Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sentenced to four years and two months in federal prison.
At the end of his trial in July, a Manhattan jury acquitted the music mogul of the most serious racketeering and sex trafficking charges alleged against him but convicted him of two counts of transporting people for prostitution under the Mann Act.
Ahead of Friday’s sentencing, federal prosecutors filed court papers seeking a sentence of at least 135 months (11 years and three months), while Combs’ lawyers sought no more than 14 months. The latter would have effectively amounted to time served for the 55-year-old, who had already been detained for more than a year in what his lawyers called “one of the most notorious jails in America.”
Federal sentences are shaped by guidelines that give ranges and factors for judges to consider when imposing punishment. How they are calculated is subject to debate, leading to arguments between prosecutors and defendants over not only what the sentence should be but even what the applicable ranges are. Probation officials also weigh in, and here they recommended a range of 70 to 87 months. Combs’ lawyers argued that was too high, and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York said it was too low.
In their sentencing filing, prosecutors wrote that the crimes of which he was convicted “are serious and have warranted sentences over ten years in multiple cases for defendants who, like Sean Combs, engaged in violence and put others in fear.” They added that a “substantial term of imprisonment is also needed in this case because the defendant is unrepentant.”
Combs’ lawyers countered that the average Mann Act sentence under the applicable guideline is less than 15 months. “Without minimizing Mr. Combs’s conduct,” they wrote, “this is in many ways a ‘sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll’ story.” They asked the judge to focus on “the sort of man Mr. Combs has strived to be his entire life,” writing that it’s “time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family, so he can continue his treatment and try to make the most of the next chapter of his extraordinary life.” Combs added his own personal letter Thursday, writing that he takes “full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs” and asked for “another chance to live a better life.” Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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