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MANHATTAN (CN) — Entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a New York Federal judge to sentence him leniently on prostitution-related transportation convictions to no greater than the time he has already served in a federal jail since his arrest last September.
“It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family, so he can continue his treatment and try to make the most of the next chapter of his extraordinary life,” his lawyers wrote in a substantial 182-page sentencing submission, filed shortly before midnight on late Monday evening. “A sentence no greater than 14 months is plainly ‘sufficient, but not greater than necessary,’ to accomplish the purposes of sentencing articulated in 18 U.S.C. §3553(a). It is the only just and fair sentence that could be imposed.”
The 55-year-old hitmaker and brand impresario has spent just over a year at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after his September 2024 arrest at the Park Hyatt Hotel in New York City.
Following a seven-week trial, a federal jury returned with a split verdict that acquitted the Bad Boy CEO on the most serious charges of RICO and sex trafficking, but convicted him on two counts of Mann Act transportation, prostitution-related offenses carrying up to 10 years each.
Combs’ lawyers called the verdict, which spared him a possible life sentence, “a victory of all victories for Sean Combs.” Still, they were unable to secure his immediate release from federal custody by prevailing against the most serious charges.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian found that Combs’ admitted history of domestic violence would make it “impossible” to ensure community safety by releasing him.
“The defense conceded defendant’s violence in his personal relationships, saying ‘it happened,’” Subramanian said in July, referencing several examples of trial testimony.
The judge said Combs’ violence was “starkly depicted” in a 2016 security video showing him dragging and hitting his then-girlfriend at the InterContinental Hotel — evidence prosecutors highlighted at trial.
Subramanian, a Joe Biden appointee, will impose Combs’ punishment at a sentencing hearing in October.
In their letter, Combs’ lawyers noted that Mann Act defendants with minimal criminal histories typically receive a median sentence of 12 months and an average of less than 15 months.
“Mr. Combs has already served far more time than the average individual engaged in non-commercial prostitution, which the DOJ has not deemed worthy of federal prosecution since the mid-20th century,” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo wrote in the sentencing submission. “Thus, the appropriate sentence for such conduct is at most 14 months.”
Combs’ defense pushed back against the United States Federal Probation Office’s recommended guidelines range of 70 to 87 months’ imprisonment, based on their “draconian” application of enhancements for the use of coercion.
“The jury’s verdict could not have been clearer or more consistent,” Combs argued in the sentencing submission. “The jury found that Mr. Combs is not guilty of forcing, coercing, or defrauding either Casandra Ventura or Jane and that he is not guilty of RICO conspiracy. But the jury did find Mr. Combs guilty of prostitution offenses—obviously because (as the government emphasized in closing argument) those counts didn’t require proof of threats of force, force, fraud or coercion.”
Federal prosecutors are due to file their sentencing memo on Sept. 29, but they’ve already pointed to federal sentencing guidelines suggesting Combs faces 51 to 63 months in prison, roughly four to five years.
Prior to the October sentencing hearing, Subramanian will hear arguments on Thursday related to Combs’ post-trial motions for acquittal or retrial, which hang on the defense argument that Combs’ so-called “freak off” sexual escapades were just self-produced amateur pornography with consensual partners for his own voyeuristic gratification, rather than illegally flying in male prostitutes across state lines for hotel sex marathons with his girlfriends.
Formerly known as Puff Daddy, Combs worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his own record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, in 1993. He came to national prominence in the early 1990s, producing hit debut albums for rapper The Notorious B.I.G. and R&B singer Mary J. Blige.
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