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Hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs on Friday faced a judge in a Manhattan federal courtroom and learned his fate after a pair of convictions over the summer for sordid sex crimes.
At the hearing, which lasted the entire day, U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Combs to 50 months in prison, NBC News reported, a total of four years and two months behind bars.
'The government equates Sean Combs with a pimp. I want to be clear: Mr. Combs is not a pimp.'
ABC News reported that Combs gets credit for time served; he's been behind bars since his arrest in September 2024.
"You abused the power and control with women you professed to love," the judge said, according to the news network. "You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically."
Just prior to the sentencing, an apologetic Combs spoke in court and blamed himself and drugs for his "disgusting, shameful and sick" behavior, NBC News reported.
"I was sick, sick from the drugs. I was out of control, I needed help, and I didn't get the help, and I cannot make no excuse ..." he said, according to NBC News.
Combs also addressed the judge, NBC News said: "I can't change the past but can change the future. I ask your honor for mercy. I beg your honor for mercy, to be a father again, a son again and be a leader in my community again and get the help I desperately need."
Combs was acquitted in July of sex trafficking and racketeering charges in connection with accusations that he operated a criminal enterprise that coerced women into sordid, sexual marathons now infamously known as "freak-offs" with "dozens" of prostitutes.
But the jury of eight men and four women convicted him on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution — flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, which the AP said is a violation of the federal Mann Act.
Also during Friday's hearing, Judge Subramanian said Combs failed to express remorse for the charge of transporting people for prostitution, which the judge said is inconsistent with reality and accepting responsibility, NBC News reported.
What's more, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik blasted Combs for scheduling upcoming speaking engagements, NBC News said, adding that a Miami nonprofit in a letter filed with the court Thursday said Combs has speaking engagements set for Oct. 14, 17, 23, 25, and 29.
"That is the height of hubris; that is the opposite of the rule of law," Slavik said during Friday's hearing, NBC News noted.
Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for REVOLT
But defense lawyer Xavier Donaldson pushed back Friday against the prosecution's characterization of the Miami dates, saying they are "teaching engagements" if the court lets Combs walk free, NBC News noted.
Donaldson added that "the government equates Sean Combs with a pimp. I want to be clear: Mr. Combs is not a pimp," Donaldson said during the hearing, NBC News said, adding that "a pimp is in the business of subjugating women; therefore he should not and cannot be considered a pimp."
Combs' defense had asked for a 14-month sentence — which NBC News said is basically time already served — but prosecutors asked the judge to sentence him to a 135-month prison term, or 11 years and three months. The news network said the probation department recommended a sentence of seven years and three months behind bars.
The judge had denied bail, NBC News said, and Combs has remained behind bars. He was arrested in connection with the original charges — to which he pleaded not guilty — in September 2024.
Combs on Thursday night in a letter to Subramanian said "how sincerely sorry I am for all of the hurt and pain that I have caused," NBC News added.
“I lost my way," he added in the letter that asked for mercy, the news network said. "I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess. My downfall was rooted in my selfishness."
In addition, Combs' defense team prepared a nearly 12-minute video to be played in court that depicts him in a positive light. The following report includes a snippet of the video.
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Combs' defense attorneys in their pre-sentencing filing added letters from 70 family members, music collaborators, and other supporters — including fellow inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, who said Combs has been a role model who helped them improve their lives, NBC News said.
However, Combs' former girlfriend — R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — also wrote a letter to the judge. In it she called the 55-year-old Combs an abuser who has "no interest in changing or becoming better," NBC reported. Ventura also asserted in the letter that Combs "will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is."
Sean "Diddy" Combs with then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura at the Clive Davis and Recording Academy Pre-GRAMMY Gala in New York City, Jan. 27, 2018. Photo by Steve Granitz/Getty Images
Ventura in May testified that Combs beat her — "he would bash me on my head" — as she also detailed the "freak-offs."
Also during May's hearings, Ventura stated she suffered from medical issues after a "freak-off" orgy, including sores on her mouth, stomach problems, and "very painful" urinary tract infections. Ventura also alleged that Combs raped her in 2018 after their 11-year relationship ended.
As Blaze News reported in 2024, a disturbing video surfaced allegedly showing an "extremely intoxicated" Combs brutally assaulting Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Combs in court Friday personally apologized to Ventura and her family, NBC News reported.
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