a tremendous of US$500,000, the utmost doable, for his conviction on federal prostitution-related offences. He may even be underneath 5 years’ supervised launch after his time in jail is served.
In his ruling, Choose Arun Subramanian mentioned “a historical past of excellent works can’t wash away the file on this case, which exhibits that you simply abused the facility and management over the lives of girls who you professed to like.”
“You have been no john,” he added. “You have been greater than that, even when your forex was satisfying your sexual needs as an alternative of cash.”
Subramanian mentioned a considerable sentence is required “to ship a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence in opposition to ladies is met with actual accountability.”
Federal prosecutors had requested that Combs, 55, be sentenced to no less than 11 years and three months in jail. Comb’s legal professionals urged the choose to condemn him to now not than 14 months, which might have resulted in his near-immediate launch, as he has already served practically 13 months in a Brooklyn jail.
Through the sentencing listening to, Combs’ six kids crowded across the podium, imploring the choose to provide their father a second likelihood.
Quincy Brown, the 34-year-old son of Kim Porter, who was adopted by Combs, shared that his father “has discovered a lesson.” The household had seen him evolve, Brown mentioned, and “he’s fully remodeled.”
“My father is my superhero. Seeing him damaged down and stripped of all the things is one thing I’ll always remember,” mentioned one other son, Justin Combs, 31.
Probability Combs, his eldest daughter, instructed the choose that whereas her father was been incarcerated, she noticed adjustments in him that “really feel actual and lasting.”
“After we speak he speaks with a transparent thoughts and sense of goal that I didn’t at all times hear earlier than,” she added.
“I understand how exhausting it was to face up right here and inform me these issues, however it’s essential for me to listen to,” Subramanian mentioned to them.
After an emotional collection of statements from the kids, Combs’ authorized crew offered an 11-minute tribute video that featured clips showcasing the rapper’s philanthropic efforts, motivational speeches, residence movies and scenes of him mourning his late companion Porter, who died in 2018.
Whereas addressing the choose, Combs thanked Subramanian for “giving me the prospect to lastly converse up for myself,” as the previous rapper didn’t testify throughout his trial.
“One of many hardest issues that I’ve needed to deal with is having to be quiet. Not with the ability to categorical how sorry I’m for my actions,” Combs mentioned in his assertion to the court docket.
“I wish to personally apologize once more to Cassie Ventura for any hurt or harm that I’ve triggered her – emotionally or bodily,” he added.
Combs known as his conduct “disgusting, shameful and sick.”
“Due to my selections, I misplaced my freedom, I misplaced the chance to successfully elevate my kids and be there for my mom,” Combs mentioned. “I misplaced all my companies, I misplaced my profession, I completely destroyed my status.”
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Combs mentioned that he’s “misplaced my self-respect” and he has been “humbled and damaged to my core.”
“I hate myself proper now. I received stripped right down to nothing,” Combs mentioned. “I wish to apologize to my seven kids. Y’all deserve higher.”
The sentencing marks the conclusion of the disgraced hip-hop mogul’s New York trial, which started on Might 5.
In a letter to Subramanian forward of his sentencing, Combs proclaimed himself to be a brand new man after realizing that he was “damaged to my core.”
“Over the previous yr there have been so many occasions that I needed to surrender. There have been some days I assumed I might be higher off useless. The outdated me died in jail and a brand new model of me was reborn. Jail will change you or kill you — I select to reside,” he mentioned.
Combs admitted that he had “nobody responsible for my present actuality and state of affairs however myself.”
“In my life, I’ve made many errors, however I’m now not operating from them,” he wrote. “I’m so sorry for the harm that I triggered, however I perceive that the mere phrases ‘I’m sorry’ won’t ever be adequate as these phrases alone can’t erase the ache from the previous.”
He went on to apologize for hitting, kicking and dragging his then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura at a Los Angeles lodge in 2016 — an assault captured on safety digicam.
“The scene and pictures of me assaulting Cassie play time and again in my head day by day,” Combs wrote. “I actually misplaced my thoughts. I used to be useless improper for placing my fingers on the girl that I beloved. I’m sorry for that and at all times might be.”
Reasonably than make an instance out of him with a prolonged sentence, Combs requested Subramanian to “make me an instance of what an individual can do if afforded a second likelihood.”
The fees: What led to Combs’ sentencing?
Combs has been behind bars since his September 2024 arrest. He confronted federal costs of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fuelled intercourse marathons with male intercourse employees whereas he watched and filmed them.
Combs had pleaded not responsible. His legal professionals argued that prosecutors have been making an attempt to criminalize Combs’ swinger way of life and that, if something, his conduct amounted to home violence, not federal felonies.
In July, Combs was discovered responsible of two counts of prostitution, together with the transportation of Ventura to have interaction in prostitution. He was additionally discovered responsible of the transportation of former girlfriend “Jane” for a similar functions.
The Unhealthy Boy Information founder was acquitted in July of the highest costs — racketeering and intercourse trafficking. The defence received three acquittals after he was discovered not responsible of operating a legal enterprise and two counts of intercourse trafficking.
In all, 34 witnesses testified, headlined by Combs’ former girlfriends Ventura and “Jane,” who testified underneath a pseudonym. Each ladies mentioned he was usually violent towards them. Ventura mentioned he compelled her into a whole lot of sexual encounters with paid male intercourse employees, whereas Jane recounted quite a few “lodge nights.”
After the decision was learn, Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo requested the court docket to launch Combs from federal detention now that he’s now not charged with intercourse trafficking.
Combs’ authorized crew makes an attempt to safe his freedom
Combs was denied bail after a jury convicted him of federal prostitution-related offences in July.
Choose Subramanian famous Combs’ violent historical past: “At trial, the defence conceded the defendant’s violence in his private relationships, saying it occurred with Cassie and Jane.”
Agnifilo requested that Combs be launched on conditional bail to his residence in Miami, and supplied a US$1-million bond. Prosecutor Maurene Comey countered, saying to Subramanian that Combs ought to stay in jail till sentencing.
Later that very same month, legal professionals for Combs requested a choose to launch him on a $50-million bond as he awaited sentencing.
Agnifilo mentioned situations on the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn have been “harmful,” and mentioned defendants convicted prior to now of prostitution-related costs that have been just like Combs’ have been usually launched earlier than their sentencing.
He argued that the court docket ought to launch Combs “on affordable situations” prematurely of sentencing. The lawyer claimed that Combs “shouldn’t be a danger of flight neither is he a hazard to the neighborhood or to any particular individuals.”
Agnifilo mentioned that if Combs was launched on situations, he “is not going to be violent to anybody.”
Combs’ lawyer additionally added a proposed bail package deal for the rapper with situations together with “a $50-million bond secured by Mr. Combs’ residence in Miami,” which might even be co-signed by three “financially accountable individuals.”
The choose denied bail for Combs a second time.
His legal professionals revealed they even reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump searching for a pardon following his conviction.
A supply near Combs’ authorized crew confirmed to NBC Information that they’d been involved with the Trump administration.
This got here after Nicole Westmoreland, a member of Combs’ defence crew, instructed CNN in an unique interview that the music mogul’s crew had reached out to Trump for a possible pardon.
In early August, Trump instructed Newsmax that Combs’ legal professionals have “talked to me about Sean” however mentioned he was unlikely to pardon the music mogul.
“I used to be very pleasant with him, I received together with him nice and he appeared like a pleasant man. I didn’t know him nicely. However after I ran for workplace, he was very hostile,” Trump mentioned.
When Trump was requested if granting Combs clemency was extra probably a “no,” he mentioned, “I might say so.”
Final month, legal professionals for Combs urged a choose to condemn him to not more than 14 months in jail for his conviction. In a written submission, Combs’ authorized crew mentioned he had already been punished sufficient.
They mentioned their shopper is a “modified man,” who had realized that his overuse of medicine had contributed to violent acts he participated in.
What’s subsequent for Combs?
Combs was denied acquittal and a brand new trial on Tuesday, the choose rejecting his legal professionals’ argument that he was an beginner pornographer — not participating in prostitution — and that the responsible verdict violates his First Modification rights.
“The federal government proved its case many occasions over. That by itself is likely to be sufficient to get rid of Combs’s problem,” Subramanian wrote within the 16-page opinion and order.
“Criminal activity can’t be laundered into constitutionally protected exercise.”
He known as Combs’ filming “incidental,” pointing to trial proof that confirmed he didn’t usually give discover or ask for consent for filming, as a movie producer would.
— With information from The Related Press
