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Hip-hop icon and business mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to 50 months in prison after being convicted on federal charges of transporting individuals across state lines for prostitution.
The 55-year-old received the sentence on Friday from U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian after a tense and emotional hearing that saw victims, family members, and prosecutors present their final arguments. Prosecutors had urged the court to impose an 11-year term, describing Combs as “unrepentant,” while his lawyers requested a 14-month sentence — equal to the time he has already spent in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Before the verdict was announced, Combs stood before the court and delivered a brief but emotional plea for leniency.
“I am truly sorry,” he said quietly. “I ask your honour for mercy. I beg your honour for mercy.”
In July, a federal jury found Combs guilty on two counts of transporting people for prostitution but acquitted him of the more severe allegations of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Among the key voices during the sentencing was Combs’s former girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, who submitted a powerful letter recounting her years of alleged abuse. She urged the judge to “consider the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”
Ventura described suffering physical, emotional, and sexual violence throughout their relationship, adding that she and another woman — identified only as Jane — were coerced into participating in “freak-offs,” disturbing sexual encounters arranged by Combs and sometimes recorded on video.
“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak-off in 2016,” Ventura wrote. “I still wake up from nightmares and relive the trauma on a regular, everyday basis.”
Prosecutor Christy Slavik told the court that Combs had not shown genuine remorse.
“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said, accusing the music executive of arrogance. She also revealed that Combs had been planning speaking engagements in Miami while awaiting sentencing, describing the move as “the height of hubris.”
However, defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland argued that the hip-hop star’s decades-long contributions to music and culture should not be overlooked.
“No, Combs is not larger than life,” Westmoreland said. “He’s just a human being. He’s made mistakes.”
She insisted that Combs had expressed remorse and argued that lengthy imprisonment would serve little purpose. “It’s of no benefit to anyone to warehouse him in a prison,” she said.
In emotional appeals, Combs’s six children asked the court to grant their father another chance. His eldest son, Quincy Brown, described him as “a changed man,” while his teenage daughter, D’Lila Combs, pleaded tearfully with the judge.
“Please, please give our family the chance to heal together,” she said. “Not as headlines, but as human beings.”
Judge Subramanian ultimately acknowledged Combs’s career achievements but stressed the seriousness of his crimes before delivering the sentence. The ruling marks a major fall from grace for one of hip-hop’s most influential figures, whose decades-long career reshaped modern music and business.
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