Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to only about four years in prison Friday — a paltry term compared to the more than a decade prosecutors sought after a blockbuster, stomach-churning trial exposed the mogul’s depraved secrets.
The disgraced hip-hop icon, 55, could be a free man in just three years as he has already spent 14 months behind bars while the sex-crimes case wound through Manhattan federal court.
Judge Arun Subramanian, at the end of an emotional, nearly six-hour hearing, admonished Combs for using his vast power to abuse women — but ultimately opted to give the Bad Boy Records founder a chance to reclaim his life.
Sean “Diddy” Combs becomes emotional as his children go to the podium to make impact statements during a court sentencing Friday. REUTERS
Sean Diddy Combs reacts as he makes a statement during his sentencing hearing on Friday. AP
“You abused the power and control that you had over the lives of women you professed to love dearly,” Subramanian told Combs before heading down the sentence of 50 months, with five years supervised release and a $500,000 fine.
“You abused them physically, emotionally, and psychologically,” he said. “Why did it happen so long? Because you had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught.
“A meaningful sentence is needed to protect the public from further crimes.”
But Combs’ punishment — on a prostitution conviction related to his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and an influencer known as “Jane”– was more lenient than the roughly six-to-seven-year term recommended under federal guidelines.
Diddy learned his fate on Friday after being convicted of sex crimes in July. REUTERS
It’s also a far cry from the 14-month, time-served sentence his high-powered defense team argued his prostitution convictions warranted.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, contended the music mogul deserved a prison-term of 11 years, arguing the “unrepentant” Combs had left his victims living in fear.
The highly anticipated sentencing unfolded in the same courtroom where jurors found Combs guilty July 2 on two counts of transporting people for the purposes of prostitution.
But the jury acquitted Combs of the top counts of sex trafficking and racketeering — charges that could have sent him to prison for life.
A judge ordered that Diddy remain locked up in a hellish federal prison until his sentencing after his conviction.
The shocking verdict came after jurors heard two months of harrowing testimony delving into Combs’ twisted, violent and baby oil-drenched private life involving degrading sex sessions he dubbed “freak-offs.”
Before he learned his fate, Combs, clad in a wrinkled oatmeal sweater and donning black reading glasses, stood up and read a lengthy statement, apologizing to Ventura and “Jane,” but otherwise spent most of his 12-minute address focused on himself.
He begged the judge for “another chance” and vowed that he was a changed man.
Diddy, seen here arriving at the Met Gala in 2018, was indicted and arrested in September 2024 on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution. AFP via Getty Images
“My domestic violence will always be a heavy burden that I will forever have to carry,” he said.
“I’m not this larger than life person, I’m just a human being. I’ve been trying my best. I got lost in excess, I got lost in my ego.”
Combs also thanked and credited six of his children who emotionally pleaded for leniency for their dad during the hearing, while his lawyers played a cringey 11-minute video depicting the admitted abuser as a hero to kids.
He turned to his family and put his left hand up to his eyes after hearing the sentence and then stoically walked out a side door, en route to his cell inside the troubled Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. His lawyers said they’ll soon press the judge about where the fallen rap star should serve his stint.
The prison sentence was welcomed by Ventura’s lawyers Douglas Wigdor and Meredith Firetog.
“While nothing can undo the trauma caused by Combs, the sentence imposed today recognizes the impact of the serious offenses he committed,” the lawyers said in a statement. “We are confident that with the support of her family and friends, Ms. Ventura will continue healing knowing that her bravery and fortitude have been an inspiration to so many.”
Ventura didn’t speak at the sentencing, but penned a heart-rending victim impact statement arguing that Combs – who mercilessly beat and forced her to endure his sick perversions for years – is not a changed man.
Diddy’s mom Janice Combs waves as she arrives at court for her son’s sentencing on Friday. AFP via Getty Images
“I know that who he was to me—the manipulator, the aggressor, the abuser, the trafficker—is who he is as a human,” she wrote. “He has no interest in changing or becoming better. He will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
The seemingly slight sentence prompted a mix of outrage and qualified relief from women’s rights attorneys.
“This ‘safe compromise’ of 50 months was not the triumphant exoneration that Combs demanded, but nor was the compensation for the innocent verdicts the prosecution had hoped for,” said attorney Ann Olivarious.
Chance Combs, D’Lila Combs and Jessie Combs arrive at Friday’s hearing. REUTERS
King Combs and Raven Tracy arrive at court for the sentencing of his dad. REUTERS
“This outcome reflects the persistence of half-measures, acknowledging harm but stopping short of full accountability, highlighting how far the system still has to go to deliver real justice.”
Feminist attorney Gloria Allred said outside the courthouse that many of Combs’ alleged victims were worried he’d walk free.
“They were very much afraid that he would retaliate against them, and so I think that they will be happy that he will be at least in prison for a number of years,” she said.
The victim known as “Jane” also chose not to attend the sentencing, but Subramanian recounted her searing trial testimony in which she said Combs chillingly asked her “Is this coercion?” when forced her to perform in a “freak-off” after brutally beating her for hours.
“Because of the testimony of the women in this courtroom, these horrible acts were made public,” the judge told Combs. “And it’s not something, Mr. Combs, that you will ever be able to wash away. You will forever be associated with them.”
The only victim set to speak during the sentencing – Combs’ former live-in assistant “Mia,” who accused him of rape – backed out at the last minute after she was scared off by a “bullying” letter from the rappers lawyers, prosecutors said.
Lawyers for “Jane” and “Mia” didn’t return requests for comment.
Outside the Lower Manhattan courthouse, a throng of social media influencers appeared to outnumber Combs’ supporters, many of whom had set up tents to sleep overnight to catch a glimpse of the “Can’t Hold Me Down” rapper.
The carnival-esque crowd also included Sharay Hayes, an exotic dancer nicknamed “The Punisher” who testified in May – and spared no sexually graphic detail – about Combs’ sordid “freak-offs.”
ad Boy Records label into an empire worth nearly $1 billion, starred in movies and hosted lavish, celebrity-packed “white parties” in luxurious locales such as the Hamptons.
Video surveillance grabs show Cassie Ventura trying to sneak out of the hotel, but Diddy catching up to her in a towel and dragging her down the hallway. U.S. Attorneys SDNY
But behind the glitzy facade, Combs harbored a dark side — one that burst into public view when Ventura filed a bombshell November 2023 lawsuit accusing him of viciously beating her throughout their decade-long relationship.
Ventura also revealed that Combs nurtured a perverted proclivity for “freak-offs” — grueling, drug-fueled romps accompanied with copious amounts of baby oil in which he watched her have sex with male escorts.
Combs quickly paid Ventura $20 million to settle the case, but her lawsuit opened the floodgates for sickeningly similar accusations against him — and a fateful federal criminal probe.
Cassie and Diddy seen attending a party in NYC in 2018. Getty Images for Roc Nation
After dramatic raids on Combs’ mansions in Miami and Beverly Hills, he was eventually indicted and arrested in September 2024 on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution.
The trial began in May, with a gray-haired, grandpa sweater-wearing Combs — who had been a snazzy fashion plate before his downfall — being carted daily from Brooklyn’s notorious MDC.
Combs did not testify during the headline-grabbing trial, which drew scores of observers to the courtroom, including the mogul’s mother, children, and supporters such as fellow disgraced rapper Kanye West.
Prosecutors called 34 witnesses as they painted Combs as the kingpin of a criminal crew that plotted a slew of crimes over two decades, including setting Kid Cudi’s Porsche on fire.
Federal agents who raided Diddy’s Miami Beach home found numerous containers of lube. Department of Justice
The rapper, real name Scott Mescudi, took the stand, as did a constellation of Combs’ former assistants, ex-girlfriends and escorts hired to perform in the “freak-offs.”
Combs controlled every aspect of the marathon sex sessions, demanding his lovers apply copious amounts of baby oil and plying them with ecstasy so they could stay awake, witnesses testified.
But it was arguably Ventura’s testimony that proved the most heart-rending.
Ventura, who took the stand for four days while nine months pregnant, recounted in excruciating detail how Combs beat her for years and pressured her into hundreds of humiliating freak-off “performances” with male sex workers.
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“I feared for my career. I feared for my family. It’s just embarrassing. It’s horrible and disgusting. No one should do that to anyone,” she testified.
Combs maintained his innocence, as his lawyers argued that the women consented to the encounters and contended feds improperly criminalized his “swinger” lifestyle.
The mogul was guilty of domestic abuse, but not the sex crimes he was charged with, his lawyers argued.
He was convicted of two Mann Act Transportation counts — a federal law making it a crime to transport someone across state lines for prostitution.
Subramanian, during the sentencing, disagreed that Combs’ abuse was separate from his conviction.
“You used that abuse to get your way, especially when it came to ‘freak offs’ or ‘hotel nights,” he said.
Still, Subramanian said Combs would have a chance to return to his life.
“This is a serious sentence that reflects the gravity of your crimes and conduct,” he said. “This is hard time in prison away from your family, friends, children, and your community. But you will have a life afterward and it provides you with a path toward rehabilitation.”
– Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts and David DeTurris