The Latest: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is being sentenced

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NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was back in court for his sentencing Friday in a sordid criminal case that could keep him locked up for years. The hip-hop mogul was convicted in July of flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers. A jury acquitted Combs, 55, of more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him away for life.

On the eve of his sentencing, Combs wrote U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian asking for mercy and proclaiming himself to be “reborn” after realizing that he was “broken to my core.” Combs will be sentenced under the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport someone across state lines for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sex acts. Prosecutors urged the judge to reject leniency, saying witnesses fear for their safety if he is freed.

Prosecutors say he should spend more than 11 years in prison for his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs’ lawyers want him freed now, saying the long sentence sought by prosecutors is “wildly out of proportion” to the crime.

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Combs is a wealthy celebrity with a robust legal team. And as a music producer, TV executive and fashion force, he’s well-versed in making and shaping an image — evident in the production values of the video they played for the judge. The 11-minute video includes highlights from his home videos, business exploits and more. It showcases him as a parent, businessman and a philanthropist.

His lawyers contrasted his case with what they say are other prostitution-related cases involving far more heinous conduct. And Westmoreland delivered an emotional soliloquy that accentuated his impact on the Black community and fellow inmates, and his desire to effect positive change once he’s out from behind bars.

So far, two of his lawyers have addressed the court, along with six of his seven children, all but the toddler. Three more defense lawyers and Combs himself are expected to speak after 2 p.m., when they return from lunch.

In all, six of Combs’ seven children spoke. His youngest daughter, Love, is just two years old. The judge thanked them afterward, saying he appreciated that doing so was difficult but it was important for the court to hear.

His daughters Chance and D’Lila Combs cried as they read prepared remarks. D’Lila saying she fears losing their father to prison and effectively being parentless after the 2018 death of her mother, Kim Porter.

“We are tired of being strong. We have already lost so much. We have lost our mother, we have lost time with our father, and every day he remains incarcerated, we lose more and more. Please, your honor, please,” D’Lila Combs said, crying, “give our family the chance to heal together, to rebuild, to change, to move forward, not as a headline, but as human beings. We’re trying to do better.”

Chance Combs said: “Instead of making excuses, my father now works on ways to improve.”

Echoing his siblings’ view of Combs’ changes while in jail, son Christian Combs said the impresario has become “more patient, more relaxed, more trusting, more understanding and just a better man.”

“Please give my family grace. Please let my father out,” Christian Combs said. “Please give him mercy.”

They’re crowding around the podium, imploring the judge to give their father a second chance.

His eldest son, Quincy Brown, says his father “has learned a lesson.” The family has seen him evolve, Brown says, and “he is completely transformed.”

“My father is my superhero. Seeing him broken down and stripped of everything is something I will never forget,” said another son, Justin Combs.

He suggested that as tough as the ordeal has been, it probably saved his father’s life because, during his year in jail, he has kicked drugs and alcohol.

Combs’ reputation as a successful businessman followed him inside the Brooklyn federal jail where he’s been held since his arrest last year.

With other inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center asking him for advice on a daily basis, Combs agreed to teach a six-week class dubbed “Free Game with Diddy,” Westmoreland said.

Before the class, Combs made a deal with his fellow inmates, the lawyer said: If he was going to teach them, they would have to stay peaceful and let everyone on the unit who wanted to participate do so — even if they had differences.

“Your honor, this is change. This is inspiration. This had not happened at the MDC, ever,” Westmoreland said.

“Mr. Combs can reach so many more on the outside than he can on the inside,” she concluded. “It is of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison.”

Westmoreland grew emotional as she recounted Combs’ accomplishments as a Black entrepreneur, explaining that he was an inspiration to her.

She said that as she was trying to make her way as an attorney about eight years ago, she attended an event where he spoke and encouraged the audience not to be afraid to dream — but to follow up with action and help others.

“That changed my life,” she said, with a sniffle.

“Mr. Combs is not larger than life. He’s a human being. And he’s made some mistakes. He has flaws, like we all do,” Westmoreland said. “But judge, how many of us can say that we helped so many lives, countless lives?”

Defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland is discussing Combs’ life and career as a hip-hop artist and businessman who owned his own record company and fashion label. Some of his achievements, she said, were milestones for the Black community and helped inspire others to follow their own dreams.

Westmoreland choked up as she talked about Combs’ Revolt TV network, which offered a mix of programming focused on hip-hop culture, R&B music, social justice and documentaries.

▶ Read the AP’s timeline of Combs’ life and career

Attorney Jason Driscoll started by recapping the defense’s argument that the Mann Act, which Combs was convicted of violating, should never have been applied to him. The 115-year-old federal law prohibits taking someone across state lines for criminal sexual activity.

Driscoll argued that Mann Act prosecutions generally have targeted people accused of making money off their conduct. He asserted that Combs “did not make a single cent” from what he was convicted of doing.

Slavik urged the judge to take an opportunity with his sentence to send a message to victims, the public and would-be perpetrators that Combs’ crimes were serious and are being punished accordingly.

A lenient sentence might encourage more people to commit such crimes, knowing they won’t face much consequence, she argued.

A lengthy sentence, she said, would potentially deter such behavior. She again urged the judge to sentence Combs to at least 11 years and 3 months behind bars.

Besides pointing to Combs’ conduct toward Cassie, prosecutors emphasized testimony from another of his ex-girlfriends, who testified under the pseudonym “Jane.”

The former model dated Combs from 2021 until his September 2024 arrest. At his trial, she said he repeatedly pressured her into having sex with other men against her will, and that one night in June 2024, he put her in a chokehold, punched her in the face and forced her into an encounter with a sex worker.

Combs already knew by then that he was under investigation, Slavik noted in her sentencing argument. She suggested the episode showed that when challenged, “he reacts unpredictably and abusively.”

Slavik slammed Combs’ letter Thursday night to the judge seeking leniency, saying that he portrayed himself as the victim of his own bad behavior.

“Even in his submission last night, his remorse was qualified,” the prosecutor said.

In the letter, Combs wrote: “My domestic violence will always be a heavy burden that I will have to forever carry.”

By framing it that way, Slavik said, it’s “like he’s the victim in this scenario.”

“This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” Slavik said.

Slavik suggests that there are reasons to be skeptical about that claim, but that in in any event, “his victims don’t have the luxury of moving on so easily. They’re still picking up the pieces.”

“The violence in this case was uncontested,” Slavik said, pointing to the defense’s trial admission that he sometimes used physical force. “The conduct here very clearly involved violence.”

Jurors repeatedly saw security camera footage of Combs kicking, beating and dragging his then-girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. That assault, in a public hallway, “was just one of many violent outbursts,” the prosecutor said.

“Imagine how much worse it was behind closed doors,” Slavik said.

Admitting to violence as part of a defense strategy is not accountability, she said — a substantial prison sentence is.

In a Sept. 29 letter to the court, one of Combs’ supporters, a Miami-based nonprofit that helps prisoners readjust to freedom, said he had scheduled “teaching engagements” at a prison and various other facilities in South Florida this month, starting Monday.

The letter evidently anticipated he’d be free to lead these entrepreneurship and life skills programs, describing the work as “following his release.”

“That is the height of hubris,” Slavik said. Defense lawyers haven’t yet had their chance to respond

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex crimes trial involved testimony from 34 witnesses.

They included Combs’ ex-girlfriends Cassie and Jane, who said he forced them into drug-fueled sex marathons, a sex worker they knew as “The Punisher,” personal assistants who said they witnessed violence, and other women who accused him of abuse. The judge can consider all trial testimony as he decides the sentence.

▶Read more about some of the key witnesses and their testimony.

“Today is about accountability and justice. Accountability for the defendant, who committed serious federal crimes repeatedly over the course of 15 years, and justice for the public, including for the victims, whose lives have been shattered,” prosecutor Christy Slavik said.

“It’s a case about a man who did horrible things to real people to satisfy his own sexual gratification,” she added. “He didn’t need the money. His currency was control.”

Slavik said the prosecution’s recommended 11-year, 3-month sentence “reflects the conduct appropriately, is consistent with other similarly situated defendants and fully respects the jury’s verdict.”

Not sentencing him to significant prison time would, in effect, be allowing him to get away with years of domestic violence, Slavik said.

Subramanian said that while Combs was acquitted of certain charges, the verdict doesn’t absolve him of underlying conduct, such as violence and coercion. Nor does it mean that such conduct is irrelevant to sentencing, the judge said.

While Combs continues to fight his conviction on two prostitution-related charges, the judge said the evidence “plainly established in whole or in part the defendant’s participation in the convicted conduct.”

It was Combs who organized sex parties and hired male escorts, and it was his money that paid for them, the judge said.

The judge’s actual sentencing decision is many hours away. But in the course of legal arguments, the judge gave a glimpse of his view of Combs’ stance toward the case.

“In general, the narrative that he and his attorneys have put forth — that this case involves nothing more than adults paying for time, not sex — is flatly inconsistent with both reality” and an acceptance of responsibility, the judge said.

In this first phase of the sentencing, the judge is going through complex legal reasoning in response to objections that both sides have raised to the pre-sentencing report. It’s very common for lawyers to raise such objections.

Subramanian is declining to add certain “enhancements” to the sentencing guidelines that probation officials have used to calculate Combs’ possible sentencing range.

The judge denied the prosecution’s request to add factors that could increase the hip-hop mogul’s potential sentence, such as for causing serious bodily injury, vulnerable victims and obstruction of justice.

Nevertheless, the judge said, he will weigh all relevant conduct — including Combs’ violence and threats — as he decides on a sentence. He left in place an “enhancement” for coercion, overruling the defense’s objection. In doing so, he cited Combs’ threats to his longtime former girlfriend Cassie to publicly release videos of their so-called “freak-offs.”

Probation officials concluded that the guidelines range for Combs’ sentence is around 5 years and 10 months to 7 years and 3 months.

Adding the enhancements that prosecutors wanted would’ve increased the guidelines range to 9 years to 11 years and 3 months months in prison.

A former personal assistant testifying under the pseudonym “Mia” said Combs put his hand up her dress and forcibly kissed her at his 40th birthday party in 2009, forced her to perform oral sex on another occasion and raped her in 2010.

His lawyers say the claims are false.

In a letter objecting to “Mia” speaking at sentencing, Combs’ lawyers said: “Virtually everything that came out of her mouth was a lie” and that “she is not a victim of anything.”

“She got to lie, she got to testify with a false identity, she got to try out her fake voice for a jury of savvy New Yorkers. But, she also saw the consequences of lying to a jury: they don’t believe you,” Combs’ lawyers wrote.

A former personal assistant who testified at Combs’ trial that he raped her in 2010 is no longer planning to speak at his sentencing.

The woman who testified under the pseudonym “Mia” had already submitted a victim witness statement urging the judge to hold Combs “fully accountable.”

“This letter has been excruciating to write,” her statement said. She wrote that the little girl she once was “is gone. She was buried alive by an abuser, trapped in a world of terror, abuse, humiliation, and coercive control.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik said Mia changed her mind about speaking in court after Combs’ lawyers submitted a letter objecting to Mia’s appearance.

The letter, the prosecutor said, “can only be described as bullying.”

The judge agreed, concluding that “the tone of the defense’s letter was inappropriate” and advising Combs’ lawyers not to do it again.

Combs smiled briefly and waved to his family in the gallery before sitting down, putting on a pair of glasses and reading through papers from a large accordion-style folder.

“Good morning and good morning to you, Mr. Combs,” the judge says.

“Good morning, your honor,” Combs replies.

As he has throughout the case, the hip-hop mogul entered the packed courtroom through a side door, escorted by deputy U.S. marshals.

Combs was transported to the courthouse Friday morning from the Metropolitan Detention Center, the Brooklyn federal jail where he’s been held since his arrest in September 2024.

Given permission by the judge to don non-jail clothes, Combs arrived wearing a light-colored sweater over a button-down shirt and dark-colored dress pants. He hugged his lawyers and greeted his family and supporters as he walked to the defense table. As at his trial, Combs’ hair is grayer and whiter than the black mane he’s known for. That’s because he’s not allowed hair dye in jail.

An exotic dancer who testified at the trial is outside the courthouse, promoting a self-help book that he wrote.

Sharay Hayes went by the stage name “The Punisher.” At the trial he testified about being paid to have sex with Combs’ girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

“It’s been a crazy couple of months for me,” he said.

Hayes said he believes that the judge should sentence Combs to the time he’s already served in jail.

Cassie has asked for a tougher sentence. She told the court she was manipulated into participating in sexual encounters with other men, and that Combs frequently beat her.

To keep a pathway to the courthouse clear, court officials are keeping the media penned into specific zones — one on each side of the walkway — with bike rack-style fencing.

Some onlookers are hoisting their cellphones to record images of people walking by. A podium is set up with microphones from various outlets for possible post-sentencing news conferences.

As for security, officers from the U.S. Marshals Service are lined up in front of the courthouse door, including a pair of K9 units.

Outside the courthouse, it’s a scene familiar from Combs’ trial. Hordes of photographers holding cameras in outstretched hands, taking pictures and video of case-related figures, including some of the hip-hop mogul’s children, who poured out of a black transport van about 15 minutes before the sentencing was to begin.

Combs mother, Janice Combs, arrived to the courthouse earlier in the morning.

On the sidewalk across the street, TV crews have lined up in front of a city park, broadcasting live while a jungle gym and basketball courts sit empty.

The most outspoken and prominent voice among six prosecutors at Combs’ trial won’t be heard at his sentencing. Maurene Comey was fired from her position as an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan two weeks after the jury returned its verdict.

She is the daughter of former FBI director James Comey. She told colleagues in a note afterward that “fear is the tool of a tyrant” and that her firing without reason should fuel “a fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power.”

Then she sued the U.S. government in mid-September, saying her firing was for political reasons and was unconstitutional. James Comey was fired as FBI director by President Donald Trump in 2017. The lawsuit noted he has since written a memoir critical of Trump and has publicly criticized Trump and his administration.

In a court filing, Combs’ lawyers argued the conduct for which he was convicted involved “threesomes where fully competent adult men and women voluntarily crossed state lines and had consensual sex with each other, and the defendant made no money from the conduct.”

Prosecutors, citing trial evidence, say Combs used coercion and violence, including domestic abuse, in committing his crimes.

Combs will “not be punished for any crimes of which he was acquitted, of course, but punishment for his crimes of conviction must take into account the manner in which he committed them,” prosecutors wrote.

Combs’ lawyers wrote that the government’s view is, “Verdict be damned — lock him up and throw away the key.”

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian is a Columbia Law School graduate and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and was appointed a federal judge by President Joe Biden in 2022.

Before becoming a judge, he worked in private practice, handling primarily commercial and bankruptcy matters as a partner at the prestigious law firm Susman Godfrey LLP.

A Pittsburgh native, he presided over Combs’ trial and recently denied the hip-hop mogul’s request to have his conviction overturned.

At the time Combs was involved in the activities captured in the video, prosecutors say he was beating women, plying them with drugs and paying male sex workers to engage in sex parties he called “freak offs.”

The video doesn’t mention Combs’ criminal case or the remorse he expressed Thursday in a letter to Subramanian. The judge could see the video as a transparent attempt to rehabilitate Combs’ image and downplay his crimes.

Combs’ lawyers argue he should be sentenced to no more than 14 months in prison, which would free him almost immediately since he’s already been in jail for more than a year. Prosecutors want a sentence of no less than 11 years and 3 months.

Combs’ lawyers have released an 11-minute video they plan to play in court as they argue for leniency.

The short film features clips from home videos and other footage of Combs’ pre-arrest life, including scenes of him playing with his children, running in the New York City Marathon and coaching youth football.

The video chronicles Combs’ business successes, philanthropy and touches on some of his sorrows, such as the death of his longtime girlfriend Kim Porter. It shows Combs speaking about young people, his family and God, and features others speaking positively about him.

Subramanian will be weighing a lot more than what’s said in court on Friday.

Leading up to the hearing, prosecutors and defense lawyers submitted lengthy arguments detailing what they think the penalty should be.

Then there are federal sentencing guidelines, which probation officials say suggest a penalty of around 5 years and 10 months to 7 years and 3 months.

Subramanian has also received letters — from some of Combs’ accusers and former employees, who say he should not receive leniency, and from character witnesses who support him and say he should.

Federal sentencing guidelines are suggestions, based on a variety of factors. They are meant to promote transparency and uniformity in sentencing across the federal judiciary and to prevent wide disparities in punishment for the same crimes.

His lawyer, Teny Geragos, says the hip-hop mogul plans to speak in court before he is sentenced, exercising a right afforded to all defendants at this stage in a case.

Combs didn’t testify at his trial and spoke only briefly in court when the judge questioned him to make sure he was making the decision not to testify on his own.

“I’m doing great, your honor,” Combs said in that exchange, and volunteered a compliment to the judge, saying: “I want to tell you thank you, you’re doing an excellent job.”

According to the American Bar Association, addressing the court at sentencing — formally known as the right of allocution — gives a defendant a chance “to express remorse, and explain personal circumstances” that a judge might consider in deciding on a punishment.

In a 1961 ruling enshrining the right, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote that judges should address defendants directly and leave “no room for doubt that the defendant has been issued a personal invitation to speak prior to sentencing.”

In addition, Combs’ defense team has said that at least four of his lawyers will speak on his behalf and that they plan to play an 11-minute video in court.

Combs’ trial ended in a mixed verdict with convictions on two prostitution-related counts and acquittals on the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

The prostitution-related counts each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for flying people around the country, including girlfriends and male sex workers, to engage in sexual encounters, a violation of the federal Mann Act.

Combs’ acquittals on the other charges spared him the possibility of a life sentence.

Combs faces sentencing Friday in a sordid criminal case that could keep him locked up for years.

The hip-hop mogul was convicted in July of flying people around the country for sexual encounters, including his girlfriends and male sex workers, in violation of the federal Mann Act.

A jury acquitted Combs, 55, of more serious racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges that could have put him away for life.

Prosecutors say he should spend more than 11 years in prison for his conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs’ lawyers want him freed now, saying the long sentence sought by prosecutors is “wildly out of proportion” to the crime.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who will decide the sentence, has signaled that Combs is unlikely to be freed soon. He twice rejected bail for the rapper, who has been jailed at a federal detention center in Brooklyn since his arrest a year ago.

▶ Read more about what’s expected in court today