Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to 50 months in prison for prostitution-related crimes. Judge Arun Subramanian delivered the ruling on Friday after an emotional hearing, rejecting prosecutors’ request for 11 years. Combs’s lawyers had asked for 14 months, equal to time already served in Brooklyn jail.
Combs apologized before sentencing, telling the court, “I am truly sorry. I ask your honour for mercy. I beg your honour for mercy.”
In July, a jury convicted Combs on two counts of transporting people across state lines for prostitution. The court acquitted him of more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
Singer Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie, submitted a letter to the court detailing years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse during her relationship with Combs.
She revealed that Combs forced her and another woman, Jane, into “freak-offs,” sex marathons with hired men he sometimes filmed.
Ventura wrote, “The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016.” She added that she still suffers nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”
Prosecutor Christy Slavik argued Combs showed little remorse, saying, “It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him.” She criticized his attempts to arrange public speeches in Miami to reduce his sentence, calling it “the height of hubris.”
Defense lawyer Nicole Westmoreland described Sean Diddy Combs as a social justice advocate and “an inspiration” to the Black community. She argued, “He’s made mistakes. He’s just a human being. It’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”
Combs’s six adult children pleaded for leniency. Quincy Brown, his eldest son, described him as “a changed man.” His daughter D’Lila Combs added, “Please, please give our family the chance to heal together. Not as news stories, but as people.”
