Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to just over 4 years in prison Friday (Oct. 3) for violating federal prostitution laws, capping off a year-long prosecution of embattled hip-hop mogul.
In a packed Manhattan federal courtroom, Judge Arun Subramanian ordered the star imprisoned for 50 months, according to the New York Times and other outlets. Diddy’s lawyers had sought just 14 months; prosecutors had asked for more than 11 years.
The judge had harsh words for Diddy before handing down the sentence: “This was subjugation, and it drove both [victims] to thoughts of ending their lives,” he said, adding that his sentence would “send a message to abusers and victims alike that exploitation and violence against women is met with real accountability.” But the judge also said the decade-long term sought by the feds was “not reasonable.”
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Before sentencing, Diddy himself spoke to the judge, apologizing to his victims for “disgusting, shameful and sick” behavior and asking for a second chance: “I ask your honor for mercy. I beg your honor for mercy,” he said. Prosecutors, meanwhile, urged the judge to reject his promises of change, calling him a “master puppeteer of his own image.”
The sentence is far less than the life sentence Combs could have faced when he was charged with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking. But the jury’s July verdict acquitted him on those counts and only convicted him of violating the Mann Act, a federal law that bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Given that Combs has already been in jail for more than a year, the prison term will see Combs, 55, locked behind bars for a little over three years. But he is also still facing dozens of civil lawsuits over similar abuse allegations, and has suffered severe reputational damage to his once-formidable music and business empire.
Along with a ruling this week refusing a new trial, the sentencing will clear the way for Diddy to launch an appeal of both his convictions and sentence. The appellate court could take more than a year to reach a ruling; if upheld, he could file a long-shot appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. His team has reportedly also lobbied the Trump administration for a pardon.
Combs, who rose to fame as an artist/producer in the 1990s with his Bad Boy Records and later expanded his business empire into fashion, TV and liquor, was arrested and charged in September 2024. Prosecutors claimed he’d run a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating “freak-offs” — elaborate events in which he allegedly forced women to have sex with male escorts while he watched, masturbated and sometimes filmed.
The case centered on allegations from Cassie Ventura, Diddy’s longtime ex-girlfriend, who said he’d subjected her to years of such abuse. Ventura’s November 2023 civil lawsuit was the first to accuse the star of wrongdoing and sparked dozens of other alleged victims to come forward with similar cases. A surveillance video of Combs assaulting Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 made headlines when it was leaked in May 2024 and has remained an indelible image of the case.
At a blockbuster trial this spring, prosecutors told jurors that the star had abused his power for decades to “feed his every desire,” including coercing Ventura and others to engage in the freak offs and then silencing them with threats: “For twenty years, the defendant, with the help of his trusted inner circle, committed crime after crime,” a prosecutor told the jury.
But from the very outset, Diddy’s lawyers said such allegations were clearly overblown. They acknowledged and apologized for domestic violence, and said he had lived a “swinger lifestyle.” But they argued that his alleged victims had been consenting participants, and that “toxic” relationships and weird sex didn’t add up to federal crimes: “That may not be what you like to do in your bedroom,” they told jurors. “She was not being trafficked.”
Those arguments worked. In a July verdict, jurors acquitted Combs on the RICO and sex trafficking charges, avoiding the possibility of a life prison sentence. But he was still convicted on the two lesser Mann Act counts for transporting Ventura and others across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.
Leading up to sentencing, Diddy’s attorneys urged Judge Subramanian to reject “draconian” requests from prosecutors, saying he must ignore most of the evidence of violence because Combs had been acquitted on the more serious counts: “It is time for Mr. Combs to go home.” And the day before sentencing, Diddy himself sent a letter to the judge vowing to “never commit a crime again.”
But at Monday’s hearing, Judge Subramanian largely sided with prosecutors and probation officials on key issues, including ruling that he could consider the “acquitted conduct” that Diddy’s lawyers had asked him to exclude. The judge also said Diddy would not get credit for accepting responsibility since he had continued to challenge his convictions.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent hours Friday arguing over the sentence. Diddy’s children asked the judge for mercy, and his lawyers played an extensive video highlighting his work in the community.
But the judge ultimately said “a history of good works can’t wash away” the abuse highlighted by the case, and said Combs deserved “hard time” for his crimes. He also questioned whether the star was truly remorseful, noting that he had abused another woman even after apologizing for the infamous hotel tape.
Before ending the hearing, Judge Subramanian thanked the victims for speaking out. “You were speaking to the millions of women out there who have been victims but feel invisible and powerless and had to suffer in silence,” the judge said. “You told those women and the world that violence behind closed doors doesn’t have to stay hidden forever.”
Shortly after Diddy was sentenced, Ventura’s attorney Douglas Wigdor issued a statement: “While nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs, the sentence imposed today recognizes the impact of the serious offenses he committed,” Wigdor said. “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.”
