Judge greenlights October sentencing for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

MANHATTAN (CN) — Sean “Diddy” Combs will be sentenced for prostitution charges on Oct. 3, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Last week, a Manhattan jury acquitted the hip hop mogul on racketeering and sex trafficking charges that could have landed him life in prison. Instead, the jurors convicted Combs on two lesser counts of Mann Act Transportation — prostitution crimes that carry maximum sentences of 10 years each.

Prosecutors are expected to ask for around five years of prison time for Combs, according to court filings.

The October sentencing date is the same one proposed by Combs’ trial judge following the verdict last week. At the time, the music producer’s defense attorney Marc Agnifilo pushed to expedite the process to get his client out of the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn — where Combs is being held pending sentencing — as soon as possible.

Parties were slated to confer on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of an earlier sentencing, but the meeting was adjourned after Combs agreed to abide by the original schedule.

At trial, Combs was accused of leading a criminal racketeering enterprise that carried out a litany of crimes to traffic women across the country for ecstasy-fueled sex marathons in luxury hotel rooms.

Two of Combs’ ex-girlfriends testified that he forced them to ingest copious amounts of drugs and have sex with hired male escorts while he watched, masturbated and intermittently recorded on a phone or iPad.

R&B singer Cassie Ventura was one of those women. She testified that Combs called these events “freak offs,” and walked jurors through a notorious surveillance video from 2016 that showed Combs violently battering her at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles.

An Instagram model referred to only as “Jane” was Combs’ other ex-girlfriend to testify. Like Ventura, Jane painted Combs as a jealous and vindictive partner who forced her into nonconsensual sex acts with other men for his own entertainment. Jane said Combs referred to those nights with her as “debauchery” or “hotel nights.”

Both women testified that these evenings would often span many hours and sometimes several days, and that Combs would use psychological intimidation, violent physical force and financial dependence to pressure them into participating.

Jurors also heard from Daniel Phillip, a male stripper whom Combs paid to drench Ventura in baby oil and have sex with her, as well as rapper Kid Cudi, who testified that Combs torched his Porsche 911 convertible in 2012 with a Molotov cocktail.

In the end, the jury rejected prosecutors’ narrative that placed Combs at the head of a violent criminal enterprise. They also denied the women’s assertions that they were sex trafficked by the Bad Boy Records label boss against their will.

Despite being acquitted on the more serious counts, Combs will remain behind bars pending his sentencing this fall.

“The defense conceded defendant’s violence in his personal relationships, saying ‘it happened’ with respect to Cassie Ventura and Jane,” U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, a Joe Biden appointee in the Southern District of New York, said last week when rejecting Combs’ bail application.

Subramanian rebuked the argument from Combs’ legal team that he was not convicted on dangerous or violent crimes, reminding Agnifilo that during the defense closings, he “full-throatedly told the jury that there was violence” in Combs’ relationships.

Agnifilo had argued that his client be released that day, claiming that he was “acquitted of very, very serious charges” like racketeering and sex trafficking and only convicted of lesser ones.

The judge disagreed, finding that it would be “impossible” to ensure the safety of the community by releasing Combs ahead of his sentencing, given his admitted history of violence.

Combs was previously tried on criminal charges in Manhattan Supreme Court more than two decades ago for a 1999 shooting at a New York City club. In that case, prosecutors said he recklessly fired a gun into the club’s ceiling; Combs testified that he was defending himself.

Jurors cleared a then-31-year-old Combs of all charges — four counts of illegal possession of a firearm and one count of bribery.

Follow @Uebey Follow @uebey.bsky.social